"The cake was amazing, Tracey," I compliment her as she prepares my food, "How did you make that?"

"Can't tell you, it's a secret," she winks at me.

I laugh at her and head to eat my breakfast. As I sit down the memories from last night flood my mind. It was beautiful. I didn't see Jack for most of it, but I still had fun with Shahd, Mayson and some other people.

"Did you taste that cake yesterday?!" Shahd.

"It was so good!" Mason exclaims.

I laugh at their excitement, "Maribelle should come here more often."

"Right?!"

"I still have a piece," Mason whispers at us.

"I couldn't save any," I tell them, "It was too good."

"Uh oh," Shahd looks at something behind me, "Your friend is heading this way, Ellie, and he does not look like he's bringing good news."

I turn around and spot Jack... and Namazzi. Rolling my eyes, I get off the table and walk to him.

"Hey, Jack," I pointedly ignore her, "What's going on?"

"Good morning to you too, Ellie," Namazzi tells me. I force a smile her way before turning back to Jacklinso.

"Is Drew in the room?" he asks sternly. He didn't even say good morning. That's very unlike him.

"No, he's having breakfast," I reply in a very concerned tone.

"Let's go, I have to tell you something."

He briskly walks in the direction of our dwelling. I follow hurriedly, waving to my friends as I pass. Shahd gives me an apprehensive look while Mason signals that I'm about to die. I shake my head at them before jogging to catch up to Jack.

"Oh, she's staying," I state, upon seeing that Namazzzi is with us in the room.

"Yes, Namazzi," he puts extra emphasis on her name, "Wants to tell you something important."

I look at her expectantly. She looks between us for a second before realizing that it's her turn to speak.

"Oh," she says rather stupidly, "Ok. You know Maribelle Diaz was here yesterday, right?"

She takes a pause, looking at me. I just stare back blankly.

Jack sighs, "Yes."

Namazzi looks at him appreciatively, "Apparently a fight broke out in her section this week. That's why she was here yesterday. The founders don't know whether this is because of the rising population or something else. But in about a month they're going to raid the Fighter's spaceship."

"What?!" I shout at her, "Who came up with that idea?"

"I don't know, but they'll obviously need people with them so," she takes another pause, wincing before saying the following words, "So Jack's coming."

"What?!" my voice is even louder this time, "Why would you go Jack?! We literally just left!"

"I need to help, if you haven't noticed, I'm one of the oldest and strongest here."

"What even is the point of raiding the ship?!"

It's Jack that answers this time, "There's a specific part of the ship that acts as food storage. They're hoping to get some food and get out quickly before anyone notices."

"Jack, this is stupid. How are they even going to travel to space? The whole plan is just dumb! How do you sneak onto a spaceship, IN SPACE?!"

"Ellie, stop shouting, no one else knows about this."

"You can't go," I cross my arms.

"I'm going."

I scowl at him, "Fine! Then I'm going too."

He sighs, "I knew you'd say that."

"If that's all, I'm going to the farms now."

I storm out of the room leaving them behind. Great! Just when things got better. Now we're heading back to that wretched place.

I hear Namazzi's voice, "Shouldn't you go?"

"No, I'll talk to her later," Jack sounds sad, as he should. No one told him to go with them. I sigh. I'll just accompany him. We'll have each other's backs. We'll get the food. We'll come back safely.

The day is long. I feel my anger bubbling at every little inconvenience. When I get angry at the potatoes for not coming out of the ground, Tony tells me to leave the farms and go fight my inner demons while helping Tracey. I grumble at him but go, these lights are starting to burn me anyways.

"Tony said I should come to help you," I mutter as I enter the canteen.

"You seem very chipper."

I look at her sideways before shaking my head, "Just tell me what to do, Tracey."

For the rest of the morning, I aid her with dinner preparations. My thoughts keep going back to 915. I wonder if it's still there. I wonder what happened to everyone there. I haven't thought about them since I landed here. Jack and I talked about it, but we never found out who bombed the box. Why or how it was bombed. Nothing made sense. I don't want to go back there but I must stay with Jack. If he dies... no, he won't die. I won't be able to make it without him. He can't die.

The following days are a blur of activity. We wake up early every day to practice our fighting stances and increase our stamina. After dinner we join about 50 other people, including Maribelle and people from the other sections, to go over the plan. Turns out, a huge space pod was stolen by the scouts this week and we're using it to go to space. Harlem said he'll take care of the breaking in part, that he planted someone in the second ring of the spaceship. We were grouped according to our strength, speed or how good we are with a gun. I'll be a lookout while Jack will be entering the ship to steal food and resources with the others. They don't disclose the little details in case someone gets captured. By the end of the month, I'm exhausted but ready to get this over with this.

"How are you feeling," Jack asks from below. It's past midnight and Drew's low snores can be heard from the other half of our room.

"What do you mean?" I ask although I know exactly what he means.

"We're going back to the spaceship tomorrow," he takes a pause, "We might die."

"We won't," I simply tell him.

He chuckles and I hear the bed creaking as he turns, "You're still the annoying little French fry you were a month ago."

"Sorry for being optimistic."

"Optimistic?" he asks before making a thoughtful noise. He doesn't say anything else, and I think he's asleep before he says, "You don't like her."

"Who?"

"Namazzi," I roll my eyes, "Why don't you like her?"

"You spend way too much time with her, more than me even."

"Jealousy? Is that it?"

He's right, I am jealous. "Of her? She's so... so nice. As if she's acting."

"Yeah, she is nice, kind. It's refreshing talking to someone who checks on you, makes you happy. Someone who's not always furious with the world. Doesn't push you away."

Tears sting my eyes. I thought he was pretty happy with me. Sure, I get angry a lot but... not at him.

He must've realized how hurtful he was because he quickly apologises, "I'm sorry, I don't mean it that way."

I sniff a little as I turn to face the wall staying silent.

He sighs, "You know, sometimes, I think about how life would be if I was the son of an important figure. If I didn't have to fight. I think about living in a nice house with my family; my mom, my dad, maybe a dog, perhaps a younger sibling. I can't imagine them, my parents. But when I try to imagine a sibling, it's always a sister, it's always you. So even if you're angry all the time, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Thanks, I love you too."

"Glad you finally understood the emotion."

"Shut up, I always understood it."

"Goodnight, El."

"Goodnight, JC."