12:55am

They were fast asleep. All three of them.

I would have been too, if the wound on my right arm didn't hurt every three seconds of me falling into sleep. Keeping quiet, I forced my body off the ground with one hand and gasped for air the second I managed to hoist myself up.

The gauze needed changing, but it would take three centuries for me to do everything myself. That being said, I was preparing to sacrifice sleep for a stupid arm. I found my way through the dark and entered the bathroom, making sure the door clicked softly shut before I dared turn on the lights.

My hair was a bundled mess. I grabbed the brush and combed through my hair for a while before using the same black ribbon I've been using to tie my hair into a high ponytail. While I was in the process of cleaning myself up, I did myself a favor and washed my face as well.

Two years and five decades later, I exit the bathroom feeling exhausted and defeated. The gauze wrapping was changed.

1:26am

I glanced at the clock and an irritable thought crossed my mind.

According to my mission, I was to follow Allison Frances wherever she went and protect her from being assassinated.

However, said assassinators were knocked dead out on the bed, snoring.

I don't think I want to go. Suddenly, a quiet ringer went off from my phone. My eyes widened immediately and I quickly went to snatch it up before it woke the whole crew.

Opening the contact, my breath hitched as I realized who it was.

"Axel??" I exclaimed under my breath, quickly checking to see that the screen brightness was all the way off.

"Hey," He greeted me in the calm, yet playful voice that I knew.

"Why now," I whined, though it was short-lived. I was glad to talk to him again, no doubt. It's just the place, the time, the people here...

It wasn't exactly the best moment to have a conversation.

"Just checking up on you..." Axel replied, "Hey, what's wrong? You're not whining cause I woke you up from your sleep, are you?"

Oh yeah. Sleep. Forgot that existed.

"... No," I answered, scratching my head slowly.

"How's the mission going?" he changed the topic.

"I uh," I began, silently cursing myself in my head for not being a better liar when he interrogates me.

Axel would freak out if I told him that not only was the mission going smoothly, but I was also currently sleeping with both of my enemies, and I'm raising a baby with them.

Haha, no way in hell could I tell him. Someone else would have to do that, I'm out.

"She's great, Axel. How've you been buddy?"

Yeah, like that person. Thank you so much for-

...

Wait-

My head snapped to the bed and although it was pitch black inside the room besides the faint glow of light on the side of my face from my phone, I could tell Liam was up.

And he was staring at me too.

"Who... in the fucking hell is that," Axel's voice came menacingly through the phone, his tone suddenly dropping three octaves.

Damn that Carter.

"No one," I reassured the man, "No one."

Axel was quiet on the other line. He knew something.

"So this is the Axel you've been talking to," Liam commented from his bed, smirking at my panicking form.

"Liam!" I shouted in a whisper, all the muscles in my face scrunching together just to get the message across to that one boy to shut up.

"Liam??" Axel exclaimed, "Wait a fucking second, wasn't he-"

"Uh," I interrupted quickly, looking for ways to end the call. I wasn't ready. I didn't want to be lectured. Not by Axel, not by Axel, not by Axel.

"It was nice talking to you hope we can catch up one day love you bye," I squeaked, ending the call immediately so that the last word I heard was my name being screamed at the lowest volume my phone allowed me to go.

I shut off my phone and tossed it to the side, hurriedly getting up.

"What the actual fuck Carter," I snapped at the boy who was watching me silently.

"What," he said calmly back, "Someone had to tell Axel."

"Don't say his name like you're close to him."

Liam put his hands up in surrender before putting them down again. I let out a loud sigh and was about to go back to sleep when I realized the fact that my enemy was awake.

I suddenly frowned and looked at him, "Hey."

Liam's eyes met mine and he broke into a side smile, "What."

"Why are you up?" I asked straightforward.

The man stalled by looking away and at the time on the clock.

1:59am

He wasn't. He couldn't. He wouldn't...? He would.

"You're not going to..." I trailed off, not sure if I should imply what his next moves were. It was dangerous.

When the both of us started taking on our actual role, we were complete strangers, and complete enemies. Not only that, we can't trust each other, and it was always wise to keep in mind that our little charade that we put on everyday was only to keep ourselves alive in the current situation. If Liam and I had met at a different time, and a different place, one of us would've been long gone by now.

Sometimes, I had to remind myself that. I was getting a little too comfortable.

"Back to sleep Lennon," he suddenly said, smiling softly at me. I stared at him for a moment.

Just a moment and I understood what he meant.

Close your eyes and pretend you don't know what I'm planning to do. Listen to me, Jamie. If you follow me, it'll get ugly.

My eyes frowned ever so slightly as I stated, "I'm tired. Maybe I should. It's 2:00am."

I know you're going to Allison's party.

He replied, "Only a few hours until the sun rises."

I'm on tight schedule, Lennon. If you want to live you'll stay out of my way.

"You're not tired?" I asked.

Give up. Just leave her alone. She's not worth it.

At that response, I shut my mouth. I couldn't persuade him. I couldn't stop him.

"Take care of everything here, I'm gonna go for a walk," Liam said to me, nodding before pushing himself off the bed and into the restroom.

Merely moments after, I didn't turn to see, but I heard the faint click of the door opening, and then closing.

He was gone.

And you know what?

My eyes traveled over to his sleeping best friend and my best friend's baby. They were oblivious to the situation.

Deciding in two seconds, I went to the restroom to wash up.

I was going to that party. If Liam's going to be there, he's planning to kill Allison tonight. And that defeats my whole mission if he succeeds. I can't stress it enough, but two years. Two years I worked hard to even care to protect this girl, and if it all ends tonight, I might as well kill myself.

_

Confused, I picked up the familiar fabric and held it up in front of me so that I could examine it in the mirror.

My eyes frowned at the gown.

It was the same dark blue dress I saw at the mall.

Why was it here? He couldn't have bought it, right? And... for who?

As I stared at it, I realized that the dress fit my size.

I wasn't going to assume or think anything at the moment. But I'm going to apologize to that someone else that he bought his dress for, because I'm using it tonight.

I realized Liam had changed too. His t-shirt and shorts were hung on a rack above the shower.

He has a suit on, then, I thought to myself. But that doesn't help much. A lot of the boys from school would wear a suit.

Or would they? Is Liam the only one? I'm not even sure if he has his suit on.

... Suit.

At that moment a thought clicked into my head. My suit. My mission suit.

I rushed out of the bathroom and over to my bag and rummaged through my things quietly and quickly. Soon, my fingers grazed over the cool fabric of my suit. I pulled it out and tiptoed back into the restroom.

And I was disappointed. The suit didn't fit anymore. I had grown, no doubt. It was a strange thought. I didn't feel like anything had happened these past few years.

Giving up, I put on the elegant dress that Liam bought and transferred some gadgets and small weapons over from my suit to areas underneath my dress, like my ankles and legs, waist and hip. No suit meant no bulletproof protection, but what can I do. I also went the far length to straighten out my wavy hair so that it all laid softly out on my shoulders and down my upper back at the end.

Accessories, makeup, posture, I was a master at it. These things were easy. We were trained to disguise quickly and effectively back at the R.U.

The dress was blue and perfect as well. I was glad the girl Liam bought the dress for didn't like skin-tight outfits. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to equip my weapons and retrieve them when time called for them.

As for my wound on my upper right arm, it was located high enough for the the slightly sagging sleeves to cover up. No one would notice if it showed anyway. It would be a dimly lit room with loud noises and a handful of other teenagers.

I took one last glance at myself in the mirror.

Although I was dressed up and beautified, and most certainly in a dress I would've never worn on a daily basis, I knew one thing for sure.

Tonight, I was the Jamie Lennon. My old self in disguise. That was the real me.

"It's great to be back," I chimed quietly to myself, a side smirk appearing quickly before I turned off all the lights and headed out of the bathroom and soon, Liam's room.

_