Take Me Tomorrow (3 page)

“
Okay
and returning to military school?” I retorted.

Broden’s
copper-colored eyes darkened to shadows. He already knew. He may have been angry about it, but he already knew. He was going back.

“How’d
you know I was here?” he asked.

“Miles.” I didn’t have to explain how I had gotten in the hospital. I had done it
for him before.

“Did he give it to you
, then?” Broden asked. “My watch?”

I threw the silver jewelry at him,
and the metal smacked against his lap. Broden picked it up like I had handed it over softly.

H
e sat up and read the time like he always did. It was the number one pet peeve I had against him. He did this constantly, even though the crown of his watch was broken. The time was off, but he refused to fix it.

“Thank you,” he said, shoving it into his jacket.

“They’re saying you took tomo.”

Broden hung his head as he cursed. “I’m in trouble.”

This was not the response I was expecting.

My back pressed against the wall as I whispered,
“Tell me you didn’t take it.”

Broden didn’t speak. Not even a word. He didn’t say he did it, but I knew him well enough to know what he meant by
his silence. He had taken tomo − the clairvoyant drug that had already killed so many, the same drug he almost died from two years ago.

In our silence,
Broden scooted to the end of the bed, and his long legs stretched to the ground. Even sitting, Broden was taller than me, but I barely hit five feet. His height didn’t bother me, but for once, I wished I was looking down at him instead.

“I need your help, Sophia.”

My gaze locked on the tile floor as I fought the images of his previous escapades out of my memory. He may have only had a broken arm this time, but last time, his entire body had been a bloody mess.

“Trust me,” he
spoke, resting his unbroken hand on his leg.

I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t stare at the brui
ses on his knuckles. The injuries on his body were more prominent than the Albany tattoos on Lyn’s arms.

“On Monday
,” he continued, “I need you to bring me a bag of food, water, and one of your dad’s knives to school.”

My eyes popped open. “What?” I squeaked. I had only shown Broden the forgery once, and he hadn’t mentioned it since. H
e wouldn’t mention it unless he had to. Unless it was an emergency.

Broden was pale.
“I would do it myself, but they’re watching me.” His brown eyes moved to the doorway, and I remembered the doctor saying he would be back. “I can’t do this without you.”

I stared at my best friend, wondering who my closest friend was,
asking myself if I ever knew him at all. I questioned what Broden’s life was like before I knew him − the fights and the tomo − and how he was returning to that previous lifestyle. The panic in Miles’ eyes flashed in my memory, and my stomach twisted with the realization that he must have been involved, too. I had met Broden through him, after all.

“Did
you see me helping you on Monday?” I asked, referring to the visions that tomo revealed when consumed. Feeling as if I had lost all my morality in a moment, Broden dropped eye contact, stared at the wall, and nodded.

That Sounds Dangerous

A soft rapping caused my bedroom door to
creak open. A hulky man carried in my white hamper with one hand while eating with the other. Argos, the fierce, black dog that normally kept at my side, was at the man’s feet. His eyes focused on my father’s peanut butter sandwich.

I laughed. “Explains w
here he was,” I said as my dad dropped my laundry basket.

He glanced at the dog and shrugged
as if he hadn’t noticed Argos’ begging. My bedroom was painted a soft brown, but the golden light from my single lampshade caused my dad’s fair skin to look tan and worn. His pepper-gray hair was lighter, and his wrinkles appeared like a badge of stress.

I sat
up from the pile of pillows I was using as the perfect reading spot. Tonight, I was obsessing over
The Iliad
, but it could wait. Chilly night air rushed over my once-warm back, and I shivered, glancing at my open window. “You’re home early,” I said.

My dad
wiped breadcrumbs onto his dark pants. “Just got home,” he commented, fiddling with a pair of glasses that hung from his front pocket. His eyesight was perfect, but he carried glasses like the students that wore Phelps’ achievement badges − for demanded respect.

“You weren’t supp
osed to be back yet.”

I hadn’t expected to see him for two more weeks.
He was assigned to direct new military trainers to Boise. If anything, his job should’ve taken more time, not less.

He
glanced around my bedroom as if he expected it to change while he was out of town. “Are you ready for school tomorrow?” he reminded me of how my summer freedom was coming to an abrupt end. I cringed, and he laughed. “At least you can look forward to that one party.”

That one party was Topeka’s Homecoming. It happened during the last weekend of August, and it
was thrown by the students. Considering it was the one evening curfew was lifted, the event was highly anticipated. It also allowed students from different schools to meet.

This year, Miles
’ twin sister, Lily, was coordinating the party. It was an honor since she was being recognized for all of her achievements. She couldn’t stop talking about it, yet I had barely paid attention to it. Now that Broden couldn’t come, I was even less inclined to think about it.

“Lyn told me about Broden,” my dad
spoke up.

I frowned. “Is that why you’re home?”

He shook his head. “Phelps had an emergency.”

I whistled low. “That sounds
dangerous.”

“Probably is,” my father agreed. “Border patrol detected someone entering Topeka illegally.”

The blond-haired boy from earlier that day flashed through me as if I had consumed tomo and watched him appear before my eyes. My vision disappeared as I curled my fist. “What?”

“Nothing to worry about, kid,” he said. “It happens more often than you think,” he explained his job openly even though he wasn’t supposed to. My family was never the type to follow the rules. But his comforting didn’t work this time.

Crossing the region borders illegally and successfully demanded skill. Whoever had done it knew what they were doing, and they would know how to protect themselves afterward.

“What’s the big deal
, then?” I asked.

He shrugged, but his wrinkles
deepened around his frown. “I wanted to take it on,” he dismissed. “I’m only back for the rest of the week.”

“You’re leaving again,” I
reworded his sentence.

“Early Friday morning.
” His rough hands pet Argos. “You’ll still be asleep.”

Unable to respond
, I gazed out my bedroom window. The stars burned against the darkness, but the sky was clear from yesterday’s storm. The delightful calmness relaxed my nerves for only a moment.

Argos barked, and
I jumped. When my dad raised his brow at me, my cheeks burned with an unspoken apology. He may not have been around often, but he was still my father, and Dwayne Gray seemed to know everything, even when he wasn’t supposed to.

“Everything’s fine,” I promised
. “I’m just stressed about the first day of school.”

He smirked
, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he reached into his pocket and threw a small bag full of miscellaneous objects at me. I caught it, but the weight of the coins flung it over my outstretched fingers until it wrapped the plastic around my hand.

“Your pockets,” he lectured
. “Clean them out before putting your clothes in the washing machine.”

I grinned. “Next time
.” We had this conversation every time I attempted laundry.

“I’m sure,” he laughed
as he backed out of my room, shutting the door behind him with Argos at his side. I listened to them walk down the hallway, my father murmuring to my pet as if Argos was his other child.

I laid back to stare at the ceiling before
I leapt up.

My heart pounded
against my ribs as if the organ was trying to break free. I clawed myself across my covers to the plastic bag, and I ripped it with one desperate tug. Coins splattered across the floor, pieces of thread and old receipts littering the blanket in front of me. My breath stopped.

With shaking hands, I dug through the trash, an image of the blond-haired boy
consuming me − his ripped shirt, his black watch, his calm exterior, and then, the panic in his eyes when I snatched up his paper. I had shoved it in my pocket, but now it was among my trash, crumbled around the edges.

I straightened the paper out. Th
e writing scrawled across it was smudged from water, but it remained legible. The note revealed the stranger’s intentions. He wasn’t a lost boy, trespassing onto my land to find a park. In fact, he wasn’t lost at all. He knew exactly where he was, and he was confident on where he was headed.

Scribbled down in permanent ink wasn’t a phone numbe
r or a name, or even a clue about who he was. It was my address.

You’re Telling Me Everything

My gray heels tapped against the pavement as the relentless sunlight beamed off of Lily’s whit
e hair. Only two years ago, Lily – Miles’ twin sister − had decided not to look like her brother anymore, and she bleached her hair, chemically straightening it. Today, it twisted into a long braid that swung as she walked.

She was alive with excitement, unable to calm down about the
Homecoming party, and I was trying to listen to every bit. So far, all I comprehended was the amount of hours she had devoted into what would be the best Homecoming party Topeka students would ever see.

“Hey, Lils, Sophia,
” Miles shouted, raising a hand to wave from the end of the courtyard. The school uniform for boys consisted of a long-sleeved, blue jacket, white-collared shirt, and tan slacks. He had to be suffocating in the August heat, but he grinned as he leaned on the front gate.

It was a ritual that happened every day after school.
Lily ran up to her brother, and I walked after her. Standing next to Miles, Lily’s white hair did little to differ the siblings. Their tan skin and dark eyes were undeniably related, and they both teetered a few inches above me.

“How was your first day?” Lily
asked, appearing younger than her calm brother. Miles nodded in response, and Lily began recounting her day in extravagant detail.

Before her monologue
deepened, she turned me around to face her, “I have news,” she chirped, her shoulders bouncing. I tried to force a smile back, but Lily took one glance at me before she sighed, “You’ll like it.”

“Okay,” I
said while she squeezed my hands. “What is it?”

“There’s a boy,” she sang her news and shifted
her weight from her heels to her toes. “He just transferred from an internship at Phoenix. He’s working under Phelps himself as he finishes his senior year.”

My eyebrows shot up. Regions
hardly received transfers, and the government refused to hire students so young unless there was an exception like Miles. Whoever this transfer was, he was skilled.

“What does this have to do with
Sophia?” Miles interjected.

Lily ro
lled her eyes at him. “Because I don’t have time for a boyfriend.”

My stomach lurched. “Boyfriend?” I squeaked, shaking my head back and forth at my friend. “I don’t—”

“You know you’re interested.” Lily used her sweet exterior against me. A blush burned my cheeks, but Miles grunted in disagreement. Lily glared at him. “And you’re just jealous.”

Miles str
aightened out his blue jacket. “Jealous? He sounds like a pompous jerk or a jailbreak,” he joked, but the words were harsh.

Phoenix
revolved around the region’s jail system. It was the biggest of the six regions. If teenagers committed small crimes, they relocated to institutes or the military school like Broden was. With special permission, the military students could go into town, but if their actions worsened, they were sent to the lumberyards to work. If they got even worse, they went to Phoenix for jail time. Sometimes, and no one knew how rare it was, the criminals were even executed. With Broden’s record, he was lucky to be in the military.

Lily glowered at her brother.
“Phelps wouldn’t hire a jailbreak,” she said. “He’s probably done more than you.”

Miles placed his hand on his breast pocket, showing
off an array of achievement badges he had earned through the Traveler’s Bureau. “I’ve done plenty.”

“
With Dwayne’s help,” Lily pointed out. “Some of us have to achieve things on our own.”

Miles’ hand dropped. “What? Like hosting
a party?”

“It’s a big deal,” she argued, turning her attention to me. “
Anthony will be attending.”

“Anthony?” I
repeated. The common name was heavy on my tongue.

Lily nodded
. “I met him today. He’s cute.” Now, my face was reddening. “And he wants someone to show him around.”

“So,
you’re picking Sophia?” Miles’ sarcastic tone was impossible to ignore.

“
Give it a rest,” Lily brushed him off before flashing a brilliant smile at me. “You’re beautiful.” The way she switched her expressions intimidated me. “And it’s about time you date someone. I never see you with anyone.”

“Because she’s always with Broden,” Miles teased.

“They’re friends,” Lily’s voice wavered with warning. “Anthony is an opportunity.”

I stopped her. “I don’t know, Lils.”

“See?” Miles stepped between us. “She’s not interested in your matchmaker scheme.”

Lily
stuck out her bottom lip. “Will you please meet him?” she exaggerated her vowels. “Puh-lease?”

A
s if Lily had coaxed the gesture out of me, I nodded. Before I could argue it, Lily danced around in a small circle, spinning so fast that her braid wrapped around her petite torso. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she chanted, grabbing my hands and jumping until a deep voice interrupted her.

“What’s with all the estrogen?”

Lily broke away from me and turned around as Miles arched his neck to look over. Standing on the sidewalk was a tall boy with short, brown hair and copper-colored eyes. A sage uniform identified him as a military student, but the jagged cut split through his eyebrow identified him as a troublemaker.

“Broden,” Miles acknowledged
our injured friend.

Broden
high-fived Miles ritually, but no one seemed to care about his clothes. The twins didn’t react, and I had to remind myself that Broden had been a military student only three years ago, before I became his friend. The twins had seen him in the uniform before.

I couldn’t stop staring at the green clothes.
It was as if I was staring into his previous life, the one I had ignored upon getting to know him. When I met him, he was studying biology, and he laughed more than anyone I knew. Now that he was in military clothes, it was weird to see him laugh.

“So, what’s going on?” Broden asked.

Lily twirled around in her gray skirt. “I’m setting Sophia up with the most promising political student in the State.”

Broden’s eyebrows rose, and his stitched brow burned
red. “Really?” Broden looked at me, but I averted my eyes. “And who would this be?”

Miles shook his head
. “Some jerk from Phoenix.”

“The Phoenix Region
?” Broden laughed. “You mean, jailbreaks?”

Mil
es threw his hands into the air. “That’s what I said,” he seconded. “The guy is a jailbreak.” The slang referred to the rare criminals who were released on good behavior. Almost every one of them was sent back within a year. It was that reason everyone looked down on them.

“He can’t help t
hat he’s from Phoenix,” Lily argued, grabbing my arm to pull me next to her. “He’s a great guy. We’ll show them.”

“I’m sure you will,” Broden
continued to chuckle, but he ended the conversation. He gestured to Miles, and the childhood friends walked a few yards away to talk.

Being ost
racized was something I was accustomed to. Even though I knew Broden for two years, the twins had known him since childhood. Miles was the only reason I met Broden, and he had only introduced us in the hopes of making Broden more comfortable with transferring from the military school. Like jailbreaks, most students ignored those who had been military students. It was one of the reasons I thought the kids always ended up getting in trouble again. No one even tried to help them.

“Sophia,” Lily spoke up, bouncing in front of me. “Are you even listening?”

I nodded at the thin girl as she began chattering again, but my eyes fluttered to the guys every few seconds. Broden’s face lowered, his lips moving quickly as he spoke to the curly-haired boy. Miles was frozen, petrified even, and his tan skin had paled.

Even then,
Broden didn’t seem to be comforting his disheveled friend. Instead, he was causing it. Whatever he was saying wasn’t good news. Lily’s voice might as well have been further away than the conversation I couldn’t even hear. Whatever the boys were talking about was something Broden didn’t want us to hear. Not yet, anyway.

“We should go,”
I interrupted Lily and ignored her chirps of complaints as I dragged her toward them.

She stumbled behind me, and Broden’s eyes flickered to mine as I neared
. Before we got too close, Broden muttered one last thing, and both of them straightened up.

“How’s the blind
date going?” Broden asked with only a hint of annoyance in his tone.

Miles a
voided my eye contact as he touched Lily’s arm, “We need to go home.”

“See you guys tomorrow,”
Lily dismissed, completely accepting her brother’s shaken demeanor.

I waved, and the two walked off without ever looking back. The hot air couldn’t have been more suffocating. My bag couldn’t have felt heavier.

“What were you two talking about?” I asked, adjusting my backpack.

Broden
rolled up his sage sleeves to reveal his splinted hand. “Nothing.” His forehead was sweating, and he touched his torn brow as if the salt bothered his stitches.

I glared
at the school grounds. Everything burned under the summer sunlight. The redbrick buildings. The trees. The bushes. The dying grass. The cracked sidewalk. It was all so hot, and I couldn’t help but anticipate autumn.

Broden spoke up, “Thank you for helping me the other night.”

In one gesture, I pulled a small bag out of my backpack and threw it at him. It was full of food, water, and the knife he had asked for. I hated it, but I did it because I held onto one hope, “Are you out of trouble now?” I asked.

Broden’s lips b
ent into a frown. “I don’t know. I—” he paused. “Miles,” he stopped again.

“What were you two talking about?” I repeated
. I wasn’t one to play games. “Just tell me.”

Broden glanced at his watch. “I,” he began slowly, and then
, he changed the subject. “Lyn drove you to the hospital that night, right? After curfew?”

My heart lunged into my throat. “What’s this about, Broden?”

He sighed, shifting his weight around. He did this every time he said something I didn’t like to hear.

His eyes darkened as he spoke,
“I need to go tonight.”

“After curfew?”

“Do you think she’d drive me?” His question told me that my guess was right.

“Where?” I asked.

“The forest by the lumberyard.”

“No,” I answered,
and Broden’s gaze dropped to the ground in defeat before I finished my sentence, “but I can.” And I would if it meant I could understand my friends. “And you’re telling me everything.”