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"Dakota has this idea on how to get back at Pierson." Heath announced.

"Oh, don't give me all the credit. It's more so your idea." Dakota rectified.

"Can someone tell me the idea is already? I can't tolerate this whole back and forth thing much longer," I blurted. "It's getting annoying."

It was too early in the morning for me to have enough patients for this. I hadn't consumed any caffeine and I'd only pushed around the food on my plate, hardly eating it at all. I wasn't in the mood for the lack of answers I was getting.

Heath leered forward with his elbows propped up on the dinner table. "We've been trying to brainstorm ways to crack that cult of theirs at Crescent High. I don't know what's going on with them, but a few of my buddies have our suspicions. We just need someone to get close enough into the group."

"And what? Get myself killed while trying? No thank you," I huffed. "I'm not interested in being your little spy."

"There's no risk in you getting killed. They aren't involved in anything illegal." Dakota said. "There's a few strange incidences we want explanations to. Some of it even links back to what Diana was getting herself involved in."

"That same exact summer Diana died," Dion said, "Heath's sister, Sherri, went missing. No one knows where she is. She was the same age Diana was. She hasn't come back home since."

"I'm sorry for your loss." I sincerely told him. "What happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Silvia." He fell back in his seat. "She was hanging around the crew before Pierson's. There was a guy named Chase that pulled the strings at Crescent High. He kind of tugged both of the girls into the group somehow. He was a senior last year. He's graduated and goes to UCLA now."

That name rang a bell.

"She hung around a guy named Chase. They seemed pretty close before she passed. He's one of my brother's friends."

Beth was the one who had told be about Chase weeks ago in the hallways. This was the same conversation where she'd told me about Dakota's dead sister.

Beth didn't know why Heath and Dakota got along, but I could see why they did now. That same summer, they'd both lost their little sister. I could see in their eyes that they empathized with each other during that time. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the cause of their friendship, wanting to get back at Pierson and his friends for whatever they did to their sisters.

"If I did agree on helping...not saying that I do! But if I did, what is it you want me to do exactly?" I rushed to ask.

"We were going to somehow get Carmen or maybe your friend Beth to help," Heath said. "But since Carmen isn't really a reliable person, we can't use her. Also, since Dakota told me about how Beth isn't your friend anymore, we can't use her either. I think we should use you as the seductive bate."

"No." Dakota protested. "Not happening. He's not getting a finger on her."

"It's just flirting." Heath supplied. "They can both keep their clothes on."

"Fuck no." Dakota snapped, wrapping a hand around my waist. "I don't like the sound of this idea."

"I agree with Dakota here." I nodded. "I don't have any interest in flirting with Pierson."

"I'm not asking you to give him a lap dance, princess," Heath puffed. "I'm just saying entertain the guy enough so we can try and take is phone or maybe even bug his laptop."

"What do you know about bugging a laptop?"

He lowered his brows at me, amused. "Silvia, I break down firewalls for websites for fun during my freshman year. I can definitely bug a laptop or a phone without breaking a sweat."

"What the purpose behind bugging his laptop?"

"By doing that, I can easily access his activities, maybe look at old emails to see if there are clues or hints, and also I can activate the webcam."

"Ew, you want to watch him? That's creepy."

He rolled his eyes. "It's not in a sexual, peeping tom kind of way. If you feel so uncomfortable with me watching him alone, then we can all look over the recordings of him as a group. Does that sound better?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I feel kind of wrong, invading his privacy and all. But if it's just a onetime thing, I think I'll be fine with it."

"Oh, no." Dion shook his head and took his plate into the sink. "The plan these two constructed requires the female bait to interact with Pierson for a long period time, slowly uncovering information with time. It's a full-time job."

"Also you'd have to break-off whatever you and Dakota are doing," Heath went on to say, winning a glare from Dakota. "It's nothing personal, man. I'm just saying keep it down-low and don't have Pierson know about it. Maybe even make it seem like you guys aren't even cool with each other anyone when you're on school grounds."

"That's a good idea," Dion agreed.

Why was Dion even involved in this? Wasn't he supposed to be the mature one in the equation and tell them not to bug some jocks laptop? He really sucked at being the adult here.

"You don't have to do it though," Dakota reminded me. "No one is pressuring you."

"But it would be very, very thoughtful of you if do this." Heath added on. "It's practically been eating me alive, not knowing where Sherri is the worst part."

Three sets of eyes were staring back at me now, not including Ophelia. She was currently knocked out in her highchair, with saliva dribbling down her tiny chin. I wished I was her instead. She didn't have any problems to face, unlike me.

"I'll help. I already told Kota I'd try to help anyways." I tapped Dakota's knee, but he pushed it off. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't ask you to sell your body for me." He spat out and walked out the room. Everyone looked at him as he stormed right out of the house. Reluctantly, I trailed after him.

"That's a real nice way to say thank you." I sneered and hugged myself against the cold morning air. "You know, this is partly for you, too. Don't you want to know what happened to Diana?"

"Of course, I do. That's not even up for debate if I want to know or not." He swirled around and stopped a few feet ahead of me on the dirt path toward the black, creaking gate that enclosed his house. "Simply because I want to know doesn't mean I want to deal with seeing you walking around with Pierson like..."

"Like what? Like I'm dating him? Why would you care, Kota? You're not involved with me. Hell, you're not involved with anyone from what you keep telling people."

"I don't want you being a part of this plan." He confessed. "You're not flirt with him or date him, Silvia."

"Or what?" I challenged, pouting my lips in a mocking way. I used a teasing voice, almost taunting him for what he was telling me. "Are you going to get mad? Are you going beat him up if I flirt with me? Guess what? You don't own me, and if I want to be a part of this plan, then I'm allowed to join. I'm not yours, Kota. I'm not even your girlfriend."

"You...you're not my girlfriend." He repeated my words. His hiked up shoulders relaxed and he took a step closer to me. "But you are the first girl I've cared about in a long time. Isn't that enough for you to not want to do this? It's going to kill me if I see you with him. We just started figuring out what... 'this' is."

He was so full of BS. None of what he said rang true to me. He just didn't like sharing what wasn't his. I didn't believe a word he said.

Unfolded my crossed arms and walked up to him, I squinted at him because of the blinding sun over our heads. "You don't need to feel threatened by him."

He scoffed. "I'm the least bit threatened."

I rolled my eyes. It was clear that he was. Just to be safe, I added: "I'm not in to him, Kota."

"Do you find him attractive?" His voice was lower than a whisper this time.

I shrugged. "I find Freddie Highmore sexy. My view on men is very skewed."

He shut his eyes, not seeing the humor in my joke. "Answer the question, Silvia."

"Why does it matter if I find him attractive or not? It doesn't change how I feel about you."

Blue eyes stabbed into me. "Answer the damn question Silvia. Stop avoiding the question!" He yelled.

"I'm not avoiding it!" I matched his scream. "I don't find him attractive."

"You're lying. Be honest, Silvia."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I snarled. "I am being honest."

"No, you aren't."

"Yes, I am. I have feelings for you, Kota. I want to be with you. Only you."

"Why can't you just be honest with me, Silvia?" he shouted.

"You know what? I don't need this. I don't need you!" I forced a laugh and turned back to the house. "I was nice enough to offer my help, but you always find a way to piss me in the end. Even when I'm on your side."

I managed to get upstairs and back to the spare room I'd been in this morning without him saying anything back to me. Grabbing my things, I started picking them up off the floor and on to the bed. The bedroom door shut behind me. I heard the clicking sound of the lock.

"Get out, Kota. I need to get dressed."

He pressed his back against the door frame. Nothing about his frozen stance told me he was going to move any time soon. "We should talk about this before you run off."

"That's what we were doing in your front lawn, we were talking."

"No, we were yelling."

"Same thing." I grumbled.

"Not even close."

"Either way, you weren't listening to me at all."

"I'll listen now."

I exhaled. "Give up, Kota. I mean, who are we honestly fooling? I don't even think I can do this much longer."

"What are you talking about now?" He peeled his back off the door frame and gaited to my side, sitting down on the unmade bed. "Are you talk about Heath's plan?"

I stopped reaching for my clothes and inhaled, knowing what I was about to say was going to hurt me than it was going to hurt him. "I'm talking about us."

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a/n: this is how i see dakota; this is the guy on the cover: maria casals

i don't mind if you decided to picture him differently.

yes, THREE pictures were necessary. and yes, i did edit the blue eyes in. sue me.

Song: Genghis Khan by Miike Snow [ song above ]

Lyrics:

❝I don't want you to get it on with nobody else but me.❞

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