It has been four months since Skylar saved Mckenzie from the SHAP. As she nears summer, she looks forward to having no school, no responsibilities, just fun in the sun. But that all changes on the last day of school, someone has put a 85 million dollar reward on Skylar and McKenzie. Dead or alive. Now it seems that everyone is after her and they have no choice but to go into hiding, in a little town called Someweare.
I stayed up the rest of the night, people kept checking on me, making sure I was okay. I spent the night looking around my "new room" or at least that's what I thought it was. It was huge, bigger than mine at home. It had a walk in closet, as well as a dresser, which was also a vanity. It had two six foot book shelves, both of them were halfway full. If I was supposed to stay here, I was going to fill both of these bookshelves. It also had huge window on one side of the room. It was four feet tall, and three feet wide, it opened like a door, and right in front of the window was a window seat. I smiled and declared in my head that this was going to be one of my reading spots. I opened the window and took a deep breath. One thing was for sure, my life wasn't going to be the same, at least for the summer, I hoped. I looked in the closet and saw a few dresses and shoes, was someone already using this house before us? I saw a box in a back corner, I grabbed the box and set it down on a trunk which was on the foot of my bed. I left the closet light on so I could see. I opened the small cardboard box and saw a photo album, a picture frame, there was a small teddy bear. The teddy bear was torn up, it was old, and it looked like a small handful of threads were keeping it together. I heard a knock on my door I closed the box and put it back in the closet.
"I told you I don't want to talk to you!"
"Skylar?"
I froze and in a split second I sprinted toward the door and swung it open. It was McKenzie I gave her a hug, trying so hard not to break down in tears.
"I was so worried." I said.
"I know I'm sorry, we had a flat on our way here, and none of them knew how to fix it. They didn't want me to help and after an hour and a half of convincing they finally let me change the flat tire."
"What time is it?"
"It's six fifteen in the morning." McKenzie answered.
"Did you get any sleep?" I asked.
"Did you?"
I didn't answer that question. But I did have plenty other questions, I pulled McKenzie in my room and closed the door behind us. She looked around, and threw herself on the bed.
"You look pretty tired, why don't you sleep?"
"I'm not batting an eye until they tell us everything we need to know."
"Do you know about the contract?" I asked.
"Yes, but they haven't told us what it is we're planning on doing this summer. This isn't fair, we were supposed to go to the academy. We are supposed to graduate this year. What if they don't catch him before the summer ends? What if it stays like this for years? You're turning eighteen this summer Skylar! Don't you want to spend it with your family?"
"Don't throw my birthday into this!" I snapped. "I don't want to talk about that. But to answer your question, yes I do want to spend it with my family, but for what it's worth, I'm happy to spend it with you."
"I'm flattered." she said flatly.
I rolled my eyes.
"But you're right, we should know what to do before they leave. Since we're under this protection, we got to have different names right? Like different identities? So what are our different identities? Do we have to change our looks too? If this continues on in the school year, what school should we go to? We can't go to the academy, someone will recognize us."
"All this thinking is making my head hurt," McKenzie said. "Do you want to go downstairs to get some coffee?"
"There's a second floor in this house?"
"You're IN the second floor." McKenzie said concerned. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." I lied. "They didn't want to wake me up so I woke up in this room and haven't left yet."
McKenzie nodded.
"Alright." She said. "Well, follow me I'm hungry."
Skylar followed McKenzie downstairs into the kitchen, she made her way to the pantry, and found the coffee grounds, in ten minutes the coffee pot was halfway done brewing. And McKenzie was almost done eating an entire box of Goldfish. In an hour everyone started to wake up, and they were thrilled that there was coffee already made. Of course few people few that McKenzie made it for herself, and for me. But it was okay that the other agents drank the rest what was left in the pot. If they didn't I would probably drink the whole pot and live the rest of my day as a ball of anxiety. Coffee makes me super anxious if I drink too much. When everyone was awake, the Director called me and McKenzie in the back porch. He sat us down in the firepit.
"Stay over there, I'll be right back."
We spent the few moments looking at each other wondering what was going on. He came back with two Starbucks drinks, and two bags of Chick-Fil-A. I smiled ear to ear, to say I was hungry was an understatement. I was about to say thank you but all I heard was McKenzie screaming.
"FOOOD!!!!!!" She smiled to, and almost did a little dance in the chair she was sitting in. She set her box of Goldfish down and accepted the bag of Chick-Fil-A. She opened it and smiled. I smiled as I accepted the drink and food as well, took a sip and felt the sweet sensation of Starbucks.
"Thank you." I said.
Then I saw two adults walk this way, it was Chris and Claire. I frowned, I knew where this conversation was going. He sighed as, the two adults sat next to him, McKenzie looked up from her food bag and her smile wiped out.
"We need to talk about what's going to happen." the Director said.
"Is that why we got this food?" I asked.
He didn't answer me. I closed my bag and set it down next to me.
"Skylar already knows that Chris and Claire will be taking care of you two until we catch this person who placed the contract. What you guys should know is your cover."
I crossed my arms feeling the caffeine in me bounce around in me like a rocket.
"Our cover?"
"Yes, your cover, your security blanket. It's to protect you."
"What is our cover?" McKenzie asked.
He sighed and leaned forward in his seat.
"Foster sisters, the cover is you two are foster sisters, and Claire and Chris are your foster parents."
"What are our names?" I asked softly.
"Scarlett and Makayla Gaines." The Director said softly.
"What if someone recognizes us?" McKayla asked. "Both of us were all over the news."
"We have some new glasses for Skylar, and if you're up for it." he sighed. "We have some hairstylists who can completely redo your hair."
"Redo." I repeated. "Like recolor?"
"Exactly."
I took another sip of my drink, feeling my chest tighten.
"So, when you leave, there will be no trace of our existence? No trace of Skylar and McKenzie? Can we even call each other our real names when we're here?" I gestured toward the house.
"I don't think you can." Director said. "We have one small whistle blower, who is more likely to tell your big secret."
"Who?" McKenzie asked.
The backdoor swung open and a small child ran into the backyard and to Claire.
"Mommy I'm hungry."
"I'll be right there Annie. Okay?" Claire answered.
I nodded, finally understanding, little children can't keep secrets. I leaned back in my seat.
"So this is the last day anyone will call me Skylar." I said softly.
McKenzie frowned. "No one will call me McKenzie anymore."
"I'm sorry." the Director said softly. "Really I am, it's for your protection. We have the hair dressers inside the house now if you want to use them. We're leaving in five hours."
Then the Director got up and walked inside the house. Leaving us with our "foster parents."
