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And it hurts me even more because I know that I can’t help her. Even though I want to help her more than anything in the world.
I know that as long as I am the son of Albert Cunningham, she will never be able to trust me. Every move I make will look like a tactical move to get information out of her.
The truth is, there hadn’t even really been a deal between my father and I. Well, Dad wants there to be. He did allow me to look after her for the sole purpose of getting her comfortable enough to talk to me, so that I could feed any information she gave me straight to him.
At first, I was keen on the idea. Any chance to win his approval was a good chance in my books. But then I met her, and I knew that there was nothing in this world that would make me betray her trust.
So, I called the deal off, even though my father refuses to believe it. And now Emerson probably has the wrong idea about it too. I was just starting to get her to tolerate me, and now Dad had to go and ruin it. Just like he ruins everything.
I don’t even notice I’m clenching my fists until I hear the crinkling of the file in my hands. I have no intention of taking the paper to my mother, at least not straight away.
You never know the information Dad might send someone by paper. Paper is rare these days, so when something needs to be delivered on paper, you know it’s important. Plus, the file says confidential on the front of it. Of course, it’s going to be something of importance.
After taking the dreaded thing called an elevator down to level 110 where my destination lies, I hurry down the hall and take a left. The corridor’s walls are consistently bland the whole way down.
I’m always telling my father that we need to add some colour to this place, to paint the walls, and get an interior designer. All he does is scoff and says he didn’t have the money.
Because, of course, planning world domination to wipe out the human race and create a new race that is completely under his control is so-
“Yo, Jas! Where have you been?” The familiar accented twang of a boy’s voice drags me back to Earth and I turn to see Tyler Dixon’s dark, well built, and unnaturally tall figure striding down the hall towards me.
He’s one of those people who seems to know everyone for seemingly no reason at all. He knows more people in this building than I do, and I’ve lived here for 17 years.
“Nowhere, really. My dad’s making me watch over someone.” I speak. It’s not a complete lie, but the last thing I need is Tyler making something out of nothing.
Tyler eyes me suspiciously and I know I’ve failed. This is why he’s my best friend. He knows me too well to be anything else. “Does this someone happen to be a girl?” he winks, and I shove him in the arm, giving him all the answers he needs. “Jasper…Jasper…Jasper.” He says slowly, grinning as he runs his hands through his dark, curly hair. “You forget that I can read you better than a book.”
I laugh because I know that he actually can’t read properly. It’s a constant joke between us, his inability to read and yet he can read me better than any book. He used to live in Beast Eye, and so he had his education cut short. I don’t know how he got here; he never goes into the details of his past. All I know is that something happened to him years ago, and he hides himself so well behind his confidence that no one would ever even know.
Tyler smirks as he smacks me on the back of the head and clears his throat. “It aint just any girl, is it? You’ve never been assigned to do something like this. Tell me, what’s her name?” I desperately don’t want Tyler to find out about Emerson.
I make the terrible decision to ignore the question and instead, I grip the papers to my side. “Sorry Tyler, I really gotta go. Need to get this paper to Mum, quick smart. You know how she is with stuff, especially this. Honestly, I don’t know what is so important about this new girl. So much fuss.” I’ve messed up. I stumbled over my words. I rambled. I talked too fast. I was too fidgety. I am a mess.
Tyler decides to give me the benefit of the doubt, even though I know he can see straight through me. “Well, why don’t I come with you?” He asks, but it’s not a question. He’s coming whether or not I want him to. “I’ll never miss a chance to watch the Jasper-and-his-mum-arguing-over-everything show.”
I laugh, knowing that it’s true. As much as I try to keep the peace between the two of us, it’s hopeless. We are both passionate people, just like my father, and that passion always gets the better of us. It’s that passion that causes a lot of fights in our family; we are all bushfires waiting to be set alight.
“Plus,” Tyler says, “isn’t your mum’s office the other way?” He’s right, I sigh. I’ve been caught out red handed.
I need to know what’s in the file, but my father will know that something is up if it turns out that Mum never got the paper. “Well, you see,” I lie, “My father wants me to make a copy digitally for him. So, I need to go and photocopy it.”
“Why did he send you to do it? Can’t he just do that himself?” Tyler asks, not buying it.
“He can’t because he’s with Emerson and-” I stop suddenly. How could I be so stupid? I just dropped the name of the one person that I so desperately didn’t want Tyler to know about.
“Aah, that’s her name,” he smirks all knowingly. “She must be important. No one gets to sit in with Al. I’ve hardly even met him, and yet I’ve lived in his house all these years. So, what is the deal with her?”
I’m unsure if he means the deal with her being with my dad, or the deal with me and her. I don’t answer at all, instead I just turn around, knowing that he is going to follow.
As predicted, a few moments later I hear him clear his throat loudly, “hey, Jas?”
“Mm.”
“Why are you really photocopying a confidential file?”
“Because Mum wants it, and Dad wants it and they’re too lazy to just send it to each other digitally.” I laugh, knowing that that is the answer I should be expected to give.
“Right, well I think you should read it.” He has no idea that’s what I plan on doing, and yet he has the same thoughts that I do. At my blank expression, he presses on, “Don’t tell me that you’re not even a little bit curious.”
