My Undercover Life

Episode 28

It’d been four days since the whole killer-finding-about-my-real-identity-mess, and so far, nothing. With my cousins tightening up security and Megan sticking to me like glue, the killer hasn’t left me any messages. No note, letters, or texts. In fact, Bradlee hasn’t even been in school for the past few days. The last time I saw him was when he took care of me, and that was on Monday. And surprisingly Hunter hasn’t been showing up either. It’s like they both disappeared altogether.

The only person that even showed up to school was Ian. He was back to his cheerful, upbeat self, skipping around in hallways, and singing to his hearts content. When he saw me on Tuesday, he practically tackled me in the hallway, screaming about how much he’d missed me. After letting go, he started apologizing like a crazy person for leaving us in the middle of lunch. And since then he hasn’t left my side either.

At first, I was a little bit apprehensive about it, but with my cousins and their fellow agents watching his every move, I knew nothing bad would happen. And so far . . . nothing did. Both Demitri and Skylar were ninety percent positive that the killer wasn’t Ian anymore. Their money was on Hunter, but if they knew that Bradlee whispered my actual name . . . they’ll jump to conclusions and arrest him on the spot.

I knew I was crazy for keeping this information from them, but for some reason I couldn’t say anything. Every time I opened my mouth, my heart would scream at me to stop. Like, it wanted to protect Bradlee in a way. Even though I knew it was wrong, I still couldn’t do it. But it wasn’t like I was going to keep this secret forever. Once the DNA results gets back to the agency next week, they’ll have their conclusion. And if Bradlee’s DNA matches with the DNA found at the crime scene, then I’ll confront him about it. But into then, I’ll keep on hoping—hoping for his sake that he wasn’t the killer.

“Alright, Avery,” Megan said, her voice snapping me back to reality. My lids blinked rapidly when realization hit me—class was starting. “I’ll see you after class.” She gave me a wide smile, pulling me into a quick hug before she rushed off to her first class of the day.
When I saw Skylar in the corner of my eye, mopping some invisible dirt away, I couldn’t help but chuckle quietly before heading inside the classroom.

My eyes widened immediately in surprise when I saw Bradlee sitting in his regular seat all the way in the back lab tables. sU-Cking in a big gulp of air, my smile vanished when I took in his physical state. His arms were covered in white elastic bandages, and from what I could tell, his face took a nasty beating from something or someone.
As I got closer towards him, his wounds became more visible and more prominent. My heart spiraled into a deep abyss when I saw the skin under his right eye in a sickly dark blue color—my heart raged with burning desire to find the person responsible for this.

Feeling a sharp pain shooting up my arms, I looked down to see my knuckles turning white as my nails digged slowly into the palm of my hand—enough to draw blood.

Cursing slightly under my breath, I looked up to see Bradlee glancing at me. His eyes quickly drew towards my hands before looking directly at me. I didn’t have to look twice to know the warmth they once held was gone. Instead they held a deep hatred—as they burned with anger, seething with disappointment, and revenge?
“B-bradlee?” His eyes flashed suddenly, looking like he was about to say something before he decided against it. Shaking his head, he ducked his head down, ignoring me completely.
My jaw dropped, completely shocked. H-h-he ignored me. Did something happened while he was away? Was he taking his anger out of me? Or was that anger in his eyes directed at me? Is that way he’s ignoring me? Because he’s mad? But what did I do . . . ?
“Seems to me he hates you.” Kimberly snickered loudly. Shutting my eyes, I pushed her annoying voice to the back of my mind. Don’t listen to her, Lily—“But then again, I don’t even see how someone like him could even like someone like you.” She chuckled, flipping her long ponytail behind her, her wild hair hitting me square in the face.
Whipping around, my eyes narrowed down in vexation staring down at her stupid face covered in a boat load of makeup. Her lips drew up into a smirk, as she lifted her perfectly shaped eyebrows at me, awaiting my next move.
“Listen here barbie—”
“No,” she snapped, her eyes cutting into slits. “Why don’t you—”
“—How about you both cut it out before I send you both to the office?” Mr. Meyer suggested suddenly, his voice booming with authority.
“But—” Kimberly pouted, glancing at him in horror.

“Enough Kimberly,” Mr. Meyer said before he glanced at me. “Now take your seat Avery. Class is about to start, and I don’t know about you, but I have a lesson to teach.”
“Yes, Mr. Meyer,” we both said simultaneously, before I slowly headed towards my seat. Taking the chair in front of Bradlee, I saw the small flicker of acknowledgement when I took out my notebook from my bag before he went back to staring at his phone.
Groaning in annoyance, I turned my back towards Bradlee, bringing my notebook with me. If he’s giving me the silent treatment, so can I. Let’s see how he likes it.
“Now, since that’s taken care of,” Mr. Meyer announced, eyeing Kimberly and I. “Shall we get started with Protistas?”
“Mr. Meyer,” a student I recognized as Emma called out, raised her hand. Mr. Meyer directed his attention towards her, motioning his hand for her to go on. “Um, when exactly is the midterm for this class?” she asked quietly—softly enough that I almost didn’t hear her.
“Two weeks after you get back from winter break,” he answered her, earning some groans throughout the class. “We’ll do some review before the exam though, but first we have to get through this chapter,” he said before turning on the smartboard. “Can anyone tell me the three subgroups as we wait for this to load?”
“Ah, I know Protozoans is one of them from regular biology class,” Emma answered shyly.
He smiled, praising her on her incredible memory. “Alright, anyone else know the other two?”
“Algaes?” a guy named Brandon guessed.
“Great!” Mr. Meyer smiled widely. “And the last one?”
When no one answered, I raised my hand, hearing a snort from Kimberly. I rolled my eyes at her, calling out, “Slime Molds.”
“That’s correct Avery.” He nodded in satisfaction. “I’m glad some of you are actually retraining the information you learned in middle school.” Once the smartboard loaded up completely, he snatched his clicker off his desk, opening up PowerPoint.
“Now, let’s start diving into the lineages of the first subgroup, algae, a plant like protists. The first lineage is known as Alveolata. Can anyone tell me anything about them?”
Even though I already knew its phylum was Dinoflagellata, I didn’t want to seem like a know-it-all so I decided to stay quiet like the rest of the class. I already had Kimberly hating on me, I didn’t need the rest of the class to join in on her torture.
When no one answered, he flipped towards the slide with the answer. Seeing the word Dinoflagellata underneath Alveolata, I smiled, glad I was correct. As I copied down the slide, he flipped to the next page, going through the different types of photosynthetic pigments, and how algaes are being distinguished by their pigment color. Once he started talking about the different colored chlorophyll each algae could have, I started zoning out, listening to the rapid scribbling my classmates were making, as they took notes.

It wasn’t until half past eight when someone decided to text me, as I felt the vibration in my blazer’s pocket. Making sure to hide my phone under my notebook, I quickly typed in my password to see a text message from Ian saying he’ll meet me after class in five minutes.
Grinning happily, I texted him back quickly, before stuffing my phone back inside my pocket.
“Alright guys, since there’s only a few minutes of class—” the teacher started saying before we heard a loud crash, drowning the rest of Mr. Meyer’s sentence out. Cranking my neck around I saw Bradlee with his backpack swung over his shoulder, and his chair knocked over on the floor. His face was blanked with emotions, as he looked at no one in particular. Glancing closely at his face, his eyes were fuel with hatred—his once light blue eyes flashing black.
“Bradlee, class isn’t over yet, could you please take a seat—” Mr. Meyer started out saying before Bradlee completely ignored his orders and headed straight for the door, brushing past me, as he hit me square in the shoulders.

Chewing on my bottom lip, I stared blankly at the space he was just in moments before. Holding back my tears, I held my emotions in check. I couldn’t, and wouldn’t cry. So what if he practically ignored me? So what if he practically started being cold to me for no apparent reason? It’s not like he meant anything to me! He’s just a suspect! Nothing more, nothing less! B-but then why do I want to cry so badly? Why is he effecting me this much?!
“Bradlee?!” our teacher continued talking, trying to get his attention. “Are you even listening to me? Bradlee—” he yelled before I heard a loud slam, cutting off Mr. Meyer’s efforts in getting him to stay. “What in the world happened to that boy?” I heard him ask. Turning around, I saw Mr. Meyer shaking his head in disappointment, looking directly at the now closed door.

“I heard he got arrested again,” someone whispered, piquing my interest. My eyes flashed towards the direction of that voice. Seeing Kasey, I sneered, already hating him.
“Yeah,” someone piped in. “I also heard he got into a fight with some gang member downtown, and that’s how he ended up in the hospital looking like that.”
“Yeah, right.” Kimberly laughed. “My Bradlee isn’t the type of person to fight like that!”
“Your Bradlee?” Kasey chuckled throwing his head back in laughter. “That guy is a f—–g joke! He’s lucky he’s Hunter’s twin, otherwise he wouldn’t have lasted this long. The guy’s practically a mute and a freaking freak at that!”
“Shut up!” I barked, drawing the attention of everyone in the classroom, cutting off whatever Mr. Meyer was going to say next. “Don’t you dare talk about him like that!” My voice echoed off the walls, as I stomped my way towards him. “You know nothing about him!”
He raised a brow. “And you do?”
“More than you!” I yelled back, jabbing his chest. He eyed me angrily, looking like he wanted to slap me. “So, do yourself a favor and stop making up lies about Bradlee!”
He laughed. “You do realize that guy once got arrested for beating up an innocent kid for no apparent reason right? That guy is the bad guy. I don’t need to make up lies when they’re true.”
“No, they’re not!”
“Why don’t you tell that to the kid he’d beat up last year then?”
I shook my head, not believing his lies. “There has to be a reason why—”
“—There isn’t. The kid just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And Bradlee decided to take his anger out on him.” Kasey’s green eyes darkened with fury. “If I were you, I’ll stay away from him. Sooner or later, he’ll turn on you.”
“No!” I screeched out, pushing past him.I had enough of him and his lies. “You’re wrong!” Grabbing my bag, I ran after Bradlee, racing down the hallway. There’s no way he’s right! No. F—–g. Way. Bradlee would never do that. There must be a reason why. Something must’ve happened this past week to make him this enraged. He’s not the type to act irrationally like that. Whatever happened must’ve been really bad to make him so distant, so cold like that.
Hearing rapid footsteps behind me, I looked back to see Skylar keeping up with me as he dragged his mop behind him. He paused, making sure to keep a safe distance from me. Keeping his head down, he busied himself, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
Seeing no signs of Bradlee, I was about to give up when I saw Hunter walking down the staircase, looking completely drained. He looked just as bad as Bradlee—well minus the black eye and bandages.
My smile widened, seeing him. Maybe he’ll know. “Hunter!”
His head snapped up seeing me. “Avery, why are—”
“—What happened to Bradlee?” I asked, cutting straight to the point.

He looked bewildered. “What?”
“What happened to Bradlee?” I repeated. “Why is he so cold? And what the hell happened to his face and arms?!”
His face paled. “I, ah, I don’t think I can—”
“—Cut the excuses,” I interrupted his blabbing. “Just tell me, Hunter.” When it didn’t look like he going to say anything, I pressed on. “Please, Hunter,” I begged, grabbing onto his arm. He looked down, scratching the back of his head, looking conflicted. “I need to know why he’s being so distant suddenly, please,” I whispered softly.
He sighed after a few moments of hesitation. “Alright, fine.” Taking a few steps towards me, he eyed me carefully before he started talking again. “All I know is that my siblings decided to take a little trip down to Pennsylvania—something about finding some people, and well . . . they ran into some problems, and Bradlee was badly injured and was thrown in jail as a result. Since my parents were away, we couldn’t bail him out until they came back from their business trip, so he was stuck in Pennsylvania for a few days.”
“So, that’s the reason why you guys were gone all week?”
He nodded. “Pretty much.”
“And you have no idea why he’s like that?”
He shook his head dejectedly. “No, but I don’t think it was the trip that cause his anger. He was already like this before he left.”

My eyes widened. Could it be? Could his anger really be directed at me then? “W-what?”
“He was like that on Monday, before he left,” Hunter repeated, confirming my fears.
“M-monday?”
“Yeah, Monday. It wasn’t nearly as bad, but he was still pretty livid,” he explained before grasping my shoulder. I automatically shut my eyes, awaiting an impact, but when nothing came, I opened my eyes to see Hunter smiling softly at me with those chocolate brown eyes of his. “Anyways for now, it would be best to just stay clear of him. I’ll see if I can talk some sense into him.”
I returned his smile with one of my own. “Thanks Hunter, for everything.”
“No problem.” He laughed. “I’ll see you at lunch.” He patted my shoulder before stuffing his hands inside his pockets.

Once he left, the smile dropped from my face. Could Bradlee really be incensed at me? Maybe he’s mad at the fact that I lied to him? Or maybe he’s mad because I—
I let out a yelp, jumping nearly two feet in the air when the vibrations from my blazer’s pocket scared the living daylights out of me. Breathing calmly, I took my phone out knowing it was probably Ian or Megan asking where I was. But when I saw the name ‘Unknown’ flashing across the screen, my heart kicked into overdrive, and when I clicked on the message, I almost fainted in fear.
You’re a f—–g liar Lily and I will expose you.

---

A/N: Please don’t forget to leave a comment if you enjoyed the chapter/story so far! I really appreciate it if you do! What exactly do you think happened to Bradlee?! And who’s sending these text messages to Lily? Any guesses?
.