FIFTY - CHRIS

Chris

The remainder of my workday was spent having the sensation that I was wading through syrup.

In the end, I read Kaili's most recent text message and followed her instructions after my phone rang nearly continuously in my back pocket with calls from Camilla. After informing Marcus and Amber that I would be going radio quiet for a bit, I turned off my gadget. However, I did not turn off my device before informing them of my plans.

It seemed like the anticipation was going to kill me, so I wanted to get home as quickly as possible so I could find out why Avery thought it was more important for her to make her way to my apartment rather than going to school.

At some point about three in the afternoon, Marcus advised me, "You ought to go home." "You're way too distracted to do anything that would be useful right now."

"Are you sure?"

We were standing in the main office, and Marcus and Amber were looking at me with sympathetic expressions on their faces as they watched me.

Marcus wrapp