Know Your Enemy

3 ~ The Master Thief and the Mastermind

3 ~ The Master Thief and the MastermindExactly two days, six hours and twenty-five minutes had passed since Libby and I went on our adventure, not that I was counting or anything. We hadn’t talked about it since we arrived home that afternoon. However, I could tell Libby was itching to bring it up. Over the past two days she would flash her new make-up at me and wink whenever she could. When I saw her toying with her mosaic necklace in the hall between classes, and saying to one of the girls from her drama class “You’ll never guess where I got it!”, I finally snapped.

Muttering something like, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” I grabbed her arm and physically dragged her around the corner.

“Would you stop that already?!”

“Geez, someone is moody,” she retorted. “What’s up your arse?”

“You keep flaunting that stuff!” I hissed. “It’s stolen property! You really want everyone to find out we committed a crime?”

“You’re just a spoilsport.” She crossed her arms and lifted her eyebrow. “If we were going to get caught, we would have by now. So take a chill pill.”

She had a point. I didn’t expect the police would launch some big investigation over a couple of stolen necklaces and some make-up. But it still made me grind my teeth that she was being so careless about keeping our secret.

“Okay, but just cool it a bit, will you?”

Libby rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue. The bell rang and she quickly hugged me and told me she would meet me after class to go back to mine. It had become a tradition of ours to have a movie session every Friday night.

She disappeared in the crowd of people as they went to their classes. I made my way over to my English class and sat down in my assigned seat, trying my best to ignore Aiden’s smug glances from across the room. As the teacher began discussing what Shakespeare’s message was in Macbeth, I thought about just how wrong Aiden was about me. I might not have been kissed yet, but you couldn’t say I’d gone through my whole life without a thrill.

* * *

Half an hour through watching Paranormal Activity that evening, Libby turned to me. “Don’t make any plans for tomorrow, Sunshine. We’re going burning.”

I tore my eyes from the screen and scrunched my face in confusion. “What?”

“You know, stealing,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing on the planet. “I know you said it was a one-time deal …”

“It was a one-time deal,” I confirmed. “Wait, why are you calling it burning?”

She picked herself up from the floor and reached for her drink. “Well, we’re going to need a code word. We can’t just say we’re going stealing every time, can we, genius? In case a teacher hears or something.”

I gave her an incredulous look. Every time? This wasn’t going to become a habit. Sometimes I really had no idea what went on in her head, but I knew better than to argue with her.

“I guess that makes sense, but why burning?”

Libby placed her drink back on the table and leant against her pillow, settling back into her makeshift bed.

“Because it’s badass, obviously.” She stretched her feet out and snuggled back under the covers. “People will think we’re up to something real kinky.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“I’m just better adapted to the criminal life than you are.”

That’s what we were now, wasn’t it? Criminals. I sighed and settled back down to watch the film, but Libby wasn’t finished trying to persuade me.

“We could try something different, you know.” When I didn’t reply, she turned her head away from the screen and looked at me. “I know you didn’t really enjoy it as much as you thought you would.” She shrugged. “Maybe it just wasn’t much of a challenge for you.”

“What do you mean?”

She grabbed a fistful of popcorn and pushed the bowl towards me. I took a handful and started chewing one piece at a time. Anything to distract myself from really giving what Libby had to say a proper thought.

“You’re a thinker, Nic. You need something that’s going to be a little more difficult,” she said through a mouthful of popcorn. “I’m not saying that you are bad at the actual theft part, but you’re more of the mastermind.”

“Mastermind?” I frowned. This was the second time Libby had used that term. I wasn’t sure where she was going with it because, honestly, I never knew where Libby’s mind would go.

“Yeah, bloody genius isn’t it?” Her eyes lit up and a grin broke across her face. “I figured since we’re the freaking wonder twins, we needed nicknames. Your mutant brain makes you the mastermind and I’m the master thief.”

I laughed so hard that I felt a cramp forming under my ribcage. I didn’t mind it though, at least not always. Sometimes it would be nice if she could be serious, but I guess after panicking during the last few days that someone would find out what we did, it was nice to be able to laugh again.

“You’re such a dork.”

“Says the one who practically hibernates in the library.” She threw a piece of popcorn at me and laughed.

I nibbled on a half-popped kernel as I contemplated what Libby had said. Sure, it was tempting; I wasn’t going to lie about that. There was something addictive about taking whatever you wanted, and Libby was right: my inner nerd enjoyed the mental challenge. However, this was only supposed to be a one-time thing. Aiden’s sly words kept coming back to mind. Maybe the first adventure was to prove him wrong, but this time I needed to do something to prove myself wrong. I needed to know that I was capable of whatever I put my mind to. I needed to feel that spark. Quite simply, I wanted to be bad again.

“So, what do you have in mind?” I sighed.

Libby smiled smugly and tapped the stack of DVDs near her foot. “When was the last time your parents gave you any money for DVDs? Don’t you think it’s time we updated your collection?”