Behind the Dextros Gates

Chapter 6: The Warning

Tasha

By the next morning, Tasha had almost convinced herself that Dextros wasn't as strange as everyone kept making it seem.

Almost.

She stood in front of her locker, trying to force a textbook into a space that was clearly too small for it.

"Come on..."

The book refused to cooperate.

Tasha pushed harder.

It finally slipped inside.

She smiled.

"Victory."

"You're celebrating putting a book in a locker?"

Tasha turned.

Maya stood beside her, holding two books against her chest.

"Yes."

Maya laughed.

"You're weird."

"You've known me for three days."

"Three days is enough."

Tasha rolled her eyes and closed the locker.

For a few seconds, everything felt normal.

Students moved through the hallway, talking about assignments and teachers. Someone was complaining loudly about an upcoming test. Two girls were laughing near the staircase.

Just school.

Nothing mysterious.

Nothing dangerous.

Nothing like the stories Maya had told her about the factions.

Tasha adjusted the strap of her bag.

"So what's first?"

"Math."

Tasha groaned.

"Never mind. Dextros is terrible."

Maya laughed again.

They started walking.

Tasha had taken only a few steps when something caught her eye.

A small silver object sat on the floor near her locker.

She stopped.

"What?"

Maya turned.

Tasha bent down and picked it up.

It was a small metal token.

A wolf had been engraved into it.

Tasha stared at it.

Something about it felt familiar.

Not because she'd seen it before.

Because she'd heard about it.

Maya noticed her expression.

"What is that?"

"I don't know."

Tasha turned the token over.

Nothing.

No name.

No initials.

Nothing that could tell her where it came from.

Maya reached for it.

The moment she saw the wolf, she stopped.

Her expression changed.

"Tasha..."

"What?"

Maya looked around before lowering her voice.

"Where did you get that?"

"It was on the floor."

Maya took it carefully.

Her thumb moved over the engraving.

"Have you seen this before?" Tasha asked.

Maya didn't answer immediately.

She looked at the wolf again.

Then back at Tasha.

"Yes."

"Where?"

Maya hesitated.

"I've seen that symbol around school."

Tasha waited.

Maya sighed.

"It's connected to the Silver Wolves."

Tasha's eyebrows lifted.

"Alex's faction?"

Maya nodded.

Tasha looked at the token again.

"Do you think it's his?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think he left it?"

"I said I don't know."

Tasha smiled slightly.

"You really hate answering questions."

"I hate answering questions when the answer could get you into trouble."

Tasha slipped the token into her pocket.

"I'm not doing anything."

"That's what worries me."

Tasha frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Maya stopped walking.

"It means sometimes you don't have to do anything."

She looked directly at Tasha.

"People can decide things for you."

Tasha didn't like the sound of that.

Before she could respond, the bell rang.

Maya sighed.

"Come on."

They hurried toward class.

But Tasha couldn't stop thinking about the silver wolf in her pocket.

---

Tasha

By lunchtime, Tasha had mostly forgotten about it.

Mostly.

She sat across from Maya in the cafeteria, picking at her food while Maya complained about their mathematics teacher.

"I swear she enjoys giving homework."

"Maybe she thinks we're secretly unemployed."

Maya laughed.

"Exactly."

Tasha smiled.

Her phone vibrated.

She pulled it from her pocket.

Michael.

Her expression softened immediately.

> Morning, genius.

Tasha smiled.

She typed back.

> Morning.

His reply came quickly.

> How's Dextros today?

She looked around the cafeteria.

Hundreds of students.

Different uniforms.

Different groups.

Different conversations.

Then her fingers touched the token in her pocket.

She typed:

> Normal. I think.

Michael replied:

> You don't sound convinced.

Tasha laughed under her breath.

> I'm fine.

A moment later:

> Good. Don't let that fancy school change you.

She smiled.

> Never.

Maya watched her.

"Michael?"

Tasha looked up.

"Yeah."

"You smile differently when you talk to him."

Tasha's smile grew.

"Because he's Michael."

Maya nodded knowingly.

"Fair."

Tasha put her phone away.

For a moment, she felt completely comfortable.

She had Maya.

She had Michael.

She had her family waiting for her at home.

Maybe she didn't need to understand everything about Dextros yet.

Maybe she could just take it one day at a time.

Then someone walked past their table.

A familiar voice followed.

"Still surviving?"

Tasha looked up.

James.

He didn't stop.

He simply continued walking with the other Black Fangs members.

Tasha watched him for a second.

Maya noticed.

"Don't."

Tasha looked at her.

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to."

Tasha laughed.

"He's annoying."

"That's not what your face said."

"My face says many things."

Maya shook her head.

Tasha looked back toward the table.

James was already gone.

She wasn't sure why she'd watched him leave.

And that bothered her more than it should have.

---

James

James didn't look back.

He wanted to.

He didn't.

That was the difference.

He sat at the Black Fangs table, listening to Leo complain about a teacher while Adrian discussed an upcoming meeting.

James barely heard either of them.

His eyes drifted across the cafeteria.

Tasha was still sitting with Maya.

She was laughing about something.

Then she looked down at her phone.

The smile that appeared on her face was different from the one she'd given him.

Softer.

James noticed.

He shouldn't have.

He looked away.

"You're quiet."

James glanced at Adrian.

"I'm listening."

"You're staring."

"I'm not."

Adrian's mouth twitched.

"I didn't say who you were staring at."

James gave him a cold look.

"Do you want to keep talking?"

"No."

"Good."

Adrian smiled.

James returned his attention to the table.

But his thoughts betrayed him.

He didn't understand why he noticed Tasha so easily.

She wasn't trying to impress anyone.

She didn't seem interested in the things most students at Dextros cared about.

She wasn't intimidated by him.

And for some reason, that stayed with him.

He didn't like it.

He especially didn't like that he was beginning to wonder what she would do next.

---

Tasha

School ended later than Tasha expected.

By the time she reached her locker, most of the hallway had emptied.

She opened it and began collecting her books.

Something fell.

A folded piece of paper.

Tasha froze.

She looked around.

Nobody.

Slowly, she picked it up.

There was no name on it.

She unfolded it.

Four words.

You should know who your friends are.

Tasha stared at the sentence.

Her heartbeat quickened.

She read it again.

Then she looked down at the silver token in her hand.

The wolf.

The note.

The warning.

She suddenly became aware of how quiet the hallway was.

Someone had been inside her locker.

Someone had known exactly where to find her.

Tasha folded the note and slipped it into her bag.

She closed the locker.

Then she heard footsteps.

She turned.

Alex stood at the far end of the hallway.

He wasn't looking at her.

He was talking to one of the Silver Wolves.

Tasha stared at him.

Could he have left the token?

Could he have written the note?

Alex looked up.

Their eyes met.

For one long second, neither of them moved.

Then Alex's gaze dropped briefly toward the bag hanging from Tasha's shoulder.

Tasha's fingers tightened around the strap.

Alex looked away.

He said something to the student beside him.

Then he walked in the opposite direction.

Tasha watched him disappear around the corner.

Her phone buzzed.

A message from Michael.

> I'm outside.

She smiled faintly.

But this time, the smile didn't completely erase the uneasiness in her chest.

She looked down at her bag.

At the note hidden inside.

Then toward the hallway where Alex had disappeared.

For the first time, Tasha wondered if the warning wasn't about who her friends were.

Maybe it was about who she was starting to trust.