Exam week passed in the blink of an eye and before any of them knew it the time had come to leave for the semester break. Nina and Julia were in their room packing up their things to head out when Amy came to the door. “Hey are you almost ready in there?” Amy asked through the closed door.
Nina went over and opened it. “Yeah, just finishing up. What’s the hurry though? Our train doesn’t leave for another couple of hours.”
Amy just chuckled. “I actually finished before you and I wanted to be the one hurrying you up for once?”
Nina just shook her head and laughed. “Mark it down then, it probably won’t happen again,” she said as she put the last thing into her bag and closed it up. Picking up her bag and starting to leave, Nina waved good-bye to Julia. “I’ll see you in two weeks, take care.”
Julia smiled and waved back. “You too Nina.”
Amy and Nina left the dormitories and started walking towards the train station. They were in no particular rush and Amy took this time to finally talk to her sister. Things had been so busy they really hadn’t talked in awhile. “Nina, can I ask you something?” Amy asked as they walked.
“Sure, what’s on your mind?” Nina replied looking over at Amy curiously.
“Has everything been alright? I mean, there’s been so much that’s happened since we got to the Academy. I’m just worried about you, I know there’s been a lot of people that have given you grief because of the attention you’re getting and then to have someone try to kidnap you… I don’t know…” Amy sighed. “I just haven’t really gotten to see you that often and well, I can’t help but to worry about you I guess.”
It was rare to see Amy like this, especially when it came to her so Nina wasn’t really sure what to say. “Why worry? I mean you can see I’m fine. Besides, I’m used to people either liking me or hating me. If I cared I’d honestly be more like you and well we know I’m not… I’ve never had a lot of friends and I’m perfectly fine with that.”
Amy sighed. “I know, I guess I just hoped that would change a little once we left Resembool.”
“Well it has, I do have a boyfriend now… does that help you feel better?” Nina replied with a laugh.
“A little but I don’t know, I get a weird feeling about him. The more I see of Adrienne the more I’m not sure he’s exactly right for you.”
Nina looked at her confused. “What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know; just call it a gut feeling I guess. I just get the feeling that there’s something not exactly right about him, that he’s not normal.”
Nina’s breath caught in her chest. She was pretty sure that Amy didn’t know about Adrienne’s secret but damn, why did she have to say that? She had to think about this carefully before she responded. “I admit, there are times when it surprises me that he doesn’t know about certain things, but that’s only because he was pretty much kept at home until about a year ago. He was pretty sick as a kid and Dr. Rothstein was just trying to be protective…”
Amy shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it but then it’s probably nothing. I mean, it’s probably just me being jealous that someone might actually be able to take my sister away.”
Nina stopped and just looked at Amy. “Take me away? Amy… I’m not going anywhere and you’re my sister, we may not always get along but no one’s going to take me anywhere, especially if it means I don’t get to see you again.”
“I’m not sure that’s really it either. I mean there is that, but it also feels like, well recently it’s felt like you’re somewhere I can’t reach. It’s like you’ve moved onto another part of life that I can’t follow you to. Something’s changed about you Nina and I can’t put my finger on it. I just don’t want to be left behind anymore than I guess I already have been.”
Tears started to stream down from Nina’s eyes as she dropped her bag and reached out and hugged her sister. It really was naïve of her to think she could keep anything a secret from Amy; that she wouldn’t know something was up. She knew she couldn’t tell Amy about Adrienne, but maybe it was time for her to let Amy in on her other secret. Who knows, maybe Amy could lend a new perspective to the problem. “Look, when we get back home I do have something I need to tell you, just not now OK?”
“Something did happen didn’t it?”
Nina let go of Amy and hung her head a bit. “Yeah, but I think it’ll be easier to explain if I wait until we’re home and Mom and Dad can hear it too. Besides, I don’t know if it’s really safe to talk about out in the open like this.”
Amy looked at Nina concerned. “Not safe? Nina, what did you get yourself caught up in?”
Nina waved her hands frantically, her eyes going wide and her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. “No! It’s nothing like that I swear!” She sighed heavily. “It’s not bad it’s just… difficult… Like I said I’ll explain when we get back home OK? I’m not in any danger that I can tell or anything like that.”
Amy eyed her suspiciously but then shrugged it off. She wasn’t going to get anywhere right now and she was pretty sure of it. The rest of the walk to the train station was made in silence. Amy could only wonder what Nina had been keeping secret.
When they arrived at the train station they were still a bit early so they decided to go buy a few things to snack on while they were on the train. It killed enough time that when they returned to the station, the train was at the platform and waiting. Boarding they got settled in for the trip back to Resembool. What they didn’t see was that they weren’t the only ones making the trip back East.
In the next car, Riley Mustang and Austin Havoc watched from their window as Nina and Amy boarded. Riley’s father had given them explicit instructions to watch the twins and nothing more. Breda and Fury unfortunately wouldn’t be able to make this trip with them as they had failed some of their final exams and were being made to take make-up classes during the break. It was alright though, Riley and Austin were pretty sure that they could handle anything that might crop up.
In the car before the one that Nina and Amy had settled in, Adrienne watched the girls board the train as well. He had convinced his father to let him go though it had been quite a fight for his father to allow him to go alone. Adrienne had relentlessly argued with his father until Rothstein couldn’t argue anymore and had finally just given in. He knew that he wouldn’t really be able to spend much time with Nina but that was alright, he just wanted to watch over her. He didn’t trust that she would be safe considering he knew that the MPs and the military wouldn’t be around as heavily as they were in Central. Even that had stopped someone from trying to hurt her so Adrienne knew he had to at least be close by, just in case.
After about fifteen minutes of waiting, the train whistle blew and then the train pulled out of the station. It was finally time to head home.
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