Simi sat on Malachi's bed waiting for him as he accompanied Asha to pick a car back to her place. Her emotions and thoughts were all over the place and she felt as if a thunderstorm was raging in her.

First she'd liked Elder but had never gotten any sign from him that he liked her too.
Then she'd fallen for Peter. Fallen so hard for him that she knew she wasn't over him.

Since they'd found out that he was part of the bad guys and since then, Simi had ignored his calls and texts.
The silent treatment was inhumane but she honestly didn't know what to say to him and didn't want to pretend. Abby hadn't confirmed it was Peter who killed Elder and she was sure it wasn't.

And now Asha and Malachi made her jealous. She'd pretended she was okay with them acting all lovey-dovey in front of her but she wasn't. Simi would never say it aloud but she was jealous of them and whether it was because they were happy or because she liked Malachi, she didn't even know.

I can't like Malachi. Sure he's a sweet guy sometimes but I'd have known if I'd liked him. And he likes flirty girls with innocent looks like Asha.

Simi replayed the morning's events for the third time while lying on Malachi's bed and suddenly sat upright. Something didn't make sense.
Asha hadn't looked very surprised when they had talked about almost finding out who killed Elder in front of her.
Was she pretending? Simi thought.

Whoa, slow down there Nancy Drew, Kai probably filled her in. Another voice in her head chastised her.

Simi closed her eyes tightly and willed herself to stop thinking too much. It was already making her head hurt. She finally decided to leave Malachi's place and get to her room for some sleep when her phone buzzed from the bed.

Warily, she picked it up and it was Julia Benson, Elder's sister. A smile slowly spread on her face and answered the call.
It was as if they hadn't talked to each other in a long time even though Simi had gone to her place not long ago.

While they chatted, the memory of Elder's little brother, Ezekiel pointing at their family portrait gnawed at her.
When Julia suggested she come over the following day for another sleepover since it was a weekend, Simi jumped at the opportunity.
Maybe, I can talk to Ezekiel more. No loose ends.

Immediately she thought that, guilt hit her. Her friend wanted them to spend time together and here she was thinking of using that to talk to her brother.

A loud commotion blasted from the hallway and Simi said to Julia,
"Hey girl, I have to go but I'll call you later."

"Alright. Take care Si."

"You too Jules."

Simi cut the call and opened the door to find out what was going on. She saw two soldiers dressed in black camo dragging two boys down the stairs. When they disappeared from view, she peered over the rail on the corridor and saw Malachi on the other side of the hostel, on Abby's floor. He had an equally confused look.

He turned a few times to look behind him and paused at Abby's door. Simi widened her eyes and shook her head furiously.
Malachi stared at Simi in a staring contest and when he lost, he slumped his shoulders and climbed the staircase. She closed the door when he entered the room and locked it.

"What was that about?" Simi asked him.

"The soldiers? I don't know but those boys must have done something really wrong."

"Yeah," Simi nodded and sat down on.

Malachi's bed. "Are you sure Jamal's safe?"

Malachi smiled, "Very. He and his sisters. I like them." A shadow passed over his face. " We have to figure out what to do with it before they find out it's with us."

He leaned on his study desk and took out his phone. He opened the document containing the List and began scrolling down to where he, Simi and Jamal had reached the last time.
Simi raised her eyebrows at him. "What are you doing?"

"Going through the List," Malachi answered without taking his eyes off his phone screen.

Simi rushed to him and snatched the phone from his hand. "Do you have a death wish?"

"What? I want to see all those we know," Malachi shrugged.

"Oh yeah. Since you can put all of them in jail yourself right?" Simi's voice dripped in sarcasm. "This is dangerous Kai, didn't you hear Abby?"

"So now we believe her? She's a liar Simi," Malachi ran his hand through his afro, forgetting that he'd cut it all away.

"Doesn't change the fact that this is dangerous!" Simi held the phone to him. "Why do you boys always do stuff thinking of yourself?"

Her eyes were beginning to tear up and she furiously wiped it away.

"Si, is everything alright?" Malachi drew closer to her.

"I'm fine, my feelings are just all over-," Simi paused and took a deep breath. "I'm fine Malachi. I'm going for a sleepover at Julia's place tomorrow."

"You never call me Malachi and didn't you girls have one last week or something?"

Simi raised her eyebrows at him again and he immediately raised his hands in surrender and apologized.

"I think we should mail the List to the NSA. So that whether or not Abby was telling the truth, at least we know that they'll do something about it." Simi suggested.

"Okay Si," Malachi said.

"You better not go behind my back again, Kai. I mean it."

Malachi held her hands in his and looked into Simi's eyes. "I won't Si. Trust me."

Simi nodded and took her hands out of his. To Malachi, maybe the hand holding meant nothing but the butterflies in Simi's stomach liked it too much.

Simi searched for her school bag and strapped it to her back. She looked around for her earphones as well.
All the while, Malachi was thinking of how to find out who really killed Elder. His only option was to talk to Abby again. This time maybe more firmly.
Si will gouge your eyes out, a voice in his head told him.

"So I guess I'll see you on Monday?" Simi voice drew him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah," Malachi replied and opened his arms for a hug.

When Simi hugged him, he held on tight and kissed the top of her head. "Take care Si."

The one thing he didn't ever want to think about was now on his mind. He brushed it off because of Asha and pulled out of the hug.
Simi laughed nervously and walked out of the room. As soon as she did, Malachi threw himself on his bed and screamed into his pillow.

Abby watched from her window as Simi walked out of the hostel. She smiled and watched her until Simi disappeared from her view.
Earlier, two soldiers from the NSA had come for two boys in the drug ring. To everyone else, it may have looked like they had stolen something but only Abby knew that it was because of her.

Since she had given the List to her handler, the NSA was secretly arresting all the lower members and non-university members of the Chill Network.
This was to prevent any suspicion amongst the more influential people in the network but the NSA knew that sooner or later they'd notice that their minor distributors were disappearing.

This was why Abby's handler had called her that morning to tell her that they were going in for the big dogs the next day. The news set Abby in anticipation and she couldn't wait for that to happen.

Finally, Forson, de Heer and all the other big guys would be locked away. Including Benson's killer. After that, she'd be free from working undercover and would be able to tell Malachi and Simi who had killed their best friend.

Before, she'd thought they were involved in Benson's death but now she was sure they were just like her and had also lost a close friend.

Discussion Area.

Whoo! A few more chapters to go. Do you have any idea on who El's killer is?
Do you want me to leave a clue? Well, I can say this: the killer's a girl (ha! You knew that already.) *laughs like a maniac*
But for real, thank you so much for sticking with us so far. I really appreciate it and please hang on because the last chapters are going to be epic.