15-Time will tell

"Mayor Keyes, Sir?"
The dark made him feel older, but the man behind the desk didn't worry about his looks or the visitor waiting patiently. He finally put the paper he had been studying down, his glasses flashing in the light of his lamp.
"You asked for me, Sir?"
"Yes... Were you here today when the School tour was going on?" He asked.
"Of course, Sir, I was there. I am your bodyguard."
"You remember the girl I was talking to?"
The bodyguard nodded.
Mayor Keyes responded by half handing him the paper he had been looking at, having only a moment of indecision before leaning back in his chair. "That is Isabel Warder. She is a third year student at Olive-Porter High. As far as I know, she lives nearby and has no plans of moving soon. She lives with her father, Harry Warder, best friend is Addison Grange and could possibly be in a relationship with this boy here." He pushed a photo across the desk. It showed a slightly grainy CCTV shot of a blonde youth.
"You want me to... take care of her, Sir?"
"No. Just keep an eye on her, star a file on her." Keyes turned his chair around so he faced the window behind him. "Oh and... find a reason to invite her over."
"Yes Sir."
Rick Keyes rested his chin in his palm and looked at his watch. He didn't know what it was that made him so certain that Isabel was hiding something, something important, but he knew better than to ignore his instincts. The feeling has stronger this time, making him feel uneasy, almost nauseous.  He turned back to his desk and opened the top draw, taking an amber filled bottle and glass from inside. He poured himself a drink with shaking hands, the crystal glass clinking when they touched, then downed half of it in one gulp. His watch ticked in the silence.
There were things to be done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I shivered, even though it wasn't cold. Adie, who I was leaning against, moved a bit then threw her jacket at me. Her other friends were sprawled near by, having quiet conversations with the occasional out burst of laughter. Mostly we were just enjoying the sun shine. It was one of the few sunny days in the long winters that ensued in later half of the year. Arin, who had yet to leave my line of sight (he had been put in my class, which I believed was not coincidence) was under a tree across field, far enough away to give me privacy but close enough to be of help if something happened. He was deep in a book he had bought on the Sentorium trip yesterday, still filling his head with as much as he could. The more he knew, the easier it was to blend in. Diana hadn't been seen since her abrupt visit to my house two days ago. I would have to tell Arin that I was worried about what she was doing. If she put her mind to something, she couldn't be stopped, a quality I encouraged in my protection, but was wary of otherwise.
"How can you be cold?"
"What?'
"Your shaking." Adie pointed out, giving me a small push.
"I don't know." I said, rolling over so I could face her, my head propped up on my hands. "Hey, could you pass me some food from my bag?"
"Yeah, one second."
She rustled around in my bag a bit, before she paused, her hands frozen mid-task.
"Whats wrong?"
"Nothing."
She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, then kept going. I frowned at her attitude, but was interrupted once I was being bombarded by pieces of my lunch.
-Stop it, Isa. Just enjoy the day while you can. From the looks of things it may not last much longer-
"Hey, did you hear?"
"What?"
"Mr Perns had a letter to give to you. Something to do with the trip yesterday."
"Really?"
"Yeah. The Mayor wants people for a course tomorrow, get a chance to use the Keyes Library. A student advance thing. He asked for you."
"Rick, huh. That's great." I smiled. "You want to come with me?"
"No, I'll leave the books to you and Mr 'Rick'." She grinned, silent jokes passing between us as the bell went.