T and I hadn't been able to discuss anything the day before. She'd been sent directly her bedroom and me to mine. Then we couldn't talk at school. Rob was lingering around the house. We wanted privacy which ruled out just about every moment until we were alone in my bedroom. My comments had been bubbling inside me ever since we'd been introduced to Rob. It didn't help that T had gotten her assignment. I'd heard. Neither of us brought it up. Instead what exploded out of my mouth was:

"He's probably lying. I'm sure he's lying."

T just sighed. "I don't know."

"What don't you know?"

"What if he is telling the truth?"

"What, he can't. Because if he is..."

"You think if he's the chosen one you'll have to let him be a creep?" T said, flopping down on the bed.

"Well, yes. And if I was mean to him, he's probably into that."

"But if he is the chosen one... Do you know what that means? Everything could change."

"Chosen one is so cliché. My life is not a cliché."

T adored the prophecy. She lived for it, and she never seemed to grasp how much I didn't.

"It's no cliché from this century. Love triangles are so outdated."

"Fine. What does the prophecy say?"

T smiled and recited from memory. And I hated how every single word dripped with the present situation and the slightly chubby boy from the meeting.

T looked over at me.

"Okay, so he is the chosen one. What do we do with that? If we say 'hey, we're rebellion,' how do you know he doesn't just sell us out?"

"Faith, Sonnet. I have faith. I'm going to wait a bit and get to know him and then I'm going to try to recruit him."

"But you don't know that he's a friend."

T laughed. "I don't think he'd turn me in. And I'm sure he's the chosen one."

"I don't know T. If you're wrong, then all of us are in danger."

She put a finger to my lips. "I know how to do it. If I'm wrong, then I'm the only one that goes down. As far as either side is concerned, you're a good law-abiding citizen. Remember?"

"Just because you're on record doesn't mean you can take the hit."

"Sonnet, I'm part of the Clan of Agatha. This is what we were born to do."

"I can't lose you."

T laid back, staring at the ceiling. "Besides, what does it matter if I'm gone? I was never built to survive."

"I swear, you don't get to go on that tangent again. I need you. We need you."

"You shouldn't." T stood up suddenly. "I don't want to talk about this. I'm going to do this. You can't stop me."

"It's against protocol. I could report—"

"UAs don't file those kinds of reports. You'd have to explain a lot."

UAs. Unidentified agents. Spies. I took a deep breath. She was right. I wouldn't be able to report her in my weekly intelligence report. I was too under the radar to do anything to an actual member of the clans.

"Fine then. You win."

My voice came out harsh, but T still smiled. She leaned over the bed and kissed me. I softened.

"Have you found any more old songs?"

T smiled. "I'd need to get my guitar."

"We could walk down to your room together."

T nodded. She took my hand and we crept down the steps. We were technically allowed to move around the house freely, but if we woke anyone up, everyone would soon know we were sneaking around under the weak light of the moon.

Privacy was a commodity that me and T couldn't live without.

T got her guitar and then we stole up to the attic. The soundproof room and recording equipment were a pretense, but T's songwriting and skill were not.

T found her way to the stool and I laid on the couch. She strummed easily.

"This is rough. Don't you dare say anything about it. It's an old song. I just found some almost ruined sheet music for it a few days ago."

I raised my hands in surrender. I never said anything about her music and we both knew it.

She smiled at me. Her right hand held the neck of the guitar, waiting for her fingers to pluck the strings.

She opened her mouth.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine."

I swayed to it. Her voice was raw and true. She kept singing about gray skies.

"The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms again."

She swayed too. The old songs she dug up from before the floods and the overhaul of records. That was one of the perks to the rebellion. They still used the Internet, and it was dead enough that no one tracked us. And T used it with a certain genius.

She finished it, and the air felt sad. Everything always felt sad. I was tired of it.

"Can we sleep here tonight?"

T smiled. "We'd have to set an alarm so we could both get to our beds in time."

I nodded. I knew the drill. T and I tended to fall asleep in odd parts of the house more often than not.

T put her guitar down carefully, almost like she thought it was sentient. I turned the couch into a bed.

Soon T's face was nuzzling into my neck. I smiled and fell asleep quickly.