Free Minds

Chapter 31.

"It's probably been over five minutes," I frowned down at Tali with a heated face. Felt like eternity though. "You can stop laughing now."

   Talise merely used my body as support for her hands as she doubled over to laugh her heart out even more.

   She'd just finished listening to my narration of everything that happened at the Virtual Dance, when I escaped Zavlon on Liberation Week, Mr. Sacury's message, meeting Dorian, Rav and Camila, finding out the connection between the Virtuo glasses and the mind control device and our failed plan with wide eyes.

   For a split second, I actually believed I'd gotten to her when she stared at me with naked fear...until that transitioned to full blown laughter that hadn't stopped ever since.

   You know that kind of laughter, right? The kind whose sole purpose was to mock and hurt you to your very core? Yeah, that one.

"Not...until...y-you—hear yourself and realise what you're telling me!" She kept gripping my shoulder to steady herself from the never ending belly-laughter that showed no signs of ceasing.

   Why won't her lungs just give up already?

   I ventured over to the other three not too far from Talise and me. Giving them a helpless look, I cast another glance toward Tali and shrugged.

   I tried.

"Talise," Camila said, stepping forward. "She's not joking."

Tali didn't even acknowledge Cami as she responded, "Do you really expect me..." More howls. "...to believe you?"

"Yes. Because it's the truth," Dorian added. "Beth's not lying."

"Excuse me." She finally straightened to glare at him. "Just because you've been screwing my best friend for what, two minutes, doesn't mean you know her more than I do."

   My jaw went slack.

   Oh God.

   Daring to look toward the others, I took solace in the fact that Dorian's and Camila's eyes decided to find the ground interesting. Rav, on the other hand, had no intention of stopping his grin from becoming full-on creepy.

"What the hell, Tali?! We are not—you know what? That doesn't matter," I sighed. "They are not wrong."

"Hmhm, right, okay." She positioned her overly dramatic nod with a hand to her chin. "So you're telling me that if I were to go into Zavlon Academia, this very moment, I'll be met with doe-eyed students and 'Yunies' who will perform 'the placement' on me or worse."

"YES!"

   She remained unfazed by our unified shout.

"Let me guess, and it's up to us to put a stop to the machinations of the Yunies or so help us and humanity as a whole!" She chuckled in the superhero pose she gave. "Beth, as mad as I am at you, I'll give you free advice. Stay away from your crackhead friends. People aren't lying when they say what they say about bad company..." she trailed off upon realising the look I had on.

   I could tell my intense stare was making her uneasy but I needed her to understand how serious this was. We were running out of time and as much as I hated involving her in all of this, I couldn't think of anyone else perfect for the role.

"Tali, I'm so so sorry that I kept things from you," I said. "But you don't just know everything now, you can help. We need you. Please."

   For the first time since her breakdown, she stood up straight to look me in the eye.

"Beth, if you're making this up, you better tell me now," Talise warned, a slight quiver in her voice betraying her stern tone.

   I took her developing hysteria that unveiled after I shook my head as a good sign. Progress.