Old Times

The next day, Ana gets up and gets ready for school. As expected, her mother still doesn't answer her, so she goes to school and when she's near the school gate, Scoot is getting out of the car, his driver takes him and picks him up every day, it's already agreed that he'll be picked up even if he's away from school, he always has to let her know where he is and what he's doing, It's an order from his father, yes, his father is very controlling, and Scoot has learned his own ways of controlling others, he's usually very communicative, and attentive when he wants to be, hardly anyone doesn't fall for his talk, he always has good points to justify his actions. He notices Ana approaching the school gate, and decides to approach her:

"Good morning Ana, I haven't seen you these days, has something happened?"

Ana instantly stops in front of him and comes back from her thoughts, she smiles and says:

"Good morning Scoot, really, I only saw you that afternoon when you were..."

Ana immediately stops talking, she almost let it slip that she saw him and Caroline in the Guild Meeting Room, kissing.

Scoot realizes that she has interrupted his sentence, he smiles and insists that she finish it:

"What was I...? What was I doing?"

Ana feigns a cough, as if she were ill, she puts her hand to her mouth and says:

"Couf, couf.... sorry my throat hurts, and this cough, couf,couf isn't helping me."

Scoot worries for a moment, and doesn't even let Ana think about it, he just pulls her by the hand and says:

"Don't force yourself to talk then, we're going to the infirmary to check if you have a fever."

Ana freezes, she's not ill, she even tries to escape, but she had no choice but to be taken to the infirmary, and they end up attracting the attention of the other students. as Scoot is holding Ana's hand all the way to the infirmary, causing the students to whisper and talk amongst themselves, it doesn't take long for Luke, who is already inside the school checking the students' uniforms, to see the scene in question, making him angry early on, meanwhile Scoot is waiting for her outside the infirmary, the nurse checks to see if she has a fever, her throat seems normal too, Ana reinforces that the symptoms are initial, so she probably won't find anything abnormal, she is dismissed to go back to class, they walk down the school corridor, to go to their classrooms, and Scoot on the way tries to persuade her by saying:

"Don't worry, the students like news and having something to gossip about, but you being with me, the risk is less than if you were with one of the Beckers."

Ana is confused, and scratches her head, not letting Ana think too much Scoot continues:

"Honestly, I'd like you to accept my invitation to the Test. I know it's already been turned down by your father, but I'd like to give it one more try, so you can decide what you want to do."

Ana is surprised, she hasn't heard of any invitation from Scoot's family, but she doesn't know what to say at the moment, since she already trains with the Beckers, and simply giving up and leaving them now and Caroline is on Scoot's team, his intention is to really make her think about it, and leave her in doubt. Scoot has already noticed that Ana looks pensive, and that's exactly what he wants. Ana arrives at his office accompanied by Scoot, who takes Ana's hand and says goodbye:

"If you're not sure what to say right now, I can help you out by telling you a secret, so I'm holding a meeting at my house on Friday, to prepare for the election debate on Monday, and I'd like you to come, you probably don't have practice on Friday, right?"

Ana confirms that there's no training on Friday, she doesn't see a problem if it's something to do with the Election, although she still thinks it will be very difficult to beat the Beckers. She thinks it's strange that he's holding her hand, she disguises it, because she's afraid Caroline will see and misunderstand them, since she doesn't know what their relationship status is, he's paying attention to the "secret", what would this secret be, Ana goes into her classroom, sits down, the first classes are well over, and the break bell rings, Ana is leaving her classroom, to go to the Cafeteria, when she feels someone pulling her by the hand again, at first she thinks it's Scoot again and already speaks:

"Look, I don't think it's a good idea..."

Then she realizes that it's not Scoot, it's Luke, she freezes and stops talking on the spot, Luke doesn't understand a bit and asks her what she was going to say, Ana disguises it as if she was thinking and speaking aloud, Luke isn't very convinced, but he takes her to the Terrace.

....