Winter was at a loss for what to do. Thom tried comforting Coach, who continued to blame himself. This was another thing Winter found a bit weird. He understood that Coach might blame himself a bit, with him being in the room when it happened, if it happened, but how come he was blaming himself this much? Was it merely an irrational response to the sudden disappearance? Or was it in truth somehow his fault?

Winter shook his head as if to get the thought shaken out. There was no way Coach wanted to harm Max in any way. Of this, Winter felt sure. In any case, even if Coach were somehow to blame, that didn’t change the fact that they knew nothing. What they might know was speculation, and it wasn’t even something they could do something about.

“Have you called his parents?” Winter asked, wondering why he had only thought about that now.

“Yea…” Coach said pitifully.

“They don’t know anything either…” His voice whimpered. Now, this information was something Winter could use for something. If he was indeed kidnapped, then wouldn’t the kidnapper have called for a ransom? And also, was it normal for a classmate to have the number of one of the richest and most influential and dangerous men in the world – And even more, was it normal for this person to pick up the phone for a mere student?

Winter felt like the puzzle pieces started to show some color and edges, something that would help him put it all together, even though it still didn’t make sense now.

“Thom, would it be okay if I went outside for a while?” In other words, can you handle Coach alone for a while? Winter asked, waiting for a confirming and understanding nod from Thom, before going outside.

Winter gave out a heavy sigh. Was it really necessary to do this? He was worried about Max of course, but he also didn’t feel like getting involved in that world again…

With a bit of a hesitating finger, he started to punch in the number to the friend that helped him get the fake ID. Winter knew this person was the only one he would be able to trust, even if it was just a bit.

The phone gave a high-pitched scratch sound from it before it immediately hung up on Winter. Rolling his eyes a bit, he punched in the number again, got the same sound and continued the process again. On the fourth time, the other end finally stopped giving a headache, and instead a male voice picked up.

“Password?” It said causally, as if the voice never said anything else. Winter sighed and was a bit annoyed with everything.

“It’s me” He just said, hearing how the voice in the other end suddenly got a move on with some papers, as it rustled into the phone.

“Ah, yes, I’m here” The voice said in a bit more of an informal manner, with a newly found friendly tone.

“What do you know about Centillic?” Winter asked, not wanting to ask directly about Max in the first place. He didn’t want to give out any unnecessary information in case his friend didn’t know anything in the first place.

“Centillic… Centillic… Ah!” The sound of paper rustling and a keyboard smashing on the other end continued as the voice talked.

“We know Alexander Centillic is opening a new ‘place’ today, which has been covered a lot in the media. Because of those buildings, it took down one of the slums and turned it into one of those fancy upperclass places, ya’ know? A lot of people were against it. The ones that used to live there got promised money for moving, but they never got ‘em, and now they have no money and no place to live” The voice continued to talk without holding any breaks. Winter started to scratch his head a bit. This was too big to jump right into, but it would be weird if this wasn’t connected to Max’s disappearance. So did he have a choice?

The voice continued to talk a bit more, with Winter just having to listen. After a while, silence ensued, only to be broken by a hesitant question.

“How are you?” The voice asked. Winter thought for a while but just shrugged a bit.

“I’m attracting trouble as usual, it seems” He gave back, making sure to put a smiling tone in his voice.

“I’ll be okay” He assured.

“You be careful too, KD” Winter shot in, as he used to do. Even though he knew what the answer would be.

“Always am. Except when I’m not” KD, the voice, answered with a bit of a chuckle.

“The boys are wondering where you are, Win, it’s still a secret, right?” KD asked. Winter hung up before he answered, as that would be answer enough.

“Everything is a secret with me…” Winter mumbled to himself as he tugged his phone down his pocket.

“What kind of secrets?” Thom’s voice asked from behind him. Winter turned around and found both Thom and Coach having gone outside their room, into the hallway where he stood.

“Secret” Winter said, putting on a smile, while internally wondering how much they had heard. It wasn’t as if he had said anything they would be able to pick up on, so he wasn’t that worried. But it was still supposed to be a fresh start, and how was it able to be that, when he had to involve his old life in the new, while his new life might have heard about his old?

“Are you okay?” Winter asked, worried, looking straight at Coach, making a slight change of subject. Coach gave a careful nod at first, but then gave a more decided one after.

Winter knew too much he didn’t feel like he could pass on to his friends. Just as they felt like they kept things secret from him, even though he felt like he had found out most of it already, with regards to Max.

What Winter wanted to know now, was if Max and his dad had a good relationship or not. If they had, Max might have gone to him to help with the opening of the ‘place’. This felt mostly as wishful thinking, though…

The way KD had pronounced the word ‘place’ bothered Winter a bit. He did know the rumors having gone around as to which places Centillic had a habit of making, but would ‘that’ kind of place be something to celebrate opening in public? With media coverage? Was it a front for something else, maybe?

If Max had a bad relationship with his dad, it would make even more sense, though. Winter got a nagging feeling that Max had orchestrated his own kidnapping to put a stopper for the ‘place’. This, of course, felt like a horrible accusation to make, but it was one that made the most sense.

Which was why Winter didn’t feel like bringing it up to the two others. He didn’t want to let them know how suspicious he was of their friend, in case something horrible actually did happen to him. But he also didn’t want to let them know of the circumstances that brought him to that conclusion. Once again, Winter felt like he had gotten one step forward, but still was clueless as how to proceed.