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Page 5
“Mira…my girl…”
I pulled myself up and went to the door, put my hands and cheek against it, where I could feel the warmth of my mother’s concern, and let the armor fall away.
I unlocked the door, opened it, and fell into my mother’s embrace.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The next day I sat in the back of Dr. Tom’s classroom avoiding all eye contact. Even when I realized Lacey was in the class, I focused my attention on Dr. Tom, keeping a memorized record of the class. Though sadly he didn’t say or do anything remotely suspicious. Not that I expected him to.
In choir, I did my best to avoid looking at Choir Boy, even though he glanced at me several times. I didn’t feel a thing when Mr. Chavez called out his name: Jesse Mecham. That’s what I told myself anyway. He was not evolved enough to stir up emotions inside someone like me. The flutter in my stomach was caused by my new diet. I was an island. Above the rest of the immature, under-evolved humans.
I kept my self-imposed isolation right up until lunch break. It was the one concession I would give myself in exchange for staying on Earth. I hadn’t even asked Mom if I could return on the transport. Instead, I’d decided to remain a social outcast for the entire school year. I’d spend the year watching the Stones as if my life depended on it. I’d even spend my afternoons doing unhygienic slave labor—the better to fulfill my assignment of watching Nreim’s most respected residents.
But I would not survive exclusively on bland vegetables. Not when there was a world of wonder I had only one opportunity to enjoy before returning home to a lifetime of putrid nutrition cubes.
I hung back when gym class ended—studying a banner with the school mascot that hung from the wall, as if it were the most fascinating thing I’d ever seen—even though Lacey was obviously waiting for me. Lacey eventually left, reluctantly, and I went by myself to the cafeteria. I was tempted to try another cheeseburger, but selected a plate of spaghetti instead, just for the variety. I also selected a slice of chocolate cake, along with an oblong piece of bread, a carton of milk, and a bowl of red gelatin, which I knew was absolutely void of any nutritional content. I just couldn’t resist the jiggling.
After paying the woman at the register, I purposefully went in the opposite direction of the table I’d shared with Lacey the day before. But the girls were seated at a table directly in front of me. I hesitated. A cruel snicker came from the table behind. The Skinnies were at the old table, of course. I’d forgotten their demand the day before that my friends find a new table.
Lacey waved and called my name. I suspected Lacey’s friendly persistence was based more on curiosity than kindness. But to ignore her now would only draw attention to myself. People would think I was angry with Lacey, which could spur a plethora of rumors. I put my tray on the table across from Lacey, next to Serena, vowing to only open my mouth to eat.
“No way!” Serena exclaimed with her pink smile. Tight curls poked from her head in random lengths, adding intensity to her excited expression. She leaned toward Lacey, pointed with her chin to a table behind them, and lowered her voice. “Don’t look.”
Lacey turned anyway and looked at the couple that had captured Serena’s attention. She turned back to Serena, her eyes wide. “They’re holding hands. That is so sick.”
“She could so do better than that,” Serena whispered under her breath. I used my fork to push the spaghetti noodles around my plate while observing the inane discussion. I rationalized that it was good for me to listen to conversations like this, at least until I stopped using words like plethora and inane, and started speaking like a real Earth teenager.
The moment they were quiet I put a bite of food in my mouth.
“So how do you like Los Robles High so far?” Serena asked.
I was so caught up with the texture and taste of spaghetti that it took me a second to realize the question was directed at me. A noodle dangled from my mouth. “Fine,” I mumbled and slurped it in.
“Any boys you have your eye on?” she asked.
I dropped my gaze to my plate of food.
“Aww…” the two said in unison.
“There is someone!” Serena exclaimed.
“Tell us!” Lacey added.
I put a cube of gelatin in my mouth, determined to keep quiet.
Serena pounded the table rhythmically with her fists. “Tell us. Tell us,” she chanted. Lacey joined her. A girl at another table looked our way. Then another.
I had to say something, just to get them to stop. I could have just made up a name, but lying wasn’t in my nature. Besides, I really did want to know more about him. “His name’s Jesse,” I blurted.
Looks of surprise registered on their faces. They stopped pounding the table and glanced at one another. Their moods darkened significantly. “You mean Jesse Mecham?” Serena asked in an ominous tone.
“He is way cute,” Lacey said. She picked up her fork, suddenly interested in her own spaghetti.
I knew I should let the conversation die, but my curiosity got the better of me. “But…” I prodded.
Lacey looked worried. “But…you should be careful.” She looked at Serena with a raised eyebrow.
Serena nodded a silent reply. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought they were streaming.
Lacey put her fork down. “He kind of had a breakdown last year. At school.”
“I saw it!” Serena said in an excited whisper, her head low and jutted over the table. “He was all yelling and running around.” She shuddered at the memory. “It was freaky.”
“So what happened?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Lacey shook her head. “Not sure. Somebody called 9-1-1 and they hauled him off in an ambulance.” She glanced conspiratorially at Serena. “Rumor is that he spent the summer in a mental hospital. They just let him out this week so he could come back to school.”
I slurped my milk through a straw, feeling oddly deflated. That explained the odd way he looked at me. He wasn’t interested in me, he was just disturbed. Mentally ill. But it didn’t matter—not to an island. I shoved a big bite of the chocolate cake in my mouth.
And gasped.
An unexpected rush of euphoria went up to my brain and down to my toes. I closed my eyes and rolled the smooth frosting around my mouth with my tongue, which contrasted brilliantly with the chewy texture of the cake. My breath quickened.
“You okay?” Lacey said.
I nodded. A hint of a tear crept into the corner of my eye. I blinked it away and took another bite. “This is just really good,” I said, though it didn’t sound anything like that since my mouth was stuffed full.
“You realize it’s cafeteria food,” Lacey said.
I took another large bite. Then another.
Serena picked up a plate of cake from her tray. “You want mine?”
I looked at it longingly. There were only crumbs left on my own plate. “Can I?”
Serena set it in front of me. “You know girl…I’m trying not to hate you. If I ate like that I’d blow up like a blimp.”
I swallowed and wiped my mouth with a napkin. “I don’t usually eat like this.” I couldn’t exactly explain that I usually eat cubes that resemble chunks of grass.
Luckily, Camille distracted the girls by crashing her tray onto the table. “You guys have to see this.” The tiny human collapsed into a chair, her feet barely touching the floor. “I had to go to the office to change a class. And there was this guy there. He said his name’s Everett.” She stuffed a bite of spaghetti in her mouth, then rushed on with her mouth full. “And you would not…I mean…like…you totally have to see him.”
“Slow down,” Lacey said.
Camille gasped. “Look!” She pointed to the door.
The boy standing in the doorway was not what I was expecting. I’d seen hundre
ds of boys that met his basic description: about six foot two, brown hair, brown eyes, strong features. But apparently there was something special about this particular boy that only humans could see. Like wave caps in an ocean, the heads of the students in the room moved in his direction as the boy glided to the far side of the cafeteria, then back again. With no direction or focus, he smiled and nodded to the tables he passed.
Every student—every single one—had stopped eating to watch him. I felt a chill from the overdose of awe and wonder that permeated the room. Especially when I realized he was heading to our table, where he finally stopped.
“Hello, ladies.”
Camille blustered and giggled. I felt embarrassed for her.
“Didn’t I just see you in the office?” Everett asked.
She laughed again, ridiculous and high-pitched.
“You look familiar too.” He nodded at me and pulled an empty chair out, spinning it around and putting his leg across it in one swift move. I stared at my empty tray and hoped he wasn’t referring to me. Camille was still giggling. Serena put her hand over her mouth. Everett put his elbow on the chair back and rested his chin in his hand. He looked around the table with a smile. “They sure grow ‘em pretty in California.”
All the girls giggled this time, except me of course. I just kept wishing that he’d disappear if I didn’t look up. But no luck.
“You sure I don’t know you?”
He leaned closer and I noticed the familiar sensation of his em-field repelling me—like being near a male quasar force back home. I’d had the same thought about Jesse, except that I’d imagined the gentle pull of a geo force. Was it possible humans had em-fields the same as nafarians? I’d never heard of such a thing, and Keddil hadn’t mentioned it. There had to be some way to figure it out, but it wasn’t the kind of thing I could find on the Internet. Asking Mom was out of the question, since I wasn’t supposed to be this close to boys.
“She’s new,” Lacey offered when I still hadn’t responded. “From New Mexico.”
“No kidding! Me too! Which part?”
I felt the combined taste of spaghetti, gelatin and chocolate cake in my throat, which wasn’t at all pleasant the second time. Once again, Keddil had been wrong. “Albuquerque.” My voice cracked.
“Albuquerque!” Everett exclaimed. “Which part?”
I looked at the clock on the wall and jumped up. “I’m supposed to be…somewhere.” I moved as quickly as I could without actually breaking into a run. Weaving around tables, I sensed the gaze of the boy on my back. I made it to the doorway and fled to my empty fourth-period classroom.
When students filed in, they were all talking about the same thing: Everett, the new student. The excitement in the air was so palpable I suspected even the humans could feel it, though they probably didn’t know enough to put a name to it. I wondered if maybe this was how they always reacted to new students—except I hadn’t felt it yesterday, when I was new, at least not to this extent.
The excitement over Everett had me so confused that by sixth period I almost forgot that I was dreading going to Dr. Alison’s class. Until I walked in the door, that is. The teacher stood at her desk, smiling at each of the students as they entered. The room felt much like every other room had since lunch, charged with an electric enthusiasm. There was no sign of yesterday’s negative mix of emotions.
I had just selected my seat when Dr. Alison made an announcement, her voice bright and cheerful. “We have a student who just added our class. Welcome!”
I was, of course, expecting this Everett person. And I like to think I didn’t feel a thing when I saw Jesse in the doorway, holding a pink slip of paper. He caught sight of me while walking across the front of the room and grinned. I told myself I wasn’t dazzled by his smile. The odd quiver in my stomach was probably the result of too much chocolate cake.
“Let’s get started,” Dr. Alison said in a voice that sounded almost like tinkling bells. “Settle down.”
The rumble of anxious students decreased slightly, but only for a few seconds. None other than Everett strode into the room next, holding a pink piece of paper and waving as if he were in a parade.
“Ah, another one!” Dr. Alison exclaimed in a sing-song voice. “I love new students!” Dr. Alison’s mood was as high today as it had been foul yesterday, and even though it was a mixture of pleasant emotions, the overall effect was just as disturbing. Like bathing in perfume. The addition of the students’ excitement over Everett made the emotions in the room as thick as the gelatin I’d just had for lunch. I kept my eye on the wall clock and dashed out of the room the instant the bell rang.
***
Since I had to report for my fancy new occupation after school, but had to wait until the school cleared a little, I hurried to the least populated place I could think of—a large field of poaceae…no…grass. From the metallic seating, I watched the mob of students pour from the classrooms into the open walkways—chatting and laughing, moving around what seemed to be an unexplained force named Everett.
It wasn’t long before Mom’s stream arrived.
I stood up and sighed. There weren’t many students left on the grounds. Just a small group still hovering around Everett.
I didn’t reply, though I thought about Jesse and Everett. Both were very unusual. Yet nothing my mother would be interested in, except maybe to suspect me of a rule violation.
I responded.
I closed both my eyes and the stream, refraining from the bitter retort I wanted to give her. Lack of training seemed to be the theme of this mission. Feeling both reluctant and anxious, I meandered back onto the school grounds, into the office, and asked for Leo. The secretary directed me to a large closet just outside the door where a tiny Hispanic man dressed all in khaki was stooped, rinsing out a mop in a sink on the floor.
“You the new girl?” he said without looking up. “Follow the vacuum.”
I watched him clean the mop until it was clear there wouldn’t be any more information coming from Leo. I could hear a machine humming several doors down and wandered slowly in that direction, my fingers trailing the rough brick wall.
I stopped short in the doorway of the room with the source of the noise. The person inside had a large, cylindrical tube strapped to his back. There was something about the straight black hair…the broad shoulders…narrow hips…muscular arms…and, of course, the shoes…
The boy whose face I couldn’t get out of my mind turned around and acknowledged my presence with a crooked grin.
I leaned against the doorframe, my knees nearly buckling beneath me.
CHAPTER NINE
I froze in place—torn between the desire to run away and what felt like a magnetic pull towards this mysterious creature. Like the pull I’d feel towards any geo force, except amplified.
Jesse pulled earbuds out of his ears. “You made it!” He flashed a smile. The sun hadn’t ever been so bright. “I wasn’t convinced you’d show up,” he said. “You don’t seem like the janitor type.”
My gaze fixed
on his full, plum-colored lips. I stood stupefied, wanting him to continue speaking just so I could listen to the sound his voice.
“Are you ready to go?” He started towards me, moving dangerously close.
I came out of my stupor and stumbled backwards, out of the doorway, just before he walked through it. The way he looked at me—as if he could see right through to my core—his primitive emotions would probably knock me senseless if I let him get too close.
“I’m your supervisor. You’re assigned to building three,” he said, pointing. “You just have to pick up garbage, change trash bags, and vacuum.”
I might have nodded. I wasn’t sure.
“I’ll need to show you how to use the vacuum.” He walked in the other direction and waved for me to follow.
“Th…that’s okay,” I mumbled. “I can figure it out. Just tell me where it is.”
He turned and studied me. I shivered and rubbed my arms, feeling exposed. As though he knew how awkward and gangly I felt despite my strong physical appearance. That I didn’t belong here, in this world. But didn’t feel superior…even though I’d been told I should.
“It’s in the closet where you found Leo. You did take the training class, right?”
I blinked, pulled my attention back to what he was saying, and nodded. “Of course.” I tried my best to keep my face impassive but suspected I was ineffective with my answer.
“Okay, go ahead.” Jesse swept his arm in the direction of the closet, an invitation to try on my own.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently he either believed me or didn’t want to push the point. But I had another problem. Heading to the closet would require passing by him, so I didn’t move. After studying me a little longer he raised a curious eyebrow, then flipped on the vacuum and went back inside.
I took a step backwards, towards home. Having Jesse as my supervisor was more than I had agreed to. More than I could handle. But as much as I wanted to go home I couldn’t bring myself to walk away. I told myself it was because Mom would be disappointed. But I knew there was something else, something stronger, holding me there. There was no reason for me to feel drawn to a mentally unstable human male. Even if he happened to be a geo force, there was no explanation for the strength of this pull. Not at our ages. But I could not argue with it. I’d just have to figure out a way to continue my employment while keeping my distance from Jesse.