The ARC 02: Talented

by Alexandra Moody

  I make my way back along the pathway under the dense shelter of trees, where it’s already become quite dark. My pace quickens as I begin to worry. I stayed at the river too long. It was so peaceful watching the water flow by me, and I couldn’t tear myself away from the sunset. I hadn’t thought about nightfall and didn’t realise how quickly it would get dark.

  My unease only increases as I continue through the park. I haven’t seen anyone in a while and the long shadows are becoming darker by the second. I really don’t want to be left alone out here.

  The path I follow reaches a junction and splits off several different ways. I pause as I attempt to remember the path I’d been on earlier. I take a hold of my necklace and twist the chain nervously as I look at the different routes. I’d been distracted by my thoughts earlier and can’t exactly remember the pathway home. They’d all twisted and turned so much, meeting up in points before separating again.

  Instead of wasting time trying to remember my original route, I pull the directions to the Mason’s address up on my CommuCuff. Thankfully Cathy had thought to key them in this morning.

  The sky has darkened to a deep navy blue by the time I find my way back to the street. The park behind me is now heavily cloaked in darkness and the lamps that line the street form a welcome beacon. They’re bright but I still don’t feel particularly safe.

  There are so many strangers hurrying around at the moment. In lessons back in the ARC, we’d learnt how risky walking the city at night could be and how safe the ARC was in comparison. I half expect to be robbed.

  Do people still do that?

  I hug my arms against my chest and keep my head down as I walk. I avoid eye contact with everyone and make my way home as quickly as possible. As I get closer to the Mason’s I recognise a few of the buildings I pass and begin to feel more at ease.

  As I stare up at one building that towers above and the bright lights that emanate from within I accidently clip a man. ‘Sorry!’ I turn to apologise. My heart stops as I look at the back of his head. I swear I know that head.

  ‘Ryan?’ I say. The man keeps walking, slowly disappearing in the crowd. ‘Ryan!’ I call. I duck and weave between people, running up to get to him. Could it really be him?

  I grab his arm, causing him to swing around. As the man turns I jump back in shock. I’ve grabbed a man who definitely isn’t Ryan.

  ‘Sorry!’ I exclaim as he looks at me, surprised. ‘I thought you were … well, never mind.’

  I don’t wait for his response. Instead, I run back in the direction I was heading, my cheeks flaming red with embarrassment. I’m officially losing my mind.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It’s hard to force my eyes awake in the morning. I feel so cosy curled up in bed. I just want to stay here all day. I bolt upright as my brain switches on and I remember, today’s my first day at school. I groan and almost settle back under my covers. I don’t want to go.

  I look over at the clock. It’s 8:15 A.M. Shit! I jump out of bed. Beth had warned me, in no uncertain terms, she left for school at eight and if I wasn’t ready she’d quite happily leave without me.

  I run to Beth’s room and knock urgently on the door.

  ‘Beth?’ I call out. There’s no response. I open the door a crack and poke my head in. She’s not there.

  ‘Damn it!’

  I dash into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face before running back to my room to throw on the clothes I’d set aside for today. I swoop my hair back into a ponytail, pick up the bag Cathy had packed for me and swing it over my shoulder.

  There’s no time for breakfast, so I grab an apple and walk towards the front door. I stop still as my hand curls around the door handle. I don’t know where the school is, and Cathy has already left to take Jackson to his primary school.

  I step back from the door and pace back and forth as I try to remember what Cathy had said about getting to school. She hadn’t gone into too much detail though, as Beth was supposed to take me there. She didn’t even bother programming the address into my cuff.

  I wrench open the door and hurry to the lift. If I can escape the ARC and make it here to Hope, I’m fairly certain I can find my way to school. Besides, with Beth already gone, there’s nothing I’d like more than to show her I can get to school just fine without her help.

  When I get outside I have to ask three different people before I find someone who knows the directions, which are, as luck would have it, fairly straightforward.

  After three wrong turns and a near death experience—me stupidly forgetting to look before crossing a road, causing a bright red car to screech to a halt centimetres from taking me out—I notice other students heading in the same direction. I must be close, so I follow them the last leg.

  The school is a series of dull concrete buildings. A wire fence lines the perimeter and over the entrance gate hangs the slightly askew sign, ‘East Hope High’.

  After asking a few students, I manage to find my way to the front office, which happens to be nowhere near the front of the school. The office is quite homey, despite the prison like style of building it’s in. The walls are covered in notices and a desk stretches across the room, with several wire baskets filled with mounds of paper. Behind the desk sits a small, middle-aged woman. She’s wearing a thick sweater in the same grey hue of all my old ARC clothes, which immediately makes me a little homesick.

  ‘Can I help you?’ The woman asks, peering up at me over her glasses.

  ‘My name is Elle Winters and I’m meant to be starting here today.’

  She looks to her computer screen. ‘Yes. I have you registered.’ Her fingers whisk over the keyboard. ‘I’ll just get your timetable up,’ she mutters, more to herself than to me. ‘If you could bump your cuff against the CommuSensor please.’ She points to the blue glowing sensor on the side of the computer.

  I bump my cuff gently against it then hold my arm up to my face to read my timetable, which is now displayed along the clear surface of the cuff.

  ‘Your locker number is 87 and your buddy is Marissa Langley. She should be meeting you just outside the office door to show you around today.’ I nod and wait for her to continue.

  ‘You can go now,’ she adds.

  ‘Oh, okay. Thanks.’ I walk out to the front of the office and look around for Marissa. Most of the students are milling over by one of the other buildings, on a large grass mound. There are no girls even slightly close to the office door.

  I walk a little further down the side of the building, lean my back against the wall and look down at my timetable. I have English for the first block of the day. I’m terrible at English, so I’m hoping the school doesn’t have high expectations when it comes to the subject.

  After that it looks like I have biology, then a session of physical education in the afternoon. I hadn’t realised I’d need sports clothes today. Hopefully it won’t matter too much.

  The bell rings and I look up from my timetable. The ‘buddy’ still hasn’t shown up. I glance around helplessly. I have absolutely no idea where my locker is, let alone where I can find English, in room N4. Whatever that means.

  A girl walks around the corner of the building and comes towards me. She’s tiny, with a massive mop of brown hair and warm brown eyes, and a complexion that is still very pale. Her skin-tight black jeans, plain white tee, blazer and cute black ankle boots combo makes me wish I’d paid more attention to Quinn’s fashion magazines.

  ‘Hi,’ she says, as she approaches. ‘Are you a newbie?’

  ‘Hey, yeah I’m starting today. You must be Marissa.’

  She frowns and slowly shakes her head. ‘No. I’m Lara. Is Marissa your buddy? I wouldn’t wait around for too long. Marissa isn’t the kind of person who’d actually turn up to show around a newbie.’

  ‘Oh.’ I feel my heart sink. There aren’t that many buildings. I’m sure I’ll be able to figure it out … eventually.

  ‘Your name is…’ the girl prompts.

  �
�Oh sorry, it’s Elle.’

  ‘It looks like I’ll be seeing you around Elle.’ She begins to walk off.

  ‘Hey, uh, Lara? You wouldn’t by chance be able to tell me where English in, um, N4 is?’ She stops and turns back to me.

  ‘Nielson building, room four. It’s that building over there,’ she points to a building in the distance, ‘and room four is on the bottom level.’

  ‘Thanks. You’re a life saver.’

  ‘It’s no hassle. I have English too. I can show you the way if you like?’

  ‘That’d be great.’ We walk towards the building in the distance.

  ‘I guess since you ended up here you’re an untalent?’ she asks.

  ‘I guess,’ I say, not feeling all too comfortable delving into my complete lack of talent. ‘I don’t really see what the big deal is about it all though.’

  ‘Really?’ She sounds intrigued. ‘Those are big words for a newbie. Most people who say stuff like that are just jealous.’

  ‘I guess I’m not most people then.’

  ‘Interesting,’ she says. I shrug in return. There’s nothing wrong with being normal.

  ‘You’re pretty you know,’ she says, unexpectedly.

  ‘Oh,’ I reply, feeling embarrassed. ‘Um, thanks?’ I continue, unable to come up with an adequate response.

  ‘You must have a boyfriend back in your ARC,’ she assumes.

  ‘Not really,’ I confess. I’m not certain Sebastian counts as a boyfriend, and he’s definitely no longer in the ARC.

  ‘Are you going to ask me if I’m a talent?’ she says, rapidly changing the conversation again.

  ‘I thought everyone out here was an untalent?’ I venture.

  ‘Most are, but there are different degrees and there are always some that slip through the cracks.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Are you going to ask?’ she persists.

  ‘I don’t really…’ I sigh and scratch my head, ‘Does it really matter?’ I don’t even know this girl.

  She laughs in response. ‘You’re really not going to fit in here. Your talent status is everything. Less talent, pretty much equals less friends.’

  I guess I will have none then.

  ‘Nnnnn four,’ she trumpets, waving her arm at the door. I look up at it, surprised we’re here so quickly. Lara pushes through the door before me.

  Here goes nothing.

  When we enter the room, the class has already begun. My eyes do an automatic sweep of the room for Sebastian, but I already know he’s not here. All of the student’s eyes are on me, and I look down at my feet as I follow Lara to a couple of empty seats.

  As I sit I can still feel people watching me. There’s nothing I hate more than too much attention. Especially when it makes me feel more like some strange, freak exhibit than an actual person.

  The teacher doesn’t register we’re late, or if he does he doesn’t seem to care. He’s an older man who keeps his back to the class, mostly scribbling on the whiteboard.

  I pull out my tablet and type the date across the top of the screen. It feels so bizarre to be above ground and sitting in an English class. I almost feel like this couldn’t possibly be happening and I’ve landed in some strange alternate universe.

  I sneak a glimpse around the room at the other students, my new classmates I guess I should call them. None of them are particularly interested in the class. Several are whispering to each other, others are giggling at the back of the classroom. At least most of them have lost interest in me.

  My eyes fall on one girl who stares intently at her hand, which she holds out in front of her face. I nearly drop my tablet when a spark shoots from her finger like a mini firework and pops in the air, vanishing as quickly as it appeared. She squeals with delight before whispering to the girl next to her, asking if she saw what happened.

  I turn to the board at the front of the classroom, trying to stop tears from welling in my eyes. These kids look so carefree and happy and it makes me miss my friends back at the ARC so much. Gemma would always sit through English with me and it’s horrible she’s not here.

  I try to concentrate on the teacher, as he begins to explain the structure of the poem he’s written on the board. I look down at my screen to take some notes, but it’s no longer blank. Instead it has, in massive scrawl, written across the entirety of the screen, the word ‘Hi!’

  I instinctively freeze, and then slowly look up and around at the people sitting in class. This is my first direct encounter with any sort of talent and it has me feeling completely uneasy. No one is looking at me so I can’t fathom who did it. I look back down at the page and the writing has disappeared.

  Great! Now I’m delusional and paranoid. I focus back on the teacher. He wants us to write our own poetry this week and tells us we can use the rest of this lesson to begin.

  I spend ages trying to think of what I could possibly write about, but I’m at a loss. I prop my head against my hand and stare down at the empty screen in front of me. The only thing worse than having no poetry, is being required to stand up in a class of strangers and tell them anything I do come up with. It’s like some form of teenage torture.

  From out of nowhere words begin to appear on the screen in front of me. They are scrawled and messy and appear gradually, letter by letter, as if written by an invisible hand.

  ‘Roses are red, violets are blue…’ I slam my tablet cover shut over the screen and look around. The words make me nervous and slightly scared. I hadn’t expected to see anything even close to the abilities shown in Talented here at school.

  The bell chimes outside, and not a minute too soon. I gather my things and quickly head out the door before anything else strange can happen to me. I don’t even know where I’m heading as I exit the classroom. I just know I need to get out.

  ‘Hey,’ Lara says, catching up with me. ‘What’s the rush?’

  ‘I just needed to get out of there.’

  ‘Yeah, English with Mr. Morris is the worst. What have you got next?’

  I scroll through the timetable on my cuff. ‘Biology,’ I say, when I find it.

  ‘I can show you where it is if you like?’

  ‘That would be great!’ I follow her out from under the building alcove and onto the quadrangle. ‘Lara? Do people ever make phantom notes appear on your tablet?’

  ‘Oh, was Hunter doing that to you already?’

  ‘Who?’ I ask. She looks around before pointing out a couple of guys, chatting with a group of girls.

  ‘Hunter Blake. He’s the tall guy with the dirty blonde hair, kinda turquoise blue eyes, looks like he belongs on Talented…’ Looking over, I recognise him. It’s the guy who I’d passed the football to last night in the park. He abruptly stops laughing and looks up, catching me watching. I’m lost for a second in the light blue depths of his eyes, but I quickly look away.

  ‘Yeah, I can see the one,’ I mutter.

  ‘That’s Hunter. He’s completely full of himself, which only seems to make the girls like him more.’ She rolls her eyes as though she can’t for the life of her understand why. ‘I mean, what girl can deny a hot jerk?’

  I want to say I can, but for a moment I ponder if I would really want to deny someone like Hunter Blake. I quickly shake my head and dismiss the thought. Any girl would be crazy to go for that type of thing.

  ‘He’s obviously talented. Why hasn’t he been recruited?’ I ask.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she says. ‘Which is surprising really, as people who show off normally get recruited. The recruiters come through here once a month searching for any talents that may have been missed by the blood analysis, or that have developed more than expected.’

  ‘And you think Hunter should be recruited?’ I surmise. I sneak a look back over to where he was standing, but he’s no longer there.

  ‘Pretty much.’

  ‘If all this talent stuff is so important. Why are you even talking to me? I’m fairly certain I’m as untalented as they come.’ Even t
hat’s an understatement.

  She considers this for a second. ‘I guess because I’m not like most people either. Besides, us untalents have to stick together,’ she says, linking her arm through mine.

  Lara leaves me at the entrance to biology and races off to her history class. I take a second to gather myself before entering the room. Taking deep breaths, I try to relax. Hopefully this class goes better.

  As I push the door open my eyes are drawn to the far right corner of the room and I have to stop myself from groaning. I have biology with Beth.

  She looks surprised to see me, but is quick to cover her disbelief with a mocking grin. She whispers to the girl sitting at the bench next to her, who lifts her eyes to look at me and starts laughing. I look away to find a seat, hoping she didn’t catch the hurt I failed to conceal in my eyes.

  I choose one of the tables to the far left of the room, unpack my things and take a seat. I focus down on my tablet, waiting for the class to start.

  ‘You can’t sit there,’ a deep male voice comes from behind me.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ I turn to apologise and find Hunter standing there, looking down at me seriously. Beth laughs and I take a fleeting glance at her. The way she’s looking at me, it’s clear I’m the butt of her joke. I sigh and turn back to the table.

  ‘I’ll just be one second.’ I say, gathering my stuff. Could this day get any worse?

  Hunter bursts into laughter behind me ‘I’m kidding,’ he says, patting me on the shoulder.

  ‘Right. Funny,’ I respond. I feel a bit embarrassed for not realising he was messing around. He laughs again and takes the seat at the table next to me.

  ‘I … ah.’ I really don’t want this guy sitting next to me, but what will I say, ‘that seat’s taken?’ I look back at my tablet lying on the table.

  ‘Actually,’ he says, getting his own tablet out, ‘my mate Trav usually sits where you are, but you’re way cuter, so I’m sure he’ll understand.’

  ‘Um. Thanks?’ I look back at him. ‘But your friend is more than welcome to sit here. I can move.’ He waves his hand at me as if to say it’s no problem.