“Will she be available tomorrow?” Charlie asked, anxiety and excitement bubbling inside her.
“I’m afraid not, Charlie. The only way for you to have access to the facility is when you become qualified for the program that Jeanne is currently in.”
Charlie’s heart sank. “What? I thought you had connections,” she whispered.
“Do not worry, if you’re anything like your sister, ANDREI will be a breeze for you. You’ll be with Jeanne in no time,” Amanda said.
Charlie thought she was teasing, but she took it as motivation to achieve whatever her twin achieved. If it meant seeing Jeanne, she was willing to do everything.
Except ANDREI wasn’t a normal school, and Charlie was about to find out exactly what that meant.
Proceeding to the next attraction, Charlie felt like she was in a museum, except that its statues were humans moving and performing ‘magic tricks’ on the spot. The glass windows provided an unobstructed outdoor view, although there was nothing much to see except a green field and a thick forest in the distance.
Charlie and Hilary followed Amanda to an adjoining building on the west side of the school. They walked through a garden that led to the three-story dormitory. The student lounge on the ground floor was empty. They proceeded to the second floor where Charlie walked through a hallway with white doors that reminded her of the laboratory. This time, however, on each door, hung a dry erase board laminate bearing names, some badly scribbled, some meticulously lettered.
The two students followed Amanda, who unlocked the door to the room at the end of the hall. Charlie peered inside and was awed. Like the rest of the building, floor-to-ceiling glass panels lined the wall and the view was magnificent. Charlie thought this was the perfect place to watch the sunset, her favorite part of the day. The room was modestly furnished. There were two wooden study desks at the side, two plain white beds and two tall closets. Another door on the left Charlie assumed led to the bathroom. She turned to Amanda, who informed her, “This is going to be your room.”
“I remember you mentioning something about a roommate,” Charlie said and looked around the room again.
“Yes, the Unlocked share bedrooms."
“’Unlocked’?" Charlie asked.
Before she could answer, Amanda’s mobile phone beeped. She glanced at the screen for a second and quickly poised herself to leave the room. Before doing so, she said, “I’m sure Hilary will be more than happy to answer your queries. She will also continue touring you around the campus. Be sure to attend your first class, Charlie. We do not tolerate tardiness or absences, even if it’s just your first day. And by the way, your Skills Assessment Test is scheduled five days from now. Check your schedule. Do not forget,” Amanda smiled a little but the seriousness in her tone sent the right message to Charlie. No taking classes for granted here, Charlie thought.
Amanda nodded to Charlie and Hilary and briskly walked away.
Plopping on her bed, Charlie motioned Hilary to join her.
“I still have to show you the library, cafeteria, and training rooms,” Hilary protested.
“A few minutes of downtime won’t hurt. I need to catch my breath,” Charlie said.
“Oh, alright,” Hilary said with a smile, taking a seat on Charlie’s soft mattress. “By the way, you’re rooming with Brianna. I don’t know who she is because I’m not that close to the kids. Just a word of warning though, things can get… rough in shared bedrooms.”
“What do you mean, rough?” Charlie inquired skeptically. “I don’t mind sharing a room.”
“Let’s just say things can get messy when you’re still trying to figure your powers out,” Hilary answered. “Part of the training program at ANDREI is finding out exactly what you can do. Since it doesn’t come as easily and quickly as one would hope, it takes a week before some students manifest their powers. In that period, they’re given assignments to aid them.”
“Please elaborate.”
“Did you see the girl holding a plant in the lobby? Her name’s Freja. She took the longest and messiest road towards discovery. It included mud splotches on the wall and poop-colored water flooding the floor.”
Charlie envisioned it in her head and cringed. “I hope Brianna is done with that phase.”
“Let’s both hope so,” Hilary said, standing and pulling up Charlie. “Come on, we need to go. You don’t want to be late for class, do you?”
“Wait, wait. You haven’t told me about the word you used earlier --- Unlocked?” Charlie asked, refusing to rise.
“Oh, that. I’ll explain while we’re walking.” Hilary led Charlie downstairs and remained true to her word in telling all. “The Awakened are technically those who are at the final stage of power development. It’s all blurry, really. They don’t tell us the criteria, but it’s apparent how they pick the students who are promoted to Awakened status. They’re usually the best students in a class or the ones who have shown relatively great progress in honing their abilities.”
“And the Unlocked?” Charlie asked.
“They’re the newbies. Like you,” Hilary smiled.
“Oh, so I’m an Unlocked. And you are an Awakened, I assume,” Charlie smiled.
“I’m not saying that I’m any good, I just happen to be a fast learner. It’s what all the other Awakened say,” Hilary said, a little beaten down.
“I’m sure you deserve to be where you are, Hilary,” Charlie reassured her friend. Their eyes met and at that moment they knew: it was the beginning of a friendship they both needed.
Walking through another set of double doors, Charlie found herself in a metal room. It looked cramped and menacing with all the unidentified metal equipment scattered about.
Hilary interrupted her thoughts. “This is an ANDREI training room. We’ve got four others like this. It’s made of material designed to resist a specific element manifested by a student. Taking my powers as an example, this is a room I can’t burn down. These rooms are strictly for physical training and mental endurance,” Hilary explained.
The second room looked similar to the first except its walls were covered with specially designed thick padding. “This is the infirmary. The materials used in these walls temporarily block any powers. This was designed so attending physicians are protected from potentially violent students. You know how nerves can trigger unwarranted violent reactions, right?” At Charlie’s nod, Hilary looked around and continued, “Doesn’t this place remind you of rooms in a loony bin?” Charlie chuckled at Hilary’s comment that reflected her own thoughts.
“I’d love to stay and chat with you, but you’ve got five minutes before your first class with Ms. Everest. We need to get going.”
Heart thudding wildly in her chest, Charlie felt a weird drowning sensation. This was her usual response to nerves, but for some reason it felt like her first day at Joseph Foran High School as a new student. And then she realized, it was her first day! But the thought didn’t help slow her racing heart.
Hilary ushered her down a hallway with a reassuring smile and hand squeeze. “I’ll be back when your class is over. We can resume the tour then,” she promised.
Charlie reluctantly turned the knob and entered the room. All but one chair was filled. A youthful-looking woman stood in front. She greeted Charlie with a warm smile. “Well, you’re a minute early. It’s Ms. Hartley, right?”
Charlie managed a nod but couldn’t squeak out a verbal response. “Class, this is Charlene-“
“Charlie, please call me Charlie.” She didn’t realize she’d just cut off the lovely woman, most likely her teacher, in mid-speech.
The woman’s smile seemed plastered on her face. “Class, this is Charlie Hartley.”
The rest of the class responded in a bored chorus, “Hi, Charlie Hartley.” Each student was busy staring at his own empty table save for a Russian-looking guy whose stare seemed to penetrate Charlie’s soul.
“I’m Rachel Everest. Call me whatever you wish,” the woman said. “Yo
u can take a seat at the back, Charlie.”
There were only seven students in the class, eight including Charlie. It was a very small class, but considering how few had special abilities, theirs was a good number.
Ms. Everest grabbed Charlie’s attention again. “Charlie, do you mind me asking a personal question?”
Charlie was caught off-guard. She didn’t know how things worked at ANDREI yet, so she was stymied. Her nerves were on overdrive but she managed to say, “No, I don’t mind.” Charlie prayed she sounded intelligible to Ms. Everest because to her ears, her voice was garbled.
“Do you know what you can do?”
She racked her brains for an answer. It sounded like a beauty pageant question. Then it occurred to her Ms. Everest was referring to her powers.
Even then she struggled with her words. “I can move things.”
A curly haired girl in red-rimmed glasses piped up, “So can we!”
A few giggled but the girl looked genuinely bothered.
“Brianna…” Ms. Everest was about to chastise the girl. So that’s Brianna. Great, my roommate doesn’t like me already.
“I mean with my mind. I can move things with my mind,” Charlie added.
That silenced them.
“Pics or it didn’t happen!” A petite girl with tiny face and a mischievous smile said in reference to a popular tagline on the Internet.
“Mika!” Ms. Everest looked exasperated. She gave Charlie an apologetic look.
The dark-skinned guy sitting in front of Charlie turned around to face her and said: “Mika’s just messing around. But we do want to see,” he turned to face the front. “Right, Ms. Everest?”
“Only if Charlie is comfortable,” she replied, looking at Charlie expectantly. Charlie felt all eyes on her. She did her best to ignore them or she’d lose concentration and embarrass herself on her first day. She stared at Mika’s bag on the floor beside her chair as all eyes followed suit. After a few seconds, Mika’s bag had yet to move.
“Are you sure you’re not a defect? I mean, Ms. Pitt wouldn’t let a defect come in, right?”
Ms. Everest snapped. “Mika, that is enough! Cafeteria duty for the next month starting tomorrow!”
“But the kitchen is disgusting!”
Ms. Everest didn’t speak. She was staring at something at the back of the room. Mika whipped her head and saw it. It took only seconds before all heads were turned and the rest saw it too.
The large glass globe was no longer perched on the table. It was floating in mid-air, thump-thump-thumping against the ceiling.
“Whoa,” Mika exclaimed.
Ms. Everest smiled. “Now we know. Class, Charlie is telekinetic.” Upon hearing someone declaring her as such made her feel giddy inside. The teacher’s pronouncement was the affirmation of all the years she spent convincing herself her powers weren’t just hallucinations or her mind tricking her. She was a real telekinetic. Then Ms. Everest said, “Now, would you please gently put the globe down so we can get on with our class.” Charlie did as she was told and for the next hour, Ms. Everest talked about abilities. She learned all of them in her class were called The Unlocked.
During the class, Charlie got acquainted with the powers of her fellow Unlocked. Ms. Everest asked the class to demonstrate what they could do for Charlie’s benefit.
Mika, the spunky girl who talked a lot, could make herself invisible, or more precisely, could make certain parts of her body invisible. She was only in Level 1, referring to students who were just starting out and had little knowledge of what they can do. Other Level 1 students included Garrett, the guy seated in front of her, who could control time very briefly. Another guy with brown hair swept to the side and who reminded Charlie of Justin Bieber with a better voice was Jian. His powers were Illusion Creation, which impressed Charlie when he made her experience being underneath the ocean teeming with fish for a few moments. Patrice was the dark-brown haired lass with piercing dark eyes who didn’t talk much; she could manipulate the weather. Patrice demonstrated her powers through a clap of thunder rumbling despite the sun shining brightly through the windows.
“The rest of the class is at Level 2. They are now evaluating the extent of their abilities before we find a program suitable for honing it,” Ms. Everest said.
Charlie met Cassandra, a tall blonde who oozed with confidence. She could manipulate gravity and proved by making all eight chairs and the sole table in the room float an inch from the ground for two full seconds. Brianna, the worrier in glasses who initially thought Charlie was a fraud, could predict the future.
Brianna approached Charlie. “You’ll have a… mishap. Tomorrow, or in the near future. I’m sorry; it’s still a little blurry to me. I’m working on it.”
Charlie was initially taken aback, but decided to take Brianna’s prediction with a grain of salt. “I’m your new roommate.”
“Oh, so you’re the one bunking with me. Hi, roomie!” Brianna chirped before heading back to her seat in front of the class.
Then there was the Russian. His name was Ilka and he flew around the room to prove it. Julian could make a double of himself, while Ted could hear Charlie’s breathing even from 20 feet away.
“You smell like geraniums,” Ted told her. Charlie sniffed her shirt and true enough, the faint scent of her perfume that smelled of geraniums was still there.
What a weird bunch, Charlie thought. I like them already.
Exactly an hour later, Ms. Everest dismissed the class. Charlie noted Amanda was not kidding about the school being particular with time and punctuality.
When Charlie exited the room, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Ms. Everest.
“It’s really nice to have a new face eager to be in my class,” she said to Charlie. “See you tomorrow.”
Charlie smiled. “See you tomorrow, Ms. Everest.”
Hilary waited for her outside the room like she promised. “How was class?”
“It was okay,” Charlie replied. “I need some time to process things, but I think I’m taking it pretty well, all things considered.”
Hilary agreed. “I think so too, Charlie.”
They walked towards the cafeteria and chose a table near the door. Charlie walked up to the counter and spotted Mika behind it. When it was her turn, Charlie smiled at the new kitchen assistant.
“I’m sorry about what I said earlier,” Mika said. “I didn’t mean it to be offensive or anything.”
Charlie was surprised to receive an apology. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry about kitchen duty, though. Maybe I can talk to Ms. Everest to let you off.”
“Really? Thanks!” Mika exclaimed. Charlie left the line queue with a tray of food and a smile on her face.
“I see you’ve made friends,” Hilary observed when Charlie got to the table.
“Surprisingly so,” Charlie said, pleased. Charlie’s gaze darted to a boy with messed up brown hair who entered the cafeteria with an easy, confident gait. He looked cute with that fresh-from-the-bed attire and half-open eyes to match.
“Hey, Hilary. Who’s that guy?” Charlie asked, craning her neck to his direction.
“Ah, that’s Otto. All around nice guy,” Hilary replied. Then she erupted into a watermelon smile. “You have a crush on him, don’t you?”
Charlie laughed. “Of course not, I haven’t even met him!”
“But you think he’s cute!”
“I neither confirm nor deny that claim.” The two girls laughed. As their laughter subsided, a girl whose entire demeanor screamed trouble approached their table.
“So it’s true, Hil, you now have a new lunch buddy,” the blonde girl playfully pouted. She turned to Charlie. “I had to see it for myself. Look bitch, I don’t know why or how you’re back, but I don’t care. You don’t just waltz into this school and steal my friends. You’re not one of us.”
Charlie was taken aback. She didn’t know how to respond.
“Madison, stop. She’s not Jeanne,” Hilary int
ervened.
Madison laughed. “And you expect me to believe that?” She lifted a few strands of Charlie’s hair, examining them. Madison inched her face so close to hers she could feel Madison’s breath on her nose.
“Holy shit,” Madison blurted. “She’s really not Jeanne?”
Hilary sighed. “That’s what I’ve been telling you.”
“Is she some sort of clone?”
Charlie cringed at the c-word. She didn’t like to think she was a clone; it makes her sound artificial. Hilary quickly defended her.
“Have you ever heard of twins, Madison?”
“Oh, so you’re the twin bitch!” Madison exclaimed. “I don’t believe we’ve met. My name’s Madison.”
Madison extended her hand like nothing happened. Charlie had no choice but to shake it. “Charlie,” she croaked.
“Very nice to meet you, Charlie,” Madison said, smirking. She walked away without another word.
Hilary heaved a deep breath. “I’m sorry about that. She’s the actual bitch, not Jeanne. Madison and your sister have a history. Jeanne was the only one who was able to stand up to her and Madison hated her for it,” Hilary explained.
“Well, she seemed less venomous when she found out I’m not Jeanne. That’s good news, right?”
Hilary shook her head. “I don’t know. With Madison, you never really know.”
Charlie shrugged it off. With the initial excitement wearing off from all the newness around her, Charlie allowed her thoughts to linger on Jeanne. “What else do you know about my sister?”
“Your sister is a fighter, that much I know. We were best friends from the orphanage. Like me, she was passed on from one foster home to another until she ended up at Texas Hands for Change, where we met.” Hilary stopped talking as if a switch was turned off.
“Hilary? Are you alright?” Charlie’s friend didn’t respond. She was about to stand to get some help when Hilary grabbed her arm.
“I’m fine,” Hilary said, hand on her forehead. “Just a dizzy spell, I guess. I’m going up to my room to get some rest. You should come with me.”
“Sure,” the worried Charlie said, linking her arm around Hilary’s for support. “I don’t have any other activity for the rest of the day anyway, according to the schedule Ms. Pitt gave me.”
The Unlocked (Charlie Hartley Series Book 1) Page 7
