Sapience (17 page)

When I left my room the TV was still on from the night before and Rachel was sleeping on the couch, her spiky blond hair was puffy from the night’s rest. She was sound asleep at first but her eyes snapped open as I walked passed, it was something we all did, a reaction to our training. When she saw it was me she turned away and drew the covers over her head.

Spencer came from the kitchen and tossed me a breakfast bar as he past. “We’re late, let’s go.” He made it seem as if he weren’t doing me a favor, more trying to speed me up so he could get to school.

I scarfed the bar in a rush as I threw on my coat and tried to catch up with him. Hopefully he would wait for me to unlock the door of my car before he decided to start walking. I knew I had woken up late, but now I saw that it was a lot later than I had originally thought.

The sun was already starting to beat back the frost and the fog was retreating farther into the woods. It was still a chilly morning though, I could see my breath.

“Good morning.” Brianna said, leaning against the hood of my car. She too was doing what she could to hide from the chill.

“Hey” I said, as I opened the passenger door to let her in, her hair brushed against my cheek as she passed. My skin tingled with heat where she had touched. It wasn’t until I started the car that I realized Spencer was still standing outside in the cold. I had to get back out so he could climb behind my seat.

“So glad you could let me in…” He said as he buckled his seatbelt.

“I love my new room, it’s amazing.” Brianna said with her stunning smile.

She wore a light white skirt and a blue t-shirt. There was only one small pocket on the skirt and I thought I could make out the outline of a small knife.

“I’m glad you like it.” I said as I started driving.

“Every room is huge, I don’t get it. How can you afford all of that?” Spencer said.

I glanced at him in the mirror “Lillie stole it all from the government. A little bit here, a little bit there, that’s where a lot of it came from.”

I drove faster than normal trying to make up for lost time. It felt weird leaving the house next to Brianna and Spencer. It was the first day of school where I wouldn’t have to face the world alone.

I had overheard Adrian and Lillie talking the night before when making dinner, about pulling us out of school now that everyone was together. In the end they agreed that we would never stand for that and three kids dropping out might bring some unwanted attention.

No one spoke again until we were almost to the school. It was really early in the morning, we embraced the silence.

Brianna let out a sigh when I turned down the same road as the school. “Lillie made me pick out the car I wanted, last night.”

“Really? She usually takes it upon herself to decide.” I said, wondering what Lillie was up to.

“She said she felt bad for forcing us to move.” She shrugged.

“So what did you pick?”

“I told her a Lamborghini as a joke, but when I tried to switch to something more practical she just told me the choice had been made.”

“That sounds like Lillie.”

“What am I going to do with a Lamborghini?” She asked.

“Personally, I would drive it.”

“I can’t take it to school. People could scratch the sides up”

“I guess that means you’re stuck riding with me.” I said.

“I would take it to school.” Spencer said as we drove into the parking lot.

“I don’t think anyone would touch it.” I drove around the lot until I found an open spot close to the school. Even though we were late, the lot was meant to hold a much larger student body, leaving plenty of open spaces near the front.

“People would notice.” Brianna added. “Maybe even the Kingdom’s agents.”

“Whatever.” Spencer said. “You two just don’t know how to have fun.”

“No, you’re just reckless.” Brianna said.

I eased my car into the spot and cut the engine.

“You’re just lame.” He said as we all climbed out. Spencer immediately left us to go meet up with one of his friends on the other side of the parking lot.

“What’s the deal with you two?” I asked when he was out of ear shot.

“What do you mean?”

“Well why do you two bicker so much?”

“Oh, I guess he’s kinda like my little brother and he tends to get on my nerves.”

I could feel her at my side as we walked up to the school. It was almost as if she was radiating warmth, or maybe it was electricity.

“I think he watches out for you more than you think.” I said. “When it comes down to it.”

“We’re family.” She shrugged. “That’s what families do.”

I nodded “True.”

Standing outside of the schools front doors was Neal watching us with his mouth hanging open.

“What’s up?” I asked as we approached. He just stood there, his eyes shifting back and forth between Brianna and I.

“Are you ok?” It kind of looked like he was having a stroke.

“I ah, yea.” He finally said in a shy huff. He stood silently and fidgeted with his zipper. “I have to go to class.” He said, turned and walked into the school as fast as he could.

“Catch you later…” I called as he disappeared. That kid… It was like he had a mental breakdown every time he came near a girl.

“Is there something wrong with him?” Brianna asked.

“Yes, yes there is.” I said staring in the direction he had just left. “I guess he is just shy.”

Brianna cupped her hands over her mouth to suppress laughter. “Awe, poor Neal.”

“Maybe you can help him.” I said. “Hook him up with one of your friends?”

She frowned and shook her head. “Doesn’t he have a girlfriend already?”

He had been dating his “ten” but I hadn’t seen them together in a while. “I will ask, if he doesn’t will you help me set him up?”

She pondered for a while as we walked. I decided it best to let her think without interruption.

“If he’s single we will try to find a way to get him in with one of my friends.” She finally said. “Though I can’t see this working if he is going to run away every time I bring a girl near him.”

“I won’t let him. I’ll give him a pep talk or something.” That idea actually sounded harder than I thought after hearing it out loud.

When we reached her first hour it was about to begin. She started to walk in but turned back. “You’re going to be late.”

“Most likely.” I shrugged.

“Will I see you again before gym?”

“Lunch?”

She nodded then turned into the classroom. The teacher, a round man with a mustache that curled at the ends, was right there waiting and closed the door in my face. The hallway immediately started to look more barren.

I hurried to class in a rush not to be too late. I glanced into all the barren classrooms as I passed, about two of every three were empty. They had tarps over the desks making them look haunted.

There was a time when the population here would have been booming and all the classrooms would have been full. Long before I was born the death rate under the Kingdom had risen, and as that happened people started moving inward leaving the borders of the country less populated.

The information came seemingly out of nowhere, as if remembering a forgotten dream. I had to clear my head before I walked into my first hour.

The room was loud when I stepped inside my first hour. Class hadn’t started yet and most of the students were talking amongst each other. If the teacher saw me coming in late, he pretended not to notice.

Neal was waiting impatiently at my desk when I sat down.

“Are you going out with Brianna Frost?” He asked immediately.

Is that what we looked like this morning? “No, we’re just friends.”

“Really?” He sounded disappointed. “well, that’s the word going around.”

“The word?” I took in an aggravated breath. “What word?”

“I’m sorry dude.” He blurted out, looking ashamed.

I turned so I could see his face better. “What did you do Neal?”

He hesitated, a pleading look on his face. “It’s not my fault, the way you two always look at each other and then this morning. You have to be, I can see it.”

“Neal, who did you tell?” I cut him off.

“Everyone!” He burst. “I told everyone.”

I cupped my hands over my face and shook my head. At that moment it felt like the universe was pushing Brianna away. I wonder how she is going to react to this one. Hey Brianna remember how I just forced you to move in with me? Well on top of that everyone thinks we are dating now so yea… great.

“I’m sorry dude.” Neal pleaded. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s cool.” I shrugged and pretended to turn my attention toward the teacher who was now trying to call the class to order.

How many people thought we were dating? I wondered. Why hadn’t Neal asked me first? If it wasn’t one thing it was another, couldn’t my life just stay how it was for a bit.

Neal kept trying to apologize through the rest of the class. At first I kept telling him it was okay but after a while I mostly ignored him and kept my attention on the teacher.

On my way to my next class I couldn’t help but notice the abundance of passing glances in my direction. News traveled like wild fire in this school. Why did these people even care, hadn’t a teacher been executed a little while back? This was hardly news compared to that.

Neal was beginning a new string of apologies when I cut him off. “Seriously don’t worry about it, where’s your girlfriend by the way?”

“My girlfriend?” He was clearly taken off guard by my change in subject. “Well, I had to tell her to take a hike. She was holding me back.”

“She broke up with you didn’t she?”

Neal seemed taken aback by what I had just said and after a sigh he said “Yea, she said I was a loser.” His shoulders slumped even more than usual.

At that moment I realized that I’d been pretty hard on him. I had just been trying to joke around, how was I supposed to know he had been dumped? It’s not like he had told me. “Are you ok?” I asked trying to be sympathetic.

He stared at the floor and nodded.

“I think she was only after you.” He whispered looking sullen and defeated.

“You think what?” I said in a sudden outburst.

“She told me. She was just trying to get close to you.”

“That’s horrible. Good thing she’s gone then, you don’t need a girl like that.”

“Yea.”

“You can do better anyways.”

“No.” He huffed. “Look at me, she was right, I am a loser.”

“What?” I snapped. “Don’t listen to what she says. You’re a good guy, girls like you. They think you’re sweet.”

“Come on.” His shoulders sank like he was carrying something heavy. “I’m a loser, before you came here I never had a girlfriend and that’s why.”

“You’re losing.” I said, not quite sure where the statement had come from.

Neal looked skeptical. “What?”

The words came out of my mouth no sooner than they had entered my head. “I said you are losing Neal. A hundred percent of the battles you don’t fight, you are losing.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Do you think the Kingdom would have been here if the people had stood up and fought it? No, it wouldn’t have stood a chance. Too many people looked the other way Neal, too many people said it wasn’t their fight.”

He was beginning to look nervous. “Keep your voice down.” he whispered.

“You say you’re a loser” I continued, if anything growing louder. “You shy away from every girl you meet. But those are your battles Neal and you’re losing them. You’re not a loser, stop trying to be one. Stand up and fight!”

Judging by the look on his face, you would have thought I had just slapped him. He didn’t look convinced, though I did sense something, hope maybe.

“I’ll prove it to you.” I said half to myself.

“I don’t see how.”

Two kids were sitting in the front office. It was hard to miss the fact that one was pointing right at me as he spoke to his friend. I ignored them as best I could and kept walking past.

“You have to be willing to do whatever I tell you.” If I set him on the right path, With Brianna’s help he might actually stand a chance of getting a date.

“Ok.” He said. “I’m not going to have to do anything embarrassing am I?”

“It’s only embarrassing if you think of it that way, try thinking of it as talking to someone in your family, or a guy even.”

“I don’t know, I get nervous.”

“Every time you start to feel your nerves getting to you just take a breath deep into your stomach to calm yourself down, that’s what I do. Now what do you say, are you ready to step up to that plate? ” I said, trying to copy that mischievous smile that Adrian did so well.

“What are you going to make me do?”

“What needs to be done.” I shrugged, he looked scared.

“Come on dude. I don’t think I can do this.” His voice was shaky, it sounded like he was about to have a panic attack.