Circles

Chapter Six

        “Wake up! Breakfast is ready,” Liz shouts, shaking me.

            “Okay, okay, I’m up,” I mumble, dragging myself out of bed. Once I stand up, I let myself collapse back down and pretend to fall right asleep again.

            “Come on!” Liz laughs.

            “I’m tired,” I say, incoherently, into my pillow.

            Liz grabs my leg and pulls me off the bed and onto the floor.

            “Hey, that hurt!” I giggle.

            “Let’s go!” she pleads.

            “Ugh,” I say, throwing a bathrobe on over my pajamas.

            “Want me to go check the stairs for suitcases for you?” Liz asks with a wink and a smile, mocking me. I roll my eyes.

            “Or should I go hide the water from Mike?”

            “Shut up,” I say.

            “Can we go now?” she asks.

            “Yeah, come on,” I say, walking to the stairs and down them. Once we get to the dining room, Liz and I take a seat at the table.

            “Oh boy, something smells good!” I say as Bella and Jess walk out of the kitchen carrying trays of bacon, pancakes, and eggs. They set them in the middle of the table, just out of my reach. I know better than to ask someone to pass me anything, so I wait for everyone to stop grabbing food before I attempt to get any. When they do, there’s nothing left. I sigh and get up to get a bowl of cereal. When I get to the kitchen, I hear quiet laughter coming from the dining room.

            A few hours later, there’s a knock at the door and Sam lets herself in.

            “Hey guys! How’s everything going?”

            “Great,” Mike says.

            “Couldn’t be better,” Jess adds with a smile.

            I consider telling Sam how I’m being treated, but I decide against it. It would be like a little kid telling on a friend for stealing their crayons. I’m better off acting like nothing’s bothering me.

            “Awesome!” Same says. “So good news! Today is your first Circle bonding activity!”

            Sam’s an interesting person. She’s short, about five-foot-one, but full of energy and smiles. It’s almost ironic for her job title to be an Adult; she’s only eighteen. It’s strange; she seems like such a people person, yet she didn’t want to be put in a Circle. Though we’re only seeing one side of her. She could be very different than she lets on.

            “What’s the activity?” asks Luke.

            “We’re going to do some trust exercises!” says Sam, unable to contain her excitement.

            “You have got to be kidding me,” I say quiet enough that nobody can hear me. The last thing I want to do is trust these people. It’s physically impossible. Sam ushers us all into the backyard.

            “Okay, everyone. We’re going to make a human pyramid,” she announces. She goes on to explain how this is “not just a trust exercise, but an activity that requires teamwork”. If one person doesn’t do their part, the pyramid will fall.

            I think back to when I was seven or eight and some kids from my parent’s Circle wanted to make a pyramid in the living room. We were horrible at it, but we had a lot of fun watching each other topple over again and again. My mom came into the room when we were in a pile on the floor, and she just shook her head while we laughed hysterically. We were sure she would tell us to stop, but that’s not why she was shaking her head.

            “You guys have got it all wrong,” she said. “Here, I’ll show you.” She arranged us in a perfect pyramid and when we didn’t fall over right away, she went to grab her camera and snapped a picture. It was a great day. I miss that.

            “Okay, so we need four really strong people on the bottom,” Cody says. “I’ll be one of them.”

            “Me too,” says April.

            “I’ll give it a shot,” Patrick adds.

            I want to prove my strength. I can’t keep hiding from these people, or they’ll never accept me. One of my biggest flaws is that I always feel the need to prove myself to others. I’m a little insecure. “I’m in,” I say.

            “Excellent!” Same exclaims. “Okay, you four get on your hands and knees, shoulder-to-shoulder.” We line up, April on one end and me on the other, Cody and Patrick in the middle.

            “I’ll start the next row,” Mike chimes in. “We need two more.” Liz and Max volunteer.

“Oh, come on, Liz. You sure you don’t want to get on top?” Max says with a smirk. Liz just rolls her eyes and balances between Cody’s and Patrick’s backs. Mike gets on my back, and Max gets on April’s.

Bella and Luke form the next row, and when Jess is about to get on top, Mike subtly drives his knee into my back, making my elbows give out. Everyone falls immediately. Liz looks sympathetic, but everyone else glares at me. I want to cry, but I don’t.

“I’m really sorry,” I say quietly. “My arms just gave out.”

“It’s okay,” Liz says. “Could’ve happened to anyone.” And then they all glare at Liz.

“You know,” Bella starts. “Maybe you should make sure you have at least an ounce of muscle on those arms before you volunteer to hold people up next time,” she says with a laugh.

Jess laughs too. “Yeah, I mean, look at you!” she says, holding up one of my arms. I yank it away.

“Give her a break, guys,” Liz says sternly. “Seriously.”

“Yeah?” Luke pipes up. “What do you care?”

Liz backs down immediately, not wanting to be the new target. I don’t blame her. I turn away to leave, but Mike blocks my path.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he challenges, getting in my face.

I swallow. “Away from you,” I say, and I try to shove past him. He grabs my arm and yanks me towards him, knees me in the stomach, and lets me fall to the ground. As I try to regain the wind that was knocked out of me, I consider kicking him, but I doubt that would end well. I couldn’t beat him in a fight. Thankfully, Sam opens the back door of the house and peeks out.

“Lunch is ready!” she shouts; she had gone inside to cook once we got our pyramid going. “Alex, are you okay?” she asks, a look of concern on her face.

“I’m fine. Just tripped,” I lie. I get up and walk inside with everyone else. They all sit down and start eating. I pick up my plate and go to my room.