Chapter 1
“You have to get out of here.” Mr. Tyler whispered as the last of the swim team students were shuffling out the door.
“What do you mean? Don’t I have extra practice today?” I stopped treading water and grabbed the edge of the pool. I was the last student left.
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
My thoughts spread farther than swim team. Maybe he was talking about the whole school. My suspicions had been building since the moment I got here. There were too many security measures, too many surveillance cameras, and most of all, there were too many secrets.
When we first heard about the school being built for gifted young adults our parents were so committed to having their own child attending. They bent over backwards to meet the specifications, pay the fees, and brag to all the neighbours. My child made it into Y.A.C. Y.A.C. stood for Young Adult Colligate. The Canadian Government had created a new branch called the “Special Force” to be in charge of restructuring the educational system. They were amalgamating high school and college level classes, allowing students to specialize sooner and graduate sooner. We were excited because there would be no compulsory classes, we could choose any electives we wanted, plus we would be hanging with the big kids. Supposedly it would solidify our career choices, eliminating wishy washy decision making early, so we wouldn’t be wasting our parents’ tuition money. I no longer had to argue with my parents about having to take all those stupid math classes. They were no longer necessary. It was a win win situation. I picked anything from fine arts to advertizing to swim team. I was a good swimmer, but I had ulterior motives for wanting to be close to Mr. Gerome Tyler. Now he seemed too close and in all the wrong ways.
“It’s not just the school.” Mr. Tyler read my mind, pausing as another student came out of the locker room and went outside. His eyes lingered on the door, “It’s everywhere.”
He paused again, allowing me to process what he had said. I peered through my goggles at my swim coach, trying to understand his logic. Sandy blond, blue eyed and young enough to expect a crush or two from his teenage students. Me included. Finally he looks straight into my eyes. I took my goggles off and sat them on the edge of the pool. I tucked a piece of my unruly red hair back under my swim cap.
He crouched down closer to me. “Miss Pawlak.” Closer still, “Halina, you can’t be here anymore. You’ve compromised your standing, you have to leave.” The close proximity to my coach would usually elicit an intense fluttery feeling under my sternum, but this did not seem to be the time for a crush rush.
Defensively, I tried to argue with him, “Listen, I know I’ve missed and couple curfews and practices, but I think kicking me out is unjustified and unfair...”
“I’m not expelling you.” He interrupted. Silence again. Was I supposed to be reading into this? Surely he didn’t know about what my friends and I had really been up to. Or did he?
“It’s the whole planet!” He started to sound desperate,” The Special Force is not what you think it is.”
I already knew that. It was the mother of all conspiracies.
***
The first red flags went up for me when we heard about the new stipulations Principal Arter was putting into force. First assembly of our first year, sitting with my friends, we seemed like the only ones who were suspicious of his announcement.
“The curfew I can understand, they need to keep a good rep, but the security gates and I.D. imprints are a bit much”. Glynis mumbled under her breath.
