The New Humans

Chapter 5

Ash arrived at school at two minutes to nine and proceeded to the locker room. He had PE first thing.

"Hey," he said to some of the guys who were still getting changed.

One answered with a half-hearted, "Hey Mack," but most of them didn't even look at him.

He got dressed quickly and went out onto the basketball court. Most of his classmates were already there waiting for the lesson to begin, the boys splashing girls with water from their water bottles. The coach, who should have put a stop to it, was studying something on his tablet.

When Rike and his friends entered the gym, Ash expected them to say something to him, but they seemed to ignore him.

When they'd all arrived, the coach called them together. "Right, today we're playing basketball. First the boys: white shirts versus colored shirts. You girls sit here next to me."

Ash had a white shirt; Rike wore black.

The coach blew the whistle and the game began. Ash's team center touched the ball and sent it into their half of the court. One of Ash's teammates caught it before it went out and passed it to Ash. Ash found several feet of free court in front of him. He snapped towards the basket, and a member of the other team attempted to tackle him, but with a smart move Ash managed to get past him. He found himself under the basket and was on the point of shooting when an opponent ran into him, pushing him face-first to the ground.

When Ash got up, Rike's pig-like face was smiling at him. "Sorry, didn't do it on purpose," he said with a hateful smile.

"Two free throws for Mack," said the coach.

"Aren't you going to throw Rike out of the game?" asked Ash.

"I'll decide who gets ejected."

Ash took the ball. The first shot hit the rim and bounced out of the basket. Ash heard a few little sniggers behind him. At the second attempt, he really wanted to make a basket to stop that idiot Rike from smiling. He launched the ball, but this one struck the rim as well and went out of bounds.

The other team got the ball and broke away unobstructed. The player arrived at the basket and slam-dunked the ball through the hoop. He and his teammates gave each other high-fives and the girls applauded.

Ash's team restarted the game. Ash took the ball, dribbled it to the midcourt line and passed it to a teammate. After a few seconds, he was run over again and went crashing into a bench on the side of the court, hitting his head. When he got to his feet, Rike was behind him, laughing.

"What happened, Synthetic?" Rike said. "Did you see an insect and collapse from fright?"

Ash hurled himself at Rike, wanting to strangle him. But Rike caught hold of his arms and held him off. Someone grabbed Ash and four hands pulled him away.

"What kind of behavior is this?" the coach said. "Come on, Mack, apologize."

"What?" Ash shook with anger. "He jumped on me twice and I'm the one who has to apologize?"

"They were normal fouls. You attacked someone after the play stopped."

"He bumped into me on purpose," said Ash.

"It's not true," said Rike. "He's had it in for me all day. Earlier too, outside the school, he kicked me."

"It's true," Rike's friends confirmed. "He never leaves him alone."

"Surely you're not going to believe them?" Ash said to the coach.

The coach shook his head. I just don't like you was written all over his face. "Apologize, Mack," he said, "and leave the game."

"The hell I will!"

"You will run around the gym until the end of the lesson. That way you might work off some steam."

Ash looked at the coach wide-eyed.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" the coach asked. "Get a move on."

Ash began to run around the court while the others started the game again. Now and then, as Ash passed his teammates, they made fun of him with remarks like "keep fit, Synthetic" that he pretended not to hear. Perhaps running would help him get rid of his anger after all.

About half an hour later, the coach blew the whistle and said, "Okay, good job, everyone. Go and change."

Ash started walking towards the locker room, but the coach intercepted him. "You wait here."

Ash waited for a few seconds while the coach finished writing something in the register.

"I'm disappointed in you, Mack. You're always involved in brawls, you hit other boys, and worse still, you don't seem to feel any remorse. Does that seem like mature behavior to you?"

Ash tried to remain calm. "They're the ones who start it."

"Certainly, it's always the others; it's always someone else's fault. It's never something you are responsible for, right?"

"That idiot Rike . . ."

"That's enough. I'm warning you, Mack, you're on the wrong track. This time you're lucky; I'll only put a note in the diary. If it happens again, I'll be forced to expel you."

"A note in the diary?"

"Would you prefer to be expelled?"

Ash bit his lip and kept quiet.

"You can go."

Ash headed to the locker room with an upset stomach. When he reached the door, he hesitated and gathered his courage. Nobody was there. But those jerks had taken advantage of the two minutes Ash had stayed behind with the coach to dump his gym bag and throw everything around the room.

Ash gathered his clothes and towel, then noticed his black ball was missing. He checked everywhere in the dressing room—under the benches, on top of the lockers—but there was no trace of it. He left the locker room with a bad feeling.

Rike stood outside. "You looking for this, Synthetic?" The ball was in his hand.

Ash tried to hide the desperation on his face but Rike only laughed. "What's so great about it, huh? You looking for a girl inside it?"

"Give it back," said Ash.

"And if I don't, what will you do?"

Ash tried to grab the ball from Rike's hands, but he was quicker and pushed his hand aside.

"Don't be dumb, Synthetic. You run the risk of getting a smack," said Rike. "If you really want this black ball, the price is fifty credits."

"I don't have them now," Ash said.

"Then you'll bring me them tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to throw it into a river."

And off he went, laughing. Ash didn't even try to follow: if he assaulted him, he would be expelled from school, and even if he tried to tell one of the other teachers that Rike had stolen the ball, nobody would care.