Experiment Number One (Slow Updates)

Chapter One

"Stop complaining, Morgan." Adri teases and smiles at me. I chuckle and our conversation starts to die down. The chef comes out of the kitchen and calls for us to grab our food. We all stand up and walk over to get it; Adri and I bump hips as we walk. We grabbed our plates and brought them to our table. Even half asleep, I dug into my eggs, bacon, and toast. I probably looked like a slob, but honestly. I'm locked in a weird place and what am I supposed to do, be polite? Pfft, yeah right.

"Where are your manners, Eno?" Jace asked jokingly. He calls me Eno because it's the acronym for Experiment Number One. He doesn't know what else to call me, so Eno works. Plus, it sounds pretty when he says it. Jace laughed loudly at me and smiled. 

"I was taken from my life in a big black van, and I'm supposed to use manners? Besides, the van was, like, a creeper van, you know? The ones with the 'Free Candy' signs," I scoffed, getting off topic a bit. "And I'm supposed to have manners." I mumbled under my breath, coming back to the subject and making both Jace and Adri laugh.

"Pretty much," she agreed. We all laughed one more time before finally settling down, only talking occasionally. Then, I stood up and tried to fly to bring my plate back to the chef. I was flapping my wings perfectly until someone dropped their fork and I looked over. I lost my concentration and fell to the floor, dropping my plate and smacking my ankle against a stupid table. I sighed and sat there.

Adrianna offered me her hand and I took it, standing up again. These abilities are still fairly new to us. We've only had them for a month or so now. The scientists decided to try that awful experiment on us one month after Jace got here. We all got it done the same day and our bodies reacted to the chemicals. I still couldn't believe that they waited so long after I had been here to do something like this to me. Mad scientists are everywhere I guess.

They say our abilities are still developing and may take a while to fully mature.

"Number two? Err, Adrianna? We would like to do some tests with you." Dr. Love came into the room just them and Adrianna stood up. Why is he willing to say her name but not mine? I feel like huffing and puffing and making a deal out of it, but it hasn't seemed to work in the past.

"Bye guys." She called, knowing it was her personal training time. The schedule set strict times to work on developing our abilities.

"What a contradicting name," Jace said, once Adrianna was gone.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"His name is Doctor Love but he's so cold and emotionless."

"I heard he has a wife."

"I wonder how. She must have been fooled by his name." We both laugh at that and walk out of the dining room. We were headed for the foyer where we could hang out without passing out from the rubbing alcohol smell. When we reached our destination, I notice that it's completely empty. There are usually doctors or scientists on break. We sat down on the couch and awkwardly stared at each other and the walls for a while.

"So...," I say. Jace smiles.

"So...," he says, his deep voice mirroring my fairly high one.

"They should buy a T.V. or a pack of cards, at least," I say. Jace laughs and I smile widely. "We're teenagers. Don't they expect us to complain about being bored all the time? Gosh."

"There are plenty of things to do," he responds shyly.

"Such as?" I ask. He taps his finger against his chin and makes thinking noises.

"We could play tennis, red hands, I spy," he starts listing things off on his fingers. His face turned a light shade of pink just then and he says, "Or..." I smile and we lean closer to each other. Jace's ginormous smile starts to pucker a bit.

"Ahem." Dr. Love clears his throat. Blush spreads over my cheeks and embarrassment washes over me. I can't believe I was caught in this position, about to kiss Jace. I shake the cloudiness from my head and stare at the floor boards. Someone should probably clean those. 

Jace and I've been attracted to each other from the time we first met. We've never kissed, though, and this is the first time we've come close. When he came here, my eyes lit when they first saw him. He was amazing, built tall with wide shoulders and strong arms. With his somewhat shaggy hair, he's the perfect example of a healthy, attractive male. His strong jaw, five o'clock shadow, and muscle structure from his neck down made me feel hot. Was this actually a steam room? I pull my shirt out and in a bit to cool off. We act like we're a couple but we don't hold hands or kiss--yet. I watch his eyes follow my hand and shyly smile, just a bit.

"Number One? Come with me," Doctor Love said awkwardly. I hopped out of my seat and followed him silently to the training room, trying not to walk awkwardly as I was mentally kicking myself from embarrassment. Adrianna stood off to one corner of the room, holding her temples and squeezing her eyes shut with concentration.

"Today, we will work with flying again," he said. "Stand on the red 'X' on the floor, please." There were five scientists on either side of me, watching me carefully with their notepads and pens.

I knew better than to refuse so I walked over to the big red duct tape 'X' and closed my eyes. I rose off of the floor. Flying is an unconscious thought, like wiggling your toes or bending your finger. You can do it if you think about it but you don't know how it works. I open my eyes and steer myself towards Dr. Love. I keep moving jerkily, like I don't have control.

"Easy now," another doctor says.

"I'm going as easy and I can," I snap back. Suddenly, I fall landing on my knees with a bang. "You made me lose my concentration." I yell at the doctor who commented while grabbing my knee and pulling up the pajama pants to check for a cut. It was mostly an excuse, but it was definitely a little sore.

"Try again," Dr. Love orders.

 ********************

"Hey guys. How'd your testing go?" Adrianna asks once all three of us are together.

"They said that I'm officially the second strongest man on Earth right now. My ability should mature to make me far ahead of the first strongest, though," Jace says smiling. In a way, I think he must like his ability. That's one of the main things boys love, isn't it? Being strong and fit? Hell, I don't know what boys are into. Let's not kid ourselves.

"Mine kind of sucked. I fall when I lose my concentration, and one doctor kept talking to me while I was trying to fly. They said it's good practice to have someone distracting me," I say glumly.

"Well, good for you, Jace. I'm really sorry about that, Zoe. Maybe they have a point though?" she asks.

"I don't know. Maybe they do."

In all honestly, I'm sick of doctors trying to tell me what will and will not work. They gave me the damn wings, let me learn to use them on my own. It's not like they know for sure what works, they're guessing. It's an experiment and I'm their guinea pig.