Chapter Six
Summer's End
Summer only lasted a month and a half, because the academy's school year started much earlier than Bearin. Megan didn't talk to me the entire time, and I was too chicken to call her. It was sad, but I was also excited because I got to go to the academy sooner. Then I felt horrible about feeling excited when Megan certainly wasn't and the icy sadness returned to my heart. I felt terrible and wasn't mad at her at all. I probably would've had a fit if she had transferred away from me.
But still, with a week left to go we had a meeting with Mr. Pulcher to get all my official stuff in order. It was hard not to be excited then.
At the Pulcher house, we sat down and Mr. P gave Mom some things to sign.
"Wow, you went all out," she remarked, chuckling, and leafed through the papers.
After she was done she handed them to me. I skimmed them and gave them back.
"Well, that's about it," Mr. P said, standing up. "Oh, wait, I'll need a private meeting with Ari and that'll be all."
Mom nodded as Mr. P led me into the hall. "As you may have thought, there's some things we can't show your mother, which is what we need to take care of now. First of all-" he handed me a list of classes. "You'll need to fill out your list of classes."
There were lots of electives, but I was happy to see they offered a drama course. I marked it and paused at the list of sports. "Mr. P, would I be allowed to take track?"
He regarded me for a moment and then laughed. "You'll have to talk to the coach about that one. But I have no doubts that if you did, you'd be the star athlete."
I laughed and looked at the list again. There was nothing else that caught my interest, but...I could take gym. I never took it before since I was afraid I would reveal my ability to the other kids. And the years ideas forced to take it hadn't left a good impression on me.
But now I didn't have to worry about that. And maybe I wouldn't embarrass myself as I had in the past. Having snakelike reflexes boosted my confidence enough to mark P.E. onto my list.
***
The next day, I talked to Evelyn about the classes. "You took gym?" she asked in horror.
"Yeah, I figured my ability would kinda keep me from embarrassing myself," I explained.
"Ari, we're not allowed to use our abilities in gym."
My mouth dropped open. "What? Are you kidding?"
"No, and it's for good reason. Years ago some kid with anger issues got mad that his team lost a dodgeball game. Unfortunately for them, his ability was fire. He kinda...lost control and scared the whole school. So you'll get in big trouble if you get caught using an ability in gym."
"Oh, no!!" I moaned cupping my forehead in my hand. "What am I gonna do? Can't I take Spanish instead?"
"I'll ask my dad, maybe you'll be in my Spanish class."
I paused my despair for a moment to ask, "Uh, Evi, why exactly are you taking Spanish? You could write a Spanish dictionary! And an every other language dictionary."
"Yeah, but I need a foreign language for college credit."
I sighed. "Whatever. Can you please talk to your dad and get me out of gym?"
She called me back a few minutes later. "I'm really sorry..."
"You didn't get me out of it?!"
"No...my dad had already made up your schedule."
I face palmed myself and groaned. "And he couldn't change it?"
"No."
"Why not?!?! He's the principal."
"Apparently, he saved all the schedules now, he already finalize and print yours because it was kind of short notice. He didn't have time to change it. And after he finished telling me that he got mad at me and told me to go away."
"So you can't talk to him?"
"No, he'll get mad! He has NO tolerance for times when I try to persuade him to do something."
"Aw, please?"
"Ari, you really want to be out of gym that badly?"
I paused. I thought yes, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Who am I kidding? Of course it would.
"Yes."
Evelyn sighed. "I'm sorry. I wish I could get you out, but it'll be fine. I think Josh took gym, so you might be in his class."
"Great, I'll embarrass myself in front of another guy."
"No you won't. YOU will hide in the back and participate as little as possible."
I rolled my eyes. "You don't know that."
"But I know you."
"Well, I could just-" I had been about to say 'stop talking to you' but I halted that sentence. Without Megan, Evelyn was the only person besides my mom that I talked to.
"What?"
"Never mind," I admitted. "Well, gotta go worry about gym and eat ice cream. Talk to you later."
"Bye. And don't worry, you'll be fine!"
"Sure." I hung up.
I decided it was time to start talking to Mom to pay her back for everything she did for me, so I told her about the gym dilemma. Well, not all of it obviously. I told her I decided to take it and then Evelyn said it was hard.
"What should I do?" I asked, after I finished explaining. A small part of my gut squirmed in protest of my lie.
"Well, there's no point in trying to get out of it, so you want to know my honest advice? Participate. I know it'll be hard at first but really, it will be much better than hiding in the back."
"Are you sure?" I asked my mom dubiously.
"Yes, and I know because the same thing happened to me. Not exactly the same of course, but you get the idea."
I nodded. "Thanks, Mom." And I really did feel better after talking to her. And now Mom knew more about me, and I knew more about her. It surprised me that that idea made me happy. Maybe I should start letting my mom in more. This huge secret I was keeping from her wore me out sometimes. Maybe it would make me feel better to tell her about the things I could.
I went to my room when my phone rang. It was Evelyn.
"Hey, I forgot to tell you. Today is the day where you tour the school officially. Normally it would've been yesterday, but your mom was there. So tell her you're just coming here to hang out."
I said okay and was soon on the way to the Pulcher house AGAIN. I took the golf cart, pulled up to their driveway, and knocked.
My greeting from my friend was "What took you so long?"
"I rode the golf cart," I said simply.
She nodded and called to her dad. He came out with a piece of paper which turned out to be my schedule. I looked over the paper which showed my other information like my locker and dorm. Then I looked at my classes, the first four were math, English, science and history. After that I had drama and lunch. Last were gym and a class called Control of Abilities.
"Since your mom can't be here, I am your honorary guardian," Mr. P says jovially. "Need anything for your year here, ask me." I nod
The three of us descended the stairs at the end of the hall and came into the white room with the elevators.
"This is what we call the entrance room. That hallway," he's pointing to the mysterious one on the left side "is the hall which funnels in the students at the beginning of each year and takes them out at the end. But you won't use it since it's for the boarding students who live further away. It leads to an underground tunnel into the forest. They have dorms, which are down that hallway too. The kids' parents drop them off into the forest at the beginning of each year and take them home at the end. No one ever sees the cars because they're hidden by the trees. Luckily we only have to deal with that twice a school year, because it's a big hassle."
"Oh, so that's how you get everyone in," I say.
For the few students that live near here, they come in through the house. They don't use their dorms, even though they have them. You'll get one too but you won't need it. Anyway, those few students are part of the fake educational program. We use that as a cover story to tell the neighbors too, by the way."
I nod and study the surroundings as we all get into an elevator and ride it down.
"That's also why we have seven elevators," Evelyn chimes in. "Everyone comes down through them every morning. I recommend getting here early to beat the rush."
I laugh and nod. "I'll take that into consideration."
We went down onto the balcony and he showed me the commons, cafeteria, and wings. Then he took me down the sophomore wing and showed me all the classrooms. There were no other students or teachers there.
Then we went down to the lower level with the black carpet. I saw the classrooms down here and the senior cafeteria. I glanced around and noticed something. Coming for the left side of the hall, the one Evelyn hadn't shown me, there was a soft white light coming from somewhere I couldn't see. It was different from the dull bulbs hanging from the ceiling, it looked more pure and whiter.
"Well, that's about it. Lets go," Mr. P said, heading up the stairs. "Hurry, I need to have plenty of time to make it to my online conference with the staff."
"Wait, uh..." I took a few steps down the left hall and squinted. The light was coming from a door at the very end. I hurried a few steps further until I could make out what it said.
JANITOR 101-1854
I took one last glance at it and rushed back to Mr. P. The number echoed around in my subconscious. '101-1854. 101-1854.'
On the very bottom I took a quick fleeting glance at the light and followed Mr. P up the stairs.
After that, Mr. P showed us a few of the elective rooms and a quick tour of the gym. My stomach twisted in anxiety as I looked around the huge space complete with wrestling mats on the walls and thick ropes hanging from the ceiling.
"That's about it," Mr. P said conclusively. "And- oh, man! I've got to get everything for the meeting set up. Sorry to do this, but you girls can look around here for a few minutes, I'll have to leave you. Ari, if the meeting's not over in time for me to say goodbye, here's the key to your dorm!" He tossed it to me and I caught it smoothly (thanks, reflexes.)
"Bye, Mr. P," I called as he disappeared up the stairs.
"Can we please leave this place?" I begged Evelyn, taking steps toward the stairs.
She looked shocked. "What, don't you want to spend more time in the place where you're sure you'll soon be humiliated at?"
I gave her a death glare. It didn't faze her. She just put her hands up in mock surrender and followed me upstairs. I had to laugh and slap her arm teasingly.
As we walked up through the hall I asked "So downstairs did you see that room with the light coming out from it?"
"No, what are you talking about?"
"Well...." I grabbed her arm and took her back to the bottom floor and pointed down left to the janitor's room. But as we got closer, I noticed that the light wasn't streaming out as it had been before. In fact, there was no light at all.
"That one?" Evelyn asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," I said, then sped down the hall to check. It was the right one, 101-1854.
"See anything?"
"No," I sighed. "Maybe I imagined it." Even though I was pretty sure I hadn't, I followed Evelyn back up the stairs, and after a quick goodbye, went home.
***
I hitched my old blue backpack up on my shoulder, looking both ways (twice) before crossing the street. To say that I was nervous was an understatement. If I could, I would use my speed to get to Evelyn's in a blink, but I didn't want to arrive at my first day of a new school as a sobbing mess.
No, I was determined to start this year off right. The contacts had tempted me, but Mom had ordered clear ones for me, so those I put in. If have to get used to not hiding my eyes behind the false green. I had also spent hours picking an outfit, finally deciding on white mid-thigh shorts, a deep blue long sleeved chiffon button down with white Vans. (I'm bad at outfits, sorry) I thought it suited me but now I was worried. Were the shorts too short? Would people think I was purposely showing myself off? I blushed at the thought. And my old blue backpack, did it look too ratty? The homeless look did not suit me well. At this point I almost turned around to go back but then I heard a car horn honk at me. Oh yeah, I was on the middle of the road, lost in thought. Oops. I rushed out of the way at slightly above normal human speed and quickly cringed, hoping the car didn't notice.
'Stop being a weenie,' I thought to myself. If I wanted plenty of time that morning to get to class, I needed to go now.
Evelyn wasn't near the entryway of the house when I got there, maybe she was already at the underground school. Mr. P wasn't there either, but the door had been unlocked. I imagined he wasn't the type of fool to leave his house open to possible criminals.
I descended the stairs and soon found myself in the big white elevator room. My first stop was to see my dorm, just put of curiosity. I wondered if I had a roommate. I wondered if she'd be mad that I never used my dorm. A vengeful roommate really wouldn't be the best way to start a school year.
Remembering from the second, more informative tour of the premises I took the right hand hallway leading off from the elevators. There were a few people milling around in the hallway, they gave me brief glances and quick smiles. I shyly smiled back, knowing my first day had begun.
***
DUN DUN DUN!!! ^_^ it took me so long to write this, I know these last few chapters have been SOOO boring and I don't like them. But I can almost guarantee the next ones will be more interesting. And less... whatever they have been *_*
(>•_•)> <(•_•<) hug me brotha!!! Lol thanks for reading :DD