by A. A LEVINE
I see Chloe’s lips moving but I can’t focus enough to understand what she’s saying. A soft voice echoes in my head and I concentrate on that trying to ignore all the other noise. Slowly, the ringing stops and the other voices quiet first to a low roar, then to a soft murmur, and then they’re finally gone.
“Don’t you think?” Chloe says.
“I, uh.” I offer a small prayer of thanks that the system has rebooted and I can think again.
“Ashland you’re a former gymnast, you’ll be able to get across that plank with no problem, right?” Shane asks. She nods in the affirmative. “And Leo. You’ve got lookout.” He agrees as well. Shane goes down the line handing out assignments to the most skilled people, and the rest of us are assigned to the front lines. We’re supposed to draw fire so that the first string can get to their targets unseen.
“I can be on look out too.” I offer.
Everyone, including Chloe giggles. “What can you do turtle? Run slowly in the wrong direction?” Leo quips.
“I’m good at climbing trees.”
“Ri-ight.” Shane dismisses my offer and Chloe rolls her eyes at him.
She gives me a sympathetic smile. “Let’s face it Holli, the overnight camp-out makes this latest activity feel more intense than our usual Orion Academy war games and those boys are not in a losing kind of mood. I heard a couple of people talking about special alliances and trading players and voting players off.” She spreads her arms wide and says in a voice like a television announcer. “Welcome to Survivor Island High School Edition.”
Our thirty minutes are up and we head back to the meet up point with the instructors. Xander looks up as we approach and hooks his thumb behind him. “We’ve got some gear over by the athletic building that we will be using. Head over there and help load up the truck and when that’s done you’ll have ten minutes to gather toiletries. This is not a spa weekend or a holiday cruise. Just grab the basics that you need to survive for two days.”
Back in my room, I grab a clean set of athletic clothes, socks, bra, panties and a small toiletry gift set that I got for my birthday last year. I shove everything into my book bag and hurry back outside. I don’t know if this is a timed event but if it is; I don’t want to risk being late. The early bird gets the worm, or in this case no extra points deducted for tardiness.
A three-mile walk gets us to our starting point for this adventure. We get a safety brief, details about the rules of engagement, and then the timer is starts signaling the game has begun. Shane as team leader picks out an area around camp for us to set up our sleeping bags. Once we drop off our stuff, we follow the map searching for the landmarks we’ll be using as lookout points. Our official campaign begins at sunset.
The noise is back. It started as a low hum that I could ignore, but now it sounds like I’m standing directly under a fire alarm.
He trusts me. Big mistake. I’ll wait until his guard is way down and find out where the flag is
He’s hot. Really hot.
I can’t believe we have to sleep outside, how is this going to help me learn anything?
I should have brought my science book so I could get a head start on studying.
Next set of cuts is coming up. I wonder who’s next.
The thoughts just keep coming. Maybe a walk will help clear my head. I travel to the outskirts of our makeshift camp and the hum subsides but there’s a voice that seems to get louder.
Please. Stop. Just stop. I said STOP!
Everything falls quiet and suddenly Alex, John and Xander surround me. “What the hell is going on?” I look from them to the senior who’s slumped against the tree and then to the girl with wavy brown hair who eats alone in the cafeteria. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m just as confused as they are.
“Holli?” Xander gives me a little shake. “Holli? What did you do?”
“I’m.” I choke back a sob. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.” I look at the senior again. “Did I do that?”
He looks at John who’s looking at me. Alex is in front of the girl and shakes her head somberly. “I think this lesson is over.”
John goes over to the senior and helps him to his feet. “I think you’re right.” When we get back to the camp area, the other training officer’s give the order to pack up and head back to the dorms.
I endure the strange looks on our hike back. The guy was definitely dazed after he hit his forehead against the tree. I can guess what John was thinking. That I’m now the sleepwalking freak that’s apparently super strong when she’s unconscious.
“Damn, girl. Somebody was paying attention in self-defense class.” Chloe gives me a little shoulder bump trying to add some levity to the situation. I can’t even muster a smile. How do you smile, when you’re certain you’ve just broken a major rule? They told us day one, fighting outside of training hours would not be tolerated.
Xander
I shouldn’t be here proving John right. I’ve gone from seeing Holli as a recruit to seeing her as an amazing young woman. The shear grit and determination she shows week after week as she fights to prove she belongs here has drawn me in. She’s on the steps in the back of the dorm staring at the sky.
“Aliens. I heard that once when I was a kid. A student said she’d heard Breakers are descendants of aliens.”
“You don’t believe that. Even before you started taking anatomy and physiology, you should have debunked that myth.”
“Hey when you’re seven. Aliens and superheroes fall in the same category.”
I want to talk to her away from any prying ears. “Let’s go for a walk.”
She follows me toward the trees that lead to the cliff wall. But we won’t be going there today. The other training officers are having a party and that’s the last place to put our growing relationship on display. She’s got enough to deal with, after what happened at the camp-out. We’ll get an official debrief but I think it might be easier for her to talk to me first. “Holli, about what happened yesterday.”
“That’s the same question I’ve been asking myself, and I was hoping your came out here give me answers.”
I can hear the worry in her voice and see it in her eyes when she turns to look at me. She needs answers and I don’t have any concrete ones I can give to her. “I think you were stressed out or nervous about the training exercise and went for a walk. Maybe you saw something or overheard a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear and you reacted to that.”
She’s told each of the To's, and everyone who’s asked, that she doesn’t know why she was on that path. She was walking around the edge of our camp and doesn’t know how she made it further than that. Trees and shrubs hid the road we found them on. You’d never know it was there, unless you’ve been there before.
She stops in front of the tree that faces the field the students use for soccer and football, grabs a branch, and pulls herself up into the tree. When she settles on the first branch that can sustain her weight, she asks, “How much trouble am I in?”
The rules we have about fighting are clear. It violates the student code of conduct. What’s not clear is what was happening in those woods and there’s no proof Holli put her hands on anybody. The girl was too upset to speak last night, and she hasn’t said much this morning. We don’t know if it’s because of what Holli did or something more troubling that was happening before Holli got there. The senior is being tight-lipped too. I’m hoping that works in Holli’s favor.
The timing of this couldn’t possibly be any worse, but her acting out makes sense. Another phase of training is coming to an end and family day is Sunday which probably means it will be another week without anyone from her family coming to see her. The stress of training and no support system, I can understand why she couldn’t keep it together.
I extend my hand to help her out of the tree. “I’m here if you need to talk.” She slides down the length of my body and when her feet hit the ground I lean forward until our lips meet. Hers are soft and unsure aga
inst mine. I pull back and watch the storm brewing in her blue-gray eyes. “Everything will be okay Holli.” I hold her against my chest and hope I’m right.
Holli
My “fight” that I don’t remember, earns me to my first trip to the administration building and I’m talking my first trip ever because I’ve never been in trouble at school before. The assistant principal, Dr. Cleary, escorts me into his office and I discreetly rub my sweaty palm on my legs before taking the chair in front of his oak colored desk.
We go through the usual pleasantries about my classes and training and then we get down to the real reason for my visit. I tell him the same thing I told everyone else about what happened. I followed the sound of voices and came across the two recruits and don’t know how the guy wound up against the tree or what was going on with them before I got there.
Dr. Cleary takes notes while I’m talking. “Tell me what you were feeling right before this altercation occurred.”
I don’t see the relevance and hope he’s not about to peg me as an overly emotional female. “I was feeling nervous about the training event, but other than that, I was fine.”
I leave out the part about how weird I was feeling during my team’s strategy session. We talk a few more minutes and he reminds me of the physical contact policy. I assure him I understand the rules and tell him how sincerely sorry I am for breaking them. Not that my apology means anything. I broke the rules and there are consequences to that. I just hope I’ll have a few hours to get packed and say goodbye.
“The investigation into what happened that night has been closed. We’ve decided not to charge you with violating the student code of conduct, because the senior recruit acted inappropriately by leaving the campgrounds with a junior, unsupervised. Their walk was not a part of the training event and based on what we found during our investigation, we feel your actions were in defense of another student.”
I’m not being kicked out? What did they find? “Am I okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“Uh, I still don’t remember what happened and the doctors I saw, nobody has explained if that’s an issue for me to stay here.”
He looks down at the incident report in front of him. “Your doctors have concluded that your memory loss is a reaction to witnessing a potentially traumatic event. I have no choice but to accept their answer and diagnosis, and it aligns with the other findings in the report.”
Dr. Cleary doesn’t say whether the report mentions that the S-chips were malfunctioning and something tells me I shouldn’t bring it up.
Chapter Twelve
Holli
I get a note from my teacher during Trig. I’m to report to the administration building, again, after my last class to meet my advisor. I didn’t even know I had one of those. Walking through the halls I reflect on the fact that this is my second trip here in a week. The do not enter warning issued that first day is bouncing around in my head as I step through the front door of Orion Headquarters.
What the they should really tell you is, that this building is off limits, unless you’re summoned here for some type of infraction. I’ve earned so many demerits, prior to the incident in the woods, that I’m surprised I wasn’t sent here sooner. The school administration offices are on the second floor and I make my way to the room number scribbled on the note. The secretary tells me to take a seat and that my advisor will be with me shortly.
Mrs. Price has a kind face with way too many worry lines. Her desk has a picture of a Siamese cat and a multi-colored Yorki. There’s no ring on her finger although I can see the tan line where one recently sat.
She lowers the dark orange folder she was reading and gives me a warm smile. “Your test scores are quite remarkable.” I’ve seen my academic folder before, it’s not orange, so she must be talking about those other scores. She steeples her hands in front of her. “There are some questions I have for you.”
“Okay.” I say slowly.
“When was the first time you knew you were different?”
“When we started going to school here.”
She looks at me as if she’s waiting for more information. When I don’t say anything else, she asks a followup question.
“And how has your time here been? Do you have friends?”
I wouldn’t call the people on my team friends but Dax and Chloe certainly are. I simply say, “A few.”
“Guys or girls?”
Did someone report that they saw Xander and I kissing? What’s the policy on that? Great, another infraction to the code of conduct. It was one kiss. It meant nothing and will probably never happen again. Aiden’s voice in my head warns me to keep it vague. “Both.”
“And do you they know you’re different?”
Now I’m even more confused about why I’m here. Is she asking if I’ve told people that I’m a telepath? “I think it’s pretty obvious during training that we’re all different.”
“Yes, but I think we both know that your gift is a little different from the other telepaths. Isn’t it?”
My stomach knots and I feel the color drain from my face. Maybe they’ve pieced it all together and now she’ll address the broken S-chips. Is she looking for a timeline of events and how much trouble will I be in for not speaking up sooner?
“I know I should have said something, I just didn’t know who to tell or if there was just a weird reaction I was having to it, because nobody else seemed to have the same problem and I didn’t know if it would disqualify me.”
She nods reassuringly. “I understand. Coming here, it’s a lot to take in and you’re all trying to find your way.” She leans forward in her seat. “Holli, what’s going on in your head right now? You look so worried.”
Of course I’m worried. “I really want to do well here and I know this is a problem.”
She stands and walks around the desk to place a hand on my shoulder. “Well first, let me put you at ease. Stop worrying. We’ve seen this type of thing before. With the right training it’s not all that hard to get it under control.”
I don’t want her to think the training officers are bad at their jobs. They’re assholes when they’re doing their jobs, but they don’t totally suck at it. “Everyone here is doing great, the training officers, all of them are great, but it’s um, it’s just me.”
“Oh, dear. I wasn’t inferring that your TO’s aren’t doing a good job. When we run into problems with a recruit’s Psionic abilities, we usually bring in a special consultant and give them extra lessons. Sort of like a tutoring session.”
“You’re getting me a telepathy tutor?” Okay, so maybe this isn’t about the chips.
She gives me an amused smile. “Holli, I am your telepathy tutor.” She returns to her seat. “We’ll start off meeting two times a week, and if we need more sessions, we’ll make it every day or every other day. You’ll come here in the afternoon or evenings and I promise you we’ll help you master control of your gift.”
“When can we get started?”
“How about right now?”
The tests are simple enough. What number am I thinking of, what color shoe is the man in the room across the hall wearing, tell me the pictures I’m looking at on my computer screen. Mrs. Price explains this session establishes the baseline for my ability so that she’ll know when we’re ready to move on to the next level of skills. At the end of our session, she gives me a book to read on the history of the telepath, saying a firm understanding of my gift is the first step to mastering it.
When I get back to the dorm, there’s a nervous energy in the air. The sedans are parked in front of the building and there’s a cadre of suits all over the front lawn. “What’s going on?” I ask no one in particular.
“Cheating scandal. Someone got caught with the answers to a science test in her dorm room.”
“We all have the answers. It’s called studying for the test.”
“She had the answers for a test that hasn't been announced on material we haven’t studi
ed yet.”
I watch as the suits walk a girl down the steps and across the quad. Millicent Vader is in my Anatomy and Physiology class. The guy is right. Our instructor hasn’t mentioned an upcoming test. So how did she get the answers?
“I swear I have no idea how that scoring sheet got there.” Millicent insists.
I watch as the suits push her into the back of the car and drive towards the main gates. I’m on the third step of the dorm when I hear her voice in my head.
I didn’t do this. Why don’t they believe me?
Another outage? Maybe I should have mentioned the S-chip problem after all.
Xander
“This is my favorite place on campus.” I lean against the cliff wall where Holli and I first met. “I like to come here just to think and clear my head.”
I feel like I’m rambling. The normally inquisitive recruit is quieter than usual and I’m trying to find a way to cheer her up. “I’m sorry no one showed up again. I know being here away from your family can be hard. If you want to talk about it, I can listen.”
She sighs heavily and kicks a rock with her toe. “What would I say? That my mom is always on a business trip? Or that my dad is so busy trying to overcompensate for her absence that he suffocates us with his worry and affection? Or how about this, that my brother Aiden is actually enjoying his life without me?”
I wasn’t expecting this level of hostility but it’s good she’s getting it out. “Sure. If that’s what you’re feeling.”
“I feel like I made a mistake coming here. I picked the wrong internship and I need to own that.”
“I don’t think you believe that, and if you do, you’re wrong. You absolutely belong here. Holli, we’re coming up on the end of phase two and you’re doing fine.”
“You don’t have to try to make me feel better. I know I’m still barely staying out of the bottom ten percent.” She meets my eyes challenging me to disagree. “We both know I’m one bad test grade away from falling below the red line.”