Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

by Campbell, Jamie

  I stepped in before the fists came out. “Guys, relax. Lochie, I’ll see you after school. Garrick, we’re off to English.” I stared them both down in turn so they would follow my orders. Giving up, I started moving toward Mr. Moore’s class, Garrick eventually shuffled after me.

  Being in class again felt good, way better than I thought school could be. The routine and rules made life feel normal, it also took my mind off everything while I concentrated on the lesson. The only thing to mar the experience were the other students. I could feel the eyes burning on me from every direction. Even Mr. Moore wouldn’t look me in the eyes. I was definitely on the outside now and it wasn’t a good view.

  By lunchtime, I was considering finding Lochie just to have a familiar face smile at me. I resisted the temptation and found Lola instead. Garrick went in search of better food, deciding life was too short to eat from the cafeteria.

  Lola was in the auditorium, exactly where I hoped she would be. She and the Hooded Roses were practicing. I snuck into the back and took a seat, trying to suppress the urge to run at her and envelop her in my arms.

  The song she was wailing out stopped suddenly, her voice ceased before the band realized. “Amery?” I waved, unable to keep the grin from my face. At least there were now two people that were happy to see me back.

  Lola jumped off the stage and ran down the aisle in my direction. I did the same, meeting in the middle as we collided in a hug. We swung around several times before finally stopping.

  She hit me on the arm. “You didn’t tell me you were here.”

  “I started back today,” I giggled. “You’re sounding awesome, the band is doing so great.”

  She went all coy. “We suck but we’re getting better.” She turned her attention back to the band. “I’m done rehearsing, can we pick it up tomorrow? I need to catch up with my best friend.”

  The greasy looking guys just shrugged and fiddled with their instruments. Asher gave me a wave. Lola threw her arm around me as she ushered me into the auditorium seats.

  “So tell me everything,” she demanded. “Don’t leave anything out.”

  I took a deep breath, making sure I told her everything like she wanted. Lola was the only person I could be completely honest with, I didn’t leave out any details. No matter how scary or embarrassing, they all went in.

  By the end of it, my eyes were wet with tears but I didn’t care. Lola wrapped me in a hug and it was all better again. She patted me on the back. “I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through all that.”

  I sniffled, wishing I hadn’t broken down like I had. It wasn’t like me to cry, especially not at school. The stress was seriously getting to me. “It’s not your fault, we knew it would happen one day. We just wished it was the Department who had exposed us and not the Originals.”

  “Damn Originals.” She tried to look serious but it wasn’t working as she cracked into a grin. “So you and Lochie made up I take it?”

  “Yeah. Thanks to you.”

  “What did I do?”

  “He said you told him about the rules and that’s how he finally understood why I lied to him. It’s why he forgave me.”

  She nodded, remembering. “He was a mess that day. He turned up at my house – crying – I had no idea what to do with him. He begged me for information.”

  “Thanks for looking out for him for me.”

  “That’s what friends are for.”

  I gave her another hug. “I thought he might be angry that I told you before it came out in the media and before he found out.”

  Lola shifted uncomfortably. “I, uh, might have left that part out.”

  Panic struck me quickly. “What do you mean?”

  “He assumed you told me about the project after the Originals did their little media blitz. I may have let him believe that. I’m sorry, I wanted him to feel better.”

  I promised Lochie I wouldn’t lie to him again, was letting him assume something still lying? I didn’t want to find out. “It’s okay, Lol, you did what you thought was best.”

  “Are you going to tell him?” She frowned, imagining what that conversation would be like. I’m sure I reflected her face perfectly.

  “I don’t know,” I replied honestly. Everything was so good between us, surely letting him believe a lie was worth it? Yeah, until he found out about it, anyway. I changed the subject, shelving the difficult thinking for later. “So how’s Asher? Do I need to beat him up yet? Or is he behaving?”

  The grin returned to Lola’s face as she stole a shy glance at the stage. “He’s wonderful. We went to Rockapalooza last weekend and it was amazing. He wants the Hooded Roses to play there next year.”

  “That’s kind of a big deal.”

  She shrugged, but she couldn’t hide the excitement I saw in her eyes. “Next year is a long way away.” That was the truth. I might be able to look ahead to possibly graduation but I didn’t dare go further than that. Like Lola said, a year is a long way away. Her next question made me think she was having the same thoughts. “How are people treating you here?”

  “Ignoring me, mainly. Some people stare.” I tried to put on a brave face. “They’ll get used to me again eventually.”

  “You’re still the same person, they should get over themselves.”

  “It’s a shock for them, finding out what I really am. They need some time to process it all. Plus, they’ve only heard what the Originals have to say about us, they don’t know the truth.”

  “Well, I don’t care what they say, I am so happy to have you here. You’re staying, right?”

  “Absolutely.”

  The only thing that could tear us apart was the bell to signal the end of lunch. Lola walked me to class, making sure to scowl at anyone who looked twice at me. She was, by far, the best friend I could ever have. To put yourself out there when it wasn’t the popular decision was a big deal.

  My afternoon classes passed much like my morning ones. I was simultaneously ignored and gawked at by everyone. In Math, it was the teacher who sided against me. It took all my patience to continue to smile and be pleasant. I wasn’t going to give them any reason not to love me.

  The final bell came as a relief. I was looking forward to going home and hiding from the world for the rest of the day. Krom didn’t give us specific orders to fit in, so I wasn’t technically doing anything wrong.

  I picked up some books from my locker and went searching for Garrick or Lochie. I would need to find them both considering Lochie was our ride home but either would be a start.

  They weren’t in the corridors, nor still in the room of their last classes. The library, science block, and computer lab were all empty too. I gave up, deciding they could find me waiting at Lochie’s car. I had visions of us all walking around in perpetual circles trying to find each other.

  I went outside, ignoring the grimaces of two students as they passed by in the opposite direction. Nobody said it was easy being an alien and I was starting to believe it.

  Loud voices caught my attention on the way to the parking lot. Yelling was not normal in the school grounds, my stomach instantly went into panic mode.

  I hurried my pace, rounding a corner to stop dead still in the courtyard. A group of students were bunched around, watching something play out in the middle.

  “Get away from him.” My dread only got worse when I recognized Lochie’s voice. I elbowed my way through the bodies, trying to see what was going on.

  “Are you one of them too? Huh?”

  “Walk away.”

  “Why? You going to use a laser on me or something? Huh, alien boy?”

  “Last chance, Mack.”

  I was finally able to see past a few people’s heads to check out what was going on. Lochie was standing face to face with Mack Westin, a muscled thug with more wrestling awards than sense. They were having a standoff, both angry and red faced.

  Mack’s friends were forming a triangle behind him. Lochie only had one person on his side – Garrick. I h
ad to look twice to make sure it was really him. The good news was I found them, the bad news was they were about to get taken down in a bad way.

  “What do you even care?” Mack challenged, spitting a little with the effort of controlling his anger. “They’re here to kill us. We’re going to be their pets. It’s pathetic.”

  My heart started pounded when I realized what they were arguing about. Lochie was a target because he was hanging out with me. If he wasn’t with the humans, he was against them, right? It was so ridiculous. Just another thing to feel horrible about.

  “He’s not worth it.” Mack nodded his head over Lochie’s shoulder at Garrick.

  “He’s none of your business,” Lochie seethed back. “If I see you lay one hand on him again, you will have me to deal with.”

  It wasn’t me he was defending, it was Garrick. I actually wanted to smile, despite how worried I was. Lochie was actually standing up for Garrick. Perhaps they weren’t going to kill each other after all. I was dying to know how that came about, some male bonding perhaps?

  “Ooh, I’m so scared,” Mack replied. His words might have been sarcastic, but he actually took a step back. He crossed his arms over his chest, far better than holding his balled fists together like before.

  “You should be.”

  “They don’t even have any super powers, what’s the point of having them around?”

  Garrick was ready to pounce. Lochie’s arm shot out to block him, holding him back from Mack. My nerves were on their last edge waiting to see what would happen. I silently willed them all to just walk away like Lochie had said. They didn’t have to beat the pulp out of each other, they had the option not to.

  Mack suddenly laughed out of nowhere. “Oh, that’s right, I remember now. We have to keep them around because of people like you. Alien lover.” He spat the last two words at him like they tasted horrible in his mouth. “What’s it like kissing an alien, huh? You enjoy being probed? Are alien girls easy? Do they-”

  He didn’t get to finish before Lochie cut him off. “Don’t say another word,” he growled.

  “Or what? You’ll get your girlfriend to beam me up?”

  Now I was ready to pounce at him. If stupid Mack had a problem with me, he should be picking on me. Lochie had nothing to do with it.

  I wriggled through the last few bodies holding me back. I stood at Lochie’s side. He didn’t notice me until Mack sneered my way. “Amery Jones, speak of the devil.”

  Lochie’s head snapped around to see me. It only took a second to be distracted enough so Mack could get a swing in. His right hand collided with Lochie’s jaw, sending him reeling backwards.

  In the next second, Lochie was fighting back. Garrick was too, along with Mack’s friends. All of them got into the brawl, fists flying faster than I could keep up with. I tried to grab either Lochie or Garrick to pull them away but they were moving too fast. My hands slipped every time.

  “Stop it!” I yelled, my voice falling on deaf ears.

  The spectators started in a round of encouragement. “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

  “Stop it, please.”

  Their insults were flying as much as their fists, the words alien lover kept ringing in my ears. At least Lochie and Garrick were fighting on the same side for once, that was a nice change. The thought flew through my head as I continued begging them to stop.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if this was how it was going to be when our leaders declared war on Earth, but on a much larger scale. It would be the humans against the aliens. We were far outnumbered, but we had fear on our side. Sometimes fear could be the greatest weapon of them all.

  In the malaise I saw Garrick take a hit to his ear. He spun with the impact, his hand cradling the side of his head. He didn’t stay down long, lurching back in once the shock had subsided. I tried to grab him before he could but I was too late.

  “What’s going on here?” The stern voice came from Principal Tobin. The crowd quickly disbursed in all different directions, nobody wanting to stick around to get detention.

  Tobin hurried over to put himself in the middle of the fight. None of the guys were game enough to continue on. He lined them all up, shaking his head at what he was seeing. It was quite startling to see how much damage could be done in such a short period of time. Lips and eyes were bloody, fingers were bruised along with jaws, and that’s only what I could see. The bruises and scratches under their shirts were probably twice as bad.

  “Who’s going to tell me what this is all about?” Principal Tobin asked, to no avail. All of the boys were too pigheaded to speak up. He knew it just as much as I did. Instead of interrogating them, he spun around to face me. “The cat seems to have got the boys’ tongues. What’s this about, Miss Jones?”

  “I don’t know,” I lied, trying to do it convincingly. “I got here and it was too late to stop them.”

  He drilled into my soul with his piercing gaze. If I hadn’t been used to the Department, I would have easily crumbled underneath it. Luckily for me, I was trained to withhold pressure from authority figures.

  “So you know nothing? That’s what you’re going with?” I nodded so I didn’t have to say the words out loud. He turned back to the boys. “One week’s detention for you all starting tomorrow. If I hear about this kind of behavior again, it will be expulsion. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.

  “Good, now go home. Now.”

  Mack and his friends went in one direction while Lochie and Garrick headed in the other. I followed them, wanting to kill them both myself for fighting. They knew better. Garrick would get in trouble with Krom if he found out and Lochie knew not to pick battles with Mack. Didn’t they care about the consequences? Or even the pain?

  As we approached the parking lot, my stomach sunk even lower. A scrum of media was there, cameras and microphones poised. They must have followed us to school and waited around until after the final bell, hoping for an impromptu interview or extra footage for the nightly news.

  “Could this day get any worse?” I moaned.

  Lochie pulled his car keys out of his backpack and had them poised. With his other hand, he grabbed mine. “Just walk through and ignore them. Don’t let them trick you into saying anything.”

  “This would be better if you didn’t have a fat lip,” I mumbled. He squeezed my hand tighter, was that supposed to be an apology? He would need to do better than that for having a death wish.

  The moment we were in earshot, the reporters started calling out their questions.

  “What’s it like on your planet?”

  “How does it feel being an alien?”

  “Are you angry your plans to take over the world were revealed?”

  “What have the government been hiding from us?”

  The voices were nothing compared to the microphones being shoved in front of us. They were making it difficult to get past, which was probably the point. Pushing them back would have made a great scoop for them to show on the seven o’clock news. I tried to sidestep as much as I could instead. I prayed Garrick was doing the same behind me.

  We reached Lochie’s car and he pushed me in before going around to the other side and climbing in himself. Garrick did the same in the backseat. We skidded out of the parking lot without any more incidents.

  I wasn’t going to stay quiet any longer though. “What were you two thinking taking on Mack and his buddies? It was a suicide mission.”

  I was staring at Lochie but it was Garrick who answered. “It wasn’t his fault.”

  I craned my neck to face him. “So it was you picking the fight? Garrick, you know we have to fit in, you know everything rests on us being accepted here.”

  “I didn’t pick a fight. That idiot was… being an idiot. Lochie tried to stop him before anything happened.”

  “So it was all Mack’s fault?” I asked, my voice nothing but sarcastic.

  “Yeah, it was,” Lochie replied.

  “You should have wal
ked away,” I scolded them again.

  “We couldn’t,” Lochie shot back. “Did you hear what they said about you? I wasn’t going to let him mouth off like that.”

  I took a few breaths, turning my attention to the road so I didn’t have to look at them. I realized my presence at school had a lot to do with Mack’s actions so I probably couldn’t blame them entirely. Plus, they looked to be in pain and I didn’t want to rub it in further. Their own wounds would probably be punishment enough. Not to mention detention.

  We drove in silence from then onwards. Pulling up at home was a relief. Garrick made a beeline for the house the moment the wheels stopped spinning.

  Lochie looked at me from the driver’s seat. “I’m sorry if I ruined any of your… plans, rules or whatever.”

  “You were sticking up for Garrick, weren’t you?” I asked, softening. It was getting harder to stay mad at him these days. I could have done it indefinitely before.

  He nodded slowly. “I found Mack pinning Garrick up against the wall, threatening to kill him in the name of all humankind. I pulled him off and he turned on me.”

  I cupped his cheek, running my thumb over his sore lip to ascertain the damage. He winced. “How do you expect me to kiss you now?”

  “I can handle the pain,” he managed a smile, making his lip crack even worse. “I’m never going to stop defending you, just so you know that. I don’t care what they say or who they are, I’m always going to stop them.”

  I leant over the gearshift and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. “And I’m never going to stop going crook about you getting into fights. Just so you know.”

  “I guess we’ll agree to disagree then.”

  “Or you could just do everything I say,” I suggested, half-joking. It would be a cold day in Hell before Lochie actually followed my instructions.

  “Never going to happen, Jones.”

  Knock, knock, knock. Tapping on the window made us both jump and pull apart from each other. My face burned with embarrassment from being caught so enraptured with Lochie. We both turned to the source. Mom was standing beside the car. She pulled open the door, grimacing slightly when she saw Lochie’s injuries.