Project ELE
Page 8
CHAPTER 5 (Thirty-one days inside.)
Boring routine, that's what the next month is like. School, work, dinner and bed. We barely have any free time. It didn't come as a surprise that neither Connor, Claire or I got accepted into the Select classes. I don't mind that much because I actually enjoy the mindless activity of running errands in the afternoon. Connor sometimes complains about it though, and by sometimes I mean all the time!
"Look, the pool. Yet another amenity we haven't gotten to use." Connor slouches as we walk by the heavily chlorinated corridor. His grumbling voice expresses his frustration.
"I wonder why they even built these places if we never get to use them." Claire interjects. She usually doesn't complain but sometimes Connor's moods can be contagious. We can't really blame him. My guess is that he's ADHD or something by his consistent nervous fidgeting and inability to remain still for longer than twenty seconds.
I look down at my tablet to check the time and someone rams me in the shoulder knocking me back a step. "Ugh!" I call out and turn around quickly to confront the hit and run offender. "Excuse you!"
Standing there in a red bikini with a towel hanging over her shoulder is Hyena girl. She gets a pinched up expression on her face like she smelled something foul and says, "You need to watch where you're going!"
I look at her incredulously, "Me? I don't think so. You rammed into me with your bony little shoulder." I don't know where that type of attitude came from but there is something about this girl that brings out the worst in me. Claire and Connor come and stand at my flanks to loan me their moral support.
"My shoulders are not bony!" She whines and then looks to one of her swim trunk clad, bare chested 'crew' members for reassurance. To my greatest pleasure nobody acknowledges her petty need for a confidence boost.
"Candy, you did run into her." Zack calls out from behind her. He walks up to me until he's crossed into my personal zone and then some. I blush and take a step back. He seems to take pride in the fact that he's making me uncomfortable. I can't help but feel awkward since I can't even name the last time I saw a man with his shirt off. Not that I think Zack is much of a man but it's still weird nonetheless. "Like what you see?" He asks full of cocky confidence. His only clothing is red swim trunks that sit loosely on his hips and a pair of swimming goggles, which are hanging from his wrist. His muscles almost look painted on and I wonder if he adds makeup to his abs to make them stand out more.
"Hmm," I look him up and down appraisingly and find satisfaction when I see a slight blush spread on his falsely tanned cheeks. I shrug my shoulders and say "Not really."
A livid look passes across his eyes and for a second I get an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. Just like that it vanishes and an amused look takes its place. "Well, I'm sure people of your...social status, don't have many interactions with those of the opposite sex. It's okay to feel nervous around me." A look of utter disgust pops onto my face. He laughs and the Hyena girl, who I now know as Candy, joins in on the hackling.
"You should join us." Candy says. "Oh wait, you can't! You have to work!" She cracks herself up so much that she snorts like a pig. I can't help the giggle that releases after that. She stops and glares at me with her hands on her bony hips.
"Well, if you do ever get a day off, you should hang with us." Zack stares at my nametag, which is located on my chest; quite convenient for him. "You can bring your friends too, Willow." I cringe at the way my name sounds on his lips.
"Thanks but no thanks." I say as I turn and walk in the opposite direction. I feel better after I put some distance between us and shake off the slime that they lathered on.
"Eww! He was totally undressing you with his eyes." Claire says with an appropriate amount of distaste.
"Yeah, I feel totally scandalized." I say while wiping my sweaty palms on my scrubs. Intense conversations like that make me nervous but I feel good that I held my own.
"I should go and pulverize that rich boy's face!" Connor looks like he might just do it so I wave him off.
"Nah, they aren't worth it." I smile at him and pat his back reassuringly. I watch as his face calms down. Over the past month Connor has taken on the protective big brother role over Claire and me with zeal. Well sometimes I wonder if it's more than a big brother role with Claire, but I won't mention that.
I look at the timer on my tablet. "Crap! We are going to have to run. One minute and thirty seconds!" We all take off running down the winding hallways towards Headquarters. We barrel through the Admin office doors a minute late. Everyone turns and looks at us. Well, everyone except Alec. He appears to be intensely focused on his computer and he doesn't acknowledge that we came in late. Phew! I already got a tardy last week when I was late for class; I don't need a second one.
Alec looks up a moment later and his emerald eyes seem to settle on me. I shift side to side nervously while chanting in my head: You didn't notice. You don't want to give me a tardy. I guess my Jedi mind tricks worked because he stands up and addresses us as a group. "Good afternoon everyone. We will only be having a short meeting today as I have a lot to do. I have some good news though. We have finally gotten approval to allow you a free day once a week. These days will be staggered throughout the team and should be handed out next week. Now it's important that you know that you can lose your free day if there are any performance issues, reprimands or excessive tardies." I swear his eyes settle on me again for just a second and I hold my breath until he moves on. "With that said, get to work." We all turn to leave and he moves back to his desk.
I pull up my assignment list for today. Looking at the screen I do a double take. When I realize that what I'm seeing is accurate I stomp over to Alec's desk. Waving my tablet in my hand I ask, "There must be some mistake."
Alec looks up at me and continues typing as he talks, which sort of impresses me but mostly annoys me. "I'm sorry, what exactly are you referring to?"
"I'm referring to the twenty-five assignments that you've given me." I huff out but add a "sir," at the end.
He cringes at the 'sir' part but then replies, "There was no mistake." He looks back at his computer and continues typing rapidly.
I've noticed an unexplained edge between Alec and I over the past month so I usually try to steer clear of him when I can. Not today though, I won't be dismissed that easily. "No!" It slips out before I can think better of it.
He stops mid type and stands up from his chair facing me. "Excuse me?" He places both of his hands on his desk and leans forward so that his green eyes are within inches of my face.
I stand my ground. I'm not going to back down. "This is more than double my usual assignment count and double the workload of any other runner. That isn't fair."
He raises his eyebrow and with a gleam in his eye he says, "Life isn't fair, Willow."
I always figured that Alec wouldn't remember my name since I've never heard him speak it out loud. I don't let my astonishment or the interesting tingle I felt when he said my name deter me.
"So you are punishing me for working fast?" I ask fuming.
"This is not a punishment. You have a time frame that you work and we are simply filling that time frame."
"Well then I will just slow down and work at the same speed as everyone else." I throw my hands up in the air to further show my dissatisfaction.
He cocks his head sideways. "Look, I know that you finish your work early and then help your friends. You don't think that things like that go unnoticed do you? Like I said, this is an hourly job not an assignments based job. You will do what is asked of you."
I roll my eyes and huff out a disgruntled "Whatever!" Then I take my tablet and my first delivery parcel and head out the door. I swear I heard him yell out something about insubordination but I didn't stick around to listen. What's he going to do, fire me?
Just to spite him I work faster than I ever have and still finish thirty minutes ahead of everyone else. I walk in through the door and hand him my tablet so h
e can upload the signatures for the deliveries I made. I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror to the right of his desk. Some curls have fallen loose from my ponytail and my cheeks look pink from exertion.
Alec looks at me appraisingly and if I didn't know better I would think that look showed a hint of admiration and perhaps something else. He plugs my tablet in, types some stuff on his keyboard then unplugs the tablet and hands it back to me. "You can go ahead and leave now that you're done."
I've never been allowed to leave earlier than the end of my shift so I look at him for an explanation. When one doesn't come I turn and walk out.
That night after dinner I lie down to try and get some shuteye but have a hard time falling asleep. I replay the conversation we had and worry that perhaps I will have a reprimand tomorrow. I was honestly surprised that he didn't give me one today when I returned, nor did he even mention anything. It's no surprise that once I fall asleep I slip into dreams of Alec with his bright green eyes and jet-black hair.