by bret Wellman
“As a matter of fact, you’re right.” She said, slipping her arm around me. I responded by slipping mine around her and giving her a little squeeze.
“Dude, have you been messing with me all morning?” Neal complained.
“You caught me.” I added a sly smile to make it seem true.
“You.” He said laughing and pointing. “You’re good.” He glanced at Brianna and sat down really quick.
Most of the kids were starting to leave the lunch room. I was surprised as Brianna snatched my hand. I made sure Neal saw as I led her around the table toward the doors.
Before we turned the corner out of the room I glanced back and caught Neal and the other kids, they had their heads together in the middle of the table. Part of me wanted to know what they were talking about, the rest of me knew they were talking about us.
The walk to her next class went by way too fast. Neither of us said a word the whole way, I was just glad she was there.
When we reached her classroom she made to go inside but turned back at the fringe of the door.
“See you in gym.” She said then walked inside.
I wasn’t sure what to do. It all felt so surreal. It wasn’t until the bell rang announcing I was late that I snapped out of my haze and headed for class.
Chapter 12
When I got to class my history teacher was in the middle of a speech and I had to interrupt her to get to my seat. She gave me a pigeon-nosed glare before turning back to the students. As if that wasn’t enough, a fat jock with a shaved head decided he was going to stick his foot out and trip me up.
My first instinct was to fall and use the momentum to snap his leg at the knee. I resisted, instead I stumbled forward, catching my balance against a desk. The teacher had her back to the class, she spun around to see what had happened. All eyes were on me as I shrugged it off and made my way to my seat.
The teacher shook her head in disapproval then continued on with her lecture. Once everything was calmed down, I struggled to keep up with the fabricated story about how the Kingdom had miraculously found the cure to a disease that had swept the land restoring trust in the Kingdom’s ability to help its people, as if they hadn’t released the disease in the first place.
What would I have done if I had my old mind? I think I would have stood up to point out holes in the story that no one else saw. I could have turned this whole class against the Kingdom, it would have been easy. Hell, I could have talked the other students into beating up the kid who had tripped me and the teacher would have approved. Now I couldn’t even remember the bully’s name.
At some point during the lecture I was only half-hearing the teacher, her hands on her hips and her back arched, talking in a squeaky voice. My mind was far away, dreaming about a world I could manipulate in ways no one would ever even understand. It wasn’t until the bell rang that I realized I was no longer listening to the teacher at all. It took me a second to regain my senses and head for the gym.
When I reached the door to the classroom I felt a hand shove me out into the hall. I had to shuffle to keep from falling. I regained my balance and turned in time to see the fat jock with the shaved head walking away laughing. It looked like Blake was having his friends give me a hard time, not that I cared.
Henry, that was his name. Man, it really ate at me when I forgot things that were so simple such as a name. Not in a million years would I have forgotten a name before. He turned the other way and started to walk the other way. I was one nerve away from throwing my book at the back of his head. He was asking for a fight he didn’t want, or maybe he thought I would just take it, like I was doing now as I started walking to gym.
When I entered the field house there were large volleyball nets spread out across the floor. Blake was standing at the far end of the gym shooting baskets. He kept glancing past me toward the bleachers.
I followed his glances to Brianna, her eyes locking on mine, a smile spreading across her face. She got up and walked towards me. I could only stare, she held herself so confidently. If someone were to attack her right then, I swear she would only need one look to stop them in their tracks.
“We’re playing volleyball today.”
“I’m good at volleyball.” I said.
She ran her hand across the net “Good because you’re my partner.”
The teacher made role call and soon we were all lined up and teamed up into groups of two. Brianna worked the system so that she was on my team and we were soon squaring off on the other side of the net to a brown haired boy and girl. The Carter twins, they were the only twins in the school and the only twins I had ever met in my life. I didn’t see what the big deal was, they didn’t even look all that much the same. Sure they were both tall and had brown hair but that was where the similarities stopped. Billy had a square face with a long nose, while Melissa’s was square with a wide nose.
Long nose or wide nose didn’t really matter, Brianna and I both had to look up as we shook hands at the net.
“Volley for serve?” Billy asked, stepping back and getting ready to bump the ball.
Brianna went to her side of the court and bent down at the knees. I did the same on my side.
“Volley it up.” She said.
As the ball rose up over the net I was transported to a time back in the government buildings. Our caretakers had loved to make bets, once a year they would put together a competition to test which of us were the best. Most of these competitions revolved around some sort of sport. The original idea had been to help us function as a team. The outcome had been a bloody competition with no rules. Our balls were harder and our nets were higher. You needed to cheat to win.
Brianna hit the ball in the air and I knocked it over in the far corner where Melissa failed to get to it. She threw the ball back under the net, looking determined to redeem herself. She would never get the chance, after that first volley they never got the ball on their side again. They came close in the third game but Brianna dove and hit the ball only inches before it hit the ground. I knocked it high into the air and Brianna spiked it. The twins stopped trying after that.
I caught Blake glaring at me as I made my way to the locker room. He made no attempt to look away, it was almost as if he were daring me to glare back. I gave a little chuckle and shook my head as I went through the locker room doors. Wasn’t this guy ever going to learn?
Brianna was waiting for me when I got out, her hair was wet from just having showered.
“You were unstoppable out there.” She said.
“Do you think they would count our history as cheating?”
She scrunched up her face and looked up in mock consideration. “Nope!” She said, looking back down.
I spotted the Nikki girl from lunch, leaning out from the door at the main entrance of the school. “Brianna!” She called.
Brianna looked between us for a moment before lifting her had to say goodbye.
“See you after school.” She said then walked toward Nikki. I watched as Nikki gave me a big fake smile before yanking Brianna inside.
Sixth hour came and dragged on forever. We were forced to look at the positive changes made by the government’s laws. Don’t get me wrong, they tried to brain wash us everyday but today seemed significantly worse for some reason. Maybe I was just growing tired of being force fed lies all the time. I nearly jumped out of my desk when the bell rang.
“I want a one page essay about today’s issues, tell me how they might have improved upon these four crucial laws.” The teacher announced as we gathered our things.
That meant that for today’s homework total I had to do both a book report and a change of the law. The book report I could do, but they wouldn’t want to see what I thought they should do with the Kingdom’s laws. I doubt the teacher would like it very much if I took a list of laws, crumbled them up and threw them in the trash. Lillie might kill me for it, but I was going to voluntarily get an “F” on this one.
When I reached the parking lot
I could see Spencer standing by my car. He watched me approach looking smug.
“Did you hear the news?” He said when I was closer.
“No, what’s that?” I leaned on the opposite side of the car, no sense in unlocking it before Brianna gets here.
“Blake and his friends decided that they don’t want you around anymore. They think if they bully you enough you will just leave. Their first act is to try and make you an outcast.”
What? I didn’t know they could do that! “An outcast?”
“No worries, I convinced my friends to take up your side. Between me and Brianna we should have half the school on your side.” He said as if it were no big deal.
“So what does that mean?”
“Well, for starters if anybody tries to pick a fight, there should be people around to jump in and help us.” He said. “Mostly it will make the sane kids not afraid to be your friend.”
“Blake is doing this all over Brianna?” It sounded like a horrible reason to go through such extremes.
“Wars have been started over less. The bottom line is, you come here, steal his girl, beat him up, in his eyes you are humiliating him. Before you he was top dog, you clearly threaten that. Unfortunately everybody listens to him; therefore this thing is going to keep growing until it is no longer about you and him anymore. You know how war works better than anyone, people hunger for it; soon this school will simply be us versus them.”
He was right; he didn’t know the world’s history like I did. The government had placed a blindfold over everyone’s eyes, claiming any history worth noting had begun with them. Adrian Lillie and I never fell for it, we hunted down every inch of true history we could find. The Trojan War, started over the woman, Helen of Troy was what came to my mind now. Some said it was a war waged over love, others say it was jealousy. I believe it was the latter and that same jealousy was about to tear this school apart.
“Why does it feel like school is about to turn into a war zone?” I asked.
“Because we are trained to sense this kind of storm on the horizon. Besides, I was getting bored with the way things were, isn’t that right Brianna?"
“No to whatever you are saying Spence.” Brianna said from behind me.
I turned to face her, perhaps a little faster than I had meant, her glowing blue eyes found mine as I did.
“You would agree with me if you had heard our conversation.” Spencer said.
“And what would that be?” She asked as we all climbed into my car.
I started the engine and began to drive.
“Oh, me and your boyfriend were just talking about the football team's smear campaign.” I winced at the word boyfriend, I was still waiting for her to cut the idea down.
“Blake” Brianna said “I think it’s about time somebody taught him a lesson.”
“I’m pretty sure that I already did.” I said.
Spencer let out a fake laugh “Didn’t you learn anything growing up? You have to look at this in war terms, Blake is just one person. We need to go after the whole organization.”
“And how do we do that?” I asked.
“We're not going to kill anybody, Spencer.” Brianna said, sounding annoyed.
“No but I’m sure the two mental users back at home can come up with some sort of plan. The point is, everyone will follow Blake simply because they think it is fun. People are a lot less likely to follow him if they think they can be targeted. Let’s get the mental users to capitalize on that.”
This time it was my turn to laugh “You're crazy if you think they will help, Adrian will only lose his temper and Lillie… well Lillie will probably try and ground us just for thinking about sabotaging the football team.”
Spencer placed his hand on my shoulder “That’s the difference between you and me William, I know how to get what I want from people.”
“Sure you do.” Brianna cut in.
“Says you, you have all your friends because of me.” He said.
Brianna turned around in her seat to face him. “That’s not true, all my good friends I got on my own.”
“Name one.”
“William.”
“That doesn’t count, you knew William from before.”
“Technically we befriended after I got here.” I had to cut in.
“That’s true.” Brianna said.
“Doesn’t count.”
“I don’t think you get to decide the rules.” I said.
Spencer began to retort but Brianna yelled that she loved the song on the radio and cranked the knob, drowning out whatever he was going to say.
When we got to the house Spencer made for his bedroom while Brianna and I met up with the others in the living room.
“Adrian and Lillie never stop working” Rachel said the second we walked in. “They are working this mansion over good.”
Brianna put her hands on her hips “They didn’t do anything else, not even for a little bit?”
“Just work.” Josh said.
Adrian stepped around the corner from the kitchen. “I’ve got a job for you two.” He said.
“For us?” Brianna asked.
“Yes, I need you and William to go lay down pavers in the back yard. I need it done by this weekend and we older people will be too busy working on the house to do it ourselves. I have already worked out a foundation so if you don’t think you can do it… well that’s just pathetic.”
“I don’t think we will have any trouble.” I said. “But why in the world are you so rushed?”
“I have a plan for this weekend, that’s all you need to know for now.”
Brianna stepped forward and crossed her arms. “We can have it done by tomorrow.”
Adrian only smiled “Keep telling yourself that, little girl.”
Brianna’s hands fell to her sides in clenched fists. “This little girl is still a trained assassin, don’t forget that.”
“If I thought for an instant that you could kill me you would already be dead.”
“That or maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are.” I said, though truthfully he was easily ten times as smart as the smartest man on earth.
“This coming from the guy who no longer has his power.”
“That is enough you three!” Lillie said, she was angry, her glare was focused on Adrian.
Adrian ignored her “Make sure you get the job done before the weekend.” he said and left the room.
Lillie had her hands on her hips “Don’t worry about him you two, just do what you can.”
“Who is worrying?” Brianna asked.
After Lillie had turned back to the kitchen I placed my homework in my room and went to meet Brianna in the back yard.
Adrian hadn’t been lying about building a good foundation, there was a giant circle in the middle of the yard. All the grass inside the circle had been removed and replaced with tightly packed sand. A large pile of brick pavers was lying off to the side. I walked over and sized one of the bricks up. It was a weird jagged shape with a pinkish red color to it. I was visualizing a pattern to set the patio when I heard the patio door open up behind me.
Brianna stepped out into the yard, she was wearing a white tank top and a tight ripped pair of jeans. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. She smiled when she saw me watching.
“These are the closest things I have to work clothes.” She said.
They really didn’t look like work clothes at all but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that. “I think those will do just fine.”
“So, what do we do with all of this?” She gestured to the bricks.
Once upon a time I could have told her the true and best way to take on this task, unfortunately these days I could only guess. “I say we start in the middle and work our way out.”
I figured we would need a water saw when we reached the outer ring, the bricks wouldn’t match up very well against the outer ring. In the middle they would work just fine, not to mention starting in the middle would
be the best way to center where they met.
“Ok then, let’s get to work.”
We both scooped up a hand full of bricks and carried them to the center of the circle. I watched Brianna as she kneeled down next to me and concentrated on matching the patterns. She had placed four down and had them locked in place before she glanced over. I shifted my eyes to the bricks hoping she hadn’t saw me watching her.
“What do you think, something like that?” She asked.
“Yup, if we follow this pattern all the way out, I think we should be good.” I said.
We had another three in place before we realized they were out of level and we had to tamp them to get it right. Even so we had to pull a couple and spread more dirt so they would sit higher.
We came to find out, brick lying is slow work and after several hours we hadn’t done nearly as much as I would have thought. Lillie had brought us out some sweet tea and Jack had propped up a radio. The only station that came in played nothing but instrumental music, it was still better than nothing. The sun was setting when we finally stepped back to admire our small accomplishment. We still had a long way to go.
“Nice work,” I said rubbing a dirty hand in her hair.
She turned and cupped my face, I could feel dirt smearing across my cheeks, “awe thanks fake boyfriend!”
“Here fake girlfriend,” I said pouring what was left of the sweet tea in the dirt and scooping out the mud, “this will help you keep the mosquitoes away.”
She caught my hand as I tried to smear the mud in her face. She worked a pressure point in my wrist to force me to drop it. I used my other handful to successfully smear her other cheek.
“William!” She yelled and tripped up my legs. I was soon falling face first into the mud puddle I had created.
She had her hand on the back of my head, smearing my face in the mud as I shifted my hips and put all of my weight into her side. We rolled back and forth in the dirt fighting for the upper hand. We were covered head to toe in dirt and mud and busted out laughing.
“I give I give!” She cried through sobs of laughter.
“That’s a good look for you.” I said through my own chortling. Her hair was sticking up all over the place and her face was three different colors of dirt.