Class Zero

by Y A Marks

  “What’s up, AJ?” he asked.

  “I’m tired of babysitting. It’s your turn.”

  “My turn? Dude, I’ve got to go work on the maps in a bit.”

  “Take a break, evidently you’ve got time.” AJ pointed to the girl.

  He grinned. “She’s just passing through.”

  “I’m sure,” AJ said, flatly.

  After Rylan’s eyes cut toward me, my lips pressed tight. I was sure every piece of my face, including my forehead and nose was beet red.

  “I’m good. I think the tour was about over,” I said.

  “I didn’t show her the stuff below. She’ll need it, knowing Dhyla…”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got you. No problem. I’ll show Elsa around.”

  Cringing, I pressed a happy thought to the surface.

  “Elsa?” AJ asked.

  “Inside joke,” Rylan said and stepped past AJ. With a firm hand, Rylan spun me around toward the stairs.

  Controlling my shoulders, Rylan guided me to a set of stairs. They led two stories down and ended in a long hallway.

  “AJ missed the best part. ‘Cause we keep most of the fun stuff below,” Rylan said.

  Once we entered the hallway, a chill in the air forced my hands over my shoulders. “Little cold down here.”

  “Oh yeah, we’re about fifteen stories below ground. Most don’t come down here, so there’s not much reason to keep it warm. We have to save credits somewhere, right?” He took off his jacket and swept it over my shoulders.

  Rylan wasn’t that muscular. He was rather thin, like everyone that’s a Lower-C, but I was amazed when his jacket almost covered me and my backpack. Warmth splashed against my cheeks and spread through my body. I think part of the heat was from his jacket, but the other part was coming from somewhere inside. A place that I still didn’t want to reach the surface.

  “I’m, uh, I’m okay,” I said. “I’m a big girl. You don’t have to give me your—”

  “You just fight, fight, fight don’t you?”

  I was stunned at his question. “Fight? I’m not fighting anything.”

  “Okay. Whatever.” His hands rose to the sides of his head.

  I thought about saying more, forcing him to explain everything to me. This time, however, I understood. He was frustrated because I wasn’t the normal-type girl who would just be smitten by his charms, probably like the girl above.

  “I’m uh, not used to people like that, okay? Doing stuff for me, I mean,” I said.

  He stared with one eyebrow raised. “Don’t worry, I understand.”

  Exhaling, I tried to keep my embarrassment bottled inside my chest.

  Stepping toward me, he found my gaze. A strong aura spread from him, the same weight that he exuded on the street when the bomb exploded. He seemed bigger somehow, more powerful. I stumbled backward trying to understand what the feeling was.

  “Every day you’re out in the streets on your own,” he said. “Half the city won’t even look at you, the other half you avoid. Every second of the day you wonder how you’ll survive the next second, and the next, and the next. You can’t get close to anyone because you are always wondering if a stranger is telling you the truth, or if the stranger will hurt you so they can survive.”

  My gaze fell on my hands. I didn’t even recognize that I was toying with my fingertips. I would have usually grabbed my backpack straps to control any outward expressions. His words burned, and I didn’t like hearing him echo what bounced around within me.

  His finger lifted my head. My eyes stared into his.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s gonna all work out. Nobody down here wants to hurt you.”

  I wanted to believe him. Deep within, I longed for someone like him, someone who would be brave enough to challenge my inner demons but be kind enough to care for the scars afterward.

  His hand moved away. My eyes angled back to the floor, but something within me broke, cracked, and ripped. I didn’t want to be involved with a boy—to like him. Yet, as he moved away, the heat from his touch stayed on my chin while his gray eyes glowed inside my mind. I was losing this battle, and I didn’t know how I felt about it.

  Looking back once, he turned back to the stairs. His sharp shoulder blades guided me back up to the main floor. After a few turns, he slid open a door. AJ yawned, and Sun Hi worked her way up from her seat to get to me. She bobbled forward as if she would fall over at any second. Less than an hour ago, she was moving so fast I literally couldn’t see her.

  “Hold on, Speedy,” AJ said and pressed Sun Hi back into her seat.

  Taking a few steps, I wrapped my arms around Sun Hi. I still needed a moment to think, to reevaluate what was happening within my head, but I didn’t get a chance.

  “How are you doing? You like the room? Sorry it’s not much, but…” Sun Hi drifted to sleep while sitting upright in the chair. A moment later, she popped back to life, but her tone was concerned. “Hey, Paeton… Hey, what’s wrong? You okay?”

  “Um.” I glanced up and everyone was staring. Survival mode overtook me, and plastered the biggest grin I could on my face. “Um yeah, I’m just, like, blown away. It’s so much to take in.”

  “Great—great. I mean, I’m… I’m sooooo…” She yawned. “Glad that you’re okay.”

  “Sooooo,” AJ started. “The Gray-Eyed Fox hasn’t been mistreating you, has he?”

  My knees straightened and I took a step back. My gaze locked onto AJ’s round face. Warmth pressed against my cheeks, and my stomach fell through the floor. Did he just say what I thought he did? He knew my mental nickname for Rylan. My mind scrambled to when I might have said it aloud. Did I mention it like I had mentioned AJ’s nickname? I’m generally so careful.

  Sun Hi glanced up from her seat, her gaze boring into Rylan. “Well, I don’t trust a fox, gray or not.”

  “The fox has his days.” AJ laughed.

  Oh my God! They all knew the nickname. How did they—my talk with Dhyla. I kept saying “Gray-Eyed Fox” because I didn’t know Rylan’s name then. My skin burned like it was being eaten by their voices. I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

  “Don’t worry, Gray-Eyed Fox’s pretty tame,” said a voice I had never heard before. I spied around trying to find its owner, when a black girl, slightly older than Sun Hi, ducked her head down, placing a hand on my shoulder. “He’s a good boy. We’ve got him all his shots.”

  I stared into the black girl’s cat-like eyes. She had dark, curly hair pulling into a massive ball in the back. Her skin was two tones darker than Sun Hi’s, and her smile was mischievous. The nickname Cat Girl jumped into my head, but I pushed it away. I would be working with these people. I needed to remember their names. Rylan, AJ, and… and…

  “Um?” I asked.

  The girl glanced at me, opening and closing her eyes before they widened. “Josalyn. I’m Josalyn. I know… I know what you’re thinking. How could someone as merveilleux, as magnifique, as étonnant as moi… be stuck underground?” The last of her words had a hint of a French accent lacing the edges. She touched my shoulders. “Oh, but mon cher, we all end up sometimes in the oddest of places, no?”

  She laughed, danced over to Rylan, and wrapped her arms around him. After the hug, she leaned back and punched him in the arm. “The plaisir is ours, Paeton…” The traces of French faded away, and she began speaking in a light southern twang. “…even if you have been hanging out with old Gray-Eyed Fox here.”

  “I don’t know if I’d say fox, maybe sly dog.” AJ took a long swig from a huge mug.

  I glanced over at him, confused. They were all sharing an inside joke at my expense. I knew, however, that they were trying to use my nickname against me. I imagined that they equated the “Fox” side of things with how handsome he was. No wonder Rylan was so smug in the ship.

  AJ put the mug on the table and licked his lips. “Already got your coat around her I see. Marking your territory?”

  Rylan didn’t say anything to them or
to me. His mischievous grin appeared on his lips, but nothing more.

  I exhaled and pulled Rylan’s coat from my shoulders. I folded it over my arm and walked it to Rylan.

  “I’m good, I think, right now,” I said.

  His expression darkened, but only slightly. After a moment, his eyebrows rose.

  “Oooooh, maybe not,” AJ said.

  Josalyn placed her head on Rylan’s shoulder for a second before wrapping him up in her arms again. “Ahh l’amour, such a fickle beast.”

  Rylan inhaled deeply then rolled his torso forward and put his head onto Josalyn’s shoulder. A few whines, sniffles, and sobs came from him. A weight pulled on my heart. As soon as I took a step forward toward him, he giggled.

  “Bon travail, monsieur fox,” Josalyn said.

  I caught just enough of Sun Hi’s eye-roll to know that she was partially annoyed, but mostly sleepy. The other three laughed. Every part of me was dumbfounded. Why were they laughing? Didn’t they know how bad the world was? Why were they acting like this—like teenagers? AJ had to be at least twenty. I would have wagered Josalyn closer to twenty-five. Yet they were giggling like high schoolers.

  I thought of the conversations with Rylan, and his ability to stay lighthearted. This confirmed where he got it from, or at least who encouraged it. I wasn’t mad at him. Everyone had their own way of coping with abject poverty. Some of us were like me and just forced our way through the sludge every day. Others, like Rylan, found ways to be happy and surrounded themselves with people who made them forget.

  I sat down next to Sun Hi. Josalyn led Rylan by the shoulders around the table. She pressed his body into a seat before plopping into a chair between Rylan and AJ. Her eyes widened and a flicker of gold sparkled in her irises. Both eyebrows flew up until the one on the right decided to press down, leaving its sister still high on Josalyn’s head. “So you get in a fight with the police or get in a rumble with Bryson?”

  Sun Hi placed her head on both palms, trying to keep her head up. “You already know… the answer to that.”

  “You’re right. I know everything, but everyone else at the table doesn’t know.”

  My gaze slid back and forth between them. My tongue itched with questions, the first of which: “Who was Bryson?”

  AJ thumbed his nose. “I thought you had broken up with him.”

  “No, I haven’t,” Sun Hi said.

  “Then where is he?”

  “Busy.” She stopped short. Her torso lifted, and her eyes turned toward Rylan for a split second. “He has to work. Some of us have responsibilities… others of us just do what they want.”

  A low rumble entered the air, and the table vibrated. My gaze slid to Rylan. His eyes and mouth were tight. “Meaning?”

  Sun Hi shrugged. “Who said… I was talking about you?” Her words were slurred from fatigue, but even I could feel the venom in her tone. “Do you have any skeletons in your closet you want to talk about?”

  After glancing at her, Rylan’s gaze lingered on me before angling to the table. “Nope, not one tibia or fibula.”

  Sun Hi’s eyes rolled away from Rylan and landed on Josalyn. “Now that nothing’s settled. How’s your stalker?”

  My mind reeled with all the information. It was trying to put together all the weirdness and add some logic to it. Before I could get a little of my brain to cooperate, Josalyn spoke up. “He’s fine. He’s right where I left him.”

  “You’re so cold,” Sun Hi said, her eyes still closed.

  “There’s no way in hell I’d let you do that shit to me,” AJ said.

  Josalyn grinned. “Oh, you’d never know.”

  I nudged Sun Hi with my leg. Her face turned toward me, and she opened her eyes half way. I shook my head and raised my shoulders.

  “Oh,” she smiled. “Josalyn put her boyfriend in jail. So, he stalks her on all her blogs.”

  “Jail? Blogs?” I asked.

  “That’s some evil shit…” AJ murmured.

  “It was evil what he did,” Josalyn said.

  “It was two years ago. You should get him out already.”

  Rylan glanced over to Josalyn. “Can you get him out?” he asked softly.

  There was something inside of his stare that I couldn’t explain. The anger from a moment ago with Sun Hi was gone and was replaced with a deep longing.

  Josalyn shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Once you have witnesses it’s harder.”

  At that point, I wanted to get up from the table. I didn’t need inside information. I just wanted to get back to my life.

  “You’re so full of it.” AJ leaned back in his chair, his massive arms resting atop his round stomach.

  Josalyn lifted her shoulders and her lips curled. “Ahh, I like him inside there anyway. It keeps him focused on what’s important.”

  “Don’t say it…”

  “Moi, it’s always about moi.”

  Rylan’s gaze spun around before locking with mine. My cheeks heated under the weight. I rubbed them with soft thumbs trying to remove the evidence.

  On the second raising of my gaze, Rylan didn’t look at me. Instead he gazed at Josalyn and I could almost hear him ask the same question as he did a moment ago. Could she get someone out of prison? I wasn’t sure what all of this meant. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling. Rylan was hiding something from the others, and for some reason, it scared me.

  CHAPTER 15

  I didn’t sleep much that night. The bed was more comfortable than my cot back at the Stadium, but I couldn’t get my mind to rest. Worries about Mari and Miko’s safety whizzed through my mind. A few other thoughts fought for attention. One was about Dhyla, who I hadn’t seen since I’d left the trailer park hideout. The other was about Rylan, whom I barely knew. He was the one thing I didn’t need in my life. Boys were bad news. Cute boys were horrible news. Adorable boys who might like me even though I felt like a diseased rag doll lying in the midst of a puddle of two-day old rainwater which had a ring of oil around the edges—those type of boys were potentially the worst of all.

  I don’t know when I finally went to sleep, but I remember seeing 1:18 on the clock and nothing after that.

  At five o’clock, my eyes shot open. High-pitched squeals from two babies wiggled through the metal walls and echoed around the room. I was accustomed to babies crying in the morning. Their whines floated into the vast area above the Stadium and faded away. In this metal box, every sound was amplified and sharpened into tiny pin pricks which attacked my eardrums.

  I rolled over a few times, hoping the mothers, wherever they were, would get the kids settled. After fifteen minutes, I pulled myself up and prayed to God that somewhere in this place was a chocolate crème mocha with my name on it.

  After washing up, I put on my clothes. Just as I was about to open the door, the cries went silent. My only guess was that the two babies were battling against each other to see who was the loudest. Once one of them quieted, it wasn’t long before the other was hushed.

  I fell back in the bed for another twenty minutes before taps on the outside bridges and walkways began to rattle my ears. I never thought I’d want to be back in the Stadium until then.

  In a zombie-like state, I made my way down to the cafeteria area. There was a line snaking into the main lobby.

  I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

  I got in line, and within a few minutes Sun Hi made her way over, skipping the eight people in line behind me.

  “Hey, Paet. Did you sleep okay last night?” she asked.

  “Yeah, it was good. Bed’s comfy. I just have to get used to waking up.”

  For a moment, she looked confused and then her expression brightened. “Oh yeah, the babies get up at the crack of dawn.”

  I gave her a thumbs up for her correct answer.

  We picked out a few breakfast items. The food at the Stadium was bad. Here, there was nothing but beige sludge, which Sun Hi said was nutrient-rich oatmeal. The other items on the menu were
yogurt, breads of almost every type, coffee, tea, and a processed orange juice that looked like a thinner version of the oatmeal sludge. I settled on two bran muffins and some coffee with lots of powdered creamer. It was no chocolate mocha, but it would do.

  Cat Girl, um, I mean Josalyn, joined us after I was already onto my second muffin. She appeared as sleepy as I felt. After a few groggy greetings, we ate in silence. Josalyn’s head hovered over her oatmeal as though at any moment her head could fall in. For the first five minutes, her large cat eyes barely opened.

  I nudged Sun Hi after a few seconds of watching Josalyn’s head waver in a trance.

  “Josalyn doesn’t do mornings,” Sun Hi said.

  Josalyn really was like a cat. If she started licking her hands and meowing, I don’t think I would have been surprised. Ms. Roller-Eyes back at the Stadium would have been in love.

  “By the way, where’s Dhyla?” I asked. “I mean, isn’t she a part of all of this?”

  “Yeah, she’s more than just a part, but I don’t know if I can go into all of the politics and do it justice,” Sun Hi said.

  My curiosity whirled in my head. “Oh okay.”

  “What did she tell you about Escerica?”

  “Not much. She didn’t want me talking about it. Every time I brought it up, she kind of killed the conversation.”

  Sun Hi nodded a few times. “What do you think about it?”

  “It’s cool, I guess. Everyone seems nice.”

  “But what do you really think?”

  My shoulders lifted. “This world isn’t me. I’m a back of the crowd kind of girl. Right now I’m scared to death. Especially after what AJ showed me.”

  “AJ? What did he show you?”

  After patting my empty shoulders for the backpack I had left in my room. I shrugged and leaned in closer. “A bounty for my arrest. Two thousand credits.”

  Sun Hi didn’t seem surprised. However instead of berating me, she wrapped her hands around mine. After a few seconds her gaze relaxed. “Have you ever? I mean, have you ever used a gun before the whole stadium thing?”

  “No, no, never.” I tugged back. “I hate those things.”

  “Paeton, I’m sorry you’re in this. I am. I wish there was some kind of way that you were able to stay out of it, but as far as the government is concerned you’re one of us. Josalyn, might be able to pull a few strings for you, but for now, I think you need to learn how to use the gun you stole.”