Tainted

by Alexandra Moody

CHAPTER TWELVE

  The next day at school I can’t stop thinking about last night’s exploration with Sebastian. I feel haunted by the experience and my thoughts are constantly drawn to what’s happened to the tainted. It’s beginning to seem more important we find out.

  For so many years I assumed they were simply in another section of the ARC. It’s becoming clearer though, they’re nowhere close anymore and those empty cells we found only lead me to believe the worst. Just thinking they may be dead makes me feel queasy. It’s enough to make me completely lose my appetite.

  At lunch, I notice Gemma’s eyes flicker down several times to the full bowl of food in front of me. Thankfully she doesn’t ask me why I’ve barely eaten anything, because I have no idea what I’d tell her. She’s completely focused on the dance and spends most of the break coming up with absurd ideas on how to get a good outfit.

  I’m too distracted to point out the many obvious flaws in her plans. She should know setting off a fire alarm probably isn’t going to help the situation. Instead I give a brief yes or no in response to each of her ideas—it’s mostly no.

  My eyes focus on the doorway to the cafeteria and the students streaming in and out. I haven’t seen Sebastian all day and I’m concerned about him. He’s so sad at the moment and I don’t know how to make it better. There’s also a small part of me that worries there was more to his friendship with Chelsea than he’s letting on, but I try not to focus on that.

  I glance over at Gemma, who is now contemplating bribing the costume room lady. I wonder what she thinks of what we overheard yesterday. Does she also think there was more to Sebastian and Chelsea’s friendship than he’s told me?

  I want to talk about it with her, but something holds me back. Would she see me as a concerned friend or would she notice my concern is something more? I push the thought away, unwilling to admit, even to myself, that I worry more than I should.

  The rest of the school day drags and teachers constantly pull me up for having my head in the clouds. It’s a relief when the final bell rings and I’m dismissed for the day.

  I feel a rush of excitement as I walk out of the science lab and, for the first time today, the tainted are the furthest thing from my mind. Time for the simple, yet effective, plan Gemma came up with at lunch to kick in: run like crazy to the costume room, using brute force to elbow past others if necessary.

  Most of the students seem to be massing towards the costume room, so I have to duck and weave to get past them. I didn’t want to resort to using my elbows but I find I need them, if only for self-defence. If there’s one thing a school dance teaches you, it’s that clothing brings out the worst in girls—and some boys.

  When I make it to the costume room I’m pretty pleased with myself. There’s barely anyone here yet and I’ve managed to get reasonably close to the front of the line. I should definitely be able to pick up something decent from here. Unfortunately, Gemma is nowhere to be seen.

  The line moves forward quickly and after only a few minutes of waiting I find myself walking into the costume room. Although, given the size of the room and its contents, ‘closet’ is probably a more appropriate description. The room is packed with clothing from before impact, with colourful dresses and material bulging from the clothes racks. There’s barely enough room to walk between the rows.

  They have a one person in, one person out policy, and the girl walking out as I go in has the biggest grin on her face, which is promising. I must be early enough to get something good.

  As I enter I am bombarded by the riot of colour inside and my greys seem even more dull and lifeless than usual. I squeeze my way between two racks of dresses to begin my hunt for the perfect dress. On the first rack I try the clothes are pretty old and really beginning to show their age. I quickly skip to a different clothes rack. You have to be ruthless, yet thorough, if you expect to find a hidden gem.

  I’m trying to make my way through a rack of rayon, satin and taffeta, when I catch a glimpse of emerald green silk further up the rack. I walk over to it and pull out a truly beautiful dress. It has a plunging neckline with thin spaghetti straps and soft material that luxuriously drapes down to the knees.

  ‘Perfect!’ I whisper to myself.

  My excitement is short lived though as I am unceremoniously thrown forward by a girl who knocks past me. The room is becoming chaotic. Girls are quickly dragging hangers across racks, eyeing off other girls’ finds and shoving each other out of the way in their desperation to find an outfit. I stand up on my tiptoes and scan around. No Gemma. I carefully drape my dress over my arm and set about finding another dress for her.

  Three racks later I manage to track down something suitable. It’s not amazing, but I’m pretty sure at this stage it’s the best I’ll be able to do. I walk back towards the door and place the garments on the counter.

  ‘That green dress is beautiful!’ the teacher behind the counter says kindly. ‘Oh, but I see you have another. I’m sorry but you’re only allowed to take one.’

  ‘I know. But the other is for my friend. Please, I don’t know where she is and I really want her to have something nice.’

  The teacher shakes her head. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t let you have it. It wouldn’t be fair to the other students who lined up and got here early. Besides, your cuff won’t let you scan out two dresses. One dress per cuff.’

  Disappointed, I push the second dress towards the woman and bump my cuff roughly against the CommuSensor. With just the green dress draped over my arm I leave.

  A long line winds its way from the costume room door, down the hall and around the corner. Gemma’s nowhere to be seen. I try to comm her, but she doesn’t answer. Then, as I make my way out of school, I stop by the library just in case she received detention. After several unsuccessful laps of the place I give up and head for the dining hall. What is she doing?

  The dining hall is practically deserted when I arrive. They’ve only just started serving dinner, so it’s still quite early. There are only about ten people in here so it’s a nice surprise when I notice Quinn’s light blonde hair across the room. I hadn’t expected to see her and it feels like ages since we’ve spent any time together.

  ‘Look at what I’ll be wearing to the dance tomorrow!’ I say, showing Quinn the satin green dress as I approach.

  ‘Wow,’ she replies. ‘That’s going to look amazing! Can’t say I remember seeing that one before. Maybe it’s a new donation?’

  ‘Who knows?’ I respond. ‘I’m just going to go get some food. Save me a seat?’ I place the dress carefully over the back of the chair next to her. Quinn answers by picking her bag off the floor and dumping it firmly on the seat.

  ‘This chair’s going nowhere,’ she grins up at me.

  As I make my way back to my seat, with a disappointingly small serving of potato chips, I see Gemma walking in. Her shoulders are slouched and her head is slumped over. In her arms she carries some material screwed up in a tight ball.

  ‘Mmm, chips!’ Quinn exclaims when I place my tray down on the table. As quick as lightning her hand flicks to the bowl of hot chips and steals one, popping it lightly in her mouth.

  ‘Hey!’ I complain. My objection is cut off though as Gemma slumps down into the chair opposite with a groan.

  ‘Where were you this afternoon?’ I ask, slapping Quinn’s hand away as she tries for another chip.

  Gemma sighs and unravels the dress she has in her arms. It’s pretty much a sack. A purple sack with a few choice stains across the front of it. You could definitely see how it ended up getting donated to the school.

  Gemma screws it up and dumps it on the table. ‘I’m in so much trouble,’ she moans. ‘I’ve been skipping some of my community service hours. I hadn’t realised quite how many though. I’m down by a lot.’

  ‘How many?’ I ask quietly.

  ‘Too many apparently. They’ve restricted my cuff to only emergency transmissions, they’ve taken away my free time
credits, and according to the official they brought in to discipline me, I’ll be lucky to be a janitor when I receive my apprenticeship.’

  ‘The only positive is I still get to go to the dance on Saturday, but that’s hardly a good thing when this was the only dress I could find to wear.’ She pushes the purple dress aside on the table and places her head down in her hands.

  I pull the beautiful dress I’d managed to find off the back of my chair. I caress its silky, supple texture in my hands and then look back at ‘the sack’ lying crumpled on the table. I know what I have to do.

  ‘Here,’ I offer the dress out to Gemma. ‘You should have this.’

  She lifts her face up from her hands to look at the beautiful green silk I’m offering her.

  ‘Elle, I couldn’t,’ she whispers.

  ‘No. You should take it,’ I reply firmly. ‘I said we'd get you an awesome dress for the dance, and I’m not taking no for an answer!’

  She still looks uncertain.

  ‘Besides,’ I continue. ‘The green will look way better on you anyways.’

  ‘Elle!’ she whispers astonished, her eyes bright with excitement. ‘What would I do without you?’ She jumps up from the table and runs around to hug me.

  Well for starters you’d be looking like a joke at the dance, I think to myself. But then stop as I realise, the joke would now be on me.