Superhero CITY - The Test

Chapter Sixteen (edited)

"Hey," Chuckie tapped my shoulder as we walked through the doorway. "Is the Minister of Education supposed to be here?"

I turned to look at him as we reached the line in the cafeteria, "No, Aunt Cassie said that he would be visiting all of the academy arenas during the Test, but nothing about any trips before then. And she would know, being head of security and all. Why?"

He just nodded his head towards something over my shoulder. I had a nasty suspicion that it was at the senior staff table, where the principal, deputy, heads of departments and any special guests would be seated at for meals. I didn't want to have my suspicions confirmed, but I did, and I could already feel the metaphorical stones dropping in my stomach, but whether they were from anticipation or dread I didn't know.

I staunchly ignored the desire to spin around, to glance repeatedly over my shoulder, to look intently into every reflective surface as I got my lunch. We didn't receive unappealing slop dished out straight onto a shaped tray by an ill-tempered lunch lady like they liked to show on American television. Rather, our trays were made of a silver alloy that Allison loved to play with and the food was placed in porcelain dishes. Everything both always looked and smelled amazing, and there was an entire team of waitstaff behind the counters at all times during the morning, lunch and dinner breaks every day.

I just knew that someone would be waiting personally at that table I was trying desperately to ignore.

There wasn't any reason to take a peek at it, though. It was directly to the right of the door I entered through, and my seat faced almost directly opposite of it at our regular table. The short walk that it took to get there felt as if it expanded an entire eon.

When we got to our seats, though, it appeared that our friends had decided to switch something up, because Allison and Pierce had swapped so that she would be opposite her brother and he opposite his girlfriend Kiera, and Jasmine had taken my seat. That left me between Allison and Johnathan, facing the direction of what was both the last place that I wanted to and where I most anticipated looking all at the same time.

"What's with the switch up, guys? We've been sitting the same way since last year."

Jasmine spun around, casually draping her arms across my seat, and gave me a lazy grin. Her earrings were jade and silver, polished so brightly that the reflection of the lighting above us was blinding as they swung and flashed in my eyes. I had to blink away the light shadows from my vision that they caused, and as a result I almost missed her one-word response. "Exactly."

I sighed heavily and hung my head with enough force that it bobbed like a rag doll's. staring with as much intensity as I could muster at my collection of food, I shuffled around the table to take Jaz's seat.

Even though the chairs were technically exactly the same, I still shuffled around a bit before I felt comfortable, and once I settled, the first thing I did was swing my feet forward, ensuring to keep my face blank so that I didn't give my intentions away.

The high-pitched yelp that I got on contact, together with the loud sound of knees hitting the underside of the table, alerted me to the fact that I'd hit my target. When I looked up, Jasmine was glaring with more ferocity than even a tiger, one of her hands under the bench and clearly rubbing her leg. I held my silence but smirked at her in victory, right until my gaze slipped just a fraction to the left, and I saw over her thin shoulder to the esteemed guest beside our principal.

It was indeed our Minister of Education, one of the most important people in our entire government, the second most influential man to the academies nationwide, and my step-father.