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Chapter 2

Chapter 2

She grabs my hand and leads me out of the café and down the hallway to our room. I change into a sports bra and we jog to activity. When we arrive we spot Vaughn and York, both of which are lifting weights. “Hey, Vaughn!” I yell, “Hey, York!” They grunt in reply, not looking up.

I roll my eyes and Alexia and I jog to the gym’s track. We run around and around in silence for a while, watching people walk in and begin to do their own work.

Devin looks furious, pumping silver metal weights near the boys and Willa was dancing in her own world in the corner. She is an exceptional dancer to say the least. She can do nearly any type, though today’s is Hip-Hop. You can see the concentration on her face.

My throat hurts and my lungs burn after a while and I signal to Alexia that I’m going to get a drink of water. She nods and continues to run. I jog to the break room and brag a water bottle out of the fridge.

I chug a good portion of it like it is the sweet nectar of life from the gods and wipe my mouth. I close my eyes and lean my head back, breathing heavy.

“Hey,” I hear in my head.

“What?”  I think back, not opening my eyes to look Brian in the face.

“Working out?” he asks, I can hear him shuffling his feet on the tiled floor.

“Yup,” I answer, “Like most days."

“Well, you know I don’t most days,” he thinks.

I look at him and smile, “That’s because you’re lazy.”

“No!” he protests, shaking his head, “I just don’t see the need to. I don’t need to be physically fit to use my ability."

“Well I still think you’d look better if you lot some belly fat” I say out loud, walking past him and poking his stomach with a joking wink. He grins and covers it with his hands.

“Thanks for that,” He says in my head.

“No problem,” I brush past him, smiling, “Now, if you don’t mind I need to finish my laps.” He doesn’t say anything, but watches me go.

I pull up next to Pan, who’s also running laps and give her a smile. As we run in silence I watch everyone work out. The Body’s are mainly on one side of the massive gym and Minds on the other. Intermixing us usually lead to dangerous reactions. From both sides. We both wanted to be better than the other group.

Ella and Nina are throwing a ball back and forth, talking rather than doing any exercise. Heather is actually just sitting on a chair, doing nothing.

“I bet we could win in a fight,” says Pan, pulling me out of my thoughts, looking the same direction I am.

Too bad fighting is only allowed in the ring,” I say, indicating the boxing ring Vaughn and York are now fighting in with a nod of my head.

“I think you should fight Ella, show her who the boss is. I’m sure that pretty crimped blonde hair would look nice with a black eye.”

I laugh. “Me? Not to sound like I’m on their side, but she would beat me into a pulp. It’d be impossible for her not to use her ability. She would Kung Fu my ass in to heaven and back.”

“Then maybe I should take a whack at her. I would just tell her not to move and she would have to listen to me.” Her small amber eyes sparkle with delight. Her curled orange hair waving around her face makes her look a little crazed. She laughs loudly at her joke, drawing attention from the people around us.

Figgie catches up with us, “Hey guys, what’s so funny?” She asks, pulling her light brown hair behind her ear.

“Oh, nothing,” says Pan, still laughing at her own joke. She starts to run faster, leaving Figgie and I behind.

“She thinks she’s so funny,” says Figgie shaking her head. “She must have been really popular back in the real world at home, she’s always so happy.”

I nod, “Well she is from a small town, not a lot of people to impress back home.” Figgie laughs and then suddenly stops.

“What?” I ask, concerned.

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of my mom. She was really concerned about my coming here. I was afraid she wouldn’t let me. She almost didn’t.” I start thinking about my own mom while she talks.

“Well at least your mom knows you’re alive. I faked my death to get here, but I’m sure my parents are fine without me.” This was a lie though; I’m so worried about my parents. I hope they are fine, and have moved on with their lives, but at the same time I hope they think about me every day.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“But I thought you knew everything?” I say

“Only what I’ve heard or seen. No one ever told me that so it wasn’t in my head’s hard drive, but now it is I guess.”

“Oh,” is all I say before I silence myself. We quit talking after that and just jog around and around the track.