In The Orbit (Part I)

21. Strom

My jaw throbs all day long. At least four people have asked weird questions about abusive parents or friends. I really want to punch Khan back, but fighting with him would not end well for me. I didn't get enough sleep last night either. I stayed up way too late trying to ignore Fifi, and programmed. I don't know what to do about her. She is very hot, but short and obnoxious. She spent an hour breathing over my shoulder asking stuff like, "What are you doing? It's my screen and my room too, tell me!"

We have a huge room, by the way. Fifi was scoffing about it, because she's so rich or something and her old place was way better. I don't know what she's talking about because I'm sure she didn't have a huge screen, a fireplace, a minibar, a microwave, and a pool-sized bathtub all together. Or maybe she did, who knows. Her parents are Jill and Anthony Breckenhill, after all. She is the CEO of Costco and he owns Kellogg the cereal company.

Anyway, the only person who talks to me in my morning classes is Azalea. At lunch we all talk about the classes and what we think our jobs are gonna be. Especially with the strength training. The strength training is horrible by the way. Khan thinks it's easy, the little dick. He finished ten minutes before the rest of us and went back to the track. I can't believe he LIKES running. This program should've been for nerds not dumb jocks like him. I REALLY don't like Khan.

After strength training and dinner, I get the room to myself. Fifi ran off to her new friend's place. I sit down in one of the chairs by the TV and program. It takes almost an hour to hack into the system to turn off the securities that monitor our screens and computers. I connect it to someone else's so that the administration doesn't see that the securities are turned off for our room. The people I chose to connect it to are Addison Hauk and Kitty Cole, neither of whom seems too smart.

I consider changing our password on the door so nobody knows it, only Fifi and I. But then I decide that maybe it isn't such a good idea, it would be more likely for the administration to track the hack down, if they ever find out about it.

Fifi comes back late. She is wearing a sheer shirt over a bathing suit. She gets directly into the shower. I am so caught up in a programming glitch that I don't even notice Fifi until she is standing in front of me, blocking the screen on the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she demands.

"None of your business," I reply, trying to ignore the fact that she is not wearing pants.

"You could be making a game or something or maybe you are taking down major corporations! Like my parents'!"

"Well I'm not. So get out of my way."

"No. I'm not leaving until you show me what you're up to."

"No way. You wouldn't understand it anyway."

"You calling me stupid?"

"Sure," I snap. "Now move."

She gets right up in my face. "You will be sorry you said that. People who doubt my abilities are very, very, sorry."

"Well..." I don't know if I should be scared of her. She seems clever, but like a sniff out your business kind of clever. I don't need my business being sniffed out. I don't know how legal my hacking is. "If I'm being honest, you don't seem that smart, computer-wise. I mean, if you can't understand what I'm doing just by sight, you have no computer knowledge."

"You're lying," she says simply. "Maybe I'm not a computer genius, but not many people can figure out what you're doing. And you also know that I am smart. Or I wouldn't have gotten accepted into the program."

I was annoyed but also impressed.

"Nice speech analyzation skills. Now please get out of the way."

"Nope. Not unless you let me watch TV."

"Fine, we'll watch some goddamn TV. It will be stupid girly shows anyway."

"I watch Manic, Chasing Steve,-"

"The only thing I ever watch is the news. All of the other shows are stupid garbage full of product placement."

She snorts. "That is the lamest thing I have ever heard. Can I quote you on Habler?"

"No," I hiss. Why is everyone here so annoying?

I go change in the bathroom, and crawl into the bottom bunk.

I curl up and face the wall. Fifi's TV show is blaring and all I want to do is sleep.

"Can't you mute it?!" I snap.

"Fine, dickwad," she retorts, and turns the thing entirely off. I hear her stomp up the ladder of the bunk bed. She is obnoxiously attractive.

The alarm wakes us up, as it's supposed to. Fifi is already awake. She spends an hour in the bathroom putting on makeup. Then she runs down to the cafeteria early and orders her specialized coffee. Then she comes back and that's when the alarm for me goes off.

It is infuriating, watching her choose her outfit for the day. She chooses something, then tries on about six other different things, then decides that she doesn't want the first thing after all. All I do is choose a green shirt and some jeans and I am on my way to breakfast.

Azalea sits next to me. We talk about random stuff. She seems like the only normal one here, and I'm glad that there is at least someone. But then again, she isn't normal. She and I are like the only awkward nerds here. I had expected us to be all awkward nerds, and I was disappointed. Karma sits across from her and stares off into the distance.

Kesselhof, the meanish officer, stands at the head of the table and clears her throat.

"Attention please! We have a pre-test for you this morning. Once you are finished eating, we will proceed to the loading dock. We will get permission to go to the docks through the elevator. So make sure you are all on the same one! If anyone gets left behind, ever, the person at fault will be disqualified from the test, and maybe even the program. Now eat! We have work to do!"

I roll my eyes and shove some cake in my mouth. It's disgusting. I spit the wad out into my napkin.

Kesselhof turns her head towards me. Something flashes across her eyes. "That is unacceptable. Put that back in your mouth. Now."

"What the heck, no way!" That's disgusting. It's half-chewed, soggy, disgusting cake that is getting colder by the minute.

"Eat it. Or there will be consequences."

"Ummm," interrupts Azalea. "I'm sorry, but that is totally unreasonable. It was gross, so he spat it out. It's completely acceptable."

The others nod their agreement.

"LISTEN TO ME!" demands Kesselhof. "I am an officer. You will all obey me. Strom will eat the not only what he spat out, but the rest of the piece of cake as well. And if anyone else complains, he gets another piece."

I knew it would be best if I obeyed her. I look down at wad of cake in my napkin. I close my eyes, hold my nose, and bring it to my mouth. The wet part touches my lips and I gag.

"We're not getting any younger here, Strom," Kesselhof says, drumming her fingers on the table with a little smirk on her face.

I look at the rest of the piece of cake and choke that down first. It has kind of a gritty texture, and tastes like chemicals with a hint of tomato. I force myself into believing that the moisture was evaporating from the spat-out wad of cake and it wouldn't be as wet.

I close my eyes again and shove the wad of cake in my mouth. I force myself to swallow it. Thirty seconds later I am in the corner of the elevator lobby throwing it all up.

I wonder if this is what my parents meant about immoral stuff. Is this just a way to get us to behave? Or is she trying to inaugurate control over us? I decide to see how it plays out and tell my parents if this kind of stuff keeps happening.