North emails me a week later with a B- grade and even though I’m positive that it deserves a higher mark than that, I email him back to say thank you and then I hit the books even harder.
Sage gets us a permanent table booking in the library and joins me in my mission to destroy Nox fucking Draven through my grades alone. Well, she tells me that her parents only let up on her about avoiding the whole world if she says she’s studying. I’m happy about it for half a second before she adds that her family is hoping Riley will change his mind about rejecting their Bond if she graduates with honors and gets a high paying job… like if she can earn him a lot of money she might be useful to him.
Someday, I’m going to kill them all.
I can feel it brewing in me, like someday it’ll boil over and I’ll have no choice but to just ruin them all. I mean, I’m already there with Giovanna because Sage was not exaggerating about how fucking evil the bitch is. If anything, she’s too nice about her. Something about her smug looks and smirks digs under my skin and irritates the ever-loving fuck out of me. I’ve never been a power elitist, my time with the Resistance drummed that into me, but there’s something about a girl who’s skating by completely on her looks that just eats at me.
After the first week of us hanging out at the library together, Sawyer shows up and studies with us. He’s polite to me but is still stiff and distant about it. Sage notices and offers to tell him to leave but I’m stubborn and want him to like me, so I work at charming him instead. I’m not sure it works but he’s never rude to me, so I’ll call it a win.
Gracie attempts to sit with us once but Sage shuts her down so swiftly that I have to hold back tears of laughter. When I told her about Gracie drooling all over Gryphon, she hadn’t been surprised, just rolled her eyes and cut her out whenever she tried to join us.
The real complication is when Felix and Gabe show up.
For one, they show up together, which instantly loses Felix all of the brownie points I’d mentally given him after Sage’s party. For another, Gabe stares Sawyer down like he’s about to drag him outside to beat him to death when he sees us sitting together.
“We’re all pretty sure Oli is a lesbian, Benson, no point trying to hook up with my Bond,” he snaps but before I have the chance to deflate his ego and remind him that Bond or not, I will never touch him, Sage cuts in.
“If you start shit with my brother, Gabe, I will burn down everything you love. Your bike, your football stadium, your dick… everything.”
I turn to stare at her because who the hell is this badass and where the fuck has Sage been hiding her all this time?
Maybe I am in love with her instead.
Felix glances between them and then shoots me a look. “Are you going to step in or should I?”
I shrug and smirk at him, propping my chin up on my hand, “I’d rather watch Sage murder everyone in this room than smother this attitude of hers today. It’s probably why my Bonds are obsessed with the idea of me fucking her… or maybe it’s a fetish thing, I don’t care enough to figure it out.”
Gabe’s eyes flash at me and I know I’ve hit a nerve but he started it, so he can live with the consequences. Felix looks around at each of us again before pulling out a seat next to Sage, sitting down and opening up his own textbooks. She side-eyes him but when he doesn’t attempt to lean into her or talk to her, she lets it go.
I actually think he’s perfect for her and the world is a terrible place for not fating them to be together.
When we all ignore him for long enough, Gabe finally huffs and pulls out a seat of his own next to me, spreading his books and papers out on the desk until he’s taking over half of my space as well. I’m sure he’s doing it to get a rise out of me but I just do my best not to shift into Sawyer’s space and spoil whatever progress I’ve made with him.
Sage watches all of this with narrowed eyes but I just shake my head at her because fighting with Gabe never actually gets me anywhere. The best I can hope for is for him to get sick of being around me and leaving me the hell alone. I’m sure he can convince North to sign off on it, it’s not like I’ve tried to run away.
Yet.
When our study break is over with and I have to head off to my Torture Training session, as Sage is now calling TT, I pack everything away and pull her into a quick hug, squeezing her for a second and hoping she can feel how grateful I am to have her fiercely protective friendship.
I’m shocked when Sawyer also pulls me into a quick hug, ignoring Gabe’s moody huffing behind us, and then he ushers Sage out, Felix giving me a nod and then following them both out.
I desperately wish I was heading to class with them but maybe an afternoon of destroying my body on all of those torture machines will actually make me feel better. Great, Vivian and his training program has somehow indoctrinated me into loving the feeling of my entire body burning up and turning to jelly.
Gross.
I make it out of the library and into the sunshine outside before Gabe jogs to catch up with me, falling into step instead of the three steps behind me like he usually does. I grit my teeth and ignore him, picking up my pace so I can hide in the locker room in the TT center until the class starts and Vivian will be too far up his ass for him to bother me.
The problem is that something has clearly crawled up Gabe’s ass about me today and he’s not going to let anything go, darting in front of me to block my path, and I have no choice but to stop walking or I’ll slam into him.
I can’t get pressed up against him again right now.
“I’m not doing this with you today. Wasn’t Sage’s warning enough for you to let it go?”
“I will never let this go, Fallows. How can I when you’re supposed to be my Bond and instead you’re draping yourself over any other guy on campus? What the fuck went wrong with you that you can act like this?”
He’s lost his mind. My voice comes out like an outraged squeak and I sound fucking stupid, “Me?! All I’ve done since getting dragged to this shithole of a campus is play by your little rules. What, were you hoping I’d come back and just bend over for you all? Lay back and take it so you could get your bond with me and all the power that comes with it? I’d rather die. Seriously, Gabe, look me in the eyes right now and accept it because I’d rather die than do that.”
His lip curls up and all of his usual flinches are gone as he leans down until he’s right in my face. “And I’d rather die than sit around and watch you work your way through the freshman class. If your Bonds aren’t good enough for you, then you’re going to be alone and miserable, I’ll make sure of that.”
I scoff at him and turn on my heel, ready to sprint to the training center if that’s what it takes to get away from his crazy today, but he grabs my arm and turns me back to face him, snarling in my face, “You left, you did that, whatever shit you’re having to deal with now is because of what you did. You hate us, that’s fine, deal with the consequences.”
I roll my eyes at him and pull away but his hand tightens on my arm. “Let go of me—”
“What are you going to do, break my arm? How exactly are you going to manage that? Gryphon seems to think you’d be able to do some damage if you wanted to but I’m not seeing it.”
Huh. I didn’t think Gryphon had taken enough notice of me to know what I was capable of, but clearly I’m doing something right in TT if he thinks I can take a football player on and survive it.
I don’t need my gift or training to best Gabe though, he wears all of his feelings on his sleeve too much for it not to be easy.
I step towards him, pressing myself against his chest and watching as he startles. Whatever was going through his head before to stifle his reactions is long gone now and he tenses up at the feel of my body on his.
“Get your hand off of me before I prove Gryphon right. I might be playing by the rules for now but if you push me, you’ll figure out exactly what I’m capable of.”
“WE’RE HEADED to the basement today, so plan your workouts accordingly.”
The entire room groans like we’ve just been told we’re about to be sent to hell to fight the devil himself but, like always, I have no idea what Vivian is talking about. Everyone moves onto the gym equipment, dragging their feet more than they usually do, and I stay close to Vivian, preparing myself for whatever circuit he’s going to throw me onto today.
He doesn’t immediately move over to me like he usually does, instead he watches the other students for a second, like he’s taking note of what they’re choosing to do. It’s confusing enough that I turn and watch it too but I can’t figure out what’s so damn interesting for him.
They’re all choosing the easier machines, the stuff they all find the easiest. I’ve spent so goddamn long on the treadmill and elliptical machines watching all of the other students go through their paces while I attempt to forget the pain I’m in that I know that Gabe and his buddies always end up on the weight machines after a particularly rough game of football. Vivian usually barks orders at the guys to move on to cardio and get the hell on with it, but he just stands and watches them all.
When he finally makes his way over to me, he jerks his head at the treadmill and says, “Take it easy today, this is just a warmup.”
I frown back at him. “What’s so terrifying about the basement? If the Boogey Man is down there I’d like to know now, so I can kill myself instead of heading down there. I was already planning on throwing myself off a bridge, I’ll just move it up.”
He gives me a hard look, his scars making him look even surlier, but I’ve been in this class and working with him for long enough that I just bat my eyelashes back at him.
He grunts at me, “I’m a mandatory reporter for students in crisis, don’t say that shit around me because I’d rather not have to fill out all of that paperwork, kid.”
I grin at him and shrug, feigning sheepishness. “Got any teachers you hate? I’m happy to mouth off elsewhere as an apology.”
He shakes his head at me, grumbling under his breath about his pay scale and dealing with this bullshit, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary.
I choose to stick to my usual workout because I’m both stubborn and stupid sometimes. Whatever is hiding in the basement isn’t going to stop me from proving myself to Vivian, and it’s not like North would allow me to die here, no matter how badly I might want to some days.
I don’t think I’ll die until he signs off on it.
After the full hour is up, every muscle in my body feels like jelly and my legs are just barely holding me up. I’m so used to it now that I hardly register the shaking, only huffing with frustration when my water bottle shakes in my hand too much for me to get a decent drink.
Vivian only gives us a minute to hydrate before he’s barking out orders and stalking out the door on the far wall, one we’ve never been through before and I’d always assumed was just storage.
Guess I was wrong there.
“You’re going to regret working out as hard as you did, reject,” Zoey snarks as she shoves past me, knocking into my shoulder so hard it wrenches. The tingles that shoot down to my fingertips spell trouble for me but I do my best to ignore it, rubbing at my shoulder and neck as best as I can with my trembling hand.
“She’s not wrong.”
I roll my eyes at the sound of Gabe’s voice but I don’t answer him or react, I don’t have the energy to spare for him and his bullshit right now.
I need to figure out how to survive whatever Vivian is leading us to today.
“You’ll be out in the first three minutes if you don’t team up with someone. It’s a shame Sage or Sawyer aren’t in this class, you might have survived if your girlfriend was around to save you.”
We’re at the back of the group, so I feel comfortable enough to call him out for his attitude once more. “Your writhing jealousy is showing again. You know, if you stopped being an asshole, we could be friends too. If you want what Sage and Sawyer have with me so badly, all you have to do is stop sucking up to North and just be my friend.”
He grunts at me and shakes his head. “I don’t want to be your fucking friend, Fallows.”
I laugh at him, a dark and mocking sound. “No, you want to own me and take what you think you’re owed. You’re as bad as the rest of them.”
A couple of his football buddies glance back at us, overhearing enough of what we’re saying to check up on us. I flip them the bird and Gabe knocks me with his shoulder gently, but thanks to Zoey’s rough treatment it jars me and knocks the air out of me.
“Stay away from everyone in the maze. Vivian has people watching the entire simulation but you could still get pretty severely hurt if you’re not careful. This is the one place on campus where we’re allowed to use our gifts to their full extent and there’s a lot of guys who like to flex here because it’s safe enough to. The entire basement is bombproof. Unser once went off down there and the place is still standing, so we know it’s safe.”
Unser? I raise an eyebrow at him but Gabe is still pissed off at me and just smirks, shrugging with feigned nonchalance. I turn away from him so he doesn’t see how much it digs under my skin not to know who he’s talking about.
What the hell does ‘went off’ even mean? A living bomb? A flame who has a little extra bang for their buck? The possibilities are literally endless in the Gifted community so I’ll have to ask Sage about it later.
The staircase is long and winding, the temperature rising the further we get down until it feels as though the air is made out of soup, heavy and hot in my lungs. There’s a small flutter of panic in my stomach, the worst place for it to be because my gift begins to strain at the tight hold I have on it in response.
The last time I was trapped underground like this, I was tortured.
I force myself to think about something, anything, except for that time. I force myself to think about Sage and Felix, to wonder whether Felix will be able to find some way to convince Sage to give him a chance. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot since her birthday because there was no mistaking the adoration in his eyes every time he looked at her. Sometimes bonds aren’t a blessing and they just make things more complicated and those two are a classic example of that.
Gabe staring at me like he’s imagining what choking the life out of me would feel like is another.
When we reach the bottom of the stairs, I find a small room. Three of the walls are stone and the wall on the far side is made up entirely of giant fire doors cut out of a concrete door. Whatever is on the other side, it’s clear I’ll be going in blind.
Vivian waits until we’re all crowded in the space and then calls out, his voice echoing in the tiny space, “You’ll be split up again, this time into groups of three. No, you don’t get to choose who you’re with. No, I don’t care whether or not you think this is fair. No, there isn’t somewhere you can put in a complaint because I don’t care about your opinions and feelings here. I care about training you to the best of my ability. I’ve had two hundred and forty three students leave here and make it into TacTeams and they’re mostly all alive today, thanks to this training, so shut your mouths and get to the center alive if you wanna pass this class. First to the flag wins an automatic pass on this class for the year.”
Okay.
Get to the center without dying.
I’m not even going to pretend I have a chance of getting to the center first but, fuck, I’m going to at the very least attempt to get there in the next hour. It doesn’t seem so bad, and if I have two other students who need me alive and coherent to pass then I should be okay. This isn’t so bad.
At least, it wasn’t so bad until I got paired with Zoey and some guy I’ve never heard of before but who grins at Zoey like this is all going to be a freaking party.
Gabe shoots me a look but doesn’t attempt to talk to his little friends and get them not to be assholes to me, he just walks over to his own chosen partners and starts murmuring to them. I guess the maze requires strategy, but Zoey and Brenton don’t say a word to me as I stalk over to join them both. I also don’t mutter a word to them, I already know there’s no point.
I’m in this alone.
The moment the doors swing open I see exactly what they mean by simulation and honestly? I’m totally and completely fucked.
So just a regular Friday afternoon for me.
