He Who Calls
Chapter 1
Milo Salian stepped off the bus to Kadic Academy. He was an exchange student from Portugal. He had brown hair, and strange colorless eyes. A group of kids were standing around. The first thing he noticed was the wide variety of strange appearances. There were three boys, two of whom looked normal. The third had his blond hair spiked up with a purple dot near his head. He was only wearing purple, and he had bellbottom pants on. The others were dressed normally, at least, but one of the girls had pink hair. The blond boy looked up.
"Milo Salian," he said. "The new kid."
"Yes," said Milo with a decent accent. He had worked on it before coming. "Who are you?"
"Jeremy Belpois," he said. "The only kid with a grade average within two points of yours."
"How do you know my grades?" Milo asked. "You got the Diban Snitch Program?"
"Maybe," said Jeremy. "What's it to you?"
"You're the only other kid I've ever met who's had the guts and brains to use illegal spy hardware. But you're not the only one who can use it. Since you're Jeremy Belpois, I'm guessing they're Aelita Stones, Odd Della Robbia, Yumi Ishiyama, and Ulrich Stern."
"You got in to the psychological profiles?" asked Jeremy sharply. "Those are impossible to crack. Aelita and I worked on it for weeks with no results."
"I'll show you how," said Milo.
"Don't need your help. I could access the psych reports at your old school. You're known to be disloyal and friendless."
"You're known to have feelings for Aelita Stones, which you can conceal from her and not anyone else."
"Psych reports. I hate them."
"That, I learned from your body language. You've looked at her at least six times while you've been talking to me."
"You're only twelve," said Jeremy, blushing. "Keep your mouth shut about things you don't know."
"I skipped a grade. Doesn't that qualify me to see the obvious?" Milo cracked a smile for the first time.
"You have a gift for mockery. I think you're going to get along with everyone fine," Jeremy said as he grinned back. "Let me introduce you."
"You're the genius kid?" asked Ulrich as soon as Milo walked into view. "With the hundred point average, right?"
"In Portugal. France might be a harder nut to crack."
"Don't listen to a word he says," said Jeremy. "He's great at leading you into traps."
"Why thank you," said Milo.
"This is Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi," said Jeremy. "Guys, this is Milo Salian, the only human in the known universe to be able to out smart-aleck me."