Chapter 10.
Wednesday, still no word from Fintan.
My fingernails had completely disappeared from the stress and impending eagerness to inform him of what I'd learned from the men in the black suits. Still there was nothing I could do, so I had resolved to stop thinking about it that morning. It'd worked for about five minutes, then the absence of my father and Knight on his business with Principal Powers made me turn to those thoughts for company.
I ate my cereal dolefully and looked at the packet that Shyla had dropped off for me late last night. She hadn't stayed long, or spoken of our conversation so I was glad. The pamphlet was for a Wayne University about sixty miles away, outside the city, past the suburbs and presumably in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't much specific information listed, but that was understandable considering it was a school for prospective superheroes.
The green numbers on the microwave reminded me that I still had to get ready for school. I guzzled the rest of the milk from the bowl, succeeding in dousing the front of my shirt in a moment of ineptness. I wiped my dripping chin with my shirt sleeve and carried the dish to the sink. The spoon clattered against the sink and I headed back to my room, the oppressive silence of the house driving me to annoyance already.
The laundry had yet to be done so it was slim pickings. I threw on a pair of blue jeans from the dryer, still slightly damp. The material clung to my legs and made it hard to pull them up, but in a moment they were in place. It was then that the doorbell rang. Sighing I paused time and rifled through my drawers for a shirt. There was only one with long sleeves that was clean so I changed into it quickly. Looking at myself in the mirror as I applied mascara and ruffled my short hair I sighed.
"I look like an overgrown…" a sudden pain filled my head, stabbing from side to side, front to back. I let go of time automatically and as things resumed their normal rate the throbbing subsided. I exhaled, shaking as I did so and tried not to growl as the doorbell rang again.
Gathering everything hurriedly I shoved the school books into my bag and slipped on my beat up tennis shoes. I lost balance briefly while struggling to tie them and with horror found myself falling face first towards the ground. My nose hit the edge of my open door as the doorbell resounded for the third time. I got up feebly and retrieved a tissue from the box on my dresser. There was a bit of blood on my carpet, but I decided not to worry about it, instead placing the tissue to the red stream at my nose.
There was no debating that this was bound to be a very bad day for me.
When I finally was able to open the front door, Ethan stared at me quizzically from our front steps, "Are you alright?"
"No," I managed, shutting the door behind me and stepping out into the open, "Why are you here Ethan? I mean you stopped walking with me to school after that whole…"
He shrugged slightly under the brightness of a lime green colored shirt, "I was…I was angry with you Dia."
"But now you're not?" I asked taking a drink from my water bottle.
"Not really," he turned his head away slightly for a moment and looked back at me, "I just thought it was time to clear the air between us. It's pretty ridiculous trying to ignore each other when we're neighbors."
I nodded, and then with a slow smile that pained the bashed side of my face, "So who is she? And what do you want?"
His head snapped towards me and he smiled brightly back, laughing even as we neared the bus stop, "Well Malati…you know Quincy's friend? She and I are going out, that's not really why I wanted to talk to you though. Seriously, I did want to patch things up with you," he paused, dark eyes flashing from behind the lenses of his glasses as we stopped at the corner, "You have to believe that it really is coincidence that I need a favor the same day I apologized."
I tried not to chuckle and stuck my hands deep in the still damp pockets of my jeans, "Well since you've never lied to me before I guess I'll take your word for it."
His face softened in relief, "You know the student council has the Serf Sale every year…to raise money for scholarships to Sky High. There are a lot of kids who can't afford the tuition and…"
I held up a hand to show I knew what he was talking about.
"Well this year the sidekick student council is in charge of it. It's today actually…Anyway we've done really well getting volunteers for it, but to meet the quota I have to get one more person, see Terrance, the kid with the blue hair came down with the flu and…"
"So you want me to be a serf for the Serf Sale," I looked over as Maj neared, hands clasped around her usual thermos of coffee. I turned back to Ethan, "I'll do it, but don't expect any big bucks…I'm not exactly popular and as you can see today hasn't been good to me so far."
Maj mumbled something incomprehensible and then repeated it louder for clarification.
"Either you just said 'I like the dirt' or 'My name is Bert' Maj."
Ethan shook his head, "No I think it was 'Pie bike the hurt'."
"Gosh can't you guys understand a word of English?! I said I like your shirt Lydia…it's not like I need a full dose of caffeine before being understandable," our shapeshifter friend half-yelled and then took another sip of the hot beverage in her hand.
Ethan and I held our tongues as Magenta mumbled Ethan's awkward guess over and over again. As the bus came to a stop next to us she shook her head with a strange glare at her brightly dressed friend and boarded.
"I suppose she would like it," I muttered looking at the dark purple material.
The Serf Sale was supposedly the most successful fundraiser every year of school at Sky High. The responsibility of it was alternated between the separate sidekick and hero student councils and the chose group was able to choose for what purpose the money was used. It wasn't like scholarships was a bad cause, it was just that at that moment I could think of a hundred of other things I'd rather be doing then standing in line waiting to be sold.
Ethan, Malati and Quincy stood in front of me talking animatedly about some assignment they had for their sidekick classes. Quincy had tried to start a conversation with me out of politeness but then her questions had turned to my knowledge of Shyla's son Taylor. I tried to tell her that I really didn't know much about him, but somehow I don't think she believed me. Looking around as we waited in the hallway outside of the gymnasium I realized that Ethan's boasts of getting a lot of heroes was pretty falsified.
Out of our group I was the only hero in line, Layla didn't believe in supporting slavery in any form and had persuaded Will to stay out of it as well. I think Ethan still had hard feelings about that since young Stronghold would have surely brought some high bids. Warren, well Warren wouldn't have shown involvement in a school activity even under the threat of Principal Powers…but I couldn't blame him, Magenta wasn't doing it for almost exactly the same reason.
"Alright EVERYONE," Coach Boomer's voice knocked me from my thoughts quite forcibly. We could hear the rest of the students in the bleachers quiet. I shuffled my feet nervously and tried to ignore Ezekiel attempting to get my attention.
Robert wasn't back here but that hadn't stopped him from telling his friends to try and talk to me. I'd not returned any of the three phone calls from him the night before and had tried my best to avoid him at school. Layla and Maj helped me out, aware of my change of feelings and able to relate to the situation. What girl couldn't really? I mean we all had been through the maze of boy girl relationships in junior high. The thought made me feel really immature…I should've just talked to him about it.
"Now, you all know how this works, there are," Boomer paused and I knew he must be looking at a list, "Thirty serfs for sale this year. Now in order to place a bid you must stand up and wait for me to recognize you…At the count of three from me the bidding will close and all purchases will be FINAL. Your serf will be yours for the rest of the day to do anything for you, within reason…yes homework assignments for the day are included in this," he then went on to list a huge litany of things that would not be appropriate to ask your serf to do.
Many of us in the back hall yawned in unison and waited for his long-winded speech to end. The seniors among us would go last so it might be quite some time before everything would be over.
"First up is Natalie Breeze!" and so it began.
We were finally down to the seniors some fifteen minutes later and I was getting sick of the barrage of crumpled paper that Ezekiel had begun five minutes ago. As one hit my head I turned around and threw my hands up, "What do you want Zeke!"
He grimaced slightly and I realized he was looking at the colorful bruise that covered much of my nose and cheek. I stood waiting as Quincy was called into the auditorium. Coach Boomer began his annoying imitation of an auctioneer once again before the acid-spit boy found his voice again. He licked his lips nervously as the line moved forward and he cut the people in front of him to stand next to me.
"Look Lydia, I shouldn't have said anything about Rob."
"Did he get mad at you?"
"Well," he didn't know what to say, "He just wanted me to make sure you aren't mad at him."
"Sorry can't help you there Zeke. Now if you don't mind I think it's my turn," with a frustrated sigh I stepped out onto the polished floors of the gymnasium and walked quickly to join Coach Boomer on the platform.
I stared at his knee high socks while he stared at my face, "What happened Tudor, get into a fight with a brick wall?" he spoke the joke into his microphone and received a few laughs for the effort.
I didn't answer but crossed my arms waiting for the bidding to begin. I knew Ethan might be disappointed for asking me after this was all done…but even a dollar was one more dollar that the fund didn't have before. Coach Boomer coughed loudly and then began speaking.
"This is Lydia Tudor a hero and chronokinetic senior. She has high grades, especially in science and hero history so if you've been waiting for someone to ace a test for you today this is the girl for you. Let's start the bidding at five dollars, who will give me five dollars?" He looked around as two people stood, one was a sophomore I didn't recognize and the other was Robert. Boomer pointed at the sophomore, "Five from Ms. Tileston, do I have ten? Ten from Mr. Robert Anderson…"
A figure from the senior bleachers stood up, it was Knight, thank goodness he'd been there, "Fifteen from Stevens, do I have twenty?" Boomer's voice was kicked up a notch and I backed away slowly wanting to retain my hearing.
The bidding went back and forth between Knight and Robert for a couple more rounds before the sophomore from before stood up again her voice brooking no refusal, "Fifty dollars," she said to Coach Boomer.
He smiled, "Well Ms. Tileston must have a Mad Science test today, fifty going once, going twice," Knight threw up his hands and I nodded to him. I knew he didn't have more than fifty. Robert seemed to be considering and I tried to determine the emotions that were on his face. I thought I saw his jaw clench.
He stood a moment later, "Sixty dollars," and the gym lost all sense of control. The sidekick student council members were congratulating Ethan, who was beaming in response. I couldn't blame them, sixty was a lot of money, a lot more than anyone had expected for me at least. Coach Boomer silenced the chaos with a single yell that set my head aching.
"Sixty dollars, anyone have more than sixty? Remember you must have the money with you, no IOU's…anyone have sixty-five with them for Tudor?" his eyes narrowed and swept to the bleachers. "Going once…"
