The gym itself was not visible when entering the building. In fact, one fell directly on a corridor separating into three branches: the one on the left led to the girls' locker room, the one on the right to the boys' locker rooms, and the central branch to a closed double door that led to the gymnasium. The building was old enough but not decrepit, we only felt that it had an experience. Posters dotted the walls, some for sports clubs or self-defense like tai chi.
Fitz and Lincoln greeted the girls before leaving them to join their locker rooms, the hallway being empty. They were the last ones to arrive, and given what she had been told about Ms. May, Skye could easily imagine that the delays were not keeping her up. Jemma and she hurried to their own locker rooms and noticed with relief that the majority of girls in their class had barely begun to change. Uncomfortable, Skye followed Jemma and put her bag next to hers. She took out her spare clothes.
"I'm coming back", she slipped to her friend. "I prefer to change in the toilet."
Jemma raised an eyebrow in surprise, but said nothing and nodded. Skye went out and joined the girls' bathroom, which she locked the door carefully. She hurried to change herself, not wanting to get late again, ignoring the many scars that dotted her skinny body, whose ribs were almost protruding. In the mirror, she looked at her oversized clothes, her long-sleeved T-shirt to hide her arms, which had no less than four holes, and her old discoloured jogging. Then she eyed her face. God she was ugly! She bit her lip to fight the disgust the ice was sending back to her. No wonder no one wants her. She herself could not look in the mirror without being disgusted and ashamed, so could she really blame everyone who had rejected her? She sighed and pulled a high ponytail before she joined Jemma and put her class clothes in her bag.
By the light of the neon lights, Jemma could only see the pallor of her new friend and the rings that were running under her eyes. She thought back to the incident on the stairs and to Lincoln's remark.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked her in a low voice, biting her lip.
Skye looked surprised that she was paying attention to her that way.
"Yes, I promise, she answered. Everything is fine."
Jemma was not convinced but decided not to insist. The girls followed the others and left the locker room to join the gymnasium. As Skye expected, it was very tall and in shades of green, blue and white. Bleachers occupied the entire length of the opposite wall, and a sort of linoleum covered the ground, variegated with markings of yellow, green, blue, white, red, and so on. Large windows attracted whitish light into the building. Jemma and Skye went to join Fitz and Lincoln, who were sitting with the others in front of an Asian woman with long black hair and black clothes. She didn't smile and watched her students. Skye could only agree with Fitz: Mrs. May was seriously scary. When she spoke in a voice almost military or even robotic, the few whispers that dared to browse the students died immediately:
"Good. Now that you're all here, we'll finally be able to start. You will keep the same groups as last week. After the warm-up, we will go directly to the matches. You will do five laps and then stretching."
Everyone wasn't happy, but no one dared to protest. Skye suppressed a quiet sigh. Running without any purpose, like a hamster in it wheel, she hated it. She got up, but her teacher called. She turned to her, wringing her hands.
"Yes?" she asked shyly.
"I've never seen you. Are you the new student, Mary Sue?"
Skye overrode the terrifying look of the woman facing her.
"Skye, I prefer Skye."
Mrs. May nodded.
"Okay, Skye. Don't you risk getting too hot with your top? You are going to run a lot."
Skye tensed and shook her head.
"No, no, it's good."
"Ok. I'll let you join your classmates then."
Skye nodded and quickly found Jemma and Fitz running slowly at the end of the line.
At the end of the second lap, she already felt her lungs burn while she usually had a little more endurance. All her muscles were painful, as atrophied, and she felt really bad. She passed the third and fourth rounds. Sweat trickled down her back; she was hot and cold at the same time. She was in the middle of the fifth lap when she felt her heart pounding painfully. Her eyes blurred and she collapsed. Luckily, Fitz had good reflexes: he saw her rocking to his side and he cushioned his fall by grabbing her by the waist. He made her sit against the wall. Mrs. May was with them in a second. Through the fog of her vision, Skye saw that she seemed worried, just like Jemma and Fitz.
"Skye? Skye, talk to me. What just happened?"
Skye took a deep breath to put her ideas in order. Her vision became normal again.
"I ... I'm fine, I just had a dizzy spell. It's past, now.
"It's not the first," Fitz said. "She felt bad on the stairs before class."
Skye glared at him, which did not escape May.
"All right, thank you Leopold. Join the others, now; you too, Jemma."
They nodded and left. Skye stiffened. She didn't like being alone with adults she didn't know. May waved her hand in front of the teenager's face.
"Skye, tell me: how many fingers do you see?"
"Four," she said, slightly annoyed and tense.
Satisfied with the answer, May nodded and scanned the girl's dug face. Her worried expression returned immediately.
"Have you eaten this morning?" she asked.
Skye shrugged.
"No", she said.
She expected her teacher to comment on it and the importance of eating well, but she did not.
"Well. Can you get up?"
"I don't know."
May smiled a little.
"Can you try?"
Skye nodded and leaned on the wall to sit up. She faltered and May held her arm. The teenager did her best not to back down, otherwise she would fall, but she tensed twice more and stopped breathing when May ran a hand behind her back to help her walk to the bleachers. She made her sit down and let go, realizing that the girl was not comfortable with the contacts.
"Wait here for a second," she ordered.
She left the gym and came back two minutes later. She handed a bar of cereals and an apple to Skye. The teenager looked at her strangely, not daring to appropriate the food. May got impatient.
"Here. You have to eat."
After a few seconds, Skye moved slowly and cautiously took the food. She ate slowly without taking her eyes off from her teacher. When she was done, she thanked her in a low voice, and May gave her a bottle of water. She drank a little and then played nervously with the object while May watched her students, who had just put in a group. She started the matches then refocused her attention on Skye.
"I prefer you observe for this session", she explained. "I don't think you're in a position to play with others."
Skye shrugged; she did not care.
The hour passed much faster than Skye expected. She spent her time watching her friends, even cheering them up loudly under the amused eyes of her teacher. Finally, Mrs. May hissed to announce the end of the hour. The students returned to change and Skye literally jumped out of the stands.
"Easy, anyway," May said.
Skye nodded.
"Goodbye, Mrs May!" she shouted, walking quickly to her locker room.
She found Jemma, who seemed exhausted.
"You played really well!" she congratulated her.
"Thank you, her friend smiled. "And you're the best of supporters!"
Skye laughed and went to the bathroom to change. This done, the four friends found them outside and headed for their last class of the morning, English. Their teacher, Mrs. Hill, brought them in a few minutes later. Skye introduced herself to the dark-haired young woman, who pointed to a free space in the back, next to the boy who was having fun sticking caps on the ceiling in Mr. Coulson's yard. She sat next to him and smiled shyly at him. He looked tall and older than her. He had a square jaw and more muscle than Lincoln, and he had brown hair.
"I'm Ward," he introduced himself. "Grant Ward. You're Skye, aren't you?"
She just nodded as she pulled out her things.
"It's a cool name. So, how do you find our school? That sucks isn't it?"
His flippancy and lack of interest in class made her smile.
"There is worst," she said.
He smiled.
"That's right, I'm exaggerating. You unmasked me."
She was about to answer when the teacher cut the grass under her foot:
"Grant, I'd like you to be a little more attentive to the class, especially after your grade on the last exam, and stop distracting our new student. Well, open your books pages 159-160. Exercise 3 to 7, correct in twenty minutes, and I don't want to hear a sound."
"At your orders, Mrs," muttered Grant, opening the book.
Skye stifled a chuckle and Grant placed the book in the middle so she could see. She took a sheet and wrote the number of the page as well as that of the first exercise in the margin.
When Mrs. Hill passed by her five minutes later, she noticed that her leaf was still white. She leaned toward the teenager.
"Do you need help, Skye? Is there something you do not understand?"
She shook her head without looking at her.
"No. I'm just thinking."
"Okay. Don't hesitate if you need."
She went away. Skye turned her attention to the book. She had just finished reading the instructions. The words were so complicated! When it came to entering computer code lines, it was fine, but there she felt like reading a foreign language, so she needed twice as much time to understand and write. When they made the correction fifteen minutes later, she had scarcely written three sentences. She just copied the answers on the board stupidly without taking the trouble to understand them.
The bell sounds thirty minutes later. Slightly demoralized, she packed up her things.
"Are you okay?" Grant asked her. "You seem distracted."
"Yes," she lied, "I'm just super hungry."
He groaned.
"Me too!"
Skye smiled as she got up. Ward was nice, but in a different way from Lincoln, Jemma and Leo. He looked less intellectual and ready to break any rule, which made them one thing in common. In a way, he made her think of Robbie. She turned her head and saw that her three friends were waiting outside the room. She greeted Grant:
"See you later, Ward!"
She was hardly moving away when a little brunette got inside her. She dropped her bag and bent down to pick it up when she was pushed a second time. She fell to the side and her injured wrist banged against the ground. She hissed in pain and sat down holding her arm against her, her eyes full of tears.
"You should be careful where you walk," said a sweet little girl's voice.
She raised her head. The brunette had matte skin, curly hair, and she wore a floral dress. She looked like a doll, but her hypocritical smile and her weasel eyes spoiled the picture. Skye saw her friends approaching.
"Are you kidding? It's you who pushed her!" Ward intervened. "Are you okay Skye?"
He knelt beside her, attracting the black eyes of the doll.
"Yes, yes, don't worry."
"I wouldn't have jostled her if she was not planted in the middle of the passage," the plague continued in a neutral tone.
"That's enough, Raina," Mrs Hill said, who had approached. "It seems to me that you owe Skye an apology, even if it was just an accident."
"Of course, Mrs. Hill," Raina said. "I'm sorry for having jostled you accidentally, Skye."
Skye gritted her teeth but decided not to aggravate the situation.
"It's nothing."
Raina smiled and turned on her heels. Ward helped Skye up and she winced in pain. Her wrist shot her a lot.
"You're okay, Skye?" Jemma asked her.
"Yes, yes," the teenager smiled.
"Where are you hurt Skye?" Mrs. Hill asked her.
"It's nothing, I hurt my wrist last night and I hit it when Raina pushed me."
"Let me see."
The young woman approached and Skye could not help taking a step back, tense.
"I just want to see your wrist, to check that everything is fine", her teacher said gently.
Skye stared at her hesitantly, but finally gave her her arm. Mrs. Hill raised her sweatshirt slowly and Ward hissed at the hematoma.
"We must put ice," the young teacher recommended. "We have some in the teachers' room. You will come with me and then I will accompany you to the canteen."
The teenager would have liked to protest, but she felt it was a losing battle. She nodded without saying anything and picked up her bag with her good hand.
"We meet at the canteen, Skye," Fitz announced.
She nodded and her friends left, as did Ward. An uncomfortable silence settled as she waited nervously for Mrs. Hill to pack her things. After that, they went out and the young woman locked the door before taking Skye down the hall.
"So?" the professor asked. "How did you hurt yourself?"
Skye gave her a look of incomprehension.
"You said you hurt yourself last night," Mrs. Hill said.
"Ah," Skye simply said Skye, shrugging her shoulders. "I just skidded and falling I hit my wrist against a piece of furniture."
The woman nodded. They arrived at the teachers' room, and entered. The teenager stayed near the entrance while Mrs. Hill went for ice. Skye took the opportunity to observe the place. The room was large and comfortable. There were book and file shelves and large windows that provided a wide white light in the room. Comfortable chairs next to several work tables and several food and beverage dispensers. As it was lunchtime, only a few teachers were there, but Skye saw Mr Coulson. When he saw her, he went to her.
"Skye? Everything is fine?"
She was about to answer when Mrs. Hill came back to her with an ice pack in her hand.
"Here, Skye," she said. "You keep it on your wrist until it is no longer cold, and then you bring it back to us."
"Thank you," the teenager whispered up her sleeve.
She took the ice and shivered when it came in contact with her bare skin.
"I'll take you to the canteen," Mrs. Hill said.
Skye nodded and greeted Coulson before leaving the room, followed by her teacher. They did not talk on the way, but it did not bother Skye, quite the opposite. To speak was much more complicated than to be silent, and the silence was pleasant. They stopped in front of the canteen.
"I leave you there, ok?" the young woman inquired.
"Yes, thank you very much," Skye smiled.
"No problem, it's normal. Take care of yourself, okay? And if your wrist starts throwing you for no reason, go to the infirmary, ok?"
Skye nodded and entered the building. She scanned the self with her eyes and spotted her friends sitting at a table of six near a large window. When he saw her, Fitz got up and came over to her. Skye chuckled.
"You didn't have to get up, you know," she told him.
"And who would have worn your tray if I had remained seated?" he quipped gently.
"Yes, you're right, I hadn't thought about it," Skye laughed.
He took a tray and they started queuing. Fitz found that she didn't choose much.
"Don't you want anything else?" he asked her as they finished. "You almost fainted this morning because you had not eaten, so you have to eat more than that."
Skye shrugged, embarrassed.
"I'm fine, I swear. I do not eat much in general."
Sensing that he was engaging in dangerous terrain, Fitz did not insist and they joined their friends. Seeing Skye's half-empty tray, Jemma frowned and opened her mouth to comment but Fitz stopped her by giving her a slight nudge. Skye began to eat slowly, listening to her friends with a distracted ear. The food was much better than the orphanage, and much better than the majority of her old schools.
The rest of the day passed quickly. After eating, Skye felt a lot better. Since they had a free hour before their first and only afternoon class, they left the school to go to the park a little further. After that, they had a course in technology, in other words Fitz's dada, with Mr. Ivanov. There Skye knew who her friends were talking about when they warned her that there was worse than Quinn. She thought it was May, since the science twins hated sports and Mrs. May was special, but now she was pretty sure they were talking about Ivanov. This guy was disturbing. There was something cruel in his eyes, a certain perversity and a touch of vice. Whenever he looked at her she could not help but shudder. And just like Mr. Quinn, he called her Mary Sue! Fortunately, they only had one hour a week.
Over the course, Skye declined Jemma and Fitz's invitation to go back to the park because she still had the Sisters' warning in her mind and she did not want to disobey the first day. She left them, pretending that her phone was broken when they wanted to give her their numbers. So they wrote them down on a piece of paper, including Lincoln, which she carefully put in her pocket.