Chapter 4 (Stan Crow)
"Hey, Patience, wait up!"
The other girl sauntered to a stop and turned a bland gaze on her. Hope knew that look—she'd seen it from every person who thought that Hope's lazy eye and unique face somehow made her "inferior." Hope closed her eyes for a moment, bracing herself for the verbal barrage.
"What do you want now," Patience asked casually. "A thank you?"
Persecution from a teammate wasn't a burden she'd expected when the mantle of team leadership had been thrust upon her a mere twelve hours ago with the sudden departure of Theresa. Of course Patience wouldn't thank her, but Hope had hoped that the girl would have waited for a private place to embarrass her. That hope disappeared when the dark-haired, older girl had bee-lined it for the cafeteria after Hope had bailed her out.
"Um," Hope began, debating on whether this was the kind of girl to stand up to first to avoid problems later, or whether Patience's pain would be better soothed by the gentle salve of, well, patience, over time.
"I'm grateful," Patience murmured, surprising Hope, "but you're gonna have to do better than that if you want anything else."
Hope felt something lighten in her chest. Was it possible Patience was only hiding a deeper sense of gratitude for sake of public appearance? Perhaps including her in team THEO—no, they'd need a new team name now— had been the right thing. Perhaps, for once, she had properly understood one of her visions. Not wanting to let the moment pass, but not wanting to embarrass the other girl—no, woman—back into her callous shell, she chanced an invitation. "We're practicing after class today."
Patience raised her eyebrows, looking underwhelmed, and Hope felt her heart tighten a little. "Seriously?" The woman's dark eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, and the barest hint of a mocking smile flashed across her lips.
Hope deflated. Her head and shoulders drooped automatically, and the best she could do was a weak nod.
"Fine," Patience said, tone light. "Where?"
"Uh, I don't know yet." Hope felt as though thousands of eyes were on her, though she hadn't seen more than about three dozen other students in the cafeteria this morning.
"Anything else you want to say?" The woman sounded positively chipper, and Hope shook at her core. She had thought that her time at Beacon would have steeled her against this kind of deep humiliation—the kind of humiliation where the other person knew exactly which buttons to push to make you collapse in on yourself and question every last though that you might have maybe been worth something.
"No," she nearly whispered. She waited for Patience to ask her to repeat her answer; they all did, just to pour salt in the wound. Instead the woman merely smiled, looking so genuine it made Patience sick.
With a nod, Patience added "I'm getting coffee and then I'm leaving. Don't wait up." She actually had the nerve to wave, albeit barely, as she walked away, not even glancing behind her.
No, Hope's vision had been wrong. As usual. This was shaping up to be the absolute worst day she'd had since stepping off the airship. _
Classes blurred together. When she looked at her notes after returning to the dorm room she had been assigned to, she was dismayed to realize she couldn't read any of them. Was this how it was going to be for the rest of her four years? Neither Optima nor Everest had had a chance to cope with losing Theresa, and now she had saddled them with a teammate that stood for everything Team THEO did not. A teammate who was fine publicly humiliating her new team lead. Hope knew her sleepless nights had just begun. How would she focus on her studies? How could she perform well in team practice or personal training? How long would it be before things collapsed around her ears? She buried her face in her pillow and groaned.
"What's wrong, girly?" a smooth, rich voice said from behind her. "The clouds are supposed to be up in the sky watering the earth. Not on your face, sprinkling your bed. There, now, the sun will come out, just you wait."
Hope smiled up at the tall, ebon-skinned girl whose face and body were absolutely perfect as far as she could tell. Optima Nigel deserved to be here. She also deserved to be the team lead, but when Hope had tried to convince her and Everest, Optima had laughed, and Everest smiled mildly, enigmatically listing "reasons" for choosing Hope over the clearly superior alternative. Hope took comfort, at least, in knowing that her teammates supported her regardless of her worthiness.
Except, she wasn't so sure about Patience.
As if on cue, the roguish woman burst into the room, made a beeline for the nearest bed —Hope's bed, of course— and flopped herself backward with a great sigh. "Let's practice napping," she said, tugging off her uniform and stretching out in her skivvies.
Hope blushed, more for Everest's sake than because the sight was anything new. "You might want to get dressed before Everest—"
"Before I what?" the accented voice floated through the door.
Hope snatched the quilt from Optima's bed and whipped it over Patience.
"Before you…come up with a new name for the team!" She laughed nervously. "Right. This afternoon's practice is brainstorming a new team name."
"Well," Everest said, eyes fixed on Hope, "Who is our new teammate?"
"Patience Saint Monica," Patience said, casting off the covers and stretching. "And I say that Team THEO is now Team HOPE."
"Hear, hear," Optima agreed with a raised eyebrow.
Hope felt her face flush. "Okay," she squeaked.
Everest whirled on Patience, and promptly passed out.