Chapter 8: (August 7)
The air at the Board was alive with excitement for the first weekend, and many of the underclassmen met up as school let out that Friday. Plans were made, hugs exchanged, and everyone left for their Houses.
Dropping off her bag in her room, Kala decided to enjoy the lovely streak of weather they'd had recently. Grabbing a blanket from a hallway closet, she ran down the stairs and into the backyard.
The back of House 3 was well landscaped, with the view of the mountains surrounding them. A small grove of trees and flower bushes separated her House from House 4. In the clearing up ahead was a small pond. With her blanket tucked under her arm, Kala stopped a few feet from the clearing, so that she was partially in the tree's shade and the field's open sunshine.
Lying on the dewy grass, she looked up at the faded sun. The weather on the island was so much drearier than in Mumbai. There at least she could feel the heat as it beat down on her, but here…
Kala raised her arms up and turned each side to face the sun. Nothing. She exhaled and turned over on her side, coming face to face with Wolfgang.
"You," she gasped in astonishment.
Wolfgang smirked. "Me." His head was resting on his dark, leather jacket, like a makeshift pillow.
"You just won't leave me alone." She slowly sat up, and he followed suit.
"Trust me, I try not to think of you. But every time, it brings me straight to you." He felt a slight pang in his chest as he saw her expression turn sad. He realized that it was actually her emotion. Or perhaps it belonged to the both of them. All he knew was that he wanted to wrap his arms around her, but he held himself back and smiled half-heartedly instead.
"Where are you right now?" She asked this while looking down at the ground, her dark eyes occasionally flitting up to meet his light ones.
"Come see for yourself, if you like."
The scene changed, and she was sitting on the floor of his room in House 2. No one else was around, and there was a movie playing on the laptop in front of her.
"What is it?" she asked him, both intrigued and disgusted by the fighting on the screen.
"It's Conan the Barbarian."
Kala looked at him blankly, waiting for him to explain.
"No… don't tell me you've never watched it?"
Kala just shrugged delicately and looked at the movie, which suddenly changed to a different film starring a kickboxing man.
They both stared at the screen, confused as to what was happening. Looking up, they saw that they were in the school's dining hall. In between them was a boy watching a movie on his computer. Wolfgang recognized him immediately.
"You're Capheus. I remember you from the party the first day."
Capheus jumped at the voice, and noticed that he was sitting between two people that had not been there before. Instead of being frightened, however, Kala felt his elation. He took out his earplugs and smiled radiantly.
"I knew there were more of you! I could tell that it wasn't just me and Sun." He turned to Kala and his expression changed to delighted surprise. "You are very beautiful," he said.
Kala smiled at the compliment, but didn't miss the annoyed tick in Wolfgang's jaw at this statement. They sat in quiet company for a while, enjoying the movie. Kala suddenly snapped out of Capheus's surroundings as someone back in her area moved towards her. She was facing Wolfgang, who had followed her back to the clearing, but it wasn't him moving.
"Who's that?" he asked, looking at someone over Kala's shoulder.
She sat upright and Wolfgang was gone. Coming towards her was Rajan, one of the House prefects.
Kala had met Rajan that day in chemistry, where they'd been partnered up for a project. She stood and grabbed the blanket, folding it as he moved towards her quickly. He loved science as well, and had offered to help her catch up with the curriculum. She had an inkling of a feeling he liked her…
"Hi Kala." He nodded at her and she did the same. They stared at the ground awkwardly until Kala broke the silence.
"So, what did you need?"
Rajan raised his eyebrows and said, "You wanted to meet me at half past six to study, and, well, it's seven." He looked down at his watch as if to make sure, and then looked back up with a smile.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Rajan, I…" She bit down on her tongue so that she wouldn't say she'd forgotten, which she had.
"It's fine, Kala. Really. I brought my notes, but we should probably head inside. It looks like it might rain soon."
Kala gazed up at the quickly darkening sky and nodded in agreement. Taking one last glance at the clearing where Wolfgang had been, she headed back inside.
As Kala cleared up the kitchen counter and laid out her study materials, Rajan came up to her with what appeared to be mail in his hands. "Here, it's for you. I think. I found it next to the door."
"Me? I'm not expecting anything." Kala sat on the bar stool and swiveled around as she opened the stuffed envelope with a butter knife. She almost jumped in surprise when glitter spewed out of it, raining down onto her skirt in shimmering colors. "What… it's an invitation." She handed it to Rajan, who read aloud:
"Dear House 3 members: You are invited to Riley Gunnarsdottir's 18th birthday party tomorrow. House 1 at 8:00 p.m. Please dress appropriately." Rajan's dark eyes lit up in amusement, and he laughed, handing the invitation back to her.
"I don't even know this… Riley Gunnarsdottir. And we have the same birthday," Kala admitted, brushing the glitter off of her legs.
Rajan shrugged lightly and sat in the stool next to her, flipping to a page in his chemistry book. "Well, it's not unusual to invite everyone from the Houses. The campus isn't that big. Who knows? Maybe you'll make some friends. Now, about that Bohr model…"
/
Wolfgang sighed and stared up at the ceiling, his eyes fixed on the off white paint. He was brooding about the boy he'd seen at Kala's House. Did she have a boyfriend? No, that couldn't possibly be it. He'd felt her emotions when she'd seen Rajan. Surprised, but slightly disappointed. He lifted himself off of the ground and moved to the desk in the corner of the room, dumping his textbooks on it. He had a sudden urge to do homework, which was quite rare. However, just as he'd started on a rather difficult calculus problem, Felix dashed into the room and threw himself on the bunk bed nearest to Wolfgang.
"Wolfie!" he said, nearly out of breath. "We have another party!"
Wolfgang grabbed the letter, addressed to all of House 2's students. "Who is this girl?"
"Some chick, man. But House 1! And on a Saturday! This is going to be great. Unless you want to go to the beach like a lot of the other people." Felix crossed his arms, waiting for an answer.
Wolfgang tapped the end of his pencil on the desk in a staccato rhythm. His mind wandered again towards Kala. Perhaps she'd be there?
"Ok… I'll go. Just one question."
Felix nodded eagerly, "What?"
"How do we 'dress appropriately?'"
/
Riley was brushing her teeth when she felt a familiar presence in the girl's bathroom. Rinsing her mouth with water, she turned around to face Will. He was leaning against the tiled wall, humming some sort of tune. He turned to her and smiled, slowly holding out his hand. She took it, still in awe about these strange, sudden meetings. They let go of each other and Will frowned, obviously worried about something.
"What is it?" Riley asked, stepping closer to him.
"I know we've only met a couple of times, but I needed to talk to you about this connection."
Riley wondered what "connection" he meant.
Will's cheeks flushed a dark red as he realized how that had probably sounded. "What I mean to say is, that day we first met, I visited someone else. Her name was Irsa. She told me about people like us… people called 'sensates.' We can connect with others, even if they're really far away. But it's dangerous. There are people that want to hurt us."
Riley shook her head. This news was too somber to receive all in one night. "I know some of the others. I've seen them," she said quietly. At Will's confused look, Riley drew him out of the bathroom and down the hall to her room, hoping none of her roommates were there. Closing the door quietly behind him, she sat down at a desk and pulled out a notepad and a pen.
"What are you doing?" the boy asked, moving to look over her shoulder.
Riley held up a finger as if trying to concentrate. She drew long ovals across the paper, each next to each other. Then she drew a larger one above, where all the lines from the tops of the smaller ovals met. Will realized what she was doing as she started to write down names in the small circles.
Sun. Nomi. Will. Riley.
It was a family tree. Will smiled and looked at the remaining empty circles.
"I wonder who the rest are?" Riley mused, doodling on the side of the paper now that she had filled out everything she knew.
Will sat down on Riley's bed, looking out the window as rain spattered the glass in a soothing tempo. It was not long before he'd released the connection to fall asleep, once again in his own room.
A/N: Chapter 8. I've decided to write the date next to each chapter, just so it's easier to keep in mind. I can't believe we still haven't gotten news of a Sense8 Season 2 renewal. Anyways, hope all of you enjoy this chapter. Have a SUPER awesome day!
~C.o.D.