Chapter 7
"Oh my" Huxley pauses to throw up yet again. "God. What did I do last night?"
I was reluctant to tell her. On one hand, she got drunk and made an ass out of the both of us. On the other hand, I let her drink when I wasn't really supposed to. Huxley had had alcohol before, and I knew that something like this would happen. But, she needed to know.
"Well, you got into a drinking contest with River. You are a lightweight. Then, you made fun of me, and dared me to run around the compound naked for my Ollie" I say making air quotes around Ollie. "After that, I told Oliver thank you and helped you stumble back to your bed. You got up multiple times to throw up."
"Oh trust me. I remember that part" Huxley adds wiping her mouth. "Calah, I am so sorry. We shouldn't have gone. I shouldn't have taken that dare" she pleads.
"Ah, forget about it. He probably thinks that I'm a dweeb anyways. Make it up to me by brushing your teeth."
I make sure to get to the training room at least ten minutes before everyone else. I walk in and see my parents setting up the punching bags along the far wall. My father looks upset when he sees me. I know he is mad about the party, but he probably won't question me, at least not until he sees how sick Huxley is. They both continue to hang up punching bags and something finally occurs to me.
"Where has Eric been? He's supposed to be helping with the training and terrifying transfers" I say reminding them.
They both seem to be holding their tongues, like they know exactly what is going on.
"He has been suspended for a while" my mother reveals.
"From training initiates or working entirely? And, why?" I ask, suddenly extremely curious.
"Eric is suspended from everything. There is an investigation going on about his… policies." My father tells me. I must still look curious, so he tries to continue.
"It involves the killing of a certain group of people. That is all we can tell you. We actually weren't supposed to tell you that much."
Could they mean divergent? Tori told me that it was dangerous, but do they really kill them? My parents know about the divergent?
They return to hanging up the final bags when Oliver walks in. He strides right over to me and gives me a gracious smile.
"Good morning, Calah."
"Morning. Hey, uh, sorry about last night." I say attempting not to sound as nervous as I am.
"It's cool. I had fun. How is Huxley by the way?"
"Hung-over beyond redemption. Training is going to be pretty rough today." I reply realizing that my parents are eavesdropping. I can tell by the look on my father's face that he is furious. This is not going to be good.
I know that he isn't going to yell at me in front of Oliver. We agreed to keep the fact that I am their daughter a secret for as long as possible. However, my father would absolutely yell at us in a group. The fact that Huxley, and probably River, are hung-over is perfect ammunition for a rant.
The rest of the initiates start to drift in one by one. Huxley finally walks in followed by River. They both look exhausted. Surprisingly, so do Henry and Cameron. They probably stayed long after Huxley and I left.
We all start to gather around my parents so they can explain about fighting techniques.
"Last night, I laid down attempting to get a good night's sleep, and I was interrupted by the sound of teenage stupidity" my father says with a slight grin on his face. "Yes, on the first night of training, you decided to throw a party. Those of you who did not attend, may thank your fellow initiates. Instead of going over techniques, you will start sparring this morning."
He looks around at us for a moment.
"Huxley, Calah, in the ring." Somehow, I knew that this was going to happen.
Huxley groans as she steps onto the minimally padded platform. I follow her and put my hands up.
"Promise me one thing?" I ask.
"What?"
"Just, don't throw up on me. I can take getting beaten up, but I can't take getting barfed on too."
"No promises."
We circle around each other for a moment, before I lunge at her. My foot hits right in the middle of her chest. It's manages to knock the wind out of her, but is still barely effective. At the moment, I'm just hoping that I can do something to get her to concede. I don't want either of us to get seriously hurt.
Huxley stumbles back but throws out a fist, hitting me in the jaw, then another to my nose. This time I kick at the back of her legs. She falls to her knees. I push her down to the floor and pin her. Though, I am not heavy enough to keep down, and she flips me. My head hits the ground, hard. I cry out in pain. I get in one last kick to her mouth before the world around me goes black.
It feels like hours before I wake up. But, I guess in reality that it was just a minute or so. I stare up at the ceiling of the training room and see my parents and friends around me. My father just shakes his head when he sees my eyes flutter open.
"It was only sparring" he laughs. Luckily he doesn't seem as mad now. If he had been yelling, my head might actually explode.
Huxley and I just look at each other. We had always been competitive. Even when it was just supposed to be a friendly fight, it always ended in an all-out war. I start to sit up before I feel blood drip down onto my pants. I hadn't noticed how bad my nose was due to my head. It still doesn't feel like much over the throbbing in my skull.
"Damn, Hux. I think you broke my nose." I say wiping away some of the blood with my sleeve. I seem to have left my mark on her too. Her lip is split and swollen, and her chest will probably have a nice sized bruise.
My mother helps me to my feet. "Oliver, would you take Calah to the infirmary?" Telling by the smile on her lips, she knows exactly how I feel about it. My father however looks less than pleased with her.
"Sure" Oliver replies grinning like an idiot.