The Winged Rebellion

Chapter 13: She's Too Nice for Her Own Good

Sebastian

When I wake up, Andy is gone, and for a second I think I dreamt the whole encounter. I remember her being so drunk she could barely think, and I hope she didn't get the wrong impression when she woke up in my bed this morning- or even think that I might of taken advantage of her or something. I shake off my thoughts, and roll out of bed glancing at the clock as I go. 11:15. I slept so late I missed 11:11. Last time I did that was the White Wing's annual ball last year. A ball, I remind myself, I probably won't attend ever again.

After I get dressed and shower, I head out to the living room where Saura, the nice asian girl, is waiting for me.

"Hello! Since it's your first full day at the compound, it's time for one-on-one tours!" she says eagerly, and I groan internally. Even Andy's sarcastic banter would be better than this.

"Great, let's get started" I reply, putting on my happy face, and following her out the door.

"As you know, this base is in a large set of buildings that resemble small castles, and was originally intended to be a university before a larger campus was opened closer to downtown. This building is entirely made up of younger rebel suites, that teams live in for the majority of their teenage to late twenties," she continues as we leave the building, and walk a few feet to the next building, "this building is dedicated to training; we have special rooms for people with powers, classic track rooms, swimming pools, weight rooms, and combat rooms."

She leads me through the maze of unmarked rooms, some with windows, showing people running and training. We exit on the top floor, and she leads me to a walkway between our current building and the one across the street, suspended miles above the road below, a perfect place for flying. We walk quickly and she points out buildings and gardens on top of other buildings. We pass Vela and Vega giving a tour to Liz, who enthusiastically suggests we all go for a swim after our tours. Saura and I agree, and promise to tell some of the others.

"This building here is the research and information centre," she says, "we have computer and monitoring rooms, small research labs, and a huge library. Speaking of the library, here we are."

She presses a button and two glazed glass doors slide open, revealing a tall-ceilinged, wooden room, filled to the brim with stacks of neatly ordered books, and people bustling around quietly ordering things and reading.

"Andy spends most of her time here," she whispers quietly, grabbing my arm and leading me over to a little alcover where a blonde head can just be seen over a stack of books and pillows.

"Hey Andy," Saura says, sitting down next to her, I stand next to her awkwardly.

"Hey Saura," Andy replies, smiling at her, "Hey Sebastian."

"Hi." Well this is awkward. She clears her throat, and I look at her. I pick up one of the books in her pile, and flip it in my hands, studying it.

"City of Ashes, good choice, not the best book in the series but still good. The whole 'all the silent brothers are dead but somehow Jem is still alive' thing was weird, but hey Malec was good" I says glancing at Andy.

"That's quite the analysis," she finally replies after a long pause.

"Good book," I shrug, putting it back on the pile. It was one of my favourites.

"Andy, I was just talking to Sebastian about how nice the pool is, and he suggested we all go for a swim. What do you think?" Saura asks.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm still pretty hungover from that party last night," She replies. She can't back out, she made us go to a party so now she has to come swimming.

"Come on!" I urge, "Liz and the others said they'd meet us there! Besides, you owe me for making me go to that party last night and play truth and dare!" If she comes with us, I can explain quickly on the way as to why she woke up hungover in my bed with me this morning.

"Alright I'll come," she grumbles getting up, "but if anyone moves my books I blame you."

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"I'm famished," Andy says, pulling the tight elastic off of her drenched hair. We went swimming for almost 2 hours, and it's way past the proper time to eat lunch. I miss my tight schedule from the White Wings, with all its structure and how I always knew what I needed to do next. I ignore the tight lump that forms in my throat when I think about the White Wings, and concentrate on how close we are to food.

Caelum leads the way to the cafe. I figured out, by asking Liz, that he and Andy aren't actually dating, but he loves her and she's oblivious to it all. Apparently the girls all feel sorry for him, having been on the receiving end of that kind of ignorance.

As if I wasn't hungry enough, sweet scents of cake and baked goods waft down the corridor long before we finally reach the cafe. It's huge, with a long salad bar, and vegetarian options, and there's even a dessert area. I envy the Icarus Guard, for having all these things when the White Wings have a school-standard cafeteria with only 2 vegetarian options. I remind myself that I am a part of the Icarus Guard now, and there's no need to be jealous of something that belongs to the organization I'm in.

We line up and get our food before meeting at a table in the middle of the cafe. We barely start eating when an alarm blares, startling Alex who drops his chocolate milk, I grab his knee under the table to reassure him, and he sends me a grateful look.

Andy, Caelum, Saura, and the rest of them seem unbothered, and it's only when I loudly clear my throat that Andy realises she should explain the loud alarm.

"It's a warning drill. April is our practice drill month. Our team did our drills already, so we basically just ignore all the noise," she says sympathetically, noticing our flinching faces.

"So you get loud alarms all the time? How does the government and White Wings not notice all of this?" Alex asks.

"Well we are in the old university building, and we're about 10 blocks away from the nearest government or White Wing building, all of our buildings are listed as 'educational boarding schools' that the government can't interfere with, and most of our buildings are soundproof." Andy explains, gesturing around her with her fork.

She's eating a large thing of chicken fried rice and chicken balls, even though she's already eaten most of the chicken out of her chicken fried rice. It looks really good, and I'm regretting picking chicken fingers over it.

Oh well, I'll just cut them up and pretend they're chicken nuggets.

Its raining outside right now, but its all good because I was outside in the sun all day anyways
So... whats the overall opinion right now?
Love,
Alexandra Waterwings