The Nephilim Protocol

GIRLS

"They're not like us."

I sigh and look up from my breakfast. "Have you met girls before, BB?" I say.

He throws a half-eaten bit of sausage at me. "You know what I mean. If they're neffs like us, why are they only getting here now? All at once?"

"Who the fuck cares?" Sue asks. "This is bitchin', man!"

"Are we going to talk about the escape plan at all?" Mouse asks. "Feels like explosives around the island should be something we talk about."

"Wolfe probably doesn't care about female neffs," Dolphin says. "She'd probably be fine with us banging our own kind."

"Anyway, look at them," Ball Buster says, pointing his spoon not so discreetly at the other side of the cafeteria. (By common consent, the cafeteria has split evenly between the boys on one side and the girls on the other.) "Do any of them look like they've got giant holes in their rib cages?"

Looking up and down the line of tables proves Ball Buster has a point. Quite a lot of the girls have very definitely nothing missing from their chests.

"Could be wearing inserts," Dolphin suggests.

"They're not tall either, and I've yet to see one break a rock," Ball Buster says.

"Again, I'm not sure how much your parents told you," I say, "but girls are built differently to boys."

This time a piece of bacon gets flicked at me. "Shut it, Square."

Sue grabs the same piece of bacon, which landed on my chair, and eats it.

"Explosives, guys?" Mouse says. "How are we going to deal with those?"

"C'mon," I say. "If they're not Nephilim, why are they here?"

"That's what I'm saying," Ball Buster says.

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Normally, we'd cut across the field to make a straight beeline for our classes. But without a word, we walk the plowed path straight out of the cafeteria. Which just happens to run straight between the dorms Anaconda/Scorpion and Spider/Mantis. What we used to call "Creepy" and "Crawly."

Or as we now call them, "Boys" and "Girls."

There's not much to see, since it's still pretty dark out. Still, I notice all four of the guys making supposedly casual glances towards the camp. In fact, I can see the guys ahead of them doing it, and the guys ahead of them.

Reminds me, really, of kindergarten: little boys going "Ewwww!" and girls giggling and pointing. It should go away before too long. Hopefully.

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At any rate, the behavior's still around in History class. Anatomy class was fairly normal—no additional students or anything. But when I walk into History class, it's immediately apparent that a bunch of desks have been added. And again, with what I imagine is almost an unconscious impulse, it's mostly girls on one side and guys on the other. A few brave guys have invaded the girls' half of the classroom, trying to chat up their (clearly uninterested) seatmates.

I wonder if I should sit on the girl's side, just to break things up. Then I'm worried I'll be bothering them, like the invaders. Then I wonder whether I should be worrying about this at all and if this is discriminatory or ...