Black as Day (ON HIATUS)

Chapter Fourteen- Doing Something at Last

My knee jittered with anticipation under the desk, tapping out some sort of rhythm. My fingers tapped quietly on the top. I had way too much energy inside of me to be sitting down for so long. Pushing the chair back, I jumped up on my feet and started to pace the room. I checked the clock above the desk and scowled. Still five minutes left, but it felt like it would be years. My gaze drifted to the window.

It was strangely bright and sunny outside for this early in the morning. Normally, the sun would be rising much later. Yet another hint as to the oncoming heat of the summer days. In the colder temperatures, I would probably sleep until noon if I got the chance. However I'd slept quite well the night before, but had woken up much before the sunrise.

The door creaked, drawing my attention as Ripley stepped through. She quickly smiled at me. I returned the smile and turned to face her.

"It's about time you got here. I was about to break down the wall!" I laughed.

Ripley brushed her red hair out of her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "That would be something to see." She looked around the immaculate room. Before she'd gotten here, I was so bored that I'd cleaned the entire room and made mine and Tallah's bed.

"I see you're all dressed and ready to go." Ripley remarked.

I nodded. "Yeah, got up early and saw that Tallah was already gone, so I figured what the heck. There was no chance of me going back to sleep."

Ripley smiled and nodded. "She's definitely a morning person. Anyway, are you ready to head out?"

"Of course!" I laughed. "I've practically been locked in here for two weeks! I've been ready for days."

After the test to find out what my abilities were, Doctor Brown had told me to rest up. This constituted that I was to stay in Tallah and I's shared room, meals and showers an exception. I had read my way through two book series and almost went out of my mind. I felt fine, I'd bounced back after a couple of days and if I had to stay in this room another minute I was going to go nuts.

In fact, I might have, if it wasn't for Ripley. At first, she'd come into my room looking for Tallah, but she'd found me reading instead. This led us to talking about at the books that we'd read, and we soon became fast friends. I'd initially thought that Ripley was a moody, dull person but she is actually incredibly friendly. She wasn't much of a talker, but she was steady and reliable.

"Let's go," Ripley said, walking out the door. I followed, closing it quietly behind me. I easily fell in step beside her, glad to finally have something to do again.

We padded softly through the dormitory halls. Not everybody was awake at this hour, although we passed a couple people heading to the showers with towels in their hands. But as soon as we got to the main elevator, I opened my mouth to ask Ripley a question.

"What was it like for you?"

"Hmm?"

I sighed impatiently. "You know, finding out what your powers are."

Ripley made a sound of confirmation. "Ah. Well, I was kind of neutral."

"Neutral how?" I asked, pushing the button for the first floor- the training rooms.

"Well," She sighed, "I wasn't really excited. I knew I had abilities, and that was cool and all, but it was whatever, you know?"

I regarded her curiously. I didn't really understand, I was so filled with anticipation I thought I could burst. I took in a deep breath, but was cut off as the elevator hit the floor. Ripley exited the elevator and motioned me to follow her.