The World's Start

Heath

"Now I know how you felt when you saw me coming out of the shower," Heath told Jack in earnest the day after. "I will never forget the sight of your pale legs sticking out of your shorts for as long as I live."

Jack seemed strangely irritated by this attempt at bonding. "It's not the same thing at all!"

"You're right," Heath pondered. "At least when I get tanned, I always make sure that my down under matches the rest of my complexion..."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Jack asked, and he was about to leave the room when Heath threw something at him. It was a sandwich wrapped in cellophane.

"Peace offering!" he exclaimed. "Because the other day you were so hungry you even had to eat my lunch."

Heath wasn't saying it, but they both knew it was, in reality, because of the first test Tenney had put them through. The other time Heath tried to talk about it and make amends, Jack's replies had been exactly what Heath would expect from him, or any other pupil. The other pupils tended to sweep the violence the students were put through under the rug with sentences like 'it doesn't matter', 'it's a school test', 'we've all seen worse'... Heath, perhaps for his natural distaste for violence, always felt differently about it.

Jack didn't have the heart to make a mean comment once he understood Heath's real intentions. He unwrapped the sandwich and took a look at the filling.

"What crap is that?"

"Peanut butter, banana and mango!" Heath exclaimed. "Don't worry, I didn't make one for you especially --- it's simply half of mine." That said, he showed the other half of the sandwich wrapped in a very similar manner.

Jack was at a loss for words for about a split second. That second was used in giving the sandwich a scary glare. Heath was glad he hadn't been the one to receive it, though they both knew it was really meant for him.

"You really eat like a child," Jack finally said. "What am I supposed to do with it? Keep it."

"I imagine you always put protein in your meals," Heath was suddenly angry. "Meat, or a substitute. It's probably in your magazines as the diet of a manly man!"

"The diet of a grown man, Heathcliff, not a manly man. Which is what we are, grown men. I'm not sorry if I don't want to eat like a kindergartener like you."

Heath stalked off, taking the whole length of the canteen in stride. The room where the students ate lunch was small, the smaller in the whole building, and it was decorated in a vintage style that wasn't native to Everende, but make Heath recall the Invernesse buildings from decades before: plastic chairs, a floor with differently colored tiles and a big mint fridge. Other than that, there was barely space for the students to sit and everyone knew how the two tables would be divided.

Heath, Norma and Ken eating at the biggest table, the white one near the fridge, having fun, laughing and, occasionally, throwing food.

Jack and Leo sulking in the corner at the smallest, black table, the one near door, making plans as to how be better rogues, competent spies and, Heath imagined, richer men.

Despite Jack's imitation of his father's lifestyle, Heath had begun to notice the student was perhaps one of the poorest. Not that Heath actually spent time analyzing things like that. It had just been a passing thought.

Once in a while, a student could ask to go to the nearest town, Outwoods, to either buy clothes, personal items, visit family or make a Deal. They usually chose to leave the school on the week-ends, even though school never really stopped.

That Sunday, Leo had asked for permission to go to Outwoods and, since Heath didn't know what else to do, he decided to go as well. Not that he was looking forward to taking the train with Leo, of all people --- Heath secretely thought Leo was even worse than Jack --- but because he suddenly reminded that it had been a while since he went into town to buy medicines for his mother.