The Free City

Chapter Five : Night Training

Night came too fast. It always did.

Jana and Sam took me to the kitchen in the main dorm and showed me how to use the appliances I'd never seen before. I was excited to try out the coffee maker the next day. With their help I was able to cook a half-way decent bowl of tasty noodles in tomato sauce. Zuri joined us for a while, but she made her own food. Jana invited Emily to sit in, too, but the reserved girl went to her room to write her evaluation. A few other kids went in and out, doing laundry or studying or doing whatever teenagers did with free time.

I heard that Kole left campus to buy food elsewhere. It was good to know that Supers were served in Johnson City. It was also good to know that we were allowed to leave the campus whenever we wanted.

Sam eventually left to go to his room. Jana said goodbye soon after with a yawn. Then I was alone.

It was dark outside, but I didn't leave. It felt a little weird to stay there by myself but it was my kitchen, too. I was allowed to be there as much as they were.

Time passed slowly. I tapped the table under my fingers and let my mind wander.

A flurry of noise startled me and I looked up to see Kole standing in the doorway with a paper bag. I immediately smelled something delicious and salty and meaty. I wasn't even hungry and my mouth watered. He blinked at me as if surprised to see me.

"What are you doing just sitting here alone?"

His first words to me were a rough demand. His voice was deeper than I expected, and a little gravelly. I wondered if he had been smoking something before coming back to campus.

"Killing time," I said. He didn't ask me what I was waiting for, and I was glad. It might be weird to tell him I was waiting for the morning.

He took off his dirty shoes in the entryway and walked into the room. I was shocked when he sat down across from me, but I guess it was the only table. Part of me had expected him to storm into his room to eat in solitude.

"What's your power?" He asked without preamble.

"Aren't you supposed to ask me if I come here often, first?"

He paused in unpacking his food and gave me a flat look that clearly conveyed he was not amused. I stifled a grin. It isn't cool to laugh at my own jokes.

"I make Pushes," I said. "Like this."

A cloudy, opaque disk the size of my hand appeared and shoved Kole's canned drink down the table. He caught it before it could fall off the edge. When he straightened up and looked, my Push was already gone.

"They only last a second," I said. I didn't elaborate.

He didn't ask for more information.

Instead he hummed in acknowledgement and started eating his food, which I didn't recognize. It smelled good, though.

It was disarming how unselfconscious he was. He lived and moved like he never spared a moment's thought about how other people viewed him or felt about him. I tried not to stare at him, so I looked at one of the dark windows as if I could see out of it.

"You're still wearing those sunglasses," he said after a bit of silence. "They look ridiculous inside the building, and it's night time. I get you're going for a specific badass style with the tattoos and the boys' uniform, but it's a bit much."

Jerk. Nevermind, he isn't cute. I kept waffling back and forth with that opinion. He was just so handsome... until he opened his mouth.

"I got an eye injury recently. I'm still very sensitive to light. I should be able to stop wearing them in a few days."