Vex (Regenerate #4)

Chapter 2

Lorna can't seem to decide whether she wants the girls to have time to relax and readjust to life, or whether she wants to keep them busy and expose them to all the things they never got to experience as Dr. Gray's labrats. She tends to lean towards keeping them busy. To be fair, Lorna's one of those people who is always working, so her idea of laid back is not the same as most people's anyway.

Mikayla and Vanessa don't seem to mind. The mostly seem to be happy they're not labrats anymore, and I can't say I blame them for that. As for me, I'm plenty fine with just doing whatever Lorna decides she wants to do.

For about a week, we run around Los Angeles, doing all the tourist things and shopping. It's sort of fun, just spending time with the girls. I don't even see Anthony. He's cancelled all our team practice sessions. He's said it's because he's still recovering from the microweapon disease he got. Lorna says that she's checked up on his health and he's fine. And she thinks that the real reason he isn't holding practice is because of me.

Ouch.

He said that he was worried he would be the one to scare me away, not the other way around. But I guess even a genius is wrong about some things.

I try not to think about him. I try to focus on having fun with Lorna, Mikayla, and Vanessa. And I do have fun. But I think about Anthony a lot too. Too much. Way too much.

Finally, Anthony announces that we're going to have a team practice session, after being absent for a week. At Lorna's recommendation, he agrees to let Mikayla and Vanessa come. Vanessa only wants to watch, but Mikayla is eager to join right in with the rest of us.

The practice is awkward. Mostly for me, I think. Derek and I have actually started getting along fine the past couple days. Which is a relief. I've never broken up with anybody before, and I wasn't sure how long it would be before we would get along again. I wasn't sure if we would get along again.

Even Mia has started being nicer to me. Maybe she somehow knows that I called Mark and said I wanted to stop seeing him. Probably not, but maybe. And it doesn't really matter, since I kissed him not even an hour after dumping him. Not that I knew it at the time.

The only real awkwardness, though, is with Mantis. I suppose things would probably be weird for us anyway. I did kiss him then run out of the room crying. Other than the pizza party, I haven't seen him in a week.

All that is bad enough. But then there's the fact that I know his identity now. The thing I've been trying to figure out ever since I met the guy. Now I know it and I feel like everytime he looks at me he's somehow going to know that I know. And that he'll be angry that I know.

I blink. I know I'm being unreasonable. Not too unreasonable, though.

I'm so distracted thinking about all of this that I misstep during one of the team drills. I trip into Mia, who is busy doing something electric.

That's all I know from that point on though. Everything after that is just screaming. My screaming, I guess. The world feels like it's exploding around me. This isn't like anything I've ever experienced before. This hurts hurts hurts.

Blinding. The pain is drowning everything else out. Drowning out. And hurting hurting hurting.

When I finally succumb to the darkness closing in around me, I'm more than happy to let it take me.