The Commanders

Chapter 4: The Green

    I told Selena I had something I had to do after my training session. I wasn't lying. I get out of the shower, get dressed for the second time today and head out to the office of Regina Far.

    As I approach Ms. Far's office, a boy, maybe a year older than me, judging by the immensity of his biceps, walks up to me. "Carter?" he asks, sounding important.

    "Yes?"

    "Ms. Far wants you to fill this out before you see her. Give it to her when you do see her," the boy says. I look at his black buttoned shirt. He has a tag on his shoulder that reads, "M. Young". He seems extremely familiar and I can't seem to put my finger on why.

    "Alright, Mr. Young," I say with a smile. He looks puzzled at first, but then he remembers the tag and smiles back at me.

    "Matt. Mr. Young is my dad," he says with a wink. Is he flirting? He glances down at my cleavage and I raise my hand to slap him, but he gets up, walks toward a thick wooden door, and passes through it before I get the privilege.

"Ew," I say under my breath once he's gone. Don't get me wrong, Matt was attractive, but he was no Oliver.

I begin to fill out the form he handed me. I mumble the questions and answers as I go along. "Name, Carter Jean. Date of birth, April 5, 2056. Sex, female. Relationship status, current significant other. Reason for appearance, approaching evaluation/stress/needed guidance..."

"Carter. Carter Jean," Matt says loudly having popped back into the waiting room. "Miss Far is ready for you." I stand up, gather my things, and head toward Matt. I walk through the door Matt was holding open for me and turn back to him. "Down the hall. Turn left twice and take a right. Two big red doors. Can't miss it. And hey," he says as I begin to turn around, "if you want to meet up when you're done-"

"Keep dreaming, Matt," a playful, yet stern voice says from behind me. I swivel around to find a beautiful woman, only slightly shorter than Oliver is, with bright red hair with barely noticeable violet streaks. She's pale, even paler than I am, but she wears her skin tone 10 times better than I do. "I know her. She's got a boyfriend that would beat you to a pulp within mere seconds. Run along now." Regina Far. "Hello, Carter, is it?"

"Yes," I respond, intimidated by her beauty, but feel her respect pouring down on me.

"Let's go into my office, shall we?"

    Once we sit down, Regina asks me for my form. "Alright. Ah, this is extremely common. You're here on stress related terms?" she asks.

    "I guess you could say that," I answer.

    She seems slightly surprised, but keeps her neutral demeanor. "Alright. Can you explain why you're here in further detail for me, then?"

    "Well, Oliver, my boyfriend, has been really secretive lately and that's scaring me. He's been acting.. strange, for the lack of a better word. And of course, training for the job placement examination is stressful."

    "Okay, for one thing, you more than likely have nothing to worry about if you think he's cheating on you. I've known the kid for most of his life, he's madly in love. Are you two having problems?" Regina says.

    "No, I don't think so..."

    "Then, honey, just talk to him. Ask him what's going on. I'm sure things will be settled once you talk it out. And with the stress, what job are you training for?"

    "A Hybrid Guard."

    "You've taken the classes on hybrid biology and hybrid neurology, correct?"

    "Yes, I took them both as electives in Upper School."

    "Perfect. I'm going to give you a list of exercises, techniques, and diet that is specific for people who are training for your position. Two copies, one for you, one for your trainer. Along with a book that reviews hybrid biology and neurology, just to refresh your memory on the subjects. Come back to me in a month. You don't have to be done with the book by then, but please have at least skimmed through it," Regina says as she rises and goes to a large glass table. The table lights up when she places her hand on it. The table automatically projects what look like files upward, directly in front of her. She begins waving her hand through the files and selects one labeled Hybrid Guard. Her doing this reminded me of an old movie that they show occasionally in the theater, "Iron Man". I remember him having a table a lot like this one.

    Finally, the glass on the table slides to the right, revealing a thin stack of papers and a book. She took these out and walked back to me. "There you go," Regina said. "I know this session was short. I could've kept you longer, but that would've been a bit excessive for a first session."

    "That's perfectly fine," I tell her.

     "And hey, don't worry about Oliver," she says as I walk out of the room, "he loves you."

    And I love him. I think. It was an uncontrollable first thought. It was as though it were hidden in the depths of my brain and hadn't made its way through the clutter until now, just when things are getting rough.

    I head to the pods with Oliver in mind. As I pass a watch window, I see a reflection in the glass. It is a familiar silhouette. The figure moves toward me. At first I think it could be Selena, but as the reflection becomes clearer, I see that the figure is obviously to wide to be female, but the figure to his right, however, is too curvy to be male. As the reflection clarifies further, the male silhouette is identified. Oliver. The other silhouette was not. She is to simply be called "the green". For the envy that rushes through my veins.

    I turn so the figures can see my face. Oliver sees me and immediately moves slightly away from his acquaintance. I say one thing, "Errands. My. Ass."