Companion

Chapter 4: School

The fork scratches are just four, faint, red lines that are easily covered with makeup. Once I'm done getting dressed and ready, I eat breakfast downstairs. Edge went out last night, but luckily he's the only one who came home. He's not down, and I doubt he's even awake.

I have some extra time after breakfast, so I go upstairs and knock on Edge's door. No answer. I knock again. I hear the bed creak, and soon Edge opens the door in nothing but his boxers. I feel my face begin to burn.

"Uh...ummm...are you...uhhh..." I stutter. Edge smirks and poses himself against the doorframe.

"Yes?" His deep, husky voice makes me turn even redder. I cough.

"Um, are you coming to Training today or what?" I ask. His smirk grows.

"Of course not. But you have fun," he winks then shuts the door.

"Fuck you," I mutter, making my way down the stairs.

"You wish!" Edge shouts from his room. I roll my eyes and head out the door, and down the sidewalk to the bus stop.

I'm the only one at my bus stop without my Companion. And everyone else seems to get along with their Companion. So even if Edge was here, I would still stick out.

"Hey Hunter!" Penny and Nate come and wait with me. "I'm guessing Edge isn't coming?"

"Nope," I roll my eyes.

"Well, I guess it's his last year anyway," Nate says.

"What's that got to do with anything? He's not done yet," Penny retorts. Nate shrugs.

"I mean, maybe he has to start his Training all over. So he doesn't think it's worth it," Nate defends. The bus pulls up.

"Well, he'd really have no choice," Penny says as we wait to board the bus, "Remember, he was the Intelligent before. And he must have been really good too if he was sent on a Mission."

We walk to the back of the bus and Penny and Nate sit next to each other. I sit by myself in the seat in front of them, and scoot right next to the window. We stop at the next neighborhood of townhouses for single-gender Companions. Then, to my utter surprise, someone actually sits next to me.

"Thank goodness! Someone else whose partner decided to skip on their first day!" He says, putting his backpack on the floor between us. He looks up and smiles at me, and I am immediately struck by his hazel eyes. They remind me of the kaleidoscopes I was always so enamored with when I was little. I smile back.

"Yeah. He has a bad case of senioritis, I think," I reply. The boy nods slowly.

"Ah yes. I've promised myself I will never get like that," he says, his smiles fading into a more serious look. He furrows his eyebrows. "I'm Oliver by the way," he introduces.

"I'm Hunter."

"You look younger than seventeen."

"I'm fifteen. You?"

"Sixteen. Wait. Why would your Companion have senioritis if you're just fifteen and in your first year?"

"My partner is seventeen," I reply. Oliver thinks for a moment.

"So you're Edge's new Companion," he figures. I nod slowly.

"This is the part where you either get away from me as fast as possible or you tell me to be careful," I smile. Oliver smiles back and shakes his head.

"I don't blame you for whatever Edge did. And anyone who does is seriously fucked up," he says. I let out a little laugh.

"Thanks," I say. Oliver shrugs.

"It's the truth."

The bus stops in front of a huge cement building. It looks to be at least five times the size of my old school. I refrain from gasping too loudly.

"Are you the Intelligent?" Oliver asks. I nod. He nods to the building, "This is your stop." We both stand up, and he lets me out. "See you later!" He calls after me as I squeeze down the aisle. I turn around and give him a little wave back.

Let's do this.

+++++

When I walk through the monstrous glass doors, I'm greeted by a kind of controlled chaos. There is a lobby lined with plastic folding tables, manned by adults I can safely assume to be teachers. I find the table labeled H for Hunter and stand in the line formed there. Despite the overwhelming noise surrounding me, no one talks to me. I patiently wait my turn.

After about twenty minutes of listening to excited reunions of friends and groaning over classes and teachers, I reach the front of the line. A bald, burly man with a gray beard and reading glasses asks me for my name and age.

"Hunter, and I'm fifteen," I reply, then wait for him to find my gray backpack pre-filled with books and supplies. He hands it to me, then looks through his files for my schedule.

"Ah," he says, looking over my schedule, "Edge's new Companion."

"Yes, sir."

"Not fair that you get punished for his actions which were completely beyond your control," he sighs, handing me my schedule, "Well, good luck."

I swing my extremely heavy backpack over my shoulder, and head down the hall.

I enter my first class, Physics. I sit at the desk labeled with my name, in the very front, left corner. I unzip my backpack and take out my textbook, a notebook, and seven colored pens. And a pencil as an afterthought.

Great. First class and I already can't focus. I study my syllabus. I try to read along wit the teacher, but his voice is so dry and monotone that I find myself watching the black letters on the page, not paying any attention to what they mean. In an attempt to keep myself awake, I look down the row of people beside me. I try not to sigh with relief. They all look as bored out of their minds as I do. The boy at the end of the row is trying to stay awake. His head keeps bobbing.

One girl, however, looks to be the only one paying attention. And thank goodness it's the girl sitting right next to me. Her bright red-orange sweater contrasts beautifully with her dark skin. Over it, she layered a smart-looking black blazer with brown elbow pads. Her straight, slightly coarse hair is intricately braided, twisted, and pinned into some sort of updo. And she is listening intently, taking notes.

On her syllabus.

Who the hell does that?

Right away, I know I have to form some sort of alliance with her. I try even harder to pay attention until the bell rings, and I check my schedule to head to my next class.

I go from class to class to class, collecting my syllabi and trying to pay attention, taking notes whenever possible. Completely uncharacteristically. I take what I need and shove the rest into my locker, then wait outside for the bus.

I see the Physics girl waiting, holding her books to her chest. I make my way towards her. I don't usually like to initiate conversation with people I don't know, but this just seemed necessary. She doesn't seem to see me standing beside her. She looks across the street at absolutely nothing at all.

"If you could keep only one memory, what would it be?"

"Excuse me?"

"If you could keep only one memory, what would it be?"

"Ummm...I...don't know."

The bus pulls up. I'm still staring at her. She's still not looking at me.

"Think about it. I want that answer."

Then the girl boards the bus. I scramble in with the rest of the crowd, taking the same seat as this morning. Oliver is already there. His sandy, light, brown-blond hair sticks up at dozens of different angles, and his face is all shiny. I almost dread sitting next to him because I know he'll stink something awful with all the conditioning he probably did. But he doesn't smell bad. Actually, he smells really good.

"How was class?"

"Boring. How was training?"

"Brutal."

"I'll tell Edge he missed a brutal workout then. That should convince him to come back." Oliver smiles. I can tell he's tired.

The exhaustion doesn't hit me until I get home, face plant on the couch, and immediately fall asleep.