I Am Good

Chapter Two

I come to only five minutes later, awoken by a splash of water to the face by none other than the green-eyed boy himself. I almost black out again, but not because of what you think. And, more importantly, by my mother.

Being in love is for the weak. It's petty. No reason to be in love unless you know the other person loves you too. And that only happens once in a lifetime.

I've never been in love. I knew from the day I first slapped a nurse that I never wanted to get married. Never wanted a boyfriend, or a kiss, or even an embrace from a guy who supposedly liked me. Because liking is liking. Loving is loving. And loving is fake.

Nobody's ever broken my heart. And I don't plan on giving anyone the key so they can try. Chocolates and flowers won't release butterflies in this stomach.

No, I fainted at the sight of Samuel's apprentice because of his eyes. And not because they were "dreamy"; because they were familiar.

Not everyone's eyes are those green. And there's only one other place I've seen them.

"Oh, Mags," comes my mother's voice, sickly-sweet and faux-sympathetic. I sit up and narrow my eyes at her, flinging the ice package from my forehead. It hits a wall and slides to the ground, and I can feel those green eyes burning into my skin as the boy watched me regain myself and hiss curses at my mother under my breath.

"Are you all right?" Sam's deep voice, right in my right ear. I jerk to the left, nearly hitting the boy in the face, but I did it on purpose so he wouldn't kneel so close to me.

"Catch a sight of Logan, did you?" says my mother slyly, and I bite my tongue and clench my fists to keep from attacking her like I would a nurse back at that hospital.

But I sit there, staring daggers at her until she finally looks away. It is then that I relax, begin to stand up, snatch my arm away from Logan's outstretched fingers, and leave the apartment, punching a random button in the opened elevator and winking a goodbye as I disappear behind close doors.

And that is how you piss people off.

I can't help but smile in satisfaction as the elevator takes me to floor 12, which apparently I hit when I smacked the buttons as I departed.

The doors open with a ding and I'm finally on my own in society. No mother clinging to my every step, no nurses doing the same, just with tazers and body armor.

It felt good to breathe without somebody doing the same down my neck.

If only I was on the right floor.

This one is a lab. People are walking around in white coats, holding nothing but pallets of eye shadow, blush, and probably some other types of makeup that I don't know the names of.

A few of them turn to me, but say nothing more than a quiet hello before turning back down to their work. Some idiot trips as he walks by and spills a huge case of a million differently colored powders, most likely eye shadow, but I've got no idea.

I laugh, but as I'm trying to reintroduce myself to society, I walk over and help him clean up.

The second my hand touches the powder, though, the man looks at me, his eyes wide in comical alarm. I knit my brows together, unsure of why he's so freaked out, but before my mouth can even open he's scooped up the case and run off, leaving me kneeling in his rainbow explosion.

I wait for someone around me to stoop down, help me up, and say, "No worries. That's just Carl. He's a little nuts sometimes." But nobody does. I finally stand up and back towards the elevator, though no one looks up from the work. The clumsy man I named Carl has completely disappeared, and with one last survey of the Freakshow Floor, the metal doors close around me and I am left alone in the small little cell.

I exhale and punch the button labeled "25", preparing myself to see the green-eyed boy again, before a beeping noise and a small red light lets me know that I need a key to get to that floor.

I swear under my breath and head to the ground floor instead.

When I reach it, I navigate to the front desk, where a lady with glistening black hair is sitting on her phone, popping gum in between "yahs".

I clear my throat impatiently and rap on the desk in front of her. She crinkles her nose at the sight of me and hangs up. "Yes?"

"My name is Mags Waters."

"Do you want an award?"

I grit my teeth. "I just want a key to get to floor 25."

She sighs. "That's a private floor, kid, I can't help you."

"I live on that floor."

She laughs sharply. "Ha! Yeah. And I live in the Barbie's dreamhouse. Get lost."

"My mom is Sofia Waters."

"Aaand...?"

"The woman this company is named after?"

"Right. Any proof?"

"Excuse me?"

"Look kid, I can't just give access to that floor to anyone claiming to be Sofia Waters' kid. Plus, if you are, how come I've never seen you around? Just get outta prison or somethin'?" This, she finds hilarious, and laughs for awhile before realizing I'm still standing there.

"Something like that."

"I still need proof."

"You got a syringe? I'll give you blood then."

"Get lost."

"Can you call up there and have her confirm its me then?"

She sighs again, and then picks up the phone. Her personality changes immediately. "Hello, Mr. Morris, it's Gretchen from downstairs. I'm sorry to bother you, but there's a girl down here claiming to be Sofia's daughter. Apparently she needs a key to the apartment. Uh-huh. Of course. All right. Here she is."

I hesitate before taking the phone from her. When I do, I whisper, "Hello?"

This "Gretchen" has a really smug look on her face, and I'm about to throw the receiver at her face and find a way to hack the elevator's system when Samuel says, "Mags?"

"Yeah."

"Are you stuck downstairs?"

"Yeah."

"Do you need me to come bring you a key?"

"Yeah." Obviously.

"Okay. I'll be right down."

I hang up and glare at Gretchen until Samuel arrives, smiles at Gretchen, and leads me back to the elevator. It's insanely awkward on the ride up, but we get to the apartment, I ask where my room is, he tells me, and I disappear and don't come out for the rest of the day and night.