The Academy: Ashland

The Misfits

            We spent the rest of the day jumping between watching TV and training until Taven declared that if we all didn’t go to bed he would “lock us in the cells for a week and play trashy pop music”. Then he escorted all of us to our rooms and shut the doors behind us.

* * *

            We spent next morning training before Trip and Kelsey decided we all should watch Doctor Who, Torchwood and Merlin until Markus told us dinner was ready.

            “Did the four of you even train today?” Markus asked as we walked in and sat down.

            “We did earlier,” Kelsey said, she looked at me, “We don't have to train full time.”

            “What's wrong with Amber and Justin?” Markus asked, dropping plates in front of us.

            “No clue,” Trip said, taking a bite of his burger. “They’re being moody.”

            “Okay,” Markus said.

            “Where's Taven?” Seth asked.

            “In a meeting with Zoey,” Markus said.

            “Who’s being swapped?” Kelsey asked.

            “Not any of you,” Markus said.

            Kelsey sighed, “Zoey probably wants Ash,” she said.

            Markus shook his head, “Ash was specifically put on this team. The Captain doesn't want her swapped,” he said.

            “But she's good,” Trip said. “Ash should be on Zoey's team. This is the screw up team.”

            “You realize I'm right here?” I said.

            “Yeah,” Markus said.

            “So explain,” I said.

            “A swap is when a team leader has a kid they think will work better on another team or think another kid would work better on their team,” Markus said. “And Zoey's a team leader with a decent, honest team. The Captain wants Taven to swap Amber and Justin for Camron and Leeland or Chance.”

            “Decent? Honest?” I said. “Two words I don't like.” Everyone laughed. “And what about that last bit?” I asked. “This doesn't seem like the screw up team. You're all pretty cool.”

            “Well we are,” Kelsey said. “They call us the Misfits.”

            “No one wants to be on our team. We fight dirty, ignore the rules, disregard proper training time, have bad attitudes and fight outside training. Nobody wants to be on our team,” Seth said. “At least that why I was kicked off my team.”

            “I had a bad attitude, ignored the rules, punched my team leader, listened to my music too loud, “harassed” my teammates and distracted everyone,” Kelsey said.

            “I harassed people, had a bad attitude, fought dirty, distracted everyone, was a “general annoyance” and never did what I was told,” Trip said. “See screw ups.”

            I shook my head, “I don't see any screw ups, I just see a bunch of misfits,” I said.

            Everyone laughed, “Besides, that's nothing,” Markus said. “Jack, Taven, Chris and I started a food fight in the mess, fought our old team leader, set the living room on fire, used markers to color the hallway walls-”

            “Don't tempt me,” I said.

            “And blew up the elevator. We always fought dirty, distracted everyone, harassed them .and never followed the rules. Not even our best friends wanted to be on our team,” Markus finished.

            We all laughed, “Awesome,” Kelsey and Trip said.

            Markus laughed, “Trust me, this is not the screw up team, you know what you're doing, don't follow orders and don't care to,” he said. “But I think what really sets you apart from the other teams is you just won't bend to us.”