B.O.N.D.E.D.

2. Owen: Proof Part 1

Owen glanced at Blaise. She had one of those stupid, little smiles on her face that made her look like the sun from Teletubbies.

Another victim, Owen sighed, wait until she finds out that her Bonding Energy is too limited to be a Bonder.

Looking around him, it seemed like Blaise wasn't the only one mesmerized by Ernest's speech. Of course, there were plenty people who didn't drool as soon as the phrase "change the world" got tossed around, but even they were quite impressed by Ernest's little show. Owen couldn't tell if he had broken the law of Bonding (securing all information related to Bonding) on purpose, or if it was just another trick used to manipulate innocent, young Bonders.

Suddenly, he felt the need to stand up and stretch his legs. He had been sitting on a single seat for almost an hour, and his legs were so numb that he could not feel them anymore.

Ernest was panting after shouting the last lines of his speech. He put his hand to his heart to comfort himself (it seemed like he was also mouthing: oh god I just broke a law) then spoke to the cheering crowd, "Please come with me to go on the bus. We are going to the nearest Bonder Experimentation Center to test your capacity for Bonding."

As soon as Ernest's words entered his ears, Owen's left leg twitched so hard that he almost fell to the ground.

If he knew there was a Bonding test right after the speech, he would've rather stayed home today and ruined his perfect attendance (which his mom was extremely proud of) than coming to this stupid meeting.

Contrary to him, Blaise (or Miss Teletubby as Owen recently nicknamed her) looked as if she was gonna faint from joy. Owen could almost hear her screaming "yes!" internally while he was busy screaming "No!" a thousand times over in his head.

The kids lined up in front of the yellow school bus. Owen was still practically in tears when Darissa decided to sit on the bus seat next to him. He had the weird feeling that she was there to comfort him, but brushed that off rather quickly: Darissa Lu simply wasn't caring enough to mind other people's business.

"Not feeling well?" She had asked.

Owen laughed it off, "No, I'm totally fine."

She looked at him suspiciously, but soon stopped paying attention to his issues. Owen looked at his watch. It was still long before school would end, meaning that he couldn't make any excuse to leave that involves having doctor's appointment after school. 1 PM, what a dreadful time: right after lunch and long before dinner. Though, he did admit that it was the perfect time for a nap.

Apparently, it was also the time for Darissa to begin her hourly burst of loud opinions, "Can you believe it?! We are going to learn Trust Bonding!" Her voice so shrill and loud that everyone in the near ten kilometers radius probably heard it.

Owen had an urge to correct her that technically they were not going to learn Bonding, but be tested based on their Bonding Energy. But after he realized that he was supposed to be just as ignorant on anything Trust Bonding related as everyone else, he simply replied with an empathetic (and sarcastic) "Yeah, I'm so excited too."

Nestor, the boy whom Owen had an interesting conversation with, was sitting by himself again. Unsurprisingly, he was still reading his book.

"What book is that?" Owen called out to him, trying to make a good impression of himself.

Nestor turned over to show Owen the book cover. He had the same smile he wore when he talked to Owen in the MPR, a smile as fake as one of those cheap Chinese iPhones.

Owen stood up and leaned in closer, squashing Darissa in the process ("What the hell!?" She loudly exclaimed). Four shiny, golden words were written in bold on the cover: The Art of War.