Among the Vinca

Chapter 4: Ryan

I heard the door creak as it opened.

Finally. I'd been waiting forever for them to show up and get this show on the road. I'd been told there were three others, two chicks and another dude. The younger guard dude strutted in with one of the chicks. Dang. Make that a hot chick. She had creamy clear skin, the kind that people call peaches and cream. Her shining blonde hair flowed down her back like a waterfall of perfection. Sparkling eyes the color of emeralds peeked out from under lowered lashes, and designer clothing hugged a slender but curvy figure. She smiled at me flirtatiously, almost like she knew what I was thinking. That smile showed off rows of even white teeth.

"Hi," She said, tilting her head a bit to the side.

"Hey." I think my voice may have dropped an octave. She giggled and flipped that amazing hair over her shoulders.

"My name's Whynne," She said, fluttering her eyelashes at me.

"Ryan," I replied. Before I could come up with something witty to say, the old guide shuffled in with the other two. I checked out the chick first. Disappointing, especially after Whynne. She had mousy brown hair, squinty eyes under glasses, kinda short, and really no body shape to speak of. The dude seemed ok, and was pretty average looking. I hoped he liked sports. Squinty looked at me.

"Greetings."

"Hi?" I said hesitantly.

Who says "greetings"?

"Hello," Whynne answered in a song-like tone.

"My name is Blake."

Blake? On a girl? I guess that can work...

"My name is Whynne," She stated.

"As in Winnie the Pooh?" the dude asked.

"No!" she snapped, swishing her hair again. "Whynne as in... winner!" The dude chuckled a bit, and even I had to hold back a laugh.

"I'm Eric," he stated.

Eric, huh? Well, he seems funny, but how he can do that to a chick as hot as Whynne is beyond me.

"The name's Ryan," I added. Whynne smiled glamorously at me, and the others nodded in acknowledgement."

"Well," The younger guide told us, "Now that we're all properly introduced, why don't you all take a seat while I get the leader of this particular research project."

Why not? I strutted to the fancy table with lace on it and sat on one of the velvet padded thrones. I looked at a few of the people lined up around the walls, and stretched my legs out in front of me. Ok, back to being bored. At least we're almost actually at the experiment part of this. In the meantime, I might as well talk to the others. Preferably Whynne. I turned to her, but before I could say anything, Blake decided to hammer us with questions I didn't know. What was the experiment's theory? Why did we have to live here and not at home? Why teenagers? I tried to keep up with what she was saying, but it was like fighting a tidal wave. So I just kinda stopped listening to her.

"Well?" I heard Blake say.

"Hmm?" I replied nonchalantly. Blake glared at me like a demon out of hell. For such a shrimpy girl, she was kind of terrifying.

"Have you heard a word I said?"

This seems to be a no win situation. Thankfully, the old guide shuffled in, (I had no idea where the younger one had gone) mercifully saving me from answering her and hopefully stopping the stream of questions. And beyond him was the leader. Standard height, brown hair, brown eyes, plain face. Not attractive, not ugly. A bland shade of everything, and completely unremarkable. If I didn't know he was the leader, I wouldn't have been looking at him. He smiled at us all.

"Welcome," He said. His voice was deep and... commanding. Not like a tyrant, exactly, but something about it made me pay attention. "It is my pleasure to have you as my subjects. I look forward to... watching you."

"What do you mean by watching us?" Blake asked suspiciously. The leader grinned, as if she had said something funny.

"Are we, like, going to live in one of the rooms upstairs? The bottom looks, you know, gross," Whynne explained with a hair flip. He grinned wider. It was starting to creep me out a little.

"What's so funny?" Eric asked.

"Oh, did I happen to not mention that you all are not living in the facility?" We all looked pretty stumped by that. Except Whynne, she just looked annoyed.

"Well, then, where are we living?" She asked with obvious irritation. The advertisement for the experiment hadn't been very specific; it had mentioned wanting to observe teenagers in their daily routines, but at their facility. He looked at us all, one by one. He was savoring his words like I would a chocolate bar.

"You are going to be living on an uncharted island." He said with relish. "You have one week to prepare a pack we provide for you, learn all you can, and then we will drop you off. You will stay... until further notice."