The Chosen (A Talents novel)

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Izzy and I spent the afternoon together. He was oddly easy to talk to. I gave him a tour of the Main Hall, though I didn’t show him the secret library. I always had a hard time finding the darn thing myself. After that we wandered around the grounds while I pointed out the practice fields and the cross-country trail. He played soccer too, so we talked about the game and crazy coaches we’d had over the years.

When I asked him how he’d discovered his talent, he told me a funny story about sliding a Christmas present out of its wrapping paper and then putting it back inside once he’d figured out what it was. I figured it wasn’t all fun and games, but he kept things light and so did I. I described Grandma and he said he was dying to meet her. I think he was being serious about it.

We spent the rest of the day in one of the common rooms, watching YouTube videos on his phone. I haven’t laughed that hard in ages.

I’m not sure when Anna and Trevor arrived, but five of us met up at the dining hall at six. I guess Mrs. Callias wasn’t any more interested in cooking than she was in teaching, because the dinner they’d arranged for us was nothing more than a couple of pizzas and a take out salad. She dropped off the food a few minutes after we gathered, and then took off again, after issuing a stern reminder to be back for breakfast at five.

It took Anna about thirty second to fall in love with Izzy. He flirted with her incessantly, but he was so damn charming with everyone it was difficult to tell if he returned the feeling. He was even able to make Trevor laugh, which was nothing short of a miracle.

It was actually nice to have someone around who knew nothing about the events of last year. Over dinner, instead of staring at each other grimly like we had at Bev’s, we joked about how bad the Delcroix sports teams were, and how we were all dreading the end of summer and classes starting back up again. Izzy had a million questions about the schedule, the teachers, and the Program, which we tried to answer truthfully, though I noticed Cam never mentioned the student Watchers. We warned Izzy not to make Mrs. Callias mad, and to avoid the mystery meat they served on the third Thursday of every month.

I sat next to Cam and tried not to notice that rather than moving his chair closer, he was edging away.

After dinner, we walked back over to the Res. Anna cocked her head at me when we hit the first floor landing. “You coming upstairs?”

Before Cam could respond, I grabbed his hand and looped it around my waist. “In a little bit,” I said, looking up at Cam.

Izzy waggled his brows. “Got some catching up to do?”

Cam didn’t say anything, just brushed back his hair. “Trev, can you give us a few minutes?”

I didn’t like that fact that he hadn’t looked at me. Just like he’d been avoiding me all during dinner.

Trevor snorted. “Sure. Anna, you doing anything?”

She shook her head. “Come on up. Izzy, you too.”

“I like this school,” Izzy said.

Trevor laughed. “Don’t get any ideas. It’s nothing like this during the year.”

We waved goodnight to the others and headed into Cam’s room. It was the same one he and Trevor had shared last year, still fully decorated with his grungy band posters, the mini-fridge stocked with soda and snacks, and the speakers for his iPod on the desk.

“I forgot you were here all summer,” I said, wishing I knew what to say. This should be easy. We had been going out for months. But it wasn’t. It just seemed to get harder by the minute.