Atlantis: The Rebirth of the Empire (I)©

Chapter 10: The Call

Mina

 The principal has sent for all of us in the gym. I look for the boys in the seats where their group is gathered and see them sitting in the middle of a row, Josh waves to me and Nick pats an empty seat next to him. I walk over to them despite the weird looks I get.

  —Do you think they'll fail classes? —Josh looks at us.

  —I hope so —Nick replies and I roll my eyes.

  —The storm is too strong, at this rate, the streets will be flooded by now —Josh is about to answer me when the principal speaks over the megaphone. There will be no suspension of classes, the water has always flooded our facilities and for the principal it is easier to leave all his students in the gym, he sends us to get our backpacks and when we get back to the place where we will stay, we are divided into groups.

  —All right. Get out your notebooks and your books —the history teacher sits in the centre of the circle we have formed around her. We do as she says and then she gives us directions to answer the questionnaire she had given the previous class.

 In the background, I hear the literature teacher's voice. He has Nick come to the front of his circle to recite a poem. I smile and continue to answer my paper, but as Nick begins to read it, I feel stares on my face.

  —"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
  I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
  My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
  For the ends of being and ideal grace.
  I love thee to the level of every day's
  Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
  I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
  I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
  I love thee with the passion put to use
  In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
  I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
  With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
  Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
  I shall but love thee better after death."

 I turn slowly and hear the shouts of his mates taunting us, Nick bumps his gaze with me and winks at me. I can assure you that I am redder than a tomato right now. The teachers see the mess; the teacher approaches me, while the teacher tries to quiet his students.

  —Go to the bathroom and take a break for a moment —I thank the teacher and hurry out of the room, out of everyone's sight. I hide in the corridor and grab the necklace hanging around my neck with my hand. I take a deep breath.

  —"I need you to come" —the siren's voice erupts in my mind, and I freeze for a moment before I answer her.

  —"How am I supposed to get there? I'm in class. It's not like I can go out because of the storm. Besides, there's an officer guarding the entrance to the school —she seems to think about what I'm saying when I think of something—. I can exit the facility through the back of the gym where the locker rooms are. I would go out onto the courts that connect to one of the emergency exits, going underneath the bleachers might make me go unnoticed. The locker rooms are next to the toilets, but no promises."

 As I say this, I pull out my phone and text Nick, asking him to please put my stuff away and take it to my house when classes are over, I know he won't see the message for another hour as it will be our first break, enough time to get out of here so I don't get stopped by an interrogation.

 I get to the toilets and make sure there is no one else around, nothing, just the movement I hear in the girls' bathroom, I hurry my pace before someone comes out. The locker room is deserted except for Professor Jacobo, he's with his back to me on the bench where the team usually leave their stuff, from what I can deduce, he's looking at his phone. My body tenses, I have to go through there to get to the door.