Star runners, p.9
Star Runners, page 9
Let me know how classes are going when you get a chance. It would be great to hear from you.
Pretty crazy to think this time last year we were seniors. Time flies.
Anyway, I have to get going to make sure I have time for dinner. Take care of yourself.
Austin
* * *
Voices droned on the other side of the green door.
Austin opened the mess hall door. Four long tables sat side-by-side the length of the hall, each filled with students downing food as they spoke. One student near the door laughed as the guy next to him shot milk out of his nose. The students at the table nearest the door glanced up at Austin’s approach. He looked away, but soon all eyes in the room fell on him.
He offered a smile before strolling across the room to the buffet line. Clouds of steam erupted from the kitchen door as staff dumped food onto a massive receptacle. Austin grabbed a roll, some green beans, and a hot dog before he rushed back to an empty table near the front of the room.
Staring at his food, Austin ate in silence as the room buzzed with conversation.
“You ready for that test next week?” one student called to another.
“It’s the first one. How hard could it be?”
“Sterling will be out of here by Christmas.”
With zingers flying across the room like paper airplanes and spitballs, it didn’t seem much different than the cafeteria at his high school. He felt the tension ease from his shoulders as he finished the last bite of the hot dog and washed it down with some milk.
“Attention!”
A hush fell over the mess hall.
Austin glanced around. A man in a sleek business suit stood in the doorway, flanked by Chief Sharkey and another security officer Austin hadn’t met. The broad-shouldered newcomer with a tight flat top marched into the mess hall. He studied the room with confidence, surveying each table as he rubbed a graying goatee. When his eyes fell on Austin, the man clapped his hands once.
“Now that we are all finally here,” he announced in a solid, booming voice, “we can begin.”
Several students nearest Austin looked at him with widened eyes.
“The rest of you have been here three days now. I hope you are getting acclimated to the Tizona culture.” The man clasped his hands behind his back and strolled between the tables. “My name is Lovick Pierce and I am the president of this institution. It is my duty to ensure you all receive the best education in order to prepare you for what’s to come. Only the best and the brightest graduate from Tizona. I want you to look around this room.”
Austin raised his eyes from the empty plate. A girl stared at him from another table. Her eyes darted away. Did he know her?
“We have a total of fifty-eight students here at this very moment,” President Pierce said. “It is an average class for us and you may think it is small. Well, Recruits, it will only get smaller from here. At least half of you will be gone by the end of the semester. Some will quit, while others will be asked to leave and finish up the semester at a location away from this campus. I implore you to not waste our time or yours.”
The girl looked at him again, but she didn’t turn away this time. She wore her platinum blonde hair back in a tight ponytail, and her eyes were the color of an autumn sky. She grinned and sipped on her drink.
“Should you want to leave, I ask you to go to the statue of the sword past the lawn. Place your hand on the hilt of the sword and Security Chief Sharkey, whom I believe you all have met at one time or another, will be there shortly to meet you. Neither you or your family will be charged for your time here at Tizona.”
Pierce stopped at the front of the room and leaned against one of the buffet tables. “But,” he said in a much softer voice, “if you decide to stay, if you decide this school has something to offer, if you decide greatness and honor are part of your future, then I welcome you.”
He stood with outstretched arms. “I welcome you!”
Pierce took another look over the room. Austin met his gaze. Pierce smiled and marched between the tables, his eyes fixed on the door. When he stepped out of the mess hall, the groan of conversation resumed.
Austin looked back to the table with the blonde. She stood and walked out.
* * *
The shadows grew long across the Grand Lawn as Austin prepared to spend his first night at Tizona. Insects crackled. A cool breeze drifted from the swamp as the temperature subsided.
Austin thrust his hands in his pockets and strolled across the gravel path between the Grand Lawn and Terminus. Lights flickered on from various floors. Students filing out of the mess hall scattered in different directions. Four guys tossed a football while the majority walked toward Terminus. One guy challenged others to a LAN party, but some rejected the idea in favor of studying.
Austin headed back to his room.
As he passed by the different dorm rooms with their doors open, he saw students lounging on their beds with their noses stuck in books, laptops, or tablets. Across from his room, a guy with curly blond hair wearing nothing but socks and boxers sat in a beanbag chair on the floor. He was playing a console game on a small television sitting on top of egg crates.
“‘Sup!” he called without turning from the video game.
“Hey,” Austin said. He lingered in the hallway before shuffling into his room.
He unzipped his uniform down to the stomach and sighed, collapsing in his chair. He flipped through the packet. His first class, calculus, started at eight in the morning followed by biology and cartography. Lunch would follow and the afternoon was booked with physics, astronomy, and physical training.
Weird schedule, he thought and rolled his neck around on his shoulders.
“Uh, hello?”
Austin turned. A student who appeared years younger than Austin stood in the doorway and stared back through thick black-rimmed glasses.
“Yes?”
“I’m Stetson Levien, and this is my room,” he said, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
“Oh, hey, I’m Austin Stone.” He stood and offered his hand. Stetson shook it, his grip soft and lifeless. “I guess I’m your roommate.”
“Ah, I guess you are.” Stetson shuffled to his desk.
The guy carried a blue laptop case tucked under his arm. He unhooked the case and produced a state-of-the-art computer with slick neon green stripes and colorful stickers on the back. He started the computer and sat as it booted.
Austin stood in the center of their room, unsure if Stetson was finished speaking. Finally he shrugged and sat at his desk.
“Damn it!” the student yelled from across the hall, tossing his controller across the room.
Stetson sighed and stood. He walked to the door and turned back to Austin. “You mind if I close the door?”
“No, it’s cool.”
“Thanks. Curt does this every night.”
“That’s Curt across the hall?”
Stetson nodded and sat at the laptop. “Curt Osby. He’s a jock. He won’t last at this school if he plays games every night.”
“Yeah, I was looking at my schedule. Seems tough.”
Stetson shrugged. “It’s not too bad if you study. The PT is the toughest.”
“PT?”
“Physical Training. It’s worse than PE back in school.”
“Where you from?”
“Nashville. You?”
“Around Atlanta.”
“Oh.” Stetson turned back to his computer.
Flipping through the welcome packet, Austin paused on the letter from President Pierce. The professional profile photo showed Pierce in front of the blue Tizona symbol. “What’s the deal with our school president?”
“He hasn’t said much that didn’t sound like a sales pitch, honestly. He likes the Tizona.”
“What? The school?”
“The Tizona. It’s the name of the sword you see everywhere.”
“Ah, right.” Austin nodded. He studied the school map and found all of his classes except for astronomy and physical training took place in the Terminus Building. “Any advice for my first day?”
“Don’t be late,” Stetson said without delay, “and be quiet.”
“Fair enough,” he said with a sigh. He noticed a familiar load screen on Stetson’s computer. “You play Star Runners online?”
Stetson shifted in his seat. “Yes. Will it bother you?”
“Not at all. I love that game. I’ll miss it.”
Stetson grinned. “You can play when you want. I’m glad you like this game. I can give you some tips. I’ve just started playing on the elite server.”
Austin returned the smile. “I’d like that.”
9
Austin pounded the steel spoon on the plate, knocking off mashed potatoes that were as thick as rubber cement. He continued down the line. The mess hall slowly rumbled to life as more students arrived for lunch.
The first day of classes overwhelmed him. His head pounded, and his back ached from the tiny desk chairs lining each room of Terminus. He collapsed like a sack of dirty laundry into his seat at the nearest table. Staring into the potatoes mixing with the juice of the green beans, he thought of the dozens of projects with due dates and upcoming tests.
“Mind if I sit?”
Austin stared. The girl with the blonde hair from yesterday stood over him, a soft expression on her face. “No. I mean yes, of course.”
Laughing, she sat at the table and fixed her ponytail. She grinned and started at her salad. “I’m Skylar Kincaid.”
“Austin Stone.”
“I know.”
He blinked. “You know?”
“Everybody knows. You were the last student recruited.”
“So?”
Skylar played with the straw in her water and nibbled on the end. “So people are wondering why you were added at the last minute?”
“Don’t people have other things to worry about?”
“Yeah, but people still talk.”
“They sent you over here to spy on me.”
“No, I wanted to come over.”
Austin took a bite of the mashed potatoes and watched Skylar poking at her salad. “Well, what are people saying?”
“Some say you come from a rich family and they bought your way in. Others say you’re part of a charity program.”
Austin winced. That last ‘“rumor’“ was probably more of the truth. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here now.”
“Oh, so you’re the mysterious type. Fair enough.” She sipped on her water and looked at another table, a rebellious strand of golden hair falling on her shoulder. “How are your classes?”
“Tough. You?”
“It hasn’t been easy and we haven’t even made it a week.” She shrugged. “I have a pretty tough astronomy class at two.”
Austin’s raised his shoulders. “I’m in that class, too. Maybe I’ll see you there.”
She eyed him. “Maybe.”
They ate in silence for a moment.
“Do you like running?”
Austin frowned. “Do I like running? I wouldn’t say I like it. Why?”
“I ran track back home. I love it.”
“Well, I do like running sometimes. I played baseball back home.”
“We can run together this afternoon if you want, you know, during our PT?”
“What’s the deal with that anyway? I read the packet last night, and it said we had to meet certain requirements, and that was it.”
“Yeah, well they’ve been a little vague about it. The time is our own. There’s a gym, a track, and a trail to run. They said the physical tests would come later on. I think they want us to be self-motivated, so I’m not taking any chances. I need this scholarship.”
“You’re on a scholarship, too?”
She tilted her head. “I couldn’t afford this place. God knows what the regular tuition is for a place this pretentious.”
He laughed. “No kidding. Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she said finishing her salad and wiping at her mouth.
Austin leaned forward. “We’re all supposed to be part of the same class, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, there’s about fifty of us and all the staff and faculty seem to be working with us, and there’s only one dorm, right? This is a four-year school, isn’t it?”
Skylar snorted. “It’d better be.”
“So where are the sophomores?”
Skylar’s mouth opened as if to answer, but she fell silent. She looked around the mess hall at the other students all wearing their blue uniforms. “That’s a good question.” She leaned forward, her eyes cold. “You think the teachers ate them?”
He sighed and dropped his fork. “I’m serious!”
“Come on! I don’t know where they are. Why don’t we ask someone? I’m sure it’s not a conspiracy or anything.” She stood and laughed. “I have to get some studying done before the afternoon classes. Want to meet up after at the track behind the dorm?”
He grinned. “See you then.”
* * *
His lungs burned with each gasp. As she had done the past three weeks, Skylar pulled out ahead of him as they rounded the track for the last mile, her blonde ponytail bouncing on her gray sweatshirt. Austin wiped his sweaty brow and pressed forward, the fallen leaves crunching under his feet.
The fading golden sunlight dipped behind the trees by the time they finished their afternoon run. Austin clasped his hands behind his head as he slowed to a walk. Skylar grabbed their water bottles from the bench and tossed one to him.
“Nice run!”
He gulped twice and nodded. “You, too. I still have trouble beating you on the distance.”
Skylar smiled and lowered the bottle from her lips. “I didn’t know we were racing.”
He laughed. “No point. You win every time.”
A group of students ran past. Austin looked back toward the main campus. Students milled about the Terminus Building and the dormitory. Two tossed a disc around near the track. Others sat on blankets and studied. Austin’s stomach turned at the sight.
Study.
He had two tests this week. Homework took up the majority of his evenings. Stetson had an easier time with it and played more Star Runners than Austin. He often wondered if he still remained at the top of the leader board of the elite server.
“What’s wrong?” Skylar asked as they strolled back toward the dorm.
“Too much studying to do.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what we’re here for.”
He would much rather be here than back at the fruit stand loading vegetables and tomatoes. It would be October soon, when the pumpkins arrived by the truckload.
Near the tree line, a student walked near one of the smaller buildings. It looked like a gardening shack.
Austin nodded. “Any idea what that building is for?”
Skylar followed his gaze. “No. I heard it was a lab, but I haven’t had a class there.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, I guess. I don’t need to think of any more classes right now. I just hope I make it to next semester.”
“Okay Miss ‘all-As.’”
“Laugh all you want. One bad test grade and the scholarship goes with it.”
They reached the girls’ dorm. Austin tossed his water bottle into a recycle container.
“Guess I better shower and hit the books.”
“Hold up.” Skylar reached out and balanced herself by touching his shoulder so she could stretch her legs. Somehow, she still smelled good. “Okay, see you in the morning.”
She hurried up the stairs with a spring in her step. At the second floor, she turned and winked before she disappeared behind the wall.
Austin walked back to his section of the dorm. Knocking on his door, he entered his room. Stetson sat at his desk, while Curt Osby sprawled out on Austin’s bed. Darrion Lamego sat near the window with a cigarette between his fingers, and Elroy Arrius sat at Austin’s desk, doodling on a pad.
“Just in time, Stone!” Curt said, standing to face him.
Austin stepped in front of his clothes. “I need to shower.”
“What’s the hurry?” Curt said, standing behind Austin. “Whew!” He clasped his fingers over his nose. “You do need a shower!”
“All right then,” Austin said as he grabbed his towel, a T-shirt, and clean sweat pants. As he slipped into his slimy shower shoes, he looked around the room. “What’s going on?”
Curt’s eyes darted between Stetson and Austin. “Your roomie was just having a conversation with us.”
Austin looked to Stetson, who stared at the floor. “Oh, really? About what?”
“Should we tell him?” Curt asked, looking back to Darrion and Elroy. “I think we should tell him.”
He sighed. “If this is all we’re going to do then I have a shower and studying to get to.”
Curt stepped in front of the door and shut it. “You and Stetson both have calculus in the mornings, and us three have it in the afternoons.”
“Wow, that’s some serious investigative work,” Austin said.
Curt’s expression hardened. “All right, smart ass. We’ve heard Professor Heath uses the same tests on test days.”
“So?”
“So.” Curt set his hand on Austin’s shoulder. “We want to meet up during lunch and go over the answers. Now we know Stetson might miss a few questions here and there, so it would really help him out to have a partner in this.”
Austin shook his head and turned to his roommate. “You agreed to this?”
Stetson said nothing, but nodded like a child caught in a lie in front of his parents.
“Do you mind?” Austin asked, turning back to face Curt.
Curt stepped out of the way. “Think about it, Stone.”
Austin marched toward the bathroom, his feet squishing in his rubber shoes, still wet from his morning shower. When he returned to his room, the three “guests” had left. Stetson sat at his computer, flipping around a website with photos of spacecraft from the Star Runners game. Austin entered in silence and sat on his bed, the springs creaking.
“You okay, man?”
Pretty crazy to think this time last year we were seniors. Time flies.
Anyway, I have to get going to make sure I have time for dinner. Take care of yourself.
Austin
* * *
Voices droned on the other side of the green door.
Austin opened the mess hall door. Four long tables sat side-by-side the length of the hall, each filled with students downing food as they spoke. One student near the door laughed as the guy next to him shot milk out of his nose. The students at the table nearest the door glanced up at Austin’s approach. He looked away, but soon all eyes in the room fell on him.
He offered a smile before strolling across the room to the buffet line. Clouds of steam erupted from the kitchen door as staff dumped food onto a massive receptacle. Austin grabbed a roll, some green beans, and a hot dog before he rushed back to an empty table near the front of the room.
Staring at his food, Austin ate in silence as the room buzzed with conversation.
“You ready for that test next week?” one student called to another.
“It’s the first one. How hard could it be?”
“Sterling will be out of here by Christmas.”
With zingers flying across the room like paper airplanes and spitballs, it didn’t seem much different than the cafeteria at his high school. He felt the tension ease from his shoulders as he finished the last bite of the hot dog and washed it down with some milk.
“Attention!”
A hush fell over the mess hall.
Austin glanced around. A man in a sleek business suit stood in the doorway, flanked by Chief Sharkey and another security officer Austin hadn’t met. The broad-shouldered newcomer with a tight flat top marched into the mess hall. He studied the room with confidence, surveying each table as he rubbed a graying goatee. When his eyes fell on Austin, the man clapped his hands once.
“Now that we are all finally here,” he announced in a solid, booming voice, “we can begin.”
Several students nearest Austin looked at him with widened eyes.
“The rest of you have been here three days now. I hope you are getting acclimated to the Tizona culture.” The man clasped his hands behind his back and strolled between the tables. “My name is Lovick Pierce and I am the president of this institution. It is my duty to ensure you all receive the best education in order to prepare you for what’s to come. Only the best and the brightest graduate from Tizona. I want you to look around this room.”
Austin raised his eyes from the empty plate. A girl stared at him from another table. Her eyes darted away. Did he know her?
“We have a total of fifty-eight students here at this very moment,” President Pierce said. “It is an average class for us and you may think it is small. Well, Recruits, it will only get smaller from here. At least half of you will be gone by the end of the semester. Some will quit, while others will be asked to leave and finish up the semester at a location away from this campus. I implore you to not waste our time or yours.”
The girl looked at him again, but she didn’t turn away this time. She wore her platinum blonde hair back in a tight ponytail, and her eyes were the color of an autumn sky. She grinned and sipped on her drink.
“Should you want to leave, I ask you to go to the statue of the sword past the lawn. Place your hand on the hilt of the sword and Security Chief Sharkey, whom I believe you all have met at one time or another, will be there shortly to meet you. Neither you or your family will be charged for your time here at Tizona.”
Pierce stopped at the front of the room and leaned against one of the buffet tables. “But,” he said in a much softer voice, “if you decide to stay, if you decide this school has something to offer, if you decide greatness and honor are part of your future, then I welcome you.”
He stood with outstretched arms. “I welcome you!”
Pierce took another look over the room. Austin met his gaze. Pierce smiled and marched between the tables, his eyes fixed on the door. When he stepped out of the mess hall, the groan of conversation resumed.
Austin looked back to the table with the blonde. She stood and walked out.
* * *
The shadows grew long across the Grand Lawn as Austin prepared to spend his first night at Tizona. Insects crackled. A cool breeze drifted from the swamp as the temperature subsided.
Austin thrust his hands in his pockets and strolled across the gravel path between the Grand Lawn and Terminus. Lights flickered on from various floors. Students filing out of the mess hall scattered in different directions. Four guys tossed a football while the majority walked toward Terminus. One guy challenged others to a LAN party, but some rejected the idea in favor of studying.
Austin headed back to his room.
As he passed by the different dorm rooms with their doors open, he saw students lounging on their beds with their noses stuck in books, laptops, or tablets. Across from his room, a guy with curly blond hair wearing nothing but socks and boxers sat in a beanbag chair on the floor. He was playing a console game on a small television sitting on top of egg crates.
“‘Sup!” he called without turning from the video game.
“Hey,” Austin said. He lingered in the hallway before shuffling into his room.
He unzipped his uniform down to the stomach and sighed, collapsing in his chair. He flipped through the packet. His first class, calculus, started at eight in the morning followed by biology and cartography. Lunch would follow and the afternoon was booked with physics, astronomy, and physical training.
Weird schedule, he thought and rolled his neck around on his shoulders.
“Uh, hello?”
Austin turned. A student who appeared years younger than Austin stood in the doorway and stared back through thick black-rimmed glasses.
“Yes?”
“I’m Stetson Levien, and this is my room,” he said, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
“Oh, hey, I’m Austin Stone.” He stood and offered his hand. Stetson shook it, his grip soft and lifeless. “I guess I’m your roommate.”
“Ah, I guess you are.” Stetson shuffled to his desk.
The guy carried a blue laptop case tucked under his arm. He unhooked the case and produced a state-of-the-art computer with slick neon green stripes and colorful stickers on the back. He started the computer and sat as it booted.
Austin stood in the center of their room, unsure if Stetson was finished speaking. Finally he shrugged and sat at his desk.
“Damn it!” the student yelled from across the hall, tossing his controller across the room.
Stetson sighed and stood. He walked to the door and turned back to Austin. “You mind if I close the door?”
“No, it’s cool.”
“Thanks. Curt does this every night.”
“That’s Curt across the hall?”
Stetson nodded and sat at the laptop. “Curt Osby. He’s a jock. He won’t last at this school if he plays games every night.”
“Yeah, I was looking at my schedule. Seems tough.”
Stetson shrugged. “It’s not too bad if you study. The PT is the toughest.”
“PT?”
“Physical Training. It’s worse than PE back in school.”
“Where you from?”
“Nashville. You?”
“Around Atlanta.”
“Oh.” Stetson turned back to his computer.
Flipping through the welcome packet, Austin paused on the letter from President Pierce. The professional profile photo showed Pierce in front of the blue Tizona symbol. “What’s the deal with our school president?”
“He hasn’t said much that didn’t sound like a sales pitch, honestly. He likes the Tizona.”
“What? The school?”
“The Tizona. It’s the name of the sword you see everywhere.”
“Ah, right.” Austin nodded. He studied the school map and found all of his classes except for astronomy and physical training took place in the Terminus Building. “Any advice for my first day?”
“Don’t be late,” Stetson said without delay, “and be quiet.”
“Fair enough,” he said with a sigh. He noticed a familiar load screen on Stetson’s computer. “You play Star Runners online?”
Stetson shifted in his seat. “Yes. Will it bother you?”
“Not at all. I love that game. I’ll miss it.”
Stetson grinned. “You can play when you want. I’m glad you like this game. I can give you some tips. I’ve just started playing on the elite server.”
Austin returned the smile. “I’d like that.”
9
Austin pounded the steel spoon on the plate, knocking off mashed potatoes that were as thick as rubber cement. He continued down the line. The mess hall slowly rumbled to life as more students arrived for lunch.
The first day of classes overwhelmed him. His head pounded, and his back ached from the tiny desk chairs lining each room of Terminus. He collapsed like a sack of dirty laundry into his seat at the nearest table. Staring into the potatoes mixing with the juice of the green beans, he thought of the dozens of projects with due dates and upcoming tests.
“Mind if I sit?”
Austin stared. The girl with the blonde hair from yesterday stood over him, a soft expression on her face. “No. I mean yes, of course.”
Laughing, she sat at the table and fixed her ponytail. She grinned and started at her salad. “I’m Skylar Kincaid.”
“Austin Stone.”
“I know.”
He blinked. “You know?”
“Everybody knows. You were the last student recruited.”
“So?”
Skylar played with the straw in her water and nibbled on the end. “So people are wondering why you were added at the last minute?”
“Don’t people have other things to worry about?”
“Yeah, but people still talk.”
“They sent you over here to spy on me.”
“No, I wanted to come over.”
Austin took a bite of the mashed potatoes and watched Skylar poking at her salad. “Well, what are people saying?”
“Some say you come from a rich family and they bought your way in. Others say you’re part of a charity program.”
Austin winced. That last ‘“rumor’“ was probably more of the truth. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here now.”
“Oh, so you’re the mysterious type. Fair enough.” She sipped on her water and looked at another table, a rebellious strand of golden hair falling on her shoulder. “How are your classes?”
“Tough. You?”
“It hasn’t been easy and we haven’t even made it a week.” She shrugged. “I have a pretty tough astronomy class at two.”
Austin’s raised his shoulders. “I’m in that class, too. Maybe I’ll see you there.”
She eyed him. “Maybe.”
They ate in silence for a moment.
“Do you like running?”
Austin frowned. “Do I like running? I wouldn’t say I like it. Why?”
“I ran track back home. I love it.”
“Well, I do like running sometimes. I played baseball back home.”
“We can run together this afternoon if you want, you know, during our PT?”
“What’s the deal with that anyway? I read the packet last night, and it said we had to meet certain requirements, and that was it.”
“Yeah, well they’ve been a little vague about it. The time is our own. There’s a gym, a track, and a trail to run. They said the physical tests would come later on. I think they want us to be self-motivated, so I’m not taking any chances. I need this scholarship.”
“You’re on a scholarship, too?”
She tilted her head. “I couldn’t afford this place. God knows what the regular tuition is for a place this pretentious.”
He laughed. “No kidding. Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she said finishing her salad and wiping at her mouth.
Austin leaned forward. “We’re all supposed to be part of the same class, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, there’s about fifty of us and all the staff and faculty seem to be working with us, and there’s only one dorm, right? This is a four-year school, isn’t it?”
Skylar snorted. “It’d better be.”
“So where are the sophomores?”
Skylar’s mouth opened as if to answer, but she fell silent. She looked around the mess hall at the other students all wearing their blue uniforms. “That’s a good question.” She leaned forward, her eyes cold. “You think the teachers ate them?”
He sighed and dropped his fork. “I’m serious!”
“Come on! I don’t know where they are. Why don’t we ask someone? I’m sure it’s not a conspiracy or anything.” She stood and laughed. “I have to get some studying done before the afternoon classes. Want to meet up after at the track behind the dorm?”
He grinned. “See you then.”
* * *
His lungs burned with each gasp. As she had done the past three weeks, Skylar pulled out ahead of him as they rounded the track for the last mile, her blonde ponytail bouncing on her gray sweatshirt. Austin wiped his sweaty brow and pressed forward, the fallen leaves crunching under his feet.
The fading golden sunlight dipped behind the trees by the time they finished their afternoon run. Austin clasped his hands behind his head as he slowed to a walk. Skylar grabbed their water bottles from the bench and tossed one to him.
“Nice run!”
He gulped twice and nodded. “You, too. I still have trouble beating you on the distance.”
Skylar smiled and lowered the bottle from her lips. “I didn’t know we were racing.”
He laughed. “No point. You win every time.”
A group of students ran past. Austin looked back toward the main campus. Students milled about the Terminus Building and the dormitory. Two tossed a disc around near the track. Others sat on blankets and studied. Austin’s stomach turned at the sight.
Study.
He had two tests this week. Homework took up the majority of his evenings. Stetson had an easier time with it and played more Star Runners than Austin. He often wondered if he still remained at the top of the leader board of the elite server.
“What’s wrong?” Skylar asked as they strolled back toward the dorm.
“Too much studying to do.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what we’re here for.”
He would much rather be here than back at the fruit stand loading vegetables and tomatoes. It would be October soon, when the pumpkins arrived by the truckload.
Near the tree line, a student walked near one of the smaller buildings. It looked like a gardening shack.
Austin nodded. “Any idea what that building is for?”
Skylar followed his gaze. “No. I heard it was a lab, but I haven’t had a class there.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, I guess. I don’t need to think of any more classes right now. I just hope I make it to next semester.”
“Okay Miss ‘all-As.’”
“Laugh all you want. One bad test grade and the scholarship goes with it.”
They reached the girls’ dorm. Austin tossed his water bottle into a recycle container.
“Guess I better shower and hit the books.”
“Hold up.” Skylar reached out and balanced herself by touching his shoulder so she could stretch her legs. Somehow, she still smelled good. “Okay, see you in the morning.”
She hurried up the stairs with a spring in her step. At the second floor, she turned and winked before she disappeared behind the wall.
Austin walked back to his section of the dorm. Knocking on his door, he entered his room. Stetson sat at his desk, while Curt Osby sprawled out on Austin’s bed. Darrion Lamego sat near the window with a cigarette between his fingers, and Elroy Arrius sat at Austin’s desk, doodling on a pad.
“Just in time, Stone!” Curt said, standing to face him.
Austin stepped in front of his clothes. “I need to shower.”
“What’s the hurry?” Curt said, standing behind Austin. “Whew!” He clasped his fingers over his nose. “You do need a shower!”
“All right then,” Austin said as he grabbed his towel, a T-shirt, and clean sweat pants. As he slipped into his slimy shower shoes, he looked around the room. “What’s going on?”
Curt’s eyes darted between Stetson and Austin. “Your roomie was just having a conversation with us.”
Austin looked to Stetson, who stared at the floor. “Oh, really? About what?”
“Should we tell him?” Curt asked, looking back to Darrion and Elroy. “I think we should tell him.”
He sighed. “If this is all we’re going to do then I have a shower and studying to get to.”
Curt stepped in front of the door and shut it. “You and Stetson both have calculus in the mornings, and us three have it in the afternoons.”
“Wow, that’s some serious investigative work,” Austin said.
Curt’s expression hardened. “All right, smart ass. We’ve heard Professor Heath uses the same tests on test days.”
“So?”
“So.” Curt set his hand on Austin’s shoulder. “We want to meet up during lunch and go over the answers. Now we know Stetson might miss a few questions here and there, so it would really help him out to have a partner in this.”
Austin shook his head and turned to his roommate. “You agreed to this?”
Stetson said nothing, but nodded like a child caught in a lie in front of his parents.
“Do you mind?” Austin asked, turning back to face Curt.
Curt stepped out of the way. “Think about it, Stone.”
Austin marched toward the bathroom, his feet squishing in his rubber shoes, still wet from his morning shower. When he returned to his room, the three “guests” had left. Stetson sat at his computer, flipping around a website with photos of spacecraft from the Star Runners game. Austin entered in silence and sat on his bed, the springs creaking.
“You okay, man?”
