Drew, p.9
Drew, page 9
“I know,” he says, smiling again. Sucking me in like one of those spinny hypnotism circles. Tracy elbows me and nods toward the front. I whip back around to attention, a sharp cramp stabbing into my neck. I start massaging it with the same hand that shook Chase’s.
“Now, today isn’t going to be all about how important you are. Or how important your mission is. Today is focused on today.” Suit guy deepens his voice. He sounds like Zeus. “The possibility of creating yourself is the possibility of being. We are the stream that erodes the rocks, the wind that carves the channel. We are invisible to most. But over time we prevail. Because once we’ve done our work, there is no denying where we have been.”
He coughs a bit, switches gears.
“Oh, there is one small issue that we feel we do need to address, namely because it was confronting you as you arrived today.” He’s trying to sound casual, but his jaw flinches, like he’s clamping his back teeth together. “The young men and women you saw outside the facility, flashing their signs and actively undermining our—not to mention their own—purpose.”
He coughs again, louder this time.
“They are disappointments to Changers everywhere, and we don’t want you to worry, as they are not a large coalition. But they are a rowdy one, and you should be informed about the misguided tenets of the Radical Changers movement, so you can avoid the pitfalls that many of them, tragically, could not. I’m sure most of you are familiar with our rivals, the Abiders, from that section of your Changers Bible. Because of the Abiders’ rabid hatred and intolerance of our race, it is extremely important that we do not give power to the RaChas faction, whose activities are regretfully exposing the Changers race before we can completely fulfill our mission on this planet.” He pauses a moment before resuming. “In a perfect world—the world we someday hope will exist—there will be no need for secrecy for any type of individual. But the more visible we Changers are in these times, the more of us meet potential harm at the hands of the Abiders, who do not value difference, and who will fight to the death to keep their blood unmingled with ours.”
The room falls silent, but for a few stray stirrings, a squeaky chair, some feet kicking seat backs when crossing or uncrossing legs. My neck feels even stiffer than before.
“Which brings me to the first commandment in your CB, which I know you’ve heard your Touchstones and parents repeat over and over: Thou shalt not reveal yourself a Changer to those who are not Changers.” Again, the Touchstones recite it along with him. “Lives depend on it. And on top of that, today we’re going to emphasize the second commandment. And this isn’t always the most popular one, but it is a foundational tenet that preserves and broadens the Changers race. Thou shalt not lie down with other Changers.” Another chorus of Touchstones parroting back, Tracy rotating and arching her eyebrows at me like, Get it, you whore? (I’m translating, roughly.)
Suit dude offers a weak smile, glances around the room for a few seconds, then continues: “We wait until the first mixer to go over the second commandment in detail. You’ve just spent a month feeling like the only person like you on the planet, and then all of a sudden, poof, here you are surrounded by scores of others like you, and it’s easy to mistake a feeling of recognition with romantic attraction—or even love. But believe me, nothing good can ever come of a Changer-Changer union. Period.”
He’s silent for a few more seconds before taking his seat. After another appropriate pause, Tracy hops up and prances down to the front along the left-side steps. I sink in my chair, bracing for G only knows what’s going to come out of the girl’s mouth to embarrass me.
“Okay, ready?” she begins, like she’s coaxing us off a diving board. I cut a look back at Chase, who smirks wryly, seeming to know exactly what I’m thinking. “Time to break out into orientation groups . . .”
* * *
My first seminar is “Feints and Friends, What to Do?” where we’re told how the Changers Council explains our disappearance each year, when our current V goes away and a new one is enrolled in school. The Council provides the specific “feints” (a.k.a. lies), which are the stories our family will tell to our friends and any other curious parties. These range from exotic (sent to European boarding school) to tragic (drug overdose). I wonder if rebellious Changers are given terrible feints. Like, if you never read the CB, do they tell everyone you were in a drunk-driving accident? Food for thought.
We are advised to conduct the usual and customary friendships with whomever we wish, but we should always keep our parents and residences as separate as possible from our school friends, to reduce the likelihood of inadvertent discovery. (So, no slumber parties at the old homestead for Drew, unless they are with other Changers.) Also, it seems the whole foreign exchange student program thing was invented by the Council as a simple way to shuttle children in and out of families without arousing suspicion. Which is kind of genius.
Our seminar leader explains there are never more than two or three Changers assigned to each high school, so there should be few, if any, suspicions raised when a kid doesn’t come back the next year (it happens all the time). Which of course sets my mind into overdrive. Two other potential Changers at Central High? Who are they? Can I meet them? Would Tracy tell me if she knew? Is there a Changer signal? Like, could I put that stupid multiple-arm-and-leg emblem dude on a spotlight and shine it into the sky like they do at movie premieres, and then all the local Changer spawn will come running?
The class ends with a nod to potential conflicts with particularly integrated Statics—a.k.a. close friends. Audrey pops into my head. I’ve been so wrapped up in my own torment that I haven’t considered the fact that when I change again, I will be leaving her behind. She’ll be without Drew. I mean, not technically. I’ll still be around, unless my parents split town again. Just in another body. But Drew will exist no longer. And it is Audrey who will shoulder the loss alone.
The more I mull it over, the lousier it feels. Here we are being told we’re spreading love and empathy with an eye toward some as yet unknown larger mission, when what it seems like we’re really doing is jacking people around and breaking hearts. Including our own.
Up front, the class leader is explaining something about the procedure for submitting special requests for feints to the Council, which understands that these are human lives, and thus not everything can be neatly and tidily sewed up into a simple fiction every time.
I’m dubious. But it’s time to move on to . . .
* * *
“Emergency! Just in Case!” (Who names these things? Coach Lois?)
Here we learn what to do if for some reason we end up in a medical emergency—say we are hit by a car or get a concussion playing football—and our clothes are removed and our emblem possibly revealed. Every hospital in the area apparently has at least one Changer doctor and nurse on staff, sometimes more. If needed, our implanted Chronicling chips will send an urgent alert through the medical equipment that a Changer has entered a hospital’s care, and a Changers rep will be on our case immediately.
We aren’t told much more than that, only not to sweat it too intensely, because along with all the body-shifting and whatnot, Changers are exceedingly robust. We don’t get debilitated by colds or flus. We almost never break bones. Our cuts and scrapes heal in a matter of hours, not days.
“This is NOT an invitation to test your corporeal limits,” the seminar leader admonishes. “You are not Superman and you can sustain mortal injury. Got it? You can still feel pain.”
And everybody else’s, I want to interject, but I don’t.
* * *
Next up is “Monos and V’s: Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” which is maybe the dumbest advice anyone has ever been given in the history of the universe.
And yet—we are told not to fixate on our Monos. To be patient, to live these four lives to the fullest and trust that at the end of our Cycle, when we look back over our Chronicles, it will be clear what permanent choice should be made. Also to remember that whoever we choose to be “on the outside,” we will still be the same person on the inside. (Puke.) And NO, there is NO way to know in advance what V you will be given on the first morning of each school year. So don’t bother asking. (Annoying.)
* * *
There are a bunch of other mini-lectures. One called “Parental Guidance Required” is about how valuable our parents can be, how they’re there for us and us alone (that’s why Changer parents are given just one child), and how we shouldn’t be afraid to ask our Changer parent about his or her old V’s. Another is entitled “Chronicling: Your Story Is Our Story,” where we hear how Chronicling is not only valuable to us personally, but it is also our unique contribution to Changers history and culture. (Fact: our pitiful little records will be encrypted and stored in some Armageddon-proof type chamber, like where Walt Disney’s head is kept cryogenically frozen, and only we will be able to access them; they will not enter the Changers public domain until seventy-five years after our deaths.) Mainly it is impressed upon us how vital our Chronicles will be when it comes time to choose our Monos. We should feel free to include anything we want, to be unself-conscious in our recollections and analysis. To trust ourselves. Which is rich, especially after taking stock of the room. We look like a pack of terrified lemurs.
* * *
Then the talks turn serious. In “Abiders: An Ounce of Prevention,” we are shown photographs of Changers who have been lost to Abiders’ deprogramming camps. If we come in contact with an Abider, we are told to report to the Changers Council immediately, and further action will be determined at that time. We are shown images of a modified Roman numeral I, which is an unofficial Abiders emblem that some adherents might have tattooed on their bodies. (It symbolizes homogeneity, and the single identity and body they want each human to inhabit.)
“Make no mistake, the objective of every sworn Abider is the eradication of the Changer race,” we are told.
Mmm-kay. I’m thinking the seminar planners maybe should’ve led with this one. I mean, what good is any of the other crap if we could be snuffed out by a pack of organized bigots at any moment?
“We do not tell you this to frighten you.”
Too late.
“Only to make you aware, so that you can avoid putting you and your family in harm’s way.”
They conclude with some lame reassurances about how the Council is always watching, tracking Abider pods and developments. So really, don’t lose sleep unless you encounter one, and then run like freaking hell.
* * *
Just when I think I can’t swallow any more revelations, we are led into the last lecture, “Keep It Under Wraps,” where a handful of Touchstones demonstrate various techniques for concealing our Changers emblems in circumstances when we need to disrobe in the proximity of Statics—the locker room, swim practice, a sleepover, etc. Two guy and two girl Touchstones get up and perform jerky dances and maneuvers with towels and clothes that actually do seem to cleverly keep their emblems out of sight during different scenarios. It is emphasized that “practice makes perfect,” and one of the presenters promises that we’ll likely have it mastered before we wake up on the first day of junior year, Change 3–Day 1. In a pinch, there are also “Bare Necessities,” essentially large bandages you can use to cover your scar—“the very same ones that actors use to obscure their tattoos while filming!”
The seminar ends with a frank discussion about being “intimate” with Statics we might find ourselves attracted to. I can barely listen and feel my lungs tightening when they say something about how sexuality is natural, but it is not to be taken lightly, especially given the added risks for Changers, and how we should proceed with caution before jumping into anything flesh-related, yadda yadda gross.
* * *
The breakout seminars culminate with all of us reunited into the larger group for a final presentation. This time a handful of adults are in front of the auditorium waiting for us. They look authoritative. When Tracy and I enter, I scan the audience for Chase, but he and his Touchstone aren’t there yet. Tracy directs me to the front row, naturally.
“We’ll wait a couple more minutes for everybody to get back,” a thirty-something man wearing a distressed T-shirt and blazer says into the mic, checking his chunky silver wristwatch. He looks like one of those mega-rich dudes who invented Google. I feel a breeze on my bare arm, and I turn just as Chase takes the seat next to me, his Touchstone on the other side of him.
“I think the best part was learning that they can keep tabs on us Big Brother–style with those little chips,” Chase whispers, jabbing his thumb toward the back of his neck.
“I liked the whole swiveling out of bed and bunching a sheet up while pulling on your underwear like they do in the movies thing,” I whisper back.
“Shhh,” Tracy shoots in our direction, holding a finger to her lips.
The room goes dark and silent, but for spotlighting up front. The head of the Regional Council is introduced—it’s the lady standing next to the Google guy, a husky woman with tidy brown hair and perfectly straight bangs that hit her eyebrows.
“My name is Lisa Vandenburg, and I would like to personally welcome you to the family,” she starts. Everybody claps. Tracy is on the edge of her seat like David Copperfield is going to appear spontaneously in a puff of smoke and then vanish a ’57 Chevy or something. “We couldn’t be more proud of you and all that you’ve accomplished already.” More clapping. I notice Chase’s forearm mere millimeters from mine on the armrest.
“I know it’s been a long afternoon with a lot of information thrown at you, but we have one more piece we need to talk about. Now, I want you to feel like you can be honest with us, honest with yourself, and if any questions arise, this is the time to ask them. That’s what we’re here for. I’m going to let Charlie take it from here . . . Charlie?”
Charlie, a.k.a. Mr. Google, steps in front of the lectern. He’s obviously the “cool” one on the Council who can “keep it real” with the youths.
“Welcome, Changers . . . In the many, we are one!” he calls. Raucous applause. Charlie nods his head vigorously. I find myself nodding with him. “Now. You didn’t think we’d turn your lives upside down and ask so much of you without giving you a little something in return, did you?”
Everybody’s eyes are ping-ponging around the room, at each other, at our Touchstones, at Charlie. Beside me Tracy has a smug-as-hell, something-up-her-sleeve smirk spreading across her face.
“This is always my favorite part of the inaugural mixer,” he continues, grinning in that slightly creepy way powerful people do. “I’ll start by posing a question. Have any of you, and I’m talking in the four weeks since your Change, have any of you maybe, perhaps, found yourself in the position of kissing somebody?”
Discomfort all around.
“Really? Not a single one of you?” he prods. Waits a little longer. A couple hands reluctantly go up. “Great! So, just you two, did you notice anything a little unusual when kissing these other people?”
Everybody is staring at the guy and girl who raised their hands. The girl lowers hers slowly.
“No?” Charlie prompts.
“Uh, I guess it was more like a peck on the cheek,” she says, eyes darting back and forth. Which sets everybody to laughter.
“Okay. So. And you?” Charlie asks the other kid, whose hand is still up.
“Well, yeah, now that you mention it,” he offers, genuinely confounded.
“Tell us what happened.”
“Me and this girl made out after we went to a movie, and I suddenly had this really weird dream, even though I was awake. It was like another movie was still going in my head. But then it was gone.”
“And what was the vision? What did you see?” Charlie asks.
“A pretty girl diving into a crystal-clear blue pool, by a big glass house. The sun was bright so I couldn’t really see, but she lifted herself out of the pool and this tanned, buff guy was there and took her hand.”
“He dreamed a cologne commercial?” Chase whispers in my ear. Tracy shoots him a look.
“That’s it?” Charlie asks.
“Pretty much.”
The room was silent, everybody rapt.
“Do you know what you saw?” Charlie asks then, and the kid shakes his head. After a good twenty seconds of looking around the room, he answers his own question: “That was a flash of that girl’s future.”
“Ohhhhh!” all around. Anxious chatter. “We’re mind readers, man!” I hear one dude in the back say. “What happens if I kiss my dog?” a girl with glasses considers aloud. A chorus of questions and excitement. It is mind-blowing. We have a superpower. Sort of.
Charlie steps aside, his face shining with triumph, as Ms. Vandenburg returns to the lectern and speaks into the mic, her voice sounding like that of every school principal I’ve ever known.
“With great power must come great responsibility. Does anybody know who said that?”
A skinny girl in the third row raises her hand. “Spider-Man’s uncle. Well, technically, Stan Lee, since he wrote Spider-Man.”
“That’s true,” Ms. Vandenburg says solemnly. “Also Voltaire, and the thirty-second American president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A version of it appears in the CB. No matter who said it first, it is the truth. And I want you to think about that responsibility while this news settles over you.” She twitches slightly, her bangs vibrating like blinds. “So now. Any questions, concerns? About anything?”
A hand goes up in the back, a Latina girl. “What if you kiss another Changer?”
Good freaking question.
“Second commandment. You don’t get intimate with other Changers. It is not part of your mandate. And it is potentially dangerous,” she recites sternly. “A Changer-Changer offspring kills the lineage for both families. All parties revert to Static status. We are in the business of producing more Changers, not fewer. There is also the risk of poisoning. Changers have been known to infect other Changers. It is rare, but not impossible. If in the unlikely event you kiss someone for the first time and you see nothing—assume you’ve intersected with one of your own kind. And end the relationship. Immediately.”
