Jericho 04-02

            I took the seat he offered and was about to thank him when the door opened in a violent motion and suddenly she was there, pressing herself against the wall and panting heavily.

            I began to open my mouth but she raised a single digit to her lips to shush me and moved to hide herself under a rather large pile of laundry.

            There was a loud commotion in the hall, followed by the sounds of running feet and doors opening.

            “Act natural” advised RJ as he turned back to his book.

            I could feel my heart speed up, it felt like I was going to be sick. How does one “act natural” when the most attractive girl they have ever seen is lying under a pile of unwashed pants a foot away? What does “acting natural” even entail? Was I supposed to pretend to be a tree or something? I couldn’t think straight right now, so I slumped over RJ’s desk and pretended to be dead. If it worked on bears it would work for me.

            The door wooshed open and a female voice boomed: “Have you seen a girl?”

            “You’re a girl,” suggested RJ, “I see you.”

            The girl grunted in frustration as she peered around the room, evidentially seeing nothing.

             “What about you?” she said, giving me a sharp poke on the shoulder.

            I kept still, reminding myself that I was supposed to be dead.

            “He hasn’t seen anything, can you get out of my room?” RJ’s voice was sour.

            I couldn’t see what was happening, as I was fairly engrossed in pretending to be dead, but it felt like the girl stood there glaring lasers at RJ for a minute or two before finally turning leaving the room.

             I waited in silence until we heard the door at the end of the hall close and then I finally sat up. Behind me a pile of clothes burst into laughter.

            “Seriously?” It said, “did you seriously just play dead?”

            I didn’t say anything, just stared as she emerged from her laundry cocoon in a fit of giggles.

            “I- uh…” I didn’t know what to say, this whole scenario was very confusing.

            The confusion on my face must have been even funnier than my playing dead because the girl doubled over with laughter and her eyes began tearing from her uncontrollable joy.

            “Well what about you?” asked RJ, beginning to chuckle himself, “hiding under a pile of dirty pants!?”

            The girl was on the floor now, crying with hysterical laughter and trying her best to talk between fits, “I- had to- think- on- my- feet!“

            We were all laughing now. I could feel it rising from my stomach in bubbles and spilling out of my mouth till it was hard to breathe.

            A pinging sound rang out from the girl’s pocket and she managed to quiet herself long enough to look at the tiny communicator she had hidden there.

            “Ah damn. Game’s over.” She said wiping the last remains of laughter from her eyes, “blue team won.”

            RJ nodded, working out the last bits of laughter.

            “Game?” I asked.

            “Oh! He doesn’t know?!” said girl of my dreams.

            “He’s new” RJ explained picking a new book from his pile.

            “That’s obvious” she retorted, “but I can’t believe you didn’t tell him about the game!”

            RJ just shrugged, shrugging seemed to be his signature move.

            “Game?” I asked again, hoping someone would help ease my confusion.

            “You are missing out new guy, the game is one of the few things that make this prison bearable.” She groaned.

            Prison.

            The word rang through my skull and struck a cord in my heart.

            I had thought of this place as a prison too… but thus far I’d been surprised at the amount of freedom we had.

            From my perspective students ran the center. We had classes, but they were rough and changed according to our whims. We weren’t told what to eat, when to sleep, or when to clean (although RJ could use a lesson). We were given the freedom to choose our own assignments and classes. Any piece of equipment we wanted we could get.

            Overall, I felt I had much more freedom here than at home.

            “Should we call it a prison?” I asked.

            The girl put her head between her hands and gave an exasperated sigh.

            “You colonial kids are all the same.” She grumbled, “Just because our jail cells come with fancy computers and personal labs you forget that it’s a cell…”

            “Yeah but…”

            “But? But nothing! Listen, what’s your name?”

            “Jason”

            “Listen, Jason, I am telling you now, this place isn’t a school. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m going to find out.”

            At this comment RJ snorted.

            “Don’t mind Sidra, she’s the biggest conspiracy nut I’ve ever met.” He said with a laugh, “damned dirty Deltan”

            A wad of dirty pants sailed through the air and hit RJ square in the jaw, causing him to send Sidra a glare that was almost as dirty as the pants.

            “I feel I’ve made my point.” She responded, standing up straight and placing her hands victoriously on her hips.

            They had a good laugh over this, I had the feeling it was a scene that had played out many times before.

            The message tone began to play and a small line of text appeared just beyond RJ’s head. His face soured as he read it and reluctantly he moved to fasten on his legs.

            “Sorry to cut this party short kids, but I have an appointment, and I don’t trust either of you in here without supervision.”

            The outworlder’s face turned into a false pout, “you don’t trust me?” she said, with just enough of a giggle to blow any ounce of credibility she might have had.

            “I especially don’t trust you,” he gave her a stern look, “not after what happened when I left you alone with Zeus.”

            RJ shooed us out of his room  and left us to awkwardly part ways in the hall.

            “Well, it was nice meeting you Newguy, but I best head out,” she said, giving my had a little shake, “ask RJ to give you a run down and maybe you can join the next time we play the game?”

            “Sure.”  I said. Anything to spend time with you. I thought.