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Author's Note: One chapter post again. This chapter is the chapter I've been waiting a while to write, it finally introduces the other "Inmates of the Asylum". A couple you've already met but you finally get to learn more about them and the others. Two new Colors are introduced as well.

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Chapter Eight:

The knocking woke me.

I groaned as I opened my eyes, pulling the pillow over my head to muffle the sound. But the knocking didn’t go away; instead it seemed to get louder. Maybe if I ignore it, it will leave and I can get some more sleep. But you know how that goes. The more I ignored it, the more annoying it got. So finally, I pulled my head from underneath my pillow and sat up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and yawned. My new mass of black hair fell around my shoulders; the braided pigtails clearly came undone in the night. I stretched as I threw off my blanket and jumped to the floor.

I had to pee. You know how it is in the morning. Yesterday I never went to the bathroom, not once. Isn’t that crazy. I ate yesterday and I drank but I never once had to pee. I quickly looked around the room and noticed for the first time there was no bathroom. How can I have a room without a bathroom?
The knocking grew louder and more insistent.

“I’m up” I shouted.

I concentrated and out in the hall, I heard Trish zip he card through the door lock. Then she pressed in her code. Everything was as clear as if it was in the room with me. I even knew her code, not that I was eavesdropping or anything. But this whole senses thing was going to come in handy. I smiled as Trish opened the door. She was dressed in civilian clothes this morning: brown bomber jacket, white printed tee and blue jeans. Her hair was pulled up today and in both hands she was holding shopping bags. I groaned because I knew they had to be clothes.

“Aren’t we cheerful in the morning?” She laughed as she set the bags by the door.

“7-1-5-8-1-5-1-8-3” I told her with a smirk.

She looked confused for a second then her mouth opened in shock. “How the hell do you know that?”

“Bathroom. Need to pee. Talk later”

“Down the hall on the right”

I made a dash for the door but Trish grabbed my arm. At first I didn’t understand the problem until I looked out the door and saw the lights on in the hall. God I almost screwed up big time. If I had ran out there without protection it would have hurt like hell. Trish led me over to where I shed my coat last night. She picked it up and helped me slip into it. I left the gloves in the pockets and pulled them reluctantly. I hated this. Now whenever I wanted to leave my own room I had to dress like I was going into a blizzard. A tear rolled down my cheek. Trish wiped the tear away as she put on my glasses and gave me a hug.

“We’re working on it, honey”

She pulled the hood over my head and kissed my cheek. I gave her a weak smile. She asked if I wanted her to tag along but I told her I think I knew how to go to the bathroom by myself. She laughed. She told me I’d be surprised. I shrugged it off and went out into the hall. I half expected to see my escort from yesterday waiting on either side of the door but they were gone. I’m sure they weren’t too far off. There was still a lot about this place that I didn’t like or trust.

As I walked toward the bathroom, I kept reminding myself that I wasn’t in a good place. These people killed to get what they wanted and raped for pleasure. Those in charge here were petty, evil and slimy. The guards were rough and used brute force, tazers were all the rage and they didn’t care one damn bit about the well being of the students here. I wondered how many hidden cameras were in the hallway alone and just hoped there was none in the bathroom. I was already nervous enough about my new body and definitely didn’t need some perv feeling himself while watching me take a pee. I shuddered at the thought.

At first I was confused when I reached my destination. There was only one door: it had the universal skirted woman symbol on it. I thought maybe Trish had made a mistake but then it dawned on me. I smacked myself in the forehead. I’m a girl now and girls go into the ladies room. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. I half expected a siren to sound, announcing I was an intruder. Instead a sweet flowery aroma hit me. I quickly covered my nose, expecting the worse. I didn’t need to have an orgasm in the hallway. But nothing came, it was a normal smell. Maybe it only works for real flowers?

I walked into the room and groaned. It was pink, very pink. It had pink tiled floors and pink painted walls. I saw four stalls lining one wall and directly across from them a row of sinks with a giant mirror. One thing I noticed was the lack of urinals and that kind of freaked me out. But girls didn’t stand up so I guess there was no need for those. I went into the first stall. I can do this. I looked down at the toilet and laughed. Even the damn toilet was pink. Clearly someone was over girling it around here.

It’s like ripping a band-aid. I lifted the lid, pulled down both pants and underwear (still not calling them panties) and sat down. When I peed it was different experience. When I was male I didn’t really think about it, I just went. But now, sitting here like this for the first time, I realized that girls got the better deal. We didn’t have to aim, we didn’t have to worry about shaking and making a mess and we didn’t have to worry about getting it all over the seat if we got sloppy. It also felt kind of nice sitting down for a change. Standing was annoying, especially at those urinals. You had to practical push yourself into them unless you wanted the guy next to you to see everything. It was all kind of embarrassing.

When I finished, I realized I was a little wet. So I grabbed some pink (no surprise there) toilet paper and wiped myself down there. Then I pulled up both pants and underwear. I flushed, exited the stall and made my way to the sink. I started to wash my hands then saw my gloves. I couldn't wash them even if I took off the gloves because the light would burn them. God this sucks.I started to leave when the bathroom door opened. I didn’t know why that bothered me; this was a bathroom after all. An Asian girl with shoulder length black hair walked into the room. She was wearing black pajamas (how come she got to wear black) and carrying a little bag with her. She looked at me and smiled shyly. As I started to wash my hands, she opened the bag and took out toothpaste and a toothbrush.

After I washed and started drying my hands, she spoke: “Are you feeling better now?”

At first I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then I remembered last night and my face went red a bit. I smiled and nodded. “Are you Clara?”

This time she nodded. “I hated to intrude last night because I know how completely rude and invasive it is but I could really feel the pain coming from you. I can usually feel it coming off the others but with you it was like the mother lode”

“Yesterday was kind of rough?”

Clara nodded and inched closer, lowering her voice. “Did they get you with the tazer? They usually use it to make the girls a little more pliable. It’s horrible being able to feel all that, especially every time a new girl comes here”

I saw her eyes start to go misty. This girl thing was pretty new to me but I knew the right thing to do when someone started to cry. So I gave her a hug, pulling her in close. We were complete strangers but somehow this felt like the right thing to do. I held her for a while, she cried into my chest. I know this is wrong to think in a time like this but it felt good to be tall. Clara was a whole head or so shorter than me so her head rested at about my chest. I’ve never had anyone but their head on my chest before. Now it was perfect to do because I had two built in pillows.

Clara cried for a few minutes. When she finished, she pulled away and laughed. “I shouldn’t have done that. We don’t even know one another”.

“Don’t worry about it. You helped me last night and today you deserve a shoulder to cry on”

She nodded. “Thanks. You have no idea how hard it is to feel everyone’s pain. It’s really hard to block out at times”

I decided to give her some positive reassurance. “You don’t have to worry about that much from me. I’m a pain suppressor. I can take it and feel nothing.

Except apparently at night”.

“Are you serious?” Her face instantly lit up, her earlier sorrows forgotten. “That’s so fricking awesome. You’re so damn lucky, I wish I could suppress instead of receive”

“Is pain the only thing you get?”

‘Yes and no. I can feel other stuff but pain is usually the strongest. Did Matilda tell you about the nightmares” I nodded. “I hate night time the worse. It’s really hard to sleep when I have to deal with everyone else’s problems on top of my own”

We talked for a few more minutes then I told her I had Trish waiting. She smiled, told me it was nice to meet the pain free new girl and said she’d see me at lunch. When I asked her about breakfast she shrugged and so I left. When I got back to my room, Trish had emptied her bags out onto my bed. They were clothes, just like I thought.

I groaned as saw everything assembled there. Trish apparently had taken it upon herself to create my new self image. I did have to applaud her because everything was black. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if she went a little too far, especially seeing the black underwear and bras. One pair was a thong and I was definitely not wearing that. Trish turned around, crossed her arms across her chest and gave me the evil eye.

“Now that you’ve relieved yourself. You mind telling me how you figured out my code?”

I smiled. “I heard you type it in”

She processed what I said for a few seconds then her eyes got wider. She told me that was absolutely amazing, especially since the walls were supposed to be soundproof. Then she made me explain how I came upon this amazing new gift of mine and as soon as I mentioned Matilda she nodded and said she should have known better. Apparently Matilda was one of the first one’s at the Syndicate and ever since coming here she’s felt like a bit of an outcast. Her power makes her a remarkably good listener but it also pisses a lot of people off. That’s the reason all the walls were soundproof. Being able to generate, manipulate and sometimes hear sound waves has made her sort of a pariah.

A pariah among the pariahs. That had to be hard. Well she’s not alone anymore, maybe we can eavesdrop together. That brought a smile to my face which made Trish frown even more. She grumbled something under her breath about changing her code.

To get me back she made me wear the thong. I fought her at first but then she threatened to redecorate my room like a six year olds with the girlish pink she could find so I relented. As soon as I slipped it on I felt like I had a major wedgy. She made put on a black bra followed by the tightest pair of jeans I’d ever seen. She said it was a good thing I was wearing the thong or else my underwear would definitely be very uncomfortable. The shirt she made me wear was long sleeved. Its cuffs went right up to my wrists and it had a neck that went to my chin.

My socks weren’t black which didn’t bother me. But as I was pulling them on, Trish surprised me. She pulled a box from behind her back and handed it to me. I opened it and found boots inside. They were knee high and black. They looked like leather but I think they were imitation. They had a clunky heel, probably about two inches and instead of laces they had these crazy buckles. I looked at them for a few minutes and then slowly put them on.

“Before you stand” said Trish as she stood near me. “I wanted to explain them. I hope they’re ok. I didn’t want to get you a real heel just yet because I had visions of you falling and breaking your neck”

I nodded. She held out her arm and I grabbed it as I stood up. I immediately felt at ease. I took a few steps and it felt as if I had been wearing them all my life. There was a plus side to them too. Now with the boots on, I was a couple inches taller. For a kid whose spent his whole life looking up at people, this was a big plus indeed. I walked around the room, getting used to the feel of boots. It made me feel real giddy. God, I’m such a girl now. I stopped at the mirror and turned left then right. God my ass looked good in these jeans. I gave that a second thought. Yesterday a statement like that would have driven me nuts. But today it felt right.

I leaned closer to the mirror and looked at the girl reflecting back at me. So you’re Rebecca Howe, huh? But what kind of girl are you? The more I stared at myself, the more I realized I’d somehow seen this girl somewhere before. Yesterday she looked vaguely familiar too me even if I didn’t think about it. But today she looked like someone from a dream. Then it hit me, like a hammer to the gut. I knew this girl because I had seen her in a dream. My dream. Ok my hair was longer and I wasn’t naked but there was no doubt about it. I was now the girl in my dream. What did she say to me? Didn’t she ask if I wanted her? Well here she was and she was me.

I smiled at that. I was a little disturbed by it but I was happy too.

“You done admiring yourself, Narcissus?”

I didn’t bother looking from the mirror as I asked who’s Narcissus. Trish sighed and smacked her forehead. She complained about education in America these days and told me she was going to find me a copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Whatever the hell that is. When I still gave her a puzzled look she told me to never mind and laughed when I started admiring myself in the mirror again. Adults are funny people.

I continued to stare at myself for a few more minutes. What intrigued me most was how much someone could change. A few days ago, I was a short, wimpy kid with shoulder length hair, no parents, no home to speak of and no self confidence. Now I was tall and beautiful. Ok so I was a little pale and I had purple eyes and this freaky ability. But I was different. I couldn’t see anything of Richard in Rebecca. I tried but there was nothing left. Yesterday the girl in the mirror was a complete stranger and I didn’t like her. Today though, she was me.

“I swear” Trish said as she came up from behind me, running a brush through my hair. “You’re more girl than the others”.

I didn’t know how to respond to that so I said: “Umm, thanks”

She laughed. She continued to play with my hair and I let her. She didn’t do anything drastic to it. But she took some bobby pins from her jacket pocket and pulled some of the hair from my eyes. She said something about it being a shame there was no beauty salon here. It wasn’t a shame to me. I don’t think I was ready for full girlhood just yet. After she was done with my hair, she had some bangles that I reluctantly let her put on my wrists. At the mention of earrings I shook my head. She laughed and said she was joking; there was no place to have my ear pierced anyway.

“Now we need to talk about your face?”

“What’s wrong with it?”

I thought my face was beautiful. In fact it was my best feature. Especially those eyes of mine. They may have been freaky but they were my kind of freaky. I told Trish this and she said she wouldn’t touch my eyes.

“I was talking about makeup”.

She came up to the mirror with a plastic bag and started pulling things from it. I tried to run away but she grabbed my shoulders and held firm. Trish had some muscle hidden beneath her clothes. I was impressed. She told me she wasn’t going to do a lot as she turned me away from the mirror, just enough to make me look more human. I stuck my tongue out and she laughed. I protested but she did it anyway. It took her more time than I would have liked. How long does it take to put makeup on? It felt like forever. She wouldn’t let me look either. I saw what she was using but she wouldn’t tell me what it was and said I couldn’t turn around until she was down.

She finished ten minutes later. At least I think it was ten minutes, I made a mental note to add a clock to my list. She told me to turn around and see her masterpiece. As soon as I did I was flabbergasted. My lips were glossy and shined, my cheeks had a tad bit more color but it was my eyes that stood out the most. She used black eyeliner to make them pop and some light purple eye shadow to draw more attention to them. They looked fantastic. When she took off my shades a few minutes ago, I told her there was no need because no was going to see my eyes. But she countered by saying that just because no one could see them it didn’t mean they couldn’t look wonderful.

“What do you think?”

“I look beautiful”.

She handed me back my shades but I didn’t put them on right away. In fact I didn’t put them on until there was a knock on the door. Trish got up and answered. I turned and grimaced. My escort was back, the same two jackasses from the elevator. What made matters worse: they were apparently my jackasses. Their names were Cross and Willis. Mr. Green assigned two guards to each student and these two charmers were mine. Cross was tall and beefy. Willis was black, with a bald head and a square jaw. They looked like marines and probably were in another life. They were dressed in blue uniforms, a strange circle insignia on their left breast pockets. Like Mr. Zero’s gold ring.

“Are you ready to go, Miss Howe?”

I growled at the “Miss” thing. I wasn’t a miss, well I was but not to their creeps. I looked at Trish, hoping for some help. She frowned and mouthed “sorry”.

I nodded and allowed the two baboons to lead me from my room into the greatest torture this place had to offer so far: school.
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I walked into my first class and tried to go unnoticed as I slipped into the room. Of course that’s impossible when you’re the new girl. That and the fact you were the only one wearing an oversized coat in the whole room. AS soon as I stepped into the room, several eyes were on me. Actually it was twelve pairs, eleven students and one teacher. Way to put a girl on the spot. The first face I noticed was Matilda. She lit up when she saw me. I smiled at her which made me even more the attention getter.

The teacher stood in the front of the room, apparently none too happy about being interrupted. As soon as I looked at her, I knew she might be a problem. Even though she was a small woman, probably no more than five three, the gray haired woman tapping a yard stick against the side of her desk looked to be a force to be reckoned with. Her hair was pulled back into a sever bun and her suit looked as if it could cut class. She stared at me with cold blue eyes which felt like they could every through my pain resistant skin.

Finally she spoke and when she did it was with command: “Class, I’d like you to meet our newest requisite. This is Rebecca Howe; she’ll be joining us for the remainder of her visit at this fine establishment of ours”

I foolishly waved and sat in the nearest seat. The teacher smacked the ruler onto her desk. It sounded like a firecracker to everyone else and too me like a thunderclap. I winced, forgetting I still had “mega hearing” tuned in from this morning. The little old woman walked away from the advanced math problem on the board and stood before me, if smoke could come out of her ears it would. What the hell was her problem?

“Miss Howe, where I come from it is not proper for a young lady to be seated until she is told to do so”.

“Where’s that, the Stone Age”

I mumbled it under my breath but apparently this woman had super hearing too. She smacked the yard stick across my desktop. Then she very severely told me to stand back up. I did so begrudgly as the woman continued with whatever it is she wanted to say. It turns out all she wanted to do was introduce herself. She was Miss Yellow, she taught mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and ballet. Yes she said ballet. Oh no. She also, for those young ladies who needed, taught etiquette. Also a big oh no for me. After she was done talking she told me to take a seat, at the front of the class.
I moved from the back of the room to the front of the room.

When I sat down, I heard the girl behind me snicker. I didn’t have to turn around to see who it was. I noticed her and her clones as soon as I walked into the room. There were four of them. All of them were dressed in identical jean skirts, pink tops and high heels. The one sitting behind me was a brunette with way too much makeup. On either side of her were two blondes and behind her was a red head. All of them were wearing way too much makeup and perfume. I almost gagged when I walked by.

Miss Yellow went back to teaching. It was algebra, something I knew very little about. After about twenty minutes, I started to doze a bit. She seemed to notice and was on my like a miniature poodle. She smacked her yard stick on my desk. I’m so going to shove that thing up her ass. She glared at me down her pointed nose.

“Miss Howe does your ability involve discerning answer from dreams?”

I shook my head. Was there such a thing because if there was it would be so cool.

Miss Yellow sneered and changed tact. “Tell me Miss Howe, how far did your last school get in mathematics?”

My last school? I couldn’t remember that far back. I hated school, which I’m sure I mentioned once or twice. When I was there, I usually skipped class. It bothered me that the whole of learning was taught in one classroom by one person. The world was big and it certainly was a lot more interesting than a dusty classroom and an ancient fool droning on and on.

I asked with snark: “Does two plus two count?”

I got a few laughs, mainly from the guys. The clones behind me said nothing but Matilda and Clara laughed. At least my semi-could-be friends were on my side. Miss Yellow didn’t think it was funny though. I don’t really care what she thought. I hated people who got pleasure out of causing others discomfort. Even though she was the teacher and by rights she was in charge of this classroom, she had no right to put people on the spot just because they didn’t abide by her old fashion manners. I wanted to tell her that but instead I kept my mouth shut.

In fact I kept it shut for the next three hours. That’s right, three hours. Apparently our school schedule was broke up that way: three hours with her and then three with Mr. Red, the other teacher. So I sat there as she droned on about algebra, then she switched to physics which was equally as boring. Chemistry was about the periodic tables but that meant nothing to be me. The only session I paid apt attention to was biology because she was talking about the human nervous system. Today’s topic was stimulant reaction. In general she was talking about pain receptors, could the topic be more tailor made for me. I took extensive notes. The blonde haired kid next to me looked over once or twice, mildly interested in what I was doing then looked back at his own notes.

At nine am, a chime sounded.

Everyone stood up, so I did too. As a group the eleven of us filed out of Miss Yellow’s small and stuffy classroom. When I got to the door, I felt a hand tug on my sleeve. I looked around, saw no one and then remembered to look down. There was Matilda. She was dressed like a kid today, probably because they were the only clothes that could fit her properly. Been there and done that. She was wearing a Phineas and Ferb t-shirt and a cute (I think I need my head examined) floral print skirt. She had a stack of books clutched to her chest and her hair was in pigtails today.

“You don’t want to piss her off too much” her whispering voice swirled around my head. “She might not look it but she has a lot of pull around here”
I looked over Matilda’s head at the old woman who was shuffling paper into two neat stacks. She saw me looking and gave me the evil eye. If this woman had pull them I was a leg (get it?)

“I don’t like people who think they’re better than everyone else”

Clara came up on my other side: “Then you’re definitely not going to be friends with Beatrice and her Elements”

Clara scared me. She seemed to materialize out of thin air at my elbow. She was pretty quick. She looked different without her pajamas. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She wore an oversized sweater and baggy jeans. The baggy clothes were clearly hiding a killer figure. Though they were hidden I could see her boobs were way bigger than mine and her face would have looked so much better with a tad of makeup. Clara was definitely downplaying her beauty which was a shame because she was like a little Kelly Hu.

“You really ticked off The Priss”

The Priss? I looked around as we left the classroom; we were the last three to leave. Then it occurred to me they were talking about Miss Yellow. I laughed at the comparison. Clara and Matilda shook their heads. They quickly explained her deal to me. Apparently she was the genuine article. Mr. Zero brought her in a few years ago when more kids started coming. When it was discovered that the girl to boy ratio might be higher, he hired Miss Yellow to help them become “ladies”. She used to run a deportment academy upstate before it was shut down for apparently cruel tactics. That one I could believe.

“Why are they named after colors?”

Both girls shrugged.

“I’ve been here since I’ve been about twelve” said Matilda, it was the first time I heard her truly speak. Her voice was soft and sweet, just like the rest of her. “One day they just started arriving. First it was Mr. Green, followed shortly by Dr. Orange and Mr. Blue. Miss Violet came about a year later when Beatrice and Barry showed up. We were told them to call them those names. I don’t even know their real ones”

I told them I overheard Mr. Zero call Green “Quentin”. I also told them how Trish let me call her by her real name.

“She’s great isn’t she” said Clara with a smile as we continued down the hall, the other students way ahead of us now. “She’s a lot better than Dr. Brown. She was a real bitch” She turned to Matilda. “Whatever happened to her anyway?”

“No one knows. One day she was here and then she wasn’t. Dr. White showed up a few days later. That was about two months ago”.

I thought I remembered something about Trish saying she was a replacement. I knew she told me she came here two months ago when we were talking last night. I guess I’m lucky then. I’m not sure if I could have dealt with another S.O.B. around here.

We finally reached our next class.

This room was fairly bigger and much more laid back. Instead of the typical classroom arrangement like the last one, this one had no desks. Around the outside of the room, in a large circle, were several large comfy couches. The room was decorated differently too. The walls were splashed with bright, cheery colors and all the curtains were pulled open, allowing the sun to come in. I didn’t like the sun part of course but the room was pretty cool. Especially when I saw all the easels in the middle of the room. I used to love art when I was at school; it was the only class that I used to attend regularly.
Clara took a hold of our hands, which felt kind of nice, and led us over to one of the remaining free couches. We found ourselves sitting next to two boys. One of them was the blonde that was sitting next to me in the last class. He glanced my way again, creeping me out. He wore square framed glasses, had a soul patch that looked more like peach fuzz and he dressed like a prep. He may have been a little bit cute if he didn’t look at me like he already owned me. The boy next to him was strange. He had spiked hair, which I couldn’t tell if it was gray or silver. He wore a black muscle shirt, his biceps well toned and tanned. He wore sunglasses which would have been odd except for the usual reason. The strangest thing about him though was he was wearing a collar. It was a black leather one with metal spikes.

Clara saw me looking. “That’s Max and Donovan”. She blushed a bit when she said Donovan.

Matilda rolled her eyes and made a choking face behind Clara’s back. I suppressed a smile.

“What’s with the collar?”

Matilda laughed and Clara frowned.

Matilda leaned forward and whispered so Max and Donovan couldn’t hear. “He talks to animals but mainly wolves. There’s a pack of them that hang out in the grounds around the school and Donovan can communicate with them”

“That’s freaky”

“I think it’s cool” said Clara and then she harrumphed.

I was about to ask about Max when I heard someone coming down the hall. Apparently my mega hearing was on default now or something. I didn’t even have to concentrate now to use it. Which was kind of cool but was kind of freaky too? I not only could hear the teacher coming but can also hear the other conversations around the room. The girl from before, the brunette, was talking to her three clones. Apparently I was a popular topic. They called me a “freak”, wanted to know what was “up with my freaky outfit” and why I hung out with “losers”. I looked at Matilda and Clara. They weren’t losers; they were the perfect people for me. I switched over to that girl Holly from before. She wasn’t dressed in gray now but blue jeans and a t-shirt. She was talking to a black girl with cornrows while a pen and a pad of paper hovered near her head. The pen was writing will she was talking, independently from its owner. The black girl was better dressed. Her clothes were higher end and when she talked her hoop earrings waggled to and fro. They were talking about someone named Barry and how he was skipping class once again. I could hear both their hearts beating rapidly and could smell the sweat on their palms. Apparently they had a crush on this Barry.

“Good afternoon class”.

I completely forgot about the teacher as he walked into the room. My heart skipped a beat as did the hearts of every other girl in the room. The guy that walked in was absolutely gorgeous. Not even I could deny that. He was about six three with long blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail. He wore a baggy striped shirt over a white undershirt and his jeans were smeared with paint. On his shoulder was a big red duffel that he dropped in the center of the room. He looked about, finally making eye contact with me. My face flushed. Good he was gorgeous. I didn’t mind thinking that either. Every bit of male resistant I had melted when he walked into the room.

“You must be the new girl” he asked as he walked over to me. “I’m Mr. Red but you can call me Greg, everyone else does” He held out his hand but pulled it away quickly once he discovered it was covered with wet paint, dark purple in color.

He had a smile that could melt a glacier. “I’m sorry about being so late class, I had some business to attend to” He was looking at me when he said this and then winked.

Across the room, Beatrice and her clones glared at me.

Greg, still looking at me, gave me an overview of his courses. He apparently taught History, English, Art and Music. He also taught small weapons and field tactics. That one surprised me. They actually taught kids how to fire guns? Didn’t that seem a bit harsh? I looked over at Matilda and shook her head. I heard her whisper, telling me we’d talk about it later. I nodded and Greg stopped looking at me to teach the rest of the class.

His course load was far more interesting than The Priss’. Every single girl in the room, except Matilda, was leaning forward hanging on his every word. Around the room I could hear the rapidly beating hearts and see all the smiles on all the girl’s faces. I was finally getting used to my glasses and their strange way of making things look “normal”. Greg didn’t drone on like The Priss either. His lectures were interesting and educational, even the history one which I never found interesting before. I found it fascinating that someone did something and then this happened (ok I don’t actually remember what he was talking about he sure had pretty eyes). When he switched to English, he pulled a red leather bound book from his back pocket and starting spouting poetry.

This guy was too good to be true.

After the first two hours of what he called the “required stuff”, we moved on to art. He went to his duffel and took out a bowl and a bag of fruit. HE poured the fruit into the bowl and called us all over to take an easel. I got one in-between Clara and it was supposed to be Matilda. She was walking toward it when suddenly Max got in her way. No, wait, he didn’t get in her way. He stepped through her. One minute he was behind her and it was like he went fuzzy. Then he walked right through her and took the easel. He smiled at me, showing big white teeth.

I mouthed “sorry” to Matilda who ended up getting the easel on the other side of Clara. We all started painting immediately. I was distracted by the ass next to me. He kept complimenting me on my work. I looked at the canvas and all I saw was a mess. But Max said it was a masterpiece. When I looked over at his easel it looked like he was finger painting. I smiled which he construed as him winning some kind of contest for my heart. I wanted to gag but instead I tried to ignore him. It was really hard though. His heart was beating like a drum and he was wearing way too much cologne. It was circling his head in a green haze and causing my nose to burn a bit.

There was something else too. There was this annoying sound like a buzz. It was faint, like a bee in the distance. I looked over at the windows, wondering if there was a nest nearby. For a second, Greg looked at me and his head turned in the direction of the window too. He nodded slightly and walked over to it. Before I knew it he closed all the blinds, he turned around and gave me a thumbs up. He thought the light was bothering me and fixed it, he was so sweet.
Before I knew it, the hour was up and our time with Greg was over. I looked at my canvas and saw a half drawn bowl of fruit and a splatter of color.

“It looks good” said Max with his toothy grin again.

“You must be color blind” I told him defensively.

“No, that’s Donovan”

He laughed at his own joke. I hated when people did that because they knew it wasn’t funny and no one else was going to laugh so they had too. It was pathetic. But that was Max in a nutshell. I’ve only been a girl for a few days and already knew how to detect the creeps. It must be girl sense. Max, however, was completely oblivious. I wonder if he was a dumb blonde when he was a girl. I had half a mind to ask him when Matilda and Clara showed up.

“I’ll see you at lunch, my beautiful Goth Princess”

I groaned and the girls pulled me away.

“What was that about?” asked Matilda as Max joined up with Donovan and the two of them started for the door.

I turned and glared at their backs. Stupid bastard I ought to pound him into the ground.

“Whoa watch it there” sad Clara, rubbing her temples. “I don’t usually feel those ones unless they’re really strong”

“Sorry”

“C’mon” said Matilda as she slipped her arms into mine and Clara’s. “Let’s go to lunch”

__________________________________________________________________________

The Galley looked like a cafeteria to me but seeing as I didn’t know what a galley looked like I had nothing to compare it too. I assumed the two were similar. The place before me was a large room with tall windows and several round tables. There were far too many tables for the small group of us assembled there. Most of the kids sat at three or four while the rest remained empty. I assumed the others were meant for when the guards and the other staff ate. Apparently we didn’t eat at the same time.

When we entered, Matilda led us over to their usual table. Holly and her friend were already, chatting it up. Beatrice and her clones were the only else present at the moment. They were gabbing about fashion or some such nonsense. I blocked everything out because this hearing thing was really starting to annoy me. Holly was entertaining her friend by making several breadsticks float in the air and duel. It was a really cool thing. Whatever ability she had she sure had a lot of control over it. As soon as we approached the table and sat down, Holly’s face lit up and the bread sticks dropped.

Control yes, concentration no.

“Oh My God!” Holly squealed jumping from her seat and wrapping me in a hug so tight I couldn’t breathe.

Great, she’s a squealer. I’ve never seen anyone more excited to see me in my whole life. Her friend looked at me and her eyes said everything: So sorry. I smiled. The girl smiled back and we shared a moment. Holly finally let me and introduced us. The girl was Chloe Barnes; she could manipulate the subatomic particles in some metals and magnetize them. Apparently, according to her, she wasn’t very good at it. Holly disagreed and told her to give us a demonstration. So looked around the room, looking for something to show off her talent.

Clara found it: “Over there. Float one of those jell-o bowls. They’re made of metal right?”

We all looked to where she was pointing. It was over at the buffet line where several things of jell-o were sitting, waiting to be consumed. The bowls were aluminum but they looked like they could work. Chloe thought they would and concentrated on the closest one, pointing her arm at it as if willing it to move. That’s exactly what it did too. It wobbled a bit at first then slowly started to float in the air. Holly asked if she could float it over to the table because jell-o would really hit the spot. Chloe rolled her eyes and ever so carefully started floating it toward us.

Unfortunately, none of us noticed Beatrice. She was getting up from her chair, two tables over. She wasn’t paying attention either or she might have noticed too. She stood up and turned around just as the jell-o floated by. She walked right into it, covering her chest with it. She was wearing an open neck shirt with her boobs practically popping out of it too. The jell-o went into places I don’t even want to think about. She screamed at the top of her lungs. It was blood curdling.

Everyone broke out laughing, even me but you have to admit it was pretty damn funny. Beatrice didn’t think it was and neither did her friends. The three other girls jumped up as one. They rushed over to see if she was ok but she pushed them away. Instead she came storming to our table, clutching a cigarette lighter as if it was some kind of lifeline.

“You little bitch” she hissed, flicking open the lighter.

The others at my table looked pretty freaked out. Me I couldn’t believe Beatrice was blowing things out of proportion. Things got worse a few seconds later. The flame from the lighter started to flicker and then jumped from it as if it was alive. Beatrice opened her other hand and the flame jumped into it, forming a ball, the size of a coconut. Wanna-be Barbie could control flame. That was so not a good thing. I saw the startled looks on the others faces. Looks like it’s up to me to distinguish the situation (the pun would have been so funny if not for the context).

I jumped to my feet. “Calm down it was an accident”

Beatrice snapped her attention to me. “You should know all about that. Look at the way you’re dressed”

“That doesn’t make any sense”

Ok so the girl was pretty but she wasn’t very bright. I wonder what she was like as a guy.

“What’s it to you freak” she snapped “my quarrel is with Magnet head over here”

Magnet Head? Did she just call Chloe Magnet Head? This girl really needed to work on her insults.

I scoffed. “It's done and over with. Just wiggle back over to your table and we’ll forget it ever happened”.

The look on her face could have burnt a hole through me. Ok so maybe wiggle wasn’t the right choice of words considering what was currently squishing about in her bra. Just for the record I was referring to the way she and her friends walked. You know with a tight, wiggling step because their skirts were too damn tight. But you can see where someone with jell-o down their shirt might construe it as a bigger insult.

Beatrice’s temper flared. So did the ball in her hand. It grew to watermelon proportions. Not shape just size, just thought I’d clarify. She directed all her anger at me. I thought she was just being threatening but she actually took action. Holy shit she just threw fire at me. We were too close for me to react, there was only about three feet separating us. My eyes grew real big and threw all my concentration behind suppressing the pain that was about to come. But it never came. The ball burned out as soon as it smashed into the metal food tray that was floating in front of my face.

Standing next to me, panting heavily, was Holly. I could have kissed her. Her quick thinking and massive control just saved my ass.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE!!!”

I recognized the shouting voice immediately. Why did it have to be her? Holly dropped the tray and Beatrice quickly snapped her lighter shut. Miss Yellow came storming over like a hurricane, following shortly behind by Blue. Just great. The two people I hate more than anything. The two adults were on us in a second, well not physically thank God. Beatrice quickly played the innocent and started crying, running into Miss Yellow’s arms as she did so.
Miss Yellow comforted her. “They attacked me!” she sobbed, really putting on a show. “I was minding my own business, when Chloe and that Goth freak deliberately threw jell-o at me”

Miss Yellow glared at me, completely ignoring Chloe.

‘That’s bull” I snapped which also got a nasty look from Blue. “Chloe was showing me how her power worked by floating a bowl of jell-o and Miss Too-Conceited-To –Watch-Where-I’m-Going walked into it”

“They’re lying” Beatrice sobbed, Miss Yellow started patting her back in sympathy.

I laughed. I couldn’t believe how she was putting it on. There was no point trying to defend myself because Miss Yellow was buying it hook, line and sinker. But just because there was no point it didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try.

“Yeah, ok I’m lying” I said sarcastically. “I just decided to go out of my way and dump jell-o down the shirt of a girl I don’t know and thought what the hell, let’s incite said same girl so that she could barbeque my ass”

“See she admits it”

Clara laughed at Beatrice’s stupidity. Miss Yellow glared at her. Clara shut up quickly but I could see she and the others were suppressing smiles.
At this time, the guys walked into the galley. I didn’t know what was taking them so long until I noticed there were three of them. Max and Donovan stopped dead as soon they entered, looking at the commotion around our table. Max smiled, Donovan yawned. The third guy pushed between the two of them. He was tall, mysterious and I hate to admit this, very damn cute. Ok so it’s official: I like guys now. It must have been some kind of switch or something. It was kind of scary and tried to avoid it before but there was no doing so now. Mr. Mysterious was looking our way. He was one of those guys that could have been pretty if he wasn’t so handsome. I know I’m not making much sense but I’ve only been a girl a few days. My mind is guck anyway. He was a sight to behold. His hair was a black and shaggy, his eyes were emerald green and his smile was dazzling. Ok so he wasn’t smiling I made that part up but I bet if he did it would be something. He was dressed like someone who didn’t care: baggy printed tee, khaki cargo pants, red converses. If he looked this good as a guy I wondered what he would have looked like as a girl. Ok so maybe my female mind hasn’t been the complete victor after all.

“Causing problems again, Queenie”

Beatrice stopped sobbing as he walked over. I felt her heart pounding and if one was looking, that one being Miss Yellow, she could have clearly seen that Beatrice was faking. But the old hag wasn’t looking at the girl who miraculous recovered from her horrible ordeal and jumped from her arms. Instead she was glaring at me and my brood.

Beatrice strutted over to him but was stopped by his outstretched hand. “No way Jell-o Tits. You can have a hug as soon as you go wash off”.

Beatrice pouted. I thought she might cry for real. Instead she sighed and fluffed her hair. She looked at her clones and walked off but not before slamming her shoulder into me. I wasn’t up on the latest trends but I’m sure that mean “stay out of my way”. As soon as our shoulders connected I heard that buzz again. The one from the art room. It was still faint but it definitely wasn’t a bee. I looked at Beatrice as she and her friends walked away. Was it coming from her? Maybe it was connected to her powers somehow?

‘Hey Barry. Long time no see” said Matilda with a laugh.

“Thanks for the save” said Holly as she and Chloe blushed.

So this was the elusive Barry? I looked him over from head to toe. It was strange but he didn’t look like he was made of gold. But maybe if he stood still I could dip him in it and keep him in my room to idolize. I know, I’m mush now but you have to see this guy.

“Very funny, Mattie” he said, looking at me for a second but then back at Matilda.

Clara cleared her throat. “Barry this is the new girl, Rebecca. Rebecca this is Barry”

He took my hand and shook it. I couldn’t say anything so I just nodded my head.

“Barry is kind of an enigma around her” continued Matilda, getting an elbow in the ribs from the boy himself. “He’s our resident tech guru and spends most of his time cooped up in his room. He only comes out for holidays, training exercises and snickers bars”

“It's nice to finally put a face to the name” he said, smiling at me.

I blushed then recovered long enough to ask what the hell he was talking about.

“Barry’s a super genius computer hacker. He can use one computer and interface with any network in the world, no matter how sophisticated their security software is. He’s like an Uber Hacker”

All I could think of was how the hell did he get a computer?

The girls tried to convince Barry to sit with them but he declined. He said the guys dragged him out of his dungeon so he better sit with them. Before he went off he told me it was nice to meet me which turned me into more mush. After he left, Clara and Matilda started on me about my overwhelming crush on Barry. Holly and Chloe looked a little peeved at first but then they started in on me too. I was surrounded by tormentors but we all had a good laugh about it. I liked these girls, in the short time I’ve known them I guess I could consider them my friends.

After my humiliation, the others started talking about themselves. Clara was the latest addition, besides me that is. She came to The Syndicate about two months ago, a few days before Trish. She was from Washington, the state not the capital. Her original (previous, yeah that sounds better) name was Christopher. What surprised me was not that her family were famous local rock musicians (though that was cool) but the fact that she used to Caucasian. Matilda explained that that happened a lot. In fact, Beatrice was Italian when she first got there. Now that was even harder to believe. She was far too white and waspy for that to be possible.

Holly and Chloe were actually grabbed together, about four months ago. They didn’t know each other at the time but they were actually from the same area. They both lived in New Hampshire, about five miles apart. I guess that’s the reason the two were good friends, familiarity maybe. Holly used to be Harris (what a name) and was about sixty pounds overweight before. I found that hard to believe. She used to be a lazy computer slob and loved anime. I admitted I had no idea what that was. Holly was shocked and told me she had to come to her room some time, very soon. For my reeducation, apparently.

Chloe used to be Charles. She used to be tall, super tall, like six foot five. Now she was about five three and didn’t like it one bit. She was a basketball star at her school, one the first freshmen ever to make the varsity team. So when she changed she hadn’t been a happy camper. She admitted that a few days after arriving, she tried to kill herself. She held up her wrists, showing the scars. They were a reminder that not everyone in this place was happy to be here. AS I looked at the ropey purplish lines across her wrists I wondered if I could ever do that. Not that I wanted too I was just wondering if I had it in me to do so.

After Chloe’s revelation, Matilda tried to change the subject by talking about her. Her name used to be Matthew and even at twelve, she knew something was different about her. She said she now knows that she was one of those boys who always wanted to be a girl. She was the youngest of three brothers; her older siblings were macho and disgusting. They played football and she wanted dolls. When the change started to happen, much earlier than everyone else at the table, she was the happiest person in the world. Then she got her power and was miserable.

My revelation was short and sweet. I’m not going to repeat it but suffice to say they were all really sympathetic. Matilda and Holly both hugged me. Clara was pale through the whole thing; I realized she was probably feeling my anguish. Chloe just nodded, I think the idea of not having anyone was something new to her. After all Charles had been a part of a huge family (six siblings) whereas Rick had no one but his friends.

Oh forgot to mention that part. We decided that our old selves were not our true selves any longer. We made a pact to always refer to who we used to be as if they were someone else. We also made a pact, the five of us at that table, to always be ourselves and never stop being friends. It was Matilda’s idea, I’m not sure why but when she brought it up she was looking over at Beatrice. I made a note to ask her about her history with the snob later.

We only got forty five minutes for lunch and it went faster than I expected. Another chime sounded at the end of it. Matilda asked if she needed her to show me to the Dojo. But I shook my head and told everyone I was going with Trish for some tests. They all looked green all of the sudden. Matilda said she’d talk to me later then. She gave me a hug then the others hugged me as well. They filed out of the room with the rest, Beatrice turned and sneered. I flicked her off. Soon I was only in the room until my Goon Patrol showed up to escort me to who knows where.

Photo Credit: MeetMeByTheLake2Nite

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