Alphas

5
ALPHA ACADEMY
BEE’S FORMER SUITE
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH
1:13 P.M.

“Is that Nutella and bacon?” Charlie feigned disgust with video Darwin in what would soon be known as their final Skype session. She knew that a virtual breakup was loathsome, and that their relationship deserved something way more respectful. But if she could touch his almond-shaped hazel eyes, naturally highlighted hair, the tiny black freckle above his lip, or smell the cinnamon-scented toothpicks he loved to dangle from his mouth, she’d never go through with it.
“This feast was supposed to be a surprise, but consider it incentive.” Darwin flashed his camera over the entire spread that Charlie knew he’d spent all morning making. Despite having a staff at his disposal, Darwin always DIYed his own gifts.
Darwin’s black-and-white–striped rugby returned to full view on screen. He pushed a button on his phone, the folksy strum of an acoustic guitar flooded Charlie’s eardrums and sank her heart. Funny how she suddenly loved the music she had spent a lifetime hating.
“Allie J?” Charlie asked with an eye roll.
“You know you love it,” Darwin teased, trying to smile but not quite pulling it off. They had been mourning the day Charlie would return to New Jersey for months. Now he was trying to be strong for her. Soon he would need to be strong for himself, stronger than he had ever anticipated. Charlie might as well have been holding a gun behind her back, preparing to shoot him in cold blood.
She forced an equally strained happy face. “No, you love it. I’ve always preferred Lady Gaga to Mother Earth and you know it.”
“Whatever.” Darwin ran a hand through his sideswept bangs, something he did when he was tired of small talk. “So how soon can you get here?” He was at their favorite spot on the island. The last stretch of beach on the northeast side. Pink sand, clear water, not a hint of Shira’s architecture. His blue Converse held the corners of the blanket in place should an unexpected gust suddenly blow through.
Charlie swallowed hard. “I have some awesome news and some unawesome news.” She clutched her bracelets, feeling the absence of his photo through the cold silver.
“Un-awesome first,” he demanded. Like her, he preferred to rip the bandage off and follow it with an ice cream chaser. She shook her head, selfishly ignoring his request in order to savor her last seconds as Darwin Brazille’s girlfriend.
“The awesome news is that your mom is letting me stay.”
“No way!” Black and white stripes filled the screen as he pulled his computer into a loving embrace. “I knew the twenty-seven handwritten letters, threats to join the army, and the silent treatment would eventually get through to her.”
Charlie felt like she’d swallowed a mouthful of pink sand. Her eyes welled up and her heart pumped daggers instead of blood. “Well, don’t get too excited.”
His smile lingered as his eyes deadened. “Whaddaya mean?”
Rip the Band-Aid. “Darwin, I… we…” Rip it! Her chest tightened like she was wearing a corset laced with guilt. “We have to end this.”
“Skype?” Darwin tried, beginning to notice the moving men in the background, filling up boxes and removing every trace of Bee. “What’s going on over there?”
Charlie took a deep breath. “My mom is leaving. Going back to Manchester. I’m staying to go to school here. I need to be on my own for a while. To focus on this incredible opportunity. Without distractions. It’s not you, it’s me.” She delivered her lines stiffly, hoping he’d read between them and understand why she was doing this.
“You’re joking, right?” Darwin punched a plate of heart-shaped muffins. “You have to be. You wouldn’t just do this!”
“I would,” Charlie told her shaking hands. “I have to. You know, for my education.”
Darwin’s features hardened. His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched.
Charlie knew all his expressions, but she’d never seen this one. This was not the dropped-pizza-cheese-side-down frown, or the pout when they parted for the night, or the slight bottom lip poke-out that occurred when he was losing a tennis match. This one was new. It reminded her of that painting The Scream they’d seen at the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. It horrified and pained her, and she was the artist who’d made it that way.
Charlie opened her mouth, wanting to shout, Let me explain! But what was the point? She couldn’t tell him the truth. And anything else would just deepen the wound.
“So that’s it?” Darwin asked, one last glimmer of hope still flickering in his eye. “Really? You’ve thought about this?”
Charlie doused the glimmer by nodding yes.
“Fine. Goodbye, then. Good luck with your incredible opportunity.”
Her screen went dark.
He was gone.
Snot bubbled from Charlie’s left nostril as she burst into tears. It felt like her soul was being sucked from her body, and the lips around the straw belonged to Shira.
“Ugghhhhhh!” She wanted to storm out. Run to Darwin, press the reset button. Call her mom and have turn her jet around. Head back to Hoboken where she and Darwin would still be together—just not in person. But then there was her mom—and everything she’d given up so Charlie could be here. So she could learn at the best school in the world. So she could make something more of her life than what her mom had had. Charlie’s moral compass spun around until it was pointing north again.
The moving men took this as a green light to pack up Bee’s desk, the only thing still intact. Between sobs, Charlie grabbed the electronic stapler and began unscrewing the bottom. Taking things apart and putting them back together was her specialty.
She only hoped she could do the same with her and Darwin.
Charlie stood at the foot of Jackie O’s glass stairs, working up the courage to climb them. The voices at the top were saying something about being destined for greatness. The voices in her head were saying, Turn around and run!
What had she been thinking, showing up with swollen red eyes, stuffed sinuses, and a pocket jammed with moist tissues? This was a major first-impression moment. It was the first day of the rest of her life. The reason she’d just said goodbye to the only two people who mattered. She should be pumped. Motivated! Ready to show Shira what she was made of. And yet, Charlie couldn’t bring herself to take the first step.
“Oh, hi.” A tall woman in a yellow tunic—probably one of the muses her mom hired—greeted her. “I thought I heard someone breathing down here.” Five metallic robes were slung over her arm. “I’m Thalia. You must be Charlie.”
“Unfortunately.”
The muse pouted. “Buddha says, ‘You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection,’ and I happen to agree.”
“Yeah, well, Buddha never met me,” Charlie said flatly.
“Well, I just did, and I think you’re full of marvelous potential.” Thalia cupped Charlie’s shoulder with surprising strength. “Let’s go meet the others.”
Charlie took a deep breath, urging herself to try to make the best of this. Because if she didn’t, her sacrifice would be in vain, and that was something she couldn’t bear.
“I found the fifth,” Thalia trilled once they reached the top. “Our circle is complete. Can you feel the power?” She clenched her fists. “I can.”
“Hi, I’m Charlie.”
Four girls, each one more striking than the next, pointed their aPods at her, then checked their screens.
“So, Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Deery, you were homeschooled?” asked Pink Hair.
“Yeah.”
“And you’ve been around the world more than three times?” asked Mole.
“Yup.”
“And your mom lives in Manchester?” asked Arm Sleeves.
“Uh, yeah. Well, kind of. She’s on her way.”
“So what’s your thing?” asked Supermodel.
“My thing?”
“Yeah, what got you here?” Supermodel pressed.
A controlling woman who would do anything to keep me away from her son?
Charlie shrugged. Was inventing really a “thing”? Shira used to dismiss it as a childish hobby laced with a destructive agenda. It was nothing to brag about. “I dunno, I’m pretty good with technology. What about you guys?”
“Skye, dancer.”
“Renee, acclaimed actress.”
“Triple Threat, model, actress, dancer.”
“Cool.” Charlie grinned, trying to look unjealous. “What’s your name?”
“Triple Threat,” the other three said together.
“Oh, sorry.” Charlie felt like crying all over again.
“And I’m Allie,” said Mole. “J. I mean, Allie J.” She giggled.
Charlie gasped. “The songwriter?”
“Yup,” the other three said together.
“No way.” Did Shira really hate Charlie enough to recruit Darwin’s favorite artist? Was that her plan? To break them up so Darwin could fall in love with Allie J? The better catch? A girl his mom approved of? Unstoppable tears began flowing from Charlie’s eyes. She didn’t stand a chance. Even Allie J’s bare feet were beautiful.
“Oh, that’s so cute, Allie,” Renee cooed. “Your star power is making her cry. That always happens to me. It’s so flattering.”
“Are you a fan?” Allie J asked.
Charlie giggle-sniffed, then dried her eyes. “I listened to one of your songs today.” With my ex-boyfriend, Darwin. I’m sure you’ll meet him soon enough, she silently added.
The muse stepped forward and cast an apologetic glance toward Charlie. “Why don’t you take that free bed on the end, beside Allie J?”
“Okay.” Charlie placed a hand on her duvet, wishing she could crawl inside and cry the last bits of sadness from her eyes.
“Now that you’re all here, it’s time to make your uniform selections.” Thalia placed a metallic robe on each bed. It was chenille soft despite its shiny surface. The red Alpha Academy logo was sewn to the left pocket. “All alphas are required to wear the standard uniform to all academic classes.” Holograms of the five girls modeling the champagne-colored blouse, silver tie, matching pleated mini, and clear gladiator sandals appeared in front of them.
“Oooooooh!”
“Wow!”
“Ah-mazing!”
“I’m gorgeous!”
Everyone but Charlie squealed with delight. This was nothing new to her.
“But for specialties like dance, drama, swim, spa, ski, gymnastics, ice skating, sports, sleep, and study, you will have these options.”
The holograms came out tumbling in metallic bodysuits, skiing in gold thermals, swimming in copper bikinis, and dancing in glittery tulle tutus.
“How do we get all this stuff?” Skye speed-clapped like a windup cymbal-playing monkey.
“Point and click,” singsonged Thalia. “Everything you choose goes straight to your closets.”
“And where are those?” Renee asked.
“Here.” Charlie hopped off her bed and pressed a recessed button on the wall. Five doors appeared, each with a different girl’s name. Charlie opened hers, revealing a giant walk-in closet.
“Hey, how did you know that?” Triple Threat asked.
“Um, I—”
“She must have read the user’s guide,” Thalia interjected. “Something I urge you all to do as soon as possible. You will be amazed at what this campus has to offer.”
“This?” Renee held up a Bible-thick book. “It’ll take months.” She flipped through the pages, then pushed it aside.
“No big.” Triple shrugged. “I’ve had scripts twice that size.”
“In bed,” Allie J cracked.
Skye and Renee burst out laughing while Charlie sank deeper into the invisible sea of depression. Did she have to be funny, too?
“As Vince Lombardi once said, the dictionary is the only place that success comes before work.”
With that, the girls returned their focus to the hologram fashion show, pointing and clicking like Annie Leibovitz. Charlie, having already seen all the options, quickly selected some pj’s, sweats, and one-piece zip-up work suits, in case she ever made it back into the lab. Then she turned her attention to what really mattered.
“So, when did you apply to Alphas?” she asked Allie J.
“Um, a while ago,” she answered, her eyes fixed on the bikini-clad holograms.
“What was your essay about?” Charlie looked straight ahead, so as not to appear too interested.
“You know, the environment, music, poetry,” she told the buttons on her aPod.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
Allie J slammed down her aPod and reached for her Purell. She double pumped and rubbed her hands vigorously. “What’s with all the questions?”
“Sorry.” Charlie rubbed her clammy forehead regretfully. “I was just making small talk.”
“It’s okay.” Allie J softened. “I’m just trying to shop. And you know, I only like to wear white, so this is kind of hard for me.”
“I hear ya.” Charlie rolled her eyes, hating herself for coming on too strong. They spent the rest of the fashion show in tense silence while the other three shopped giddily.
Once it ended, Thalia returned to her place in the center of the horseshoe. “Shira’s uniforms are reflective because she wants each and every one of you to remember to shine each and every day. Even in slumber.”
The girls nodded as if that had been obvious.
“Too bad there aren’t any boys to model our new wardrobes for.” Skye smoothed her turquoise dance sleeves.
“What about the Brazille brothers?” Allie J beamed.
No!
“They go here?” Renee released her pink hair and shook it to her shoulders.
“Yup.” Allie J nodded. “I saw one walking back from the beach carrying a big picnic basket. Honest-leh? He’s super cute.”
No! Leave him alone! Charlie wanted to scream.
“Ohmuhgud.” Skye reached for her toes. “Five of them and five of us! Perfect!”
Charlie’s heart beat against her chest, her ears, and her gums. She was pulsing with a dangerous mix of emotions, but she couldn’t reveal that she knew the BBs. Not now.
Maybe not ever.
Charlie stood and excused herself. But when she did, something in her pocket poked sharply at her hip. She pulled it out and ran straight for the bathroom.
It was the butterfly she’d made for Darwin and its heart-shaped wings were crushed.