“Oh, just an idea.” He wheeled the computer around to show a map of the brain and a fancy sound wave system. “You see, the brain reacts to certain musical notes. Certain sound waves can cause a person to calm down or to think positively about something or to help them sleep. It’s proven science! So I’m trying to figure out different sequences that would temporally alter brain waves to my will. Perhaps alter them completely. Here, check it out!”
He hit enter. Music began to play through the speakers, a decent mixture of a pounding bass and the melodies of an electric keyboard. Yet it was the mechanical, underlying notes that instantly grated against Seth’s temporal lobes. It was worse than nails scratching across a series of chalkboards. Seth grabbed his ears, the tone piercing through his eardrums. His entire body cringed and wrenched at the sound.
A load crack echoed and Seth squinted in Ky’s direction. Ky had sunk his fingers into the table, breaking it into two pieces. Around them, trays crashed to the floor while other students tried to block out the horrendous sound. Seth quickly pulled free a hand and hit the escape button on Q’s laptop. The music stopped, but it took a moment before the ringing in Seth’s ears finally faded away. He scanned the room, finding everyone staring at them, including Natti.
“Ah, broken speaker,” Seth explained and turned to Q. “You have to get that fixed, man.”
Apparently satisfied by his story, the students went back to their conversations or began to pick up their spilt lunches. Seth watched Natti for a moment, her eyes on his. His heart pounded when she gave him a look that meant she knew he was lying. Don’t say anything, Natti, he thought. Don’t call me on this one. Finally, she turned back to her group with a shrug and rolled her eyes. He exhaled in relief.
“Still needs works,” Q admitted, rubbing his temples.
“Clearly!” Ky snapped while trying to hide the break in the table and keep it from falling apart. “I thought Set blessed your family with his intelligence, dude. That could have broken our cover just as easily as I broke this damn table.”
Q shrugged. “Hey, if it was successful, I would have been able to control everyone in this room, making them feel whatever I want. And why stop there? Maybe I will even be able to take over people’s minds one day, just like Seth’s gift can.”
“When that time comes, just be sure we’re wearing ear plugs or something,” Seth commented. “We don’t want to lose our minds along with everyone else in the room.”
“Good point.” Q turned to his note pad. “Buy ear plugs.”
Natti was relieved to finally step onto the tennis courts. Throughout the day, her thoughts continued to flash back to lunch. She hadn’t cared that Seth lied about the PC speaker. Whatever they were doing, it was their business. It was the blond cheerleader who had flashed her breasts at Seth in front of everyone that kept jumping into mind. Though she had pretended not to notice when Ky’s wolf call echoed across the cafeteria, the image gnawed at her and she didn’t even know why. As hard as it had been with him being after her constantly, she had been desperately trying to avoid Seth. She needed something to take her mind off the situation, and a tennis match was just the thing to do it.
“Right! Settle down!” Mrs. Kuft barked. “Today is the first day of playing doubles. These games will line you and your partners up later this semester for our class tournament, where you’ll be playing formal sets and matches. So be sure to report your scores before you leave class.” She paused, the tapping of her pen echoing in the silence. “Right, when I call your names, head directly to the court I assign you to. Okay, first up! Seth and Ky, you’ll be playing Kevin and Jen on court one.”
Kevin groaned next to Natti when she spied Seth and Ky high five each other. “We’re so dead meat.”
Natti rubbed his shoulder. “Hey, it will be fine. Just give them hell.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Oh, don’t be such a sour puss!” Jen bounced to her feet, grabbed his hand, and dragged him onto the court for warm ups.
“Good luck,” Natti called to them, but it was Seth who had turned around. She caught her breath and cast her eyes down toward her shoes.
“Harry and Ben, you’re on court two with Britney and Ales.” Natti watched the teams take the court next to Seth and her friends. “Quant and Markus, you’re playing against Natara and Wanda on court three.”
“Oh yeah.” Q smiled nastily at Wanda. “This game is in the bag.”
Natti scowled. She raised herself to her feet, holding her favorite racquet she had unpacked over the weekend. Giving it a twist, she walked alongside Wanda, whose shoulders slumped.
“Hey,” Natti patted her friend on the back, “don’t let him get you down. Just remember what I taught you.”
Wanda shifted. “What if I screw up?”
“You won’t. Trust me, Wanda. You’ll do fine. Now, let’s go give them a run for their money.” Natti smiled. “Come on.”
***