Alphas (7 page)

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.

The door to the Banquet Hall slid open. Ninety-five girls dressed in matching metallics searched for their tables inside the
dome-shaped eatery. Made entirely of glass, the walls provided a 360-degree view of the constellations overhead.

“Ohmuhgud,” Skye muttered. It looked more spaceship than cafeteria. She pressed her toes into the gummy soles of her clear
gladiators and nervous-stretched her calves.

“This is nothing.” Thalia beamed. “Follow me.”

Twenty clover-shaped tables, one per house, faced a circular stage in the middle of the hall. Each time the Jackie O’s passed
one, a chorus of Wall*E-sounding beeps chirped through the hushed hall.

“What’s happening?” Renee’s violet eyes shifted frantically as girls aimed their aPods at the newcomers.

“They’re checking our profiles,” Charlie whispered through the side of her mouth.

Renee angled her head slightly. “My left side is much better,” she mumbled to Skye.

“Not
that
profile.” Allie J giggled.

Thalia stopped at the empty table between Michelle Obama house and the J. K. Rowlings. “Please take your seats,” she announced
from the head.

The top of the six-leaf clover was an LED screen that spelled out each girl’s name, her meal, and its complete nutritional
breakdown. It was clear the menu was tailored to the girls’ alpha specialties and engineered to help them reach their full
physical potentials. Why else would Skye be dining on protein-packed sesame-crusted seitan? Certainly not for the taste of
it.

Triple peered around and sighed. “If a girl has an absolutely perfect blowout in a boy-free cafeteria, does it still make
a statement?” she wondered aloud, stroking her elbow-length caramel mane.

Skye touched her carefully spiraled ringlets, not mentioning the fact that she too was feeling the early symptoms of boy withdrawal.
She bit her frosted pink lip. Could lips feel lonely? Because hers did.

“A girl should want to look good for herself, not for
boys
,” Allie J responded automatically. The corner of her mouth beneath her mole twitched as if the words pained her somehow.

“I couldn’t have said that better myself.” Thalia leaned forward and gripped Allie J’s hand.

“Yes, you could have.” Renee rolled her eyes. “That didn’t sound convincing at all.”

“Whaddaya mean?” Allie J reddened.

“The timber of your voice was low and wavering.” Renee tucked a pink strand of hair behind her heavily studded ear. “You clearly
didn’t believe what you were saying.”

“The shoulders tipped me off.” Triple Threat downed her third smoothie in one gulp. “Rounded only works if you’re playing
homeless or anorexic.”

“Look!” Allie J lifted her arm, happy to be changing the subject. An orange origami butterfly landed on her wrist and flapped
its wings. “Is it paper?”

“Recycled aluminum.” Charlie smiled proudly, like she’d made it herself. As if.

“Um, excuse me,” squeaked a redhead with semi-translucent skin. She smelled vaguely of coq au vin. “Allie J, will you sign
my paring knife?” The girl opened a wood case and pulled a three-inch blade from its blue velvet cocoon, then handed the muse
a Sharpie.

All five Jackie O’s scanned her immediately.

NAME: SADIE SHMOLHOLTZ. OWNER/HEAD CHEF OF UNICORN CHOWDER, NEW ORLEANS’ HOTTEST NEW RESTAURANT. YOUNGEST PROFESSOR AT THE
FRENCH CULINARY INSTITUTE. AUTHOR OF NINETEEN COOKBOOKS AND SEVEN DVDS. PERSONAL CHEF FOR DEMI AND ASHTON AT AGE ELEVEN. HOBBIES:
MODERN DANCE, JAZZ DANCE, BALLET, TAP, SWEDISH RHYTHMICS.

Jealousy bubbled inside Skye like boiled water. Why hadn’t anyone heard of
her
?

But with a little more thought, Skye decided it was for the best. Sadie would eventually need Allie J’s songs to console her
after being dumped for cooking a giant muffin top in her pants. Not that she had one yet. The wannabe dancer was leaner than
a boiled skinless chicken breast. But with any luck, she’d plump up soon.