PODs (11 page)

Month Two

After our day of redecorating, we spent more time doing things together. We played cards and board games. Aidan found the television in the back corner of the linen closet, and we decided we needed a movie night to celebrate.

“What are we celebrating?” Aidan asked.

“Who cares?” Katie said with a giggle. “Hurry up, Aidan.” She handed him the cables to hook up the DVD player.

“I thought your best subject was computer science and networking, Aidan. Seems like you’d be able to hook up a DVD player,” Josh said with a belch.

Aidan opened his mouth to say something. Instead he let out a frustrated sigh and muttered something under his breath that made Katie break out in a fit of giggles.

Once the television and DVD player were hooked up and working, we gathered in the living area, jostling for the best spots in front of the television. Aidan had found a horror movie and everyone was excited to watch it—except me.

I sat on the floor with a scratchy blanket pulled up to my eyes. Josh plopped down next to me and yanked part of the blanket over himself. He rested his hand on my knee. I scooted over as far as I could, pulling the blanket with me.

“What? Untouchable?”

“No, the blanket’s too small for two people,” I said, trying to keep my voice neutral.

“Too good for me?” he said with a smirk.

Yes. I don’t like selfish jerks
. “No,” I said, trying to give him a sincere smile. It was hard.

“If you don’t wanna share, go get another one.”

“Get your own.” I jerked the blanket away, sitting on the edges so he couldn’t get under it.

When the movie started I held my blanket with both hands, covering my face—one side slightly lower than the other so I could peek over the top. I knew it was coming. The stupid lady was going into the dark basement alone. It was quiet. She walked further into the creepy room. I held my breath. I waited, my heart beating faster. My hands hurt from clutching the blanket. The lady stood in the darkest corner…of course the killer was going to jump out at her. I braced myself. The blanket ready to cover my eyes…

“AHH!” Aidan yelled, tickling my side. I screamed and jumped up. He thought it was hilarious—the others did, too.

“Aidan, you’re a jerk,” I said, scowling.

I’d had enough scary movies for the night. Going into the bedroom, I climbed on my bunk. The hinges squeaked as I pulled open the cupboard in the headboard and grabbed a book. I’d just opened the novel when a shadow fell over the page. Expecting Katie or Tiffany, I was surprised to see David.

“Hey,” I said, trying to remember how to breathe like a normal person. But every time I took a breath I smelled him and he smelled beyond amazing and that was a problem—at least for me.

“Not much of a horror fan?” He tried to hide a grin and ran his hand through his hair. I watched the silky strands sift through his fingers.

“What clued you in?” I was surprised my voice didn’t shake, since my insides were.

“Well, you held a blanket up to your eyes the minute the movie started playing.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I did.”

“You’re reading.” He rubbed his hands up and down the sides of his thighs.

“Mm-hmm, I do that sometimes.”

He chuckled. “I just thought you’d want some company. I mean, you are all the way down the darkened hall by yourself…”

“Ha-ha, David.”

“Eva, I…” He waved off his words. “I’ll let you get back to your book. See you tomorrow.” He smiled and walked out the door.

What was that?

Butterflies the size of softballs flew around in my stomach. I tried to shoo them away. No romances in the POD. It didn’t matter that he made my insides swirl out of place every time he was in my line of sight, smell radius or general vicinity—and, since we were locked in the same tin can, he was at least within one of those all the time.

“Eva, move your person!” Seth yelled.

“I’m trying. She won’t go where I want her to.”

“You’re gonna get killed…”

“Well, then help me!” I yelled.

The five guys seemed to have no problem maneuvering their virtual men in the stupid video game. They had them running all over the screen. My person stood in place twirling around and around. She wouldn’t cooperate.

“Your avatar is as stubborn as you are, Eva,” Seth laughed.

I heard David chuckle behind me. “Ugh, I’m done,” I said when virtual me got killed for the millionth time. “Let’s play Wii Bowling.” I knew they wouldn’t. They were too involved with their little virtual friends running here and there.

“Eva, face it. Gaming is not your thing.”

“I told you. I suck at all things sports-related… even virtual ones. Except bowling on the Wii. Come on. You know you want to…”

No answer. It was just as well. The last time we’d been bowling, my little hand thingy had slipped and flown backward, hitting David in the eye. But I had bowled my best game.

“Hey, guys, did you know we have video chat on these things?” Katie tilted her laptop to show us.

“Cool. Who’s the guy?” I asked with a smile. It seemed Katie had already made a new friend.

“Cameron, but he goes by Cam. He’s in sub-POD Twelve. We’ve been talking a lot,” she said, blushing.

“Hi Cam,” I said, waving at the screen.

A young kid, around fourteen, smiled and waved. He never took his eyes off Katie.

“Ah, young love,” David said, walking behind me and looking at the screen. Katie’s blush grew deeper.

I grabbed my laptop and opened the intranet.

“You looking for a boyfriend, too?” David asked with a grin.

“I guess so. No one will let me play videogames.”

“Because you suck,” Josh called.

“I might as well see if someone wants to chat,” I said, ignoring Josh.

“You know,” Josh came up behind me, “If you’re looking for someone to hook up with, I could help with the boyfriend thing.” He put his sweaty hands on my shoulders and massaged them with sausage-like fingers.

“Ah, no thanks,” I said, moving forward, out of his reach. “I’m not looking for a relationship in the PODs.” That was partly true. If David’s hands had been massaging me…well, that would have been a different story entirely.

“Who said anything about a relationship? I’m just looking to hook up. Lemme know when you change your mind. All the other girls are too young, too pregnant, or too ethnic for me.” Josh went back to the game.

David chuckled behind me. “Tough decision, huh? Turning down Mr. Commitment.”

“Yeah, my heart’s breaking.”

M
onth Three

The fun had to end sometime.

The chute running from the main POD to our sub-POD had only been used for our fruit and veggie delivery, birth control boosters for the three girls who needed them, and our blood checks, so the thing was only used once a week—until…

Thump.

It can’t be our fruits and vegetables. They came this morning
.

“I’ll get it!” Katie ran to the chute like a child on Christmas morning. She opened the hatch and pulled out the container. A few seconds after she’d closed the hatch, we heard another container arrive, this one landing with a deep thump that made us jump. Then another thudded in. And another. By the fifth arrival, we’d all gathered to see.

“What is it?” Aidan called to Katie, who’d taken the first container to the table to unseal it.

“Books and stuff.”

“Uh-oh,” I muttered.

“There’s a letter. ‘School begins tomorrow. Each of you will be assigned a course guide designed to prepare you in a certain subject. Packets addressed to each POD occupant accompany this memo. Please find the envelope with your name on it and review the contents carefully. Books will be sent via the chute by the end of the day. Links for your online courses will be uploaded via the intranet later today. All class assignments will be completed online via the POD intranet. Please complete the orientation course before you begin your assigned course schedules. Instructions on how to upload your assignments are included in the packets you just received. Please review each item carefully,’” Katie read.

David held out a canister to me. “Evangelina?”

I pulled several books from the canister. The large paperbacks still held the curl of the round container. “Thanks. I guess.”

“‘Evangelina.’ That’s pretty.”

“Thank you.” I smiled. He returned my smile, and that made me smile wider, like an idiot.

“So? What’d ya get?” Aidan asked.

“A bunch of English crap.”

Another large boom made me jump. Another set of books had arrived. The chute continued banging—making us all jump every time—until everyone had their books. Conveniently, each person’s course work was in a subject he or she had excelled at in school.
I guess my theory was right about that
.

We compared notes. Tiffany had biochemistry, with a lot of pharmacology stuff; it looked like they had a career track in mind for her. David also had science materials. George received several nursing textbooks.

Aidan didn’t get any books. “My stuff’s comp-sci, so it’s all online. What’d you get, Seth?”

“Math.”

“What?” Josh threw the electrical engineering texts he’d received. The books scattered across the floor. “They think they can just choose our lives for us? Screw that!” He stalked off to the boys’ dorm room.

We looked up to watch him go, and went back to looking at our books.

“They’re building on our strengths,” David murmured.

“Yup,” Aidan agreed. “This is going to be so much fun. Much better than playing videogames, watching DVDs and hanging out online with pretty girls in the other PODs all day.”

David chuckled. “Yeah, a barrel of laughs.”

We each found spaces where we could look over our books and coursework. Tiffany sat on the couch and George in his beanbag, which had moved from the center of the room to the side of the couch—the side Tiffany was on.

I went to the girls’ bedroom, letting the heavy stack of books fall on my bunk before I sat down beside them. I looked at the pile and sighed.

I had worried about how we’d spend our time in the POD, how we’d keep from getting so bored we’d want to pull our hair out strand by strand. My worries were over.

“Hey, Eva, whatcha wanna play?”

“Nah, not tonight, guys. I’m going to look over this stuff and see what type of torture is waiting for me.”

“C’mon, don’t go all bookworm on us,” Seth held up the deck of cards. “We could play hearts again, if you wanted.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, guys.”

Seth, Aidan, and I had gotten into the habit of playing cards after dinner. Others would join us occasionally, but the three of us played nearly every night. Looking at the books and the thickness of my coursework packet, I was afraid those days were gone.

Passing the guy’s bedroom, I saw David and George sitting on their bunks, going through their packets. George had a deep frown, which worried me, mainly because he had so many piercings it was hard to read his expressions. So the fact that I could tell he was frowning couldn’t be a good thing. David’s face was neutral. I couldn’t tell if he was deep in thought or daydreaming.