Star Runners (10 page)

It made Austin sick.

"You haven't eaten anything today." Skylar studied him, her eyebrows wrinkled. "What's been up with you lately?"

"Nothing." Austin grabbed a bite of his green beans. It tasted like metal, more like the can the beans came in than vegetables.

"And you haven't been yourself during PT either," she said. "Can I help you with something? Is it the classes?"

"No, it's not the classes." Austin couldn't look at her.

"Then, what?"

The question hung over the table.

Austin noticed something. "Have you seen Stetson?"

Skylar blinked. "Not since this morning in calculus."

"He isn't at lunch, either." He saw Peyton Rathenow, the guy from Boston, sitting at the end of his table. Peyton had been the only guy Austin had seen Stetson hang out with on campus. "Hey, Peyton, you seen Stetson?"

Peyton shook his head. "Hadn't seen him since last night."

Austin leaned back. Could Stetson be back in the room?

"What is it?" Skylar asked.

Austin grabbed his tray and stood. "I need to check something. I'm sorry. I'll see you at PT."

Tossing his trash away, Austin hurried out of the mess hall. He nearly crashed into Jonathan Nubern on the way out.

"Whoa! Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

Austin stood up straight and shook his head. "I need to get back to my room to study, sir."

"Wait a minute," Nubern said in a low voice. "Is something wrong?"

"No, sir."

Nubern eyed him. "You know I'm your mentor. I'm supposed to help you with the transition into being a full time student. You haven't asked me anything since you got here and now I catch you running out of mess hall with your eyes wide, breathing heavy like something's wrong. What is it?"

Austin took a deep breath. "Nothing, sir. Really. I just forgot something back in my dorm room. I should get it before this afternoon's class."

Nubern paused. "No problem then. Remember I'm here if you need anything. Good luck with your classes."

"Thank you, sir."

When Nubern went into the mess hall, Austin ran. He sprinted across the gravel path around Terminus and toward the dormitory. He rushed up the stairs and into his room. Stetson sat in his bed under the covers and faced the wall. He didn't move when Austin entering.

"You alright, man?" Austin whispered.

Stetson's shoulders moved.

Austin sat in his desk chair. A screen saver of a spaceship danced across Stetson's computer.

"They won't leave me alone," Stetson said as he exhaled.

"What did they do?"

"Just keep threatening. I'll be glad when the test is over tomorrow."

Austin ran his hand over his mouth and stared at the floor. "You could always say 'no.'"

Stetson sat up in the bed and turned around. Austin gasped.

The left side of Stetson's glasses had no lens. A dull purple and blue bruise covered a swell under his eye. A small circle of blood pooled in his nostril. Stetson sniffled, making a gurgling sound as fluids rumbled in his throat.

"I tried that. You kept telling me to say 'no' and look what happened."

Austin stared. "When did this happen?"

"It doesn't matter," Stetson said, collapsing back onto the bed. "You think you've got it so rough. I've heard the things you've said to me since you got here. 'I'm so poor. My family's got it so rough.' You have no idea."

Austin's temper flared. He took in a deep breath before he responded. "Just because you got your ass kicked doesn't mean you have to attack me, too."

"It's different for you," Stetson said. "You're athletic. You can handle yourself. That's why Curt hasn't tried to beat you up to get you to cheat. You guys are the same size, but look at me. I'm a wimp with nothing to offer." He placed his hand on his forehead. "I thought a small school would be different, but it's all the same. The whole world is the same."

Austin opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. Receiving the sting of a rubber band-flicked wasp did not compare to what Stetson had been through. He leaned forward and took another look at his roommate. Stetson seemed to drift off to sleep.

Austin turned to his books and prepared for his afternoon classes, his thoughts consumed with the cheating situation.

*****

"What happened to your neck, anyway?"

Austin flinched. He looked at Skylar as he pulled up his collar. "Got a bee sting, I think."

She smirked. "Yeah, right. You okay?"

"Yeah, why?" He glanced at the table two rows away. Stetson sat with Curt, both of them looking over their shoulders like hunted prey. Teachers routinely strolled the isles to keep an eye on the students. Skylar followed his gaze and he reached out, placing his hand on top of hers, soft and delicate under his skin. She turned around, eyes wide. A smile formed at the corner of her mouth. Austin pulled his hand away.

"Just, uh, don't look over there."

"What's going on?"

"I can trust you, right?"

"You've been my closest friend since I got here. I hope you can trust me."

Austin leaned over his cafeteria meatloaf. "You saw Stetson this morning?"

"The bruises, yeah. I heard it happen during PT yesterday."

He shook his head. "No. Some guys roughed him up."

"Really? Why? He's such a ..."

She trailed off, her sentence unfinished.

"I know," he said. "They wanted his calculus answers."

"From the test you took this morning?"

"Yeah." Austin sighed and stabbed at his meatloaf. The test had been difficult. "They asked me to help give the answers. I didn't agree. Now, I wish I had."

He watched Stetson and Curt, two guys who have never sat together at lunch, speaking as if they had been best friends since childhood.

"What did they do to you?" Skylar asked.

"Nothing like that."

Skylar took a glance over her shoulder. "They're doing it here?" she asked in a harsh whisper. "That's crazy!"

"I guess they thought they wouldn't get caught out in the open. I don't know. The whole thing's making me sick. I should have helped him."

"If you had gotten caught, you'd be expelled. I don't think they'll react too well to this sort of thing."

Austin shrugged. "We’ll see. I still feel guilty."

Jonathan Nubern entered the mess hall and strolled to the food line. He spoke to staff and scooped some salad. He surveyed the room and lingered on Stetson's table. Austin's stomach turned as Nubern walked in that direction. He thought about moving to ask Nubern a question, but he couldn't get out of the seat. He couldn't turn away. As Nubern closed in on Stetson with each step, Austin failed to move. Nubern slowed as he walked behind the table and passed.

Austin exhaled. "Huh."

"What is it?" she asked.

Austin wet his lips, his mouth dry. "I thought that was it."

"Relax. You've done the right thing." Skylar took another bite of her lunch and glanced at her watch. "Let's go for a walk before we have to go back to class. It'll be good to get some fresh air."

As they left the mess hall, Austin took one last glance backward. Curt focused as he wrote on a piece of paper. Stetson watched Austin leave, his eyes wide, skin pale as a glass of milk. Austin moved through the door and into the afternoon sunlight.

*****

He lingered on the edge of a cliff. Somehow he knew he would soon be pushed into the darkness. A sound boomed in the far distance. His eyes shot open and he rolled over to look at the clock, but instead he was greeted by someone standing over his bed, clad in all black. Austin was about to scream or speak, but a firm hand pressed over his mouth.

"Shhh."

Austin took short breaths, the hand continuing to press down on his mouth. He tried to sit up, but the unseen force pushed him back. He looked at the man holding him down. The man had no distinctive features; a black shadow in the darkness of the room. He heard others moving around the room. A muffled voice said something Austin couldn't understand.

Minutes stretched. What were they here for? Was he being robbed?

He closed his eyes until the sound of movement ceased, replaced by the swamp insects and the air conditioning unit. For a moment, he wondered if it had been a dream. Like a child waking from a nightmare, he opened his eyes to slits and squinted in the darkness. All electronics from the other side of the room had vanished. The laptop at the desk was gone. Stetson's alarm clock was dark. Stetson was not snoring.

“Stetson,” Austin whispered.

No answer.

He flipped on the lamp next to his bed.

Stetson's side of the room had been emptied. Even the bed sheets had been removed. The note cards Stetson had pinned on the bulletin board as study points and reminders had been taken. He glanced at the closet. Only Austin's clothes remained.

The cold floor chilled his feet as he crept toward the door. When he stepped into the hallway, other students poked out of their rooms, eyebrows raised. Across the hall, Curt Osby had left his door open. Austin stepped forward to see.

The same void filled Curt's room.

"What happened?" Students asked one another.

Austin shrugged and hurried down the stairs. The blue light on top of the emergency phone illuminated the porch in a soft glow. He picked up the phone and waited, his heart pounding in his ears.

"Security," a deep voice answered.

"Yes, this is Austin Stone in the male dormitory. There's been a robbery."

The voice grumbled in what must have been a chuckle. "Stone, there's been no robbery. Get the students back to sleep."

Austin clinched his teeth as he recognized Javin Sharkey's sarcasm. "Chief Sharkey, I'm not making this up. Something's happened over here."

"Oh, I know something's happened," Sharkey said with confidence. "Several students have been removed from campus for academic dishonesty. The sole penalty for this is expulsion."

"Expulsion?"

"Yes. Will there be anything else?"

Austin paused. Sharkey killed the line.

Standing in the eerie blue light, Austin held the phone in his hand as he stared out into the darkness.

*****

The email from President Pierce explaining the students’ expulsion didn't do anything to calm nerves around campus the next day. He also received several emails from Mom and Kadyn, but decided to read them later. In his email, Pierce mentioned "academic dishonesty" the same way Sharkey had the night before. Everyone spoke in hushed voices, stoic and solemn. One month into the semester and students had already disappeared.

Austin skipped lunch. After his classes, he wandered the paths around the Terminus Building and ended up by the training facilities. He sat on a bench looking out over the field where he and Skylar spent every afternoon since they had arrived on campus. A soft breeze moved across the field. The air had cooled since he arrived.

He closed his eyes, leaned back and allowed the wind to wash over him. He thought of Stetson and the empty side of the room he left. The guy had been so scared of Curt and his cronies. Now, he would have to return home in shame and face his parents. He would be pelted with accusations and questions as he tried to regain the trust of his parents. Austin's stomach hurt.

He stretched his legs and rubbed his thighs.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel behind him.

"May I join you?" Nubern asked. "Or would you rather be alone."

Austin jolted forward. "Yes, sir. Of course, sir."

Nubern sat with a sigh. He peered at the grass, a strange look in his steel gray eyes. "I used to have a field like this near my home when I was growing up. All the children would get together for sports every afternoon following our lessons." He clinched his teeth. "It was wonderful."

"Yes, sir."

"I know this has been a strange day for you. I am here if you need to talk."

Austin gazed at the trees across the field. "I don't know."

"These things happen, you know. Not everyone will graduate."

"I know, but Stetson didn't deserve this. He was pressured into cheating and now he is forced to leave?" Austin's temper flared, his voice growing louder. "How is that fair?"

"As you know, life is not fair. Listen, Stetson was too weak to face opposition and peer pressure. That was his fault, his weakness. You think the only time he will be pressured by others will be in school? You think that will be the only time others ask him to do something he feels is wrong?" He shook his head and lowered his voice. "Stetson has been taught a valuable lesson, one he must heed or he will be forced to stay on the sidelines for the rest of his life. If he allows people to control him now, he will be doing it forever."

"But, I should have done something."

Nubern nodded. "Perhaps, but it was his choice. Had you helped him cheat, it would have been both of you being removed from campus in the middle of the night." He placed his hand on Austin's shoulder. "And you are too valuable to this school."