The Suicide Project (Rebirth Book 1) (29 page)

Not surprisingly, we were the first two to enter the Mess Hall and Kyrie made a beeline for Amos and the buffet. “I get first dibs on
everything
!” I heard her gush to Amos as I grinningly came up behind her and bade him good morning. Grabbing a plate, I had to admit that getting first dibs at the buffet was awesome. It was with difficulty that I had to force myself not to let my eyes get bigger than my stomach. I loaded up with scrambled eggs, sausage, turkey bacon, melon, and a banana.

We sat at our regular spot and dug in as Amos joined us with his own breakfast. I was starving like usual and tackled my food with a vengeance. I was relaxing with my first cup of coffee as Sam and Gideon made their appearance in the Mess Hall, followed shortly by Marisol. One by one, the others started arriving and the Mess Hall became noisy with chatter. Looking at the clock on the wall, I was surprised to see that we still had about half an hour before training started.

As everyone continued eating, I waggled my eyebrows suggestively at Kyrie. “You up for a game of ping pong?”

She clapped her hands with glee as a huge smile overcame her features. “Yeah!! Ping pong with Teagan!” Her outburst was kind of loud and I saw a few heads turn in our direction. Sam and Gideon grinned at me as I climbed to my feet, and Marisol hurried through the rest of her breakfast so she could watch the match. I had a feeling that she was uncomfortable being in the presence of the guys by herself. Unexpectedly, Amos leaned over and murmured quietly for my ears alone, “You can’t win against her. At least not this first time. You’ll see what I mean.” Mystified, I turned to him questioningly and saw that he was struggling to keep a straight face.
Hmmm…

Shrugging, I followed after Kyrie as she made a beeline for the ping pong table. Along the way, I saw that some of the others had the same expression as Amos. Harper and Allegra were sitting together again and they were openly grinning at me, while Cassidy, Gabe, and Logan at another table tried unsuccessfully to hide their amusement. Even a couple of the “grumpy ones” were presently either smirking at me, or leaning back in their chairs, arms crossed with an expectant air on their faces.
Huh. Is Kyrie a secret ping pong champion or something?
I studied her as I mused to myself but it was hard to tell. Currently, she was bouncing up and down with excitement as she twirled her paddle back and forth from one hand to the other.

I heard the tinkling of Mercer’s name tag and saw that he had placed himself next to Marisol, off to the side. I did a double take as I noticed Amos had joined us as well. Picking up the ping pong ball, I asked, “Are ya ready, squirt?” Giggling, she nodded her head and gripped her paddle tightly, a smile of rapture frozen on her face.

Chuckling affectionately at her, I dropped the ball and the game began. I immediately saw what the problem was within the first 15 seconds of the game. Kyrie was an over-exuberant player and it showed with every move she made. Each time the ball bounced on her side of the table, she would squeal and giggle hysterically before whacking the ball back over to my side. It was distracting as hell, and I found it difficult to concentrate because her laugh was so loud and contagious I couldn’t help but laugh back at her. I heard answering laughter all throughout the Mess Hall but I was determined not to take my eyes off the ball as I bit my lip at the hilarity of the game.

I had been used to only playing with Gideon and Sam, and both of them had fluid, graceful movements with their paddles. As I watched Kyrie at her end of the table, I saw that her movements were jerky and abrupt, almost like she was a puppet on strings. Not only that but she had a tendency to do a little hop and skip, and her right leg always bended backwards at the knee
every single time
she swung at the ball. But always, her swings were accompanied by her loud shrieking laughter.
G’ah! So distracting!

Five minutes into our game, I had already missed the ball several times and had to admit defeat. I felt totally out of my league during the game but definitely knew what to expect the next time I played with her. Panting, I grabbed the ball mid-air as I pointed my paddle at her. “Kyrie…what the fudge. You’re all over the place!”

That earned a bark of laughter from Amos as he held out his hand for my paddle. I watched as Kyrie bent over at the waist and clutched her stomach, trying hard to catch her breath. I didn’t see how it was possible since she was still laughing like a maniac in between gasps of air. Smiling, I walked over to her side and rubbed her shoulder as I said sternly, “Don’t hyperventilate!”

She swiped at a tear from the corner of her eye as she gasped out, “I’m okay! I
love
ping pong!”

“Yeah, I can see that McScreechy. I’ll get you next time now that I know what to expect, you goofy girl.”

Catching Marisol’s eye as she giggled at me, I gestured for her to follow me as I turned to head for the wall about 10 feet away from the ping pong table. Leaning against the wall, I sank down to the floor and patted the spot next to me as Mercer approached with his tail wagging. Marisol sank to the ground on my other side, and we both settled in to watch as the next game started. Mercer let loose a little whine, and I glanced sideways to see that he had his head tilted to the side as he gazed at me solemnly.

Pretending to know what he was asking, I played along, “Yes Mercer…I’m a loser. I lost a game of ping pong to Kyrie. Are you going to comfort me?” As if he knew what I was asking, Mercer whimpered sympathetically before he bathed my cheek with a few hearty swipes of his tongue, his tail thumping the ground rhythmically. Laughing, I grabbed both sides of his ears to gently stroke the soft fur on his face as I baby-talked to him. “Who’s a good little doggy? Are you a good boy? Yes, you are! Momma loves you!” Smooching the top of his head affectionately, I chuckled as he lapped at my face with a few more reciprocating licks.

As I raised my head to face forward and pay attention to the game, I accidently made eye-contact with the surly, dark-skinned girl with the curly mop of hair. Her look was inscrutable as she watched the byplay between me and Mercer. Noticing where my attention had gone, Marisol murmured quietly to me, “Don’t take it personally, because Zima is antisocial to pretty much everyone.”

I turned my head fully to the side to face Marisol, just in case grumpy chick knew how to read lip. “It’s kinda hard
not
to take it personally when it looks like she wants to punch me in the face every damn time she sees me, and I know I haven’t done a single thing to earn her wrath.”

That statement earned a sympathetic look from Marisol as she nodded her head in commiseration. It suddenly occurred to me that Ruby was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed by her absence. I guess secretly, I was hoping that a miracle had happened overnight and that she’d changed her attitude around and decided to be a team player. But since she wasn’t in the Mess Hall, it probably meant she was off scooping poop somewhere around the complex. I figured that if she’d rather shovel shit than apologize to Marisol, then she didn’t deserve any sympathy from
anyone
.

A bubble of laughter escaped me as my attention jerked back to the current match when Kyrie let loose a particularly long screech of laughter. I studied Amos’s pursed lips as he gave the game his full attention. Judging from the stoic look of determination on his face, he looked like a man on a mission and it made me wonder if he had ever won a match against Kyrie.

I saw movement off to my right peripheral and turned my head to watch Sam and Gideon’s approach. Behind them, Logan, Cassidy, and Gabe brought up the rear and they stood off to the side egging Amos on as the game progressed. Shortly after, I was pleased when Harper and Allegra joined us on Marisol’s side and sat on the floor beside us. Unintentionally, it seemed like we had formed our own alliance.

The cheering grew louder as the match was tied, and I jumped to my feet in suspense as the game drew to an end. Maybe it was due to the distraction of our louder cheering, or perhaps it was due to her laughing so hard, but on the next swing Kyrie’s paddle missed the ball and swatted at air, causing her to lose the match.

“YES!! YES!! I finally won!!” Amos’ shout of victory echoed throughout the entire Mess Hall, and I joined in the merriment as the guys’ all congratulated him and praised him on his unshakable focus.
Well, I guess that answers my question.
Kyrie didn’t look the least bit disappointed, in fact her face was positively glowing with happiness. Exhaling on a giggle, she did a little dance before announcing, “I have to pee!” before pivoting on her heel and running for the bathroom. Her exclamation caused another round of laughter as we all watched her sprint away.

Turning to grin at me, Harper explained, “She’s in seventh heaven because usually no one wants to play her. Our day hasn’t even started yet and she’s already gotten the chance to play two games. I’ve never seen her laugh so much. She’s really happy.”

Sharing in the humor I retorted, “Yeah…Kyrie’s ping pong style takes some getting used to. Seriously…you guys’ could’ve warned me or something.” I directed that comment to all the guys around us as I raised my eyebrows at them in admonishment.

Amos threw back his head in laughter. “What? And miss that startled/confused/panicked expression on your face? That look was priceless! I enjoyed it immensely.”

“Yeah!” Gabe added, “That was freakin’ hilarious!”

I turned towards the women’s dorm as the sound of light footfalls announced the re-arrival of Kyrie as she sprinted back into view. “That was really quick! Did you remember to wash your hands?” I teased.

She grinned mischievously at me as she held up her damp, shiny hands. “Yep! I didn’t even dry them all the way!” With that, she giggled as she wiped her damp hands up and down my arm while I shrank backwards with mock disgust on my face.

The moment was interrupted by the sound of the front doors opening, and we all looked up to see the arrival of our unit leaders. True to their word, none of them were wearing their human-eye contact lenses, and the shock of seeing their altered eyes was evident for the others judging by the abrupt silence of the Mess Hall. Knowing it was my job to influence the other test subjects in a positive way, I cleared my throat before murmuring loud enough for all those around me to hear, “Pretty cool aren’t they? I can’t wait to get my third shot so I can get awesome eyesight like the sergeants all do.”

I saw a few heads whip in my direction and I focused on Cassidy as he stared at me in disbelief. “Seriously? You want eyes like them?”

“Heck yeah, I do! Look at them! They’re amazing! Why wouldn’t I want cool eyes like that?” My tone of voice was purposefully full of censure as if to indicate that it was a stupid question to ask. Just like I was aiming for, I watched closely as looks of contemplation and interest began to appear on the others’ faces as they considered my statement. Covertly, I flashed winks at both Gideon and Sam before turning to focus my attention on Sergeant Ramsey. Rolling his eyes at me before shaking his head, he turned to address the others. “We’ve decided that now is as good a time as any for y’all to get used to seeing the physical changes that will occur after the level of your shots increase. We encourage y’all to approach any of us personally, if you have
any
questions regarding the changes you’ll expect to have to your bodies. For now, let’s all head on over to the Gym for our daily drills. Go, go go!”

We all filed out the door in the direction of the Gym but I fell back to wait for Gideon and Sam. As we approached Sergeant Ramsey, I murmured, “Too much?”

Gideon and Sam chuckled at my comment but I shrugged innocently at Sergeant Ramsey as I defended myself. “What? I made sure that no one was looking at me when I winked at the guys. You probably only noticed it because you’re always staring at me, you pervy man!” Gideon’s eyes widened at my audacity, and I had to laugh at the expression on his face.
And everyone says I have the best facial expressions.

I gestured to the sergeant as I explained, “I keep telling you two that he’s not as scary as you think he is! Two words for you – “fluffy marshmallow”. Sergeant Ramsey is a big ole fluffy marshmallow and you two refuse to see it.” I issued that last statement in a taunting sing-song voice, and danced to the side when it looked like the sergeant was going to shove me in retaliation. “Hey! Knock it off missy, or I’ll make you do 30 minutes of burpees!”

I hate burpees with a vengeance, so that shut me up real quick. As we walked through the front entrance of the gym, I saw that the others were already under way with their exercises and were currently doing…… burpees.
Uggh!!
I caught Sam’s eye and visibly shuddered as we both shared the same distaste regarding that particular exercise.
Freakin’ burpees!

As we headed to the far side of the Gym, I was elated to see that there were three A-frame balance beams set up for us. Pumping my fist in the air, I cheered as I did my little happy dance. Mercer, sensing my happiness, wagged his tail and barked once as he did his own version of a canine happy dance as he pranced in place. Sergeant Ramsey smirked at me over his shoulder as he led us past the balance bars and towards a door at the very far wall of the Gym. I felt my smile slip in confusion as he opened the door and led us outside.

Once we walked around the corner of the building, we saw that we were being led to a track that was situated directly behind the Gym. Since the track wasn’t visible from the front, we had no idea that it existed until that very moment. I heard Sam groan in disappointment next to me and issued my own groan but for an entirely different reason.

“Uggh! You tease!” I complained, as I stomped my foot and crossed my arms over my chest. “I thought we were going to play with the balance beams today!”

“Hold yer horses chicky, no need ta get yer knickers in a twist. This is just for warm-up.”

“Oh. Okay then. Carry on.” I murmured guiltily as I grinned apologetically at him, my good mood restored. “I thought you were trying to gyp us or something, old man.” He just shook his head at me again in reply as we followed him onto the track. I smirked to myself when I realized that it seemed like he spent a great deal of his time shaking his head at me in reproach.