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I breezed out of my room, pausing in my humming to greet people by name as I passed them. I didn’t know I even knew the names of the MPs and nurses, but apparently I did. It was the same with the kitchen staff behind the breakfast bar. I felt like I knew their names before I even saw the tags pinned to their shirts. And unlike the nurses and guards, these employees actually smiled back and responded to the ‘good mornings’ I greeted them with. But they all seemed quite slow this morning, and I figured breakfast around here must be getting old to them now. But not to me. I was ravenous.

I grabbed a tray and put some of everything on it until there was no room left. Then I filled a glass with orange juice and sat down at the table to dig in. It was delicious. This was the best breakfast I’d ever had. Of course, Kim’s chocolate chip pancakes and blueberry muffins were unbeatable, but I was very impressed.

Pippa and Brian approached my table looking as if I was an alien, and I smiled up at them. “Hey, guys. You look tired. Have a seat.”

They slowly lowered themselves into chairs and Pippa asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Fabulous.” I popped a grape into my mouth.

“Fabulous?” she echoed, her eyebrows arched.

“Iggy?” I looked up to see Cael staring strangely at me. “How are you?”

“I’m great, Cael. How ‘bout you?”
See?
I told myself,
He’s just fine. You were worried for nothing. Of course. Typical Iggy
.

I shoveled in a forkful of scrambled eggs, noticed Brodie passing by and trying to stare at me in secret. It amused me, so I asked him if he wanted to join our table. He hesitated but sat down next to Cael. He asked, “You doing okay, Iggy?”

I paused in chewing. “Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

“Maybe because we haven’t seen you in three days.” Cael’s voice reminded me of a mother coddling an upset child.

“And you look…different,” Brodie said.

“The way you all are looking at me, you’d think I’d grown two heads.” I laughed. “Lighten up, people. It’s a beautiful day.”

“It is?” Pippa asked.

Brodie put down his fork. “How can you tell it's such a great day?”

I hugged myself and grinned. “I can just feel it.”

Wesley was staring at me from across the room. I waved and smiled. He gave me a strange look and turned away. Alex was glaring at me, and I couldn’t think of any reason she should be upset with me. Maybe I should talk with her and find out what had her so upset. I excused myself and walked over to their table.

“Morning Ibram,” I called as I passed him. To Shayla, I said, “I love your hair! It’s really shiny today.”

I waved at Gavin and Krish and then plopped down next to Alex. “Morning guys.”

Wesley stared at me. Alex scooted over. “Why are you sitting so close to me?”

“Why wouldn’t I? We’re friends, aren’t we?” I looked at Wesley’s plate. “Hey. Are you going to eat that banana?” I grabbed it and started peeling it.

“No,” she snapped at me. “We are
not
friends.

“Where have you been for three days?” Wesley asked.

I stuffed a huge bite of the banana into my mouth and chewed. After I swallowed, I replied, “You mean
one
day. We had that test yesterday morning. Then I went to...” I struggled to remember, then shrugged. What did it matter anyway? “And then they made me better.”

“That test was
three
days ago, dumb-dumb,” Alex said.

“Oh, really? Whoops.” I laughed. “Guess I lost track of time.” I put a hand on her shoulder and she flinched. “So what did I do to make you so upset with me?”

“You’re kidding, right?” She shrugged out from beneath my touch.

I smiled back and forth between the two of them, then I picked up Alex’s carton of chocolate milk and downed it. It was really good – ice cold and super sweet. “I think you two make a cute couple.”

Alex knocked the empty carton out of my hand and snapped, “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Before I could respond, she got up and walked out.

I looked at Wesley. “She’s not in a very good mood this morning. If you made her mad, you should apologize.” But he wasn’t paying attention. He was gesturing at someone to come over here. Then Cael sat down across from me, next to Wesley.

“What’s wrong with you, Iggy?” Concern was etched on his face.

My brow wrinkled. “I don’t think anything is wrong with me.
Should
something be wrong with me?”

“Do you remember the test?” Wesley asked.

“Sure. I don’t have amnesia.”

Cael reached out to put his hand over mine on top of the table. “What happened after the test, when they dragged you away?”

I pulled back. “I think they put me in my room and let me sleep. And now I feel great.”

“You haven’t been in your room in three days,” Cael impatiently reminded me.

I lifted an index finger and twirled it in a circle. “Okay. I get it. Three days. Whoop-dee-do.” I got up and grabbed a couple of glasses of orange juice before returning to my original table to strike up a conversation with Brodie, Brian, and Pippa. They were quite nice, fairly happy, and fun to talk to. More fun than Wes and Cael.

Brodie stared at me and then exchanged looks with the others. “Have you been downing energy drinks, Iggy?”

“No. I don't think I need one. Do I?”

Brodie pointed to my hands and then my legs. My fingers drummed the table rhythmically and my knees bounced up and down. “You just seem really hyper.”

“Too much sugar maybe.”

After a few minutes, I got bored talking to them because they kept bringing up serious stuff like tests and schedules. So I excused myself to put up my tray and see what was happening down the hall. I skipped up to the nurse’s station and asked Angela, “Where is everyone? Aren’t there supposed to be more nurses here?”

“It’s Saturday.” She stood up and beckoned me over. “I need to get a set of vitals.”

“Sure.” I chatted her ear off about the things I wanted to do in the rec center today — not that she responded. It seemed like it was taking forever for her to get my blood pressure and I bounced my knee until she was done.

“Can we go swimming?” I asked her.

She smiled and removed the cuff. “You can go anywhere with an open door.”

“Cool. See ya!” I skipped down to my room and changed into my green bikini, then I hummed a classical piece on my way out. Alex was in her room as I passed, and I called out ‘good morning’.

No one was in the rec center. It seemed like such a shame because running was fun and swimming was fun and they had elliptical machines and pool volleyball and I thought a game would be fun right now but no one was around.

As soon as I saw the clean, clear water, I dove in. It was the most amazing feeling. I felt the hum of the pool jets on my skin and tiny bubbles threading through my hair. I heard the whir of the heater, and noticed every slight temperature decrease in the water as I sank to the bottom. The water felt like coming home. It was peace.

I sat cross-legged at the bottom of the deep end. It was even quieter here. I could see the entire pool – a whole other world waiting to be explored. My hair floated around me and I smiled. I looked down at my feet – toes painted pink. My fingers – water swirled around them and I imagined different patterns forming. And then I thought of the water like the jet stream patterns they showed on weather broadcasts, all sorts of curves and circles swirling between my fingers and across my palms. I held out my hands, palms up, and asked a volleyball to take shape. I’d like to play. And when it appeared as a rolling, round mass of water, I laughed and pushed it away.

Bubbles floated to the surface while I made shapes with my hands. Lots of swirls. Lots of patterns. All through the water. It was beautiful. I moved water around itself and through itself, playing in my new world until I got sleepy. And thirsty. And I imagined drinking the water.

I was so sleepy. Like before. The lovely water caught me, cradled me, and gently lowered me into my underwater bed, cocooning me like a blanket. Peaceful. Water fingers weaved through my hair and hummed goodnight.

Chapter 25

Cael

Everyone spent the rest of breakfast talking about Iggy’s weird behavior. They were worried she’d lost touch with reality. They were scared she would go off on someone for no reason. Wesley and I discussed everything we could think of that might explain Iggy’s hyperactivity and her strange way of speaking, but came to no conclusion. It was like she had ADHD and had just overdosed on Mountain Dew and Pop-Tarts. And yet she was happy. And even more beautiful than usual. She’d also eaten enough for three people and drank three glasses of juice and a carton of milk.

I was worried. I wanted the full staff back. I wanted to talk to Jensen, even if I hated him and what he’d done to Iggy. I wanted to tell him Iggy belonged in the infirmary. They hadn’t made her well and they needed to try harder. Or maybe they’d done something to Iggy to make her this way. Maybe her strange behavior was all their fault.

Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to see Alex looking not-bitchy for a change. She said, “I don’t know if you care, but your girlfriend just paraded down the hall in her bikini humming some strange-ass tune. She told me good morning as if she hadn’t already seen me today. It was so weird. She’s flipped the fuck out.”

I stood up and headed for the pool. Iggy didn’t have any business being in the rec center by herself with as strangely as she was behaving. I pictured her swimming alone and then choking and sinking to the bottom of the pool. In her present state of mind, she’d probably be happy about it.

I walked faster. A bad feeling grew inside me and I sprinted forward past the nurses’ station, down the next hall, through the cardio center and basketball court and into the atrium. I stopped at the shallow end of the pool, looking around.

“I don’t see her,” Wesley said. I hadn’t even realized he was behind me.

I started to think maybe she hadn’t gone swimming after all. But then a flash of green in the deep end caught my attention. “Shit! No, no, no!” I ran to the other end and dove in, kicking and cutting through the water as fast as possible. Iggy looked deceptively peaceful at the bottom, with the corners of her mouth lifted just a bit and her golden hair floating around her like an angelic cloud. But her eyes were open and the way she looked freaked me out. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest, and my stomach knotted painfully.

I snagged her arm and shoved off the bottom, dragging her up through the water and pulling her to the side. Wesley was already in the pool. He took her other arm and pulled. We were at the edge in seconds, and we heaved her over the side where Alex and a few others had gathered to watch with shocked expressions. They backed away as her limp form rolled toward them.

I jumped out of the pool and flipped Iggy onto her back. Her lips were blue and her eyes stared sightlessly skyward, the whites criss-crossed with veins of red. I wanted to scream and cry, and I felt like I was drowning in my own fear and panic. I pushed against her ribcage, but maybe I hadn’t pushed hard enough. Or maybe I was supposed to push on her diaphragm instead of her chest. My mind was locking up, and I couldn’t remember the first aid lessons I’d had. But she was dead. She looked dead.

I shoved harder on her chest and water spewed out of her mouth. I wouldn’t let it happen. It wasn’t happening. It wasn’t real. I shoved again and again. More water came out. Wesley pushed me back and put his cheek to her mouth. He pressed her forehead back to straighten her neck, pinched her nose, and then he sealed his mouth over hers and blew air into her lungs. I watched her ribcage inflate. He repeated the process, and when he again put his cheek next to her mouth, I shoved hard on her chest several more times.

Iggy spewed water and coughed. Then she curled in on herself and dragged in a gurgling lungful of air. She flopped onto her back, but I turned her on her side and watched her wretch up more water. I was shaking all over. Wesley put a hand on her back and closed his eyes briefly, as if saying a quick, silent prayer.

Students let out the breaths they’d been holding and a low murmuring began among them. Whispers of attempted suicide reached my ears, and I wanted to scream at them to shut up and go away. Instead, I lifted Iggy in my arms and carried her back to her room. Her head lolled back, and her long hair dripped water across the floor.

The nurse jumped to her feet as we passed, signaling a guard to follow, but she remained calm and followed me into Iggy’s room, dragging some kind of machine with her. Wesley was right behind her, followed by Pippa, who shouted at everyone to back off before shutting the door on them.

We stepped back as the nurse clamped a stethoscope in her ears and listened to Iggy’s lungs. She got a set of vital signs and then started examining her head, pushing aside hair to look at Iggy’s scalp. Then she pulled up Iggy’s eyelids and shined a light back and forth across her pupils.