Stop it. You know, very few of Napoleon’s plans ever went as planned.
“I thought he was an incredible general.”
He was. What made him great was his ability to adapt to battlefield conditions.
“I thought you hated his guts.”
Oh, I do. Complimenting him just now made me want to leap from your body and commit suicide, but it is the truth.
The pep talk didn’t help Cameron’s mood as he walked into the crowded cafeteria. Part of him told him that he should be looking for Alex. Another part told him that she could be anywhere, and that the best thing to do was to finish his checklist and stop by the nurse’s office for some peroxide. The cut on his head wasn’t going to get any better. The problem was, the longer he wasn’t looking for her, the more trouble she could get into. What if she wasn’t in the building anymore? What if she thought he had abandoned her? He never got to tell her his true feelings.
Oh lord. Shut up. Get over yourself.
“Hey, Cameron.”
He looked over to his left and, to his utter shock, saw Alex sitting at one of the benches. With Heather, of all people. They were at a table where most of the popular girls at school sat. Cameron blanched. How the hell had she gotten there already? He had been attending school for over a year and actually had a habit of avoiding walking near that table. Now, Alex was sitting in the middle of that gaggle of girls looking not only like she belonged, but was the center of the group.
Then he noticed her physical appearance. Now that she had showered and had a change of clothing, she looked fantastic. Where did she get the nice clothes she was wearing? Cameron found himself very self-conscious.
For a second, his heart forgot to beat and he found his breath caught in his throat as she got up and bounded to him. “I was worried about you,” she said, putting her arm through his and leading him to the table.
“I found your exchange student in the locker room after my cross-country practice,” Heather said. “She asked to borrow my phone to check her social network and was looking for a change of clothes. Gave her a set of my spares. You really lucked out on the exchange program, Tan.” The girls around the table giggled. Cameron’s ears burned.
“How did Alex already get in with that crowd? Why can’t you teach me stuff like this?”
Sorry. I thought learning to hide and fight were more important assets to have than being popular in high school.
Cameron was in awe as he listened to Alex artfully ingratiate and embed herself with this group of girls. At first, he thought she’d try to fit in. Instead, though, he noticed her accent became just a tiny bit thicker, her mannerisms a little more graceful and aristocratic, yet her deference to the queen bees in the group obvious. Within just a few minutes, she had neatly placed herself in the social hierarchy of the Eureka High School cool kids’ club, something Cameron couldn’t get within a thousand feet of.
I have to admit: Tabs and Alex are very good.
The five minute bell rang before class and the cafeteria dispersed. Cameron watched as the entire gaggle of girls at the bench hugged Alex before they each went off their separate ways. She turned around and flashed him an innocent smile. “Just getting what I needed at the time.”
That is why I tell you to be careful with this one. You might be able to survive in the woods and live off the land, but this is her world, and you could not touch her in this arena.
“Are we done here?” she asked.
Cameron pointed at his brow. “Nurse’s office next, then we can bolt.”
The two moved at a brisk pace toward the nurse’s office, located next door to the library. In his head, Cameron planned his escape path out of the high school. Disabling the monitors – usually teachers – shouldn’t be a problem, but he would really prefer not to do that. His English teacher, eighty year-old Ms Hannigan, usually took a spot during first period at the main entrance. Knocking her over just to escape felt decidedly wrong. He could run around her as well, but again, he could already see the disappointment in her eyes if he did that. She was his favorite teacher.
Priorities, Cameron.
“I’m just debating my options. What about the gym doors?”
Wannsik has class, but he is usually pretty busy. You might be able to leave without attracting attention.
“That’ll be the plan, then.”
Nurse Steff Sheung was twenty-five, and this was her first year at Eureka High School. She was at the same time extraordinarily sweet and completely vapid. She spent half of her time at school staring at her cell phone and the other half staring at herself. In between, she found a little time to direct kids with headaches to the cots and to bandage minor scrapes and cuts. Half the guys in the school had crushes on her, Cameron included. Though with Alex at his side, he wasn’t feeling quite the same nervousness that he usually felt when coming here, which, to be honest, was pretty often.
“Cameron. Again?” Sheung said, looking up from her phone. She saw the cut and shook her head. Then she saw Alex next to him. “Who is your friend?”
Alex introduced herself as the exchange student and Cameron saw her behavior transform right before his eyes. Before, she was interesting and stood out, and the popular girls at the cafeteria swarmed around her. Now, she appeared shy and unsure, like a wallflower. In a few seconds, she seemed to have blended into the background while Nurse Sheung worked on Cameron’s cut.
“It’s infected,” she frowned, dabbing him with the peroxide, “and a couple of days old. You should have had this checked.”
He glanced over behind her shoulder at Alex, who was stealthily raiding the medicine cabinet. The girl was like a master thief, tip-toeing across the room and rummaging through all the drawers and cabinets. They made eye contact and she shook her head.
“Ow,” Cameron said, pulling back a bit.
“Hold still,” Sheung said. He fidgeted as she continued dabbing his cut. “Let me get a Band-Aid.”
“Wait,” Cameron said quickly. “I think I have a cut in my hair as well.”
Sheung began to poke through his hair. “Is everything all right at home, Cameron? If you need anyone to talk to, I’m always here to lend an ear.”
Cameron tried not to scoff. If one more adult asked him this question, he was going to scream. The only time Roen ever hurt him was when Cameron missed a block.
Well, there was the one time he almost dislocated your arm trying to show you how to fa jin.
“Okay, that.”
And the other when he bruised your rib demonstrating Muay Thai strikes.
“Hmm, maybe my parents are abusive.”
Well, you did stab him with a sword last week, and there was the time you broke his wrist with that aikido throw.
“We’ll call it a draw then. In my defense, you were both telling me the throw wouldn’t work unless I put everything I had into it.”
We will just lay that blame on Roen then. No need to get your mother involved.
Nurse Sheung finished up with Cameron a minute later. By that time, Alex had stolen a dozen small bottles and packages from the office. The two fled the office as fast as possible. Sheung might be unobservant, but she definitely would notice all the stuff missing once she opened a cabinet. Their packs on their backs, they burst through the double-doors to the gym. He pointed at the metal doors on the far end of the room across the basketball court.
“Hey, Cameron,” Wannsik said. “Going somewhere?”
Unfortunately, the coach’s first period gym class was in session, and it contained the entire varsity football team. The coach liked to put all his guys into first period so they could merge their morning workout directly with class. That gave them an entire day to recover before practice after school.