Thomas

Michael rattled off the names of the new pairs.  I’ve been waiting to be a guard for an actual student for so long.  But I know it’s never going to happen.  

I’ve been waiting for my student partner for nearly a year, and it hasn’t happened yet.  I look around it and count the new students, only two more pairs will be chosen.

“Lila and Addie,” Michael gave a dramatic pause, “Sidney and Fred!”  Everyone cheered, they were excited that they got paired, but yet again, I’m left alone.  “But!  There is still one more student that isn’t here.  Thomas, you will be his guard.”

My heart stopped and my mouth dropped open.  The noises around me stopped. 

This was the moment I’ve been waiting for.

I bet they’re super strong with incredible abilities.  That’s probably why I’m paired with them.  We will both be strong together.

~~~

I’m so excited to meet them.  Michael told me they were waking up and that I should take them to their homeroom.

When I opened the door, there was a small boy staring at me.  He’s so pewny!  Is this really the boy that I’m supposed to guard?

He looked young, younger than me even.  He has such a baby face and he’s so tiny.  I gave him a cold stare, “Come with me.”

He liked to ask questions, lots of questions. 

“Who are you?” He asked, in a small, weak voice.  “Where am I?  What’s happening?  Where are we going?”

I didn’t answer him, just led him down the hallway into his homeroom.

“Sit,” I told him, pointing to the desk in the back.

“No.”

The defiant little shit.  “Sit.”

And he sat on the ground.  I was about to pick him up myself when the teacher started to talk to him.  And he went off asking questions, again.  I spaced out, if he wasn’t going to listen to me, I wasn’t going to listen to him. 

“I think it’s best if you take him to see the boss.”  The teacher suggested, maybe that would stop the questions.

I turned around to walk out, but he didn’t follow.  He just sat on the floor, frozen in place.  I walked back over to him, picked him up by the armpits, and led him into the hallway.

He didn’t say anything for the whole walk to Michael’s office.  At one point he started to fall over into the wall, so I picked him up and carried him.  It would make the walk faster anyway.

That’s when he started to shake in my arms.  It looked like he was about to cry.  What happened in the classroom?  When we reached Michael’s office, I sat him down in a chair as gently as I could.

“You may leave now, Thomas.”  I was going to wait in the hallway, but I realized he didn’t have anything for the night.

I went to the storage room and grabbed him two pairs of pajamas, a comb, a toothbrush, and toothpaste.  I walked back to his room and set the stuff on his desk.

I was about to leave when I realized his pillow was wet from tears.  Was he crying in his sleep?  I decided it would be best to replace it and then go back to Michael’s office to take him to dinner.

When I arrived, the door slid open to reveal a shaken boy with a new uniform in his arms.  He will probably have to change.  

I led him back to his room and stepped inside, but he wasn’t changing.

“I need to change,” he said in his meek voice.  I didn’t move.  “Get out, I need to change.”

I stood there for another moment until I realized he wasn’t going to change unless I left, so I stepped out of the room.  Wait until he realizes there is no way to tell me he is finished.

After a bit of time, I opened the door and got punched right in the chest.  An out of breath boy stood in front of me, “Oh my gosh, are you ok?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

~~~

He decided he wanted to sit with some kids from his homeroom, Rob and Tilly.  “Hello,” he said in a small voice.

“Hey, you’re the new kid, right?” Rob asks.

“Um, I guess so.”

“Soooo?” Rob asks, as if he is expecting something.  When no answer comes, he asks, “So, how did you get here?  What’s your story?  Tell us about you and that stuff.”

“Oh, um, of course.  My name is Jamie, Jamie Falks,”so that’s his name, it fits.  “I’m thirteen years-“

“You’re so young!  Everyone else here is at least fifteen, besides Thomas,” Tilly says.

“I’m from Connecticut.  I live - well I guess lived - with my parents and eight brothers, until this happened,” he says, gesturing around himself.  “We were celebrating my birthday and then there was this wave and my hands started to spark and men came to take me away.”  He said this all in one breath, as if trying to get it over with.  That’s all I wanted to hear, blocking out the rest of their conversation.

When the bell rings, I look to see Jamie unmoving, yet again.  I’ve decided the best solution is to just pick him up from the armpits and set him on his feet.

“We need to go back to our rooms for the night.  I have put your nightly needs on the desk.” I walked away and he followed.

After dropping him in his room for the night, I bumped into Michael.