Mason wasn’t at school the next day. Nor was he at the school the day after. When Troop questioned the whereabouts of Mason, he was met with a dead end. It was as if Mason had ceased to exist, and that made Troop wonder, Is he like me then? Does he have connections to the Company as well? I’m sure the Company has the power to efface all traces of his existence.
“Did you even hear a word of what I just said?” Jennifer’s grumble yanked Troop out of his thoughts.
He looked around the lunch table. Darrel sat on his left, Jennifer to his right. Bruno, Lee, Tompkins, Lily and Silvia occupied the rest of the seats.
“Yeah,” Troop said.
“Then tell me what I just said,” said Jennifer.
“Help me,” Troop mouthed to Darrel.
Darrel snickered, but came to his rescue. “I’m sure Troop is interested in the after school study group, right?”
Troop nodded, not really sure what study group they were talking about. “Sounds great.”
“Awesome. Now we have a total of twelve people attending.” Jennifer took a sip of her iced tea. “Do you think I should invite Trevor or is twelve a good number?”
“Twelve’s good,” Troop said.
He resisted rolling his eyes when he spotted Bruno shoot a spray of spitballs at the back of a teacher.
“Then tomorrow after school at Frosty Shakes it is,” confirmed Jennifer.
Mason claimed Bruno hadn’t sent him after me. But how do I know he wasn’t lying to me? Troop thought, his attention drifting away from Jennifer’s voice and the general discussion being taken place.
Troop’s mom was back from work early, something that happened about once every few centuries or so. When he walked into the living room, she was already lounging on the memory foam couch, typing some documents. She looked up for a second to acknowledge his presence, then jabbed the holographic keyboard a few more times and powered it off.
“Done for the day,” she said. “Can’t believe I have the rest of the day free.”
Sensing that his mom was in a good mood, Troop decided to try his luck and ask her a question involving a rather sensitive topic. “Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Are there other people…the Company may potentially hide?”
Her head snapped up in an instant, like a spring-loaded trigger. “Did something happen?”
“No, no—nothing happened,” he said, perhaps a little bit too hurriedly. His mom didn’t know about his Mason encounter after lessons with Vikens. “I was just wondering if there were others like me that live in the city as well.”
His mom relaxed her posture by a few degrees. “None that I am aware of. I can inquire more information if you would like me to.”
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks for the offer though.”
“Alright. Promise you’ll let me know if anything bad happens.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Just promise you’ll tell me if anyone at school shows the tiniest bit of suspicion about what you are. A replay of four years ago is the last thing we need, not to mention the amount of trouble the Company would be in if word leaked out about you.”
“Yeah,” Troop lied. “Promise.”
“Why weren’t you at Frosty Shakes yesterday?” Jennifer demanded.
“Why would I be at…oh, yeah. The study group,” Troop said. “Did I forget to tell you I had private tutoring afterschool yesterday?”
Jennifer glared at him.
“No need to get all pissed off. It was just one study group I missed. I swear I’ll go to the next one. When’s the next one?”
“This Thursday,” said Jennifer. “And for your information, I am not pissed off—I am very, very pissed off.”
“Jenn giving you a hard time?”
Darrel ambled over, his arms swinging like pendulums by his side.
“Troop forgot about our study group yesterday,” Jennifer complained. “Everyone attended but Mr. I-have-private-lessons-after-school.”
“Oh, give the man a break,” said Darrel. “It was only one missed study group.”
“Exactly what I said,” muttered Troop.
“Fine. I see how this is.” Jennifer let out a huff and stalked over to her girlfriends waiting for her across the hall.
Troop sighed. Then he said, “Who wants to bet fifty points Jenn will be over this by lunch time?”