Pulse

endless speculation about the competitions.
    “God, I’m tired of hearing them talk about the games,” Faith said as she shuffled into a classroom with everyone else. “Get it over with already.”
    In the months since Faith had arrived at Old Park Hill, more students had stopped showing up. The population of the entire school was down to the classroom she was in, which held nineteen students, and one other room with another twenty kids waiting it out. Amy, whom Faith had avoided religiously, had been moved to her room a week earlier. She had different feelings about the games than Faith did.
    “Hot guys running around in tights? Best show on my Tablet.”
    “Uh-huh,” Faith murmured, trying not to get pulled into a conversation.
    “Have you seen Wade jump? Oh. My. God. He’s insane.”
    Wade and Clara Quinn still hadn’t made an appearance at the warm-ups, also known as preflights.
    “They don’t talk about Wade or Clara,” Faith said. She sat down in her seat, hoping Amy would move off and sit somewhere else. She didn’t, taking the seat next to Faith and clicking on her Tablet.
    “That’s because the Quinns are on the outside. They don’t even keep outsiders on the radar; you know that. But Wade told me people inside are worried. Last thing they want is someone from out here showing up to take the spotlight.”
    “Wouldn’t matter,” Faith said, growing bored with the conversation. “Once they’re in, they’re in. The State will spin it as another victory either way.”
    Faith glanced up and saw that Amy understood something that had somehow eluded her to that point. She wasn’t the brightest bulb in the room, but even Faith thought it was impossible that Amy wouldn’t have thought about it.
    “Once Wade and Clara go in for the Field Games,” Faith explained, “they aren’t coming back. No one comes back. You know that, right?”
    Amy looked flustered and started swiping her finger across her Tablet nervously. She had a thing for Wade even if Wade couldn’t care less. “Of course I know that. But this is different. He said he’d come back. And if he doesn’t, it’s fine anyway. My parents are moving us in pretty soon anyway.”
    Faith doubted that, but she didn’t want to totally ruin Amy’s day, even if she deserved it for being dumb enough to pursue Wade, a very Amy thing to do. Faith knew that once Wade left for the State and became some sort of superstar, he’d never settle for someone like Amy.
    “I thought your parents were on cleanup. Doesn’t that last for a while longer?” Faith asked.
    “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Amy said. “They can go whenever they want.”
    Faith and everyone else knew that wasn’t true. Parents who signed up for cleanup got paid a lot of Coin, but they were on annual contracts. Amy had at least another six months outside and probably more.
    “Ladies, how about we get to work? Would that be okay with you?” Miss Newhouse asked. Faith was more than happy for the out. She went straight to work notating an English lecture while a teacher on her Tablet explained the finer points of The Grapes of Wrath , a story Faith related to for its outsider, nomadic themes. She settled in, then glanced around the room looking for Hawk. He hadn’t shown up for class. Her eyes landed on an empty desk at the back of the room where Wade should have been sitting. His absence was less surprising, because with two weeks to go before the games, he was almost never in class anymore. The word in the halls was that he and Clara were leaving in six or seven days, which suited Faith just fine.
    Dylan was sitting in the back row in the far corner of the room under the soft light from a window overlooking the courtyard. He looked up, caught her eye, and smiled. Faith smiled back awkwardly. Inside she was nervous about how uncomfortable he made her feel. . . .
    When she looked back at her Tablet, a message came in across the top of the screen.
Didn’t make it in today, parents are having a tough day.
    Hawk almost never talked about his parents and neither did Faith. It was a topic they both wanted to avoid, so neither of them brought it up. It crossed Faith’s mind not to answer the message. It was a door she didn’t want to open because she was sure the topic would turn in her direction in due time. Still, it was Hawk. How long could she really hold out without telling him her parents were Drifters?
Sorry. Did you get caught in the middle of it