Z 2134

sitting on the middle cushion of an old couch, with her legs crossed, and wearing the cutest smile Adam had ever seen.
    Jayla was the prettiest girl in Chimney Rock. With olive skin, dark-chestnut hair, and golden eyes, she had a look that was both exotic and intoxicating, so much so that whenever she crossed Adam’s path, he was unable to not look at her.
    Adam noticed Jayla for the first time on his second day at the orphanage. She smiled at him while waiting for her spoonful of lunchtime slop in the mess hall. Judging by the width of her smile, she’d been living at Chimney long enough to maybe not realize how sour the food tasted.
    Jayla smiled at the four boys. As she opened her mouth to maybe say hello, a trio of giggles surfaced, followed by three girls, who emerged from an adjoining room, maybe a bathroom.
    “Hey Tommy,” one of the girls said. Adam recognized all three girls as being friends of Jayla’s, though he didn’t know any of their names.
    Adam smelled the smoke before he saw the cigarette, curling into his nostrils and reminding him of the Dark Quarters — the only place kids were said to smoke, not that Adam had ever been in the Dark Quarters.
    The middle girl blew a plume of smoke from her mouth, then held the cigarette out in front of her. Tommy reached to take it, but she quickly drew it back, shaking her head. “It’s for him,” she said, nodding to Adam.
    Adam shook his head. “No thanks,” he said.
    Adam’s friends all laughed. The three girls joined them. While he was used to boys laughing at him, the laughter of the girls cut even deeper and made him feel even dumber.
    Jayla, to her credit, was silent.
    The middle girl shrugged, then handed the cigarette to Tommy and turned to Adam. “Pretty cool, your sister being in The Games. Did you get to watch the opening?”
    The girl’s question was innocent enough, but a current of rage raced through Adam anyway. Before he could stop he yelled: “You wouldn’t think it was a fucking game if it was your sister running from zombies!”
    The middle girl shrank back, her eyes wide and startled. Tommy laughed and Daniel said, “Whoa, did you hear Bilbo? He said fucking .”
    The guys laughed, though it seemed to be a more genuine laughter, instead of one that mocked him.
    Adam, who often talked of The Hobbit , had never said the F Word anywhere outside of his own head. He swallowed, shocked by how good it felt, first on his tongue, and then as it left his lips.
    “Chill,” Morgan set his hand on Adam’s still-shaking shoulder. “It’s OK. Melissa didn’t mean anything by it.”
    Jayla said, “She’s just trying to make conversation,” making Adam feel like he’d been reprimanded by the one person whose opinion he cared about.
    “I know,” Adam said, then stuttered, knowing he couldn’t take it back, but having nothing else to say.
    “It’s my fault,” Jayla said. “I asked Morgan and the boys to bring you down here.”
    Adam was stunned into silence. “What?” he repeated, still stuck for words. “Wh…why?”
    Morgan and Tommy each finished their turn with the cigarette. Daniel drew a final drag, then passed it back to the girl standing to Melissa’s right.
    Jayla smiled. “Because it can’t be easy to have your parents both gone, then wind up in here, only to have your sister sent outside The Wall. We all have our stories, but yours seems worse than most.” She shrugged. “I thought it might cheer you up.”
    Adam was trying to decide what he should say. He was surprised that Jayla had even thought about him, let alone consider how hard everything had been on him.
    The girl who had taken the cigarette from Daniel dropped the butt on the ground, put it out with her heel like a scurrying roach, then bent to the floor, scooped up the evidence, dropped it into her pocket, and turned to Jayla. “Let’s show him.”
    “Yeah,” Morgan agreed. “Let’s get out of here.”
    Adam swallowed, terrified, wondering what it was they wanted to show him.
    “OK,” Jayla said, swinging her feet to the floor, then standing. She held her hand out, and the girl to Melissa’s left filled it with one of the pillowcases in her hand.
    “Let’s fly.” Morgan slapped Adam on the back again, then stepped in front to take the lead. Tommy and Daniel both edged their way by, following the four girls into the shadows as Adam silently followed, trying not to appear as scared as he was.
    They left the room and walked a long hallway