Maverick (Maverick Academy Series) (22 page)

The paper ended by stating that
the entire warehouse was going to be equipped with night-vision cameras, to ensure that all players followed the rules.

After looking at all the information, the team started discussing strategies. Without knowing the gifts of their opponents, they needed to make sure that any plan covered all the possibilities. In the end, they came up with several vague plans. Their best plan used Misty to track their opponents, then Whit would act as bait to lure them into the open. Once exposed, Lindsey’s ice casting would trap them or Ellie would use her mesmerizing skills to restrain them. After they managed to capture someone, Rory would pick them up using her strength and carry them back to the hold. There were several variations to the plan, though, and most required the team members to be at the top of their skill, so that meant practicing.

To practice, Rory assigned each person with tasks to complete. She really was a bossy little thing when it came to the competition. It was entertaining to watch, though, and Whit spent more time being amused than upset. Their tasks were varied, and would help them in the competition. Ellie had to mesmerize unsuspecting people and find out personal information, or even compel them to follow her around. Lindsey had to freeze random items and sometimes the body parts of unknowing targets, much to their dismay. Misty’s task was actually the most fun to watch – the team would play hide and seek, and Misty’s job was to find or catch them before they reached the safe base. This was actually great practice for the competition, since it was probably what she would actually be doing. Rory practiced her physical skills in the Performance Movement room by climbing the wall and jumping off at different heights. She was also a great rope climber, and extremely quick. Whit had tried to keep up with her, but ended up sitting against the wall, out of breath, after about three minutes.

Whit’s assignments always revolved around her telekinesis, since her psychic abilities weren’t
very helpful at the moment. She practiced retrieving items slowly, without people noticing. Her most impressive feat so far had happened in the lunchroom, when she stole a lunch tray from a girl caught up in a conversation with a guy at the next table. The tray floated away right beneath the girl’s nose, but moved so slowly that she didn’t notice it.

She’d been practicing her telekinesis in hope of being able to lift a person into the air by the competition.
So far, just hovering a small object, like a book, was exhausting her. She was working up to bigger objects. As her telekinesis grew stronger, Whit started feeling better about her contributions.

And there was still the possibility of offering even more.
Before bed each night, she attempted to control her visions. She focused on a certain topic or person, even going so far as to use pictures or writing in her journal, to try to force her mind in a certain direction. At first, it had been a total failure. No control whatsoever. She still dreamed, but the dreams varied between horrific news stories to everyday life at Maverick. She did enjoy some of the Maverick dreams, since they were usually like a short glimpse into someone else’s life. But they weren’t what she wanted.

A
fter almost two weeks of trying, she finally succeeded. She stared at a picture of Rory and Ellie for one minute before going to bed. When she finally got to sleep, they were the first people she saw. Her dream didn’t show anything to do with Dark Conquest, just them on their way to eat dinner together and talking about Rosco. Rory was asking how far they’d gone physically. Ellie blushed and then, surprisingly, answered that they were taking things reasonable slow – only on-top-of-the-clothes stuff. Rory was about to ask another question when Whit woke up.

The next night
, she focused on a picture of Nolan. He had given it to her when he found out what she was trying to accomplish. She succeeded in dreaming about Nolan, but it was the vision she’d had on her first day of Mind Study. This time, there was sound. She was sitting at a table with Rory and Mark, who were discussing their holiday plans. Mark was going to his grandmother’s in Florida, while Rory was going skiing in Colorado. Whit glanced around the room and noticed Nalini and Darby sitting with a group of guys, one of whom was Nolan. Nolan wasn’t talking, but staring at Whit with anger. As Whit continued to watch, Nolan jumped up, grabbed his tray, and stomped across the cafeteria. He stopped directly in front of her and started yelling about trust and how disappointed he was in her. How he didn’t understand. Why would she believe he would do something like that? The longer he yelled, the more irritated he looked. Finally he turned, walked directly to Darby, and grabbed her hand. He was tugging her toward him when Whit woke up.

She
felt a bit depressed by the vision of Nolan and her fighting, especially because it appeared to happen right before holiday break. That would be really bad timing, if it was true. He was really upset with her in the dream, and what exactly had been going on with Darby? She tried to put it out of her mind, but the vision was always there when she closed her eyes.

Still, at least she’d been able to focus her visions a little bit. Even if she’d seen things she didn’t like.
She only had two nights before the Dark Conquest tournament began, and knew she needed to focus even more if she was going to be successful. She concentrated both nights, but didn’t even dream again. No visions at all. How many times had she wanted the dreams to stop, and they hadn’t? But now that she wanted to dream, they abandoned her.

************************

Team practice had kept Whit from spending too much time with Nolan. Every time she was free, he wasn’t. They usually ate together, but even during that time, almost all their conversations were about the upcoming tournament. They had discussed practice, but nothing specific. They both knew that at some point they could be competing against each other, so they kept the discussions very vague.

After class
the day before the tournament, Nolan left a note for Whit on her room door, asking her to meet him in the library to study. Whit’s heart immediately sped up. It felt like it’d been forever since they’d been alone, and it sounded wonderful. She flashed back to their last study session in the library, and grinned. Maybe a small bit of making out in public wouldn’t be out of the question. In the end, she was in such a hurry to get to their back corner of the library that she almost walked right past him sitting at one of the tables.

With Darby.

As Whit approached the table, Darby gathered up her stuff and stood up. She walked around the table and whispered in Nolan’s ear
, making him laugh. With a look in Whit’s direction, she kissed Nolan on the cheek and squeezed his arm, then left the library, throwing one more look at Whit.

Whit’s mouth dropped open in shock.
What had just happened? Why was Darby kissing Nolan? It was on the cheek, but he’d still acted like it wasn’t a big deal. And right in front of her! Whit started to wonder if this was a normal occurrence. What exactly had she been missing during her team practices?

She started to turn around and
leave, her heart felt like it was squeezed in a vice.

“Whit!” he whispe
red loudly to get her attention. He obviously didn’t know what she’d just seen. She turned around, her face like stone. “What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned. She thought she must look upset, though she felt more stunned than anything.

She took a deep breath, trying to control her emotions.
“So, what’s the deal with Darby?” She gritted her teeth to keep herself from ranting at him and causing a huge embarrassing scene in the library.

She must have surprised him
, because he just sat there looking at her, saying nothing for several long moments. Whit assumed he was thinking of a good lie to tell her, and rolled her eyes in a huff.

“Okay, just hear me out
,” he started. “One of the guys on our team got sick with the flu, so we had to replace him.”

That didn’t explain it, Whit thought.
He could do better, so she waited in silence, just staring at him.

“We needed a specific gift and so I ask
ed –” He hesitated and took a deep breath. “Darby.”

Whit took a deep breath of her own. That didn’t exactly explain the kiss.
“Whose idea was it to ask her?”

Nolan shook his head
. “Mine. But she was the only one we could think of.” He was already getting defensive, and Whit hadn’t even said anything about the kiss or lying to her yet.

“
So she just joined your team today?” she asked, noticing that Nolan refused to make eye contact with her. She already knew what he was going to say but was hoping she misunderstood the signs.

“Actually, she
’s been on the team since the beginning.” He frowned down at the table, still focusing on it instead of her.

Whit didn’t know what to s
ay, so she just sat there. She thought back and remembered him telling her that he was going to be on an all-boys team. She had even asked him to join hers, before he told her Mark had already spoken for him. But had he asked her to join his? Absolutely not. He’d needed someone gifted in mind, and hadn’t bother to ask her. He’d immediately gone to Darby, his ex-girlfriend. The girl he’d been so cozy with at the party, and now the library.

She
closed her eyes. She’d been such an idiot to trust him. Mark had made believe that he was scared to care about someone too much because of the situation with his mom. But that wasn’t true. He was still keeping secrets and playing games. Here she was thinking he’d changed, but really he hadn’t. He hadn’t even told her until the day before games started. Of course, now he couldn’t wait any longer. She would see his team together tomorrow.

Finally she realized that she had to say something.
“I don’t even know why I bothered to give you a chance. You never changed, you were just hiding things. Gosh, I feel like such a stupid moron for believing you – the biggest flirt in school – would actually turn out to be a good guy.” Grabbing her bag, Whit walked as fast as she could out of the library. A tear escaped, but she dashed it away before anyone could see it. She would
not
cry over him. She’d made a mistake and she was paying for it, but he wasn’t worth her tears. She thought she heard him call her name, but she kept walking.

S
he tore through the halls and across the lawn, but slowed down as she got closer to the dorms. Almost against her will, she glanced behind her. A part of her hoped that he would come after her with some explanation that would clear everything up.

But he hadn’t followed her
. The walkway was empty.

Chapter 25

The Dark Conquest tournament was scheduled to last the final two weeks of the semester. The championship game would take place on the last day before holiday break. Today, all the teams had been called to a final meeting in the auditorium. Mr. Tolman greeted each group and highlighted their team name on a clipboard he held.

After her argument with Nolan
the day before, Whit had gone directly to Ellie and Rory for advice. They had agreed that Nolan was a jerk; first for not telling her right away, and second for allowing Darby to kiss and touch him. Her being on his team was bad enough, but the kiss made it ten times worse.

Now, as they walked toward the front of the auditorium, Whit just wanted to avoid seeing him if at all possible.
She had known in her heart that she wasn’t ready to get involved with someone. It had only been six months since she lost her parents, and then with the visions and the move to Maverick, her heart had been through enough. But she hadn’t been able to resist him. He’d made her feel happy again, like maybe life would be okay. Now it seemed like she’d been right the first time. Focusing on the floor, she held back the tears that wanted to fall. Why did life have to suck so much?

Rory and Ellie steered her into the second row
and into her seat. She could tell that they were worried about her again; it seemed like they were always taking care of her or trying to cheer her up, and she hated it. She hated being a burden to them.

Glancing at the girls on either side of her,
she said, “I’m sorry I’m such a mess all the time.” She was determined not to cry.

“Don’t apologize.
It’s what friends do,” Rory said with a squeeze to her hand.

“At some point, I’m going to be a mess.
It’s just your turn right now,” Ellie winked. “It sucks, but someday you’ll have to repay the favor, and I’ll know I can count on you to take care of me.”

Whit realized how lucky she was to have these two wonderful friends, and hoped that she could return the favor if they ever needed it.
Somehow they’d actually made her feel a bit better. Until she glanced up and noticed who was sitting in the front row. Nolan’s team. Complete with Darby.

Mr. Tolman started the meeting by repeating the description and overview of
Dark Conquest. Whit tried to focus on him, rather than noticing that Nolan was sitting with Darby. She forced her attention to Mr. Tolman, ignoring Nolan when he turned around to stare at her.

The
headmaster started by going over the tournament brackets for the first round of play. The team names were great. Silent Assassins, The Untouchables, Wrecking Crew, and Smokin’ Aces were just a few. Whit’s team, the Venomous Vixens, were up against the Black Frogs in the first round of play, starting at 8 the next morning. Whit could feel her nerves already tightening in anticipation. Most of the teams would miss several classes due to the games, but Tolman reminded everyone that all work had to be done whether they were in class or not, with the exception of Cooperative Learning.