The Perfect World (The Perfect World Series Book 1) (31 page)

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Scott got up to throw away his apple core. He then gave a loud yawn. “Speaking of tired, I think I’m going to take a nap before dinner. I’ll talk to you later, Cyrus.”

“Later,” Cyrus called, and Scott disappeared into his room. In spite of his reassurance to Scott, he couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous about tomorrow. Getting up, he decided that there wasn’t anything he could do about it, and he lost himself in his work until it was time for him to go to sleep.

When Cyrus’s alarm buzzed at 4:30 a.m., he groaned loudly and put his hands over his face.

No one should have to wake up at this horrid hour,
he thought sulkily as he dragged himself out of his warm bed. Cyrus walked in a daze to the bathroom where he turned on the hot water and took a long shower, waking up one minute at a time.

Once he had finished his shower, he went to the kitchen and grabbed an apple. He thought he should eat more, but he didn’t feel like it. Whether it was because of waking up early in the morning or because of his anxiety at his upcoming class, he wasn’t sure.

Cyrus threw the apple core away, changed into some loose, baggy gym clothes and grabbed his backpack. He made sure to pack an extra pair of clothes inside as per Mr. Schumacher’s suggestion and some soap and a stick of deodorant as per Ms. Linda’s. With his stuff all together, he walked out of the door to his house and headed to physical training.

The walk to the football field didn’t take long. Their house was very close to the field, and he was able to get there in about fifteen minutes. Cyrus arrived on the field with about ten minutes to spare and saw many other people his age stretching or loitering around the  field. He paused briefly, wondering where he should put his backpack. He saw a pile of bags near the right side of the field and walked over to lay his bag down with the others.

As he was walking, Cyrus couldn’t help but notice that a few of the other people were staring. He tried not to make eye contact, yet he could feel their eyes watching him. He tightened his grip on his bag and began to walk faster, feeling more and more eyes on him. Awkwardly, he walked as far away as he could from everyone else and placed his bag at the end of the pile. He pretended to look for something inside his bag just so he could stall walking back to the other students. A whistle caught his attention, and he turned toward the front of the field.

“Five minutes!” a gruff voice called over the field. “Ya got five minutes before we start. Those of you who are here should form lines. We’re going to start exactly at six o’clock and not a moment later. Roger?”

“Roger!” some voices shouted, and the other students moved to form lines. Cyrus walked up the very last line in the back of the grid formation and took a place on the edge. The boy next to him, a short, stocky boy with dark hair, gave him a cursory glance before turning away. Cyrus was relieved to see that the others were no longer looking at him, except for a girl in the middle of the line in front of him. She was tall for a girl, with a stocky build and long dark brown hair that was braided down her back. She kept turning her head to look back at him, to Cyrus’s annoyance. Feeling like a freak, he turned his head away to stare down the field, hoping she would stop.

A few more stragglers came in and formed a short line behind Cyrus as he waited, shifting his weight from foot to foot. As promised, class began at six o’clock on the dot. A tall, muscular man in a white T-shirt, thick green pants and black boots with a shaved head walked to the front of the column and blew his whistle again. When he did, everyone around Cyrus visibly stiffened. Wondering why they did this, but not being able to ask any questions Cyrus quickly imitated the pose.

“Good morning students!” the muscular man at the front of the students greeted in a gruff voice. “Welcome to your first physical training course. My name is General Gray. I would like to take a moment to thank all of you for your promptness. I expect all of you to be here and ready to go at exactly six in the morning sharp. Those who fail to do so will add an extra ten laps to their morning run. Anyone who is chronically late will fail this course and will have to retake it for another year. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir,” a few of the students replied.

A small smile played on their teacher’s lips at the response.”For those of you who don’t know, that is the response to this situation. I will always be addressed as ‘sir’ by all of you, not as a ‘Mr.’ or a teacher. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Cyrus and the other students replied much more  loudly.

“All right, class, before we get started, it’s time we take attendance. When I call your name, please say, “Present” in a loud voice so that we can hear you.” He picked up a clipboard that was lying at his feet and called, “Justin Aberdeen.”

“Present,” came the response from somewhere in the middle of the rows of students.

“Alexander Anderson.”

“Present.”

The list went on for quite some time. Cyrus waited as patiently as he could for his name to be called, and he waited a long time since his name was in the W’s.

“Cyrus Wright?” General Gray finally called from the front of the column.

“Present,” he called back, noticing that quite a few students turned around to stare at him. He schooled his face to hide his emotions and stared back at some of them, who quickly turned away. He didn’t care if he made some of them uncomfortable with his glare. He was tired of being stared at.

When the list finished, General Gray tucked the clipboard underneath his arm and said, “Again, I thank you for showing up promptly this morning. I hope this continues throughout the year. If you make an effort to please me, then this class should run smoothly for you all for the rest of the year. However, if you start slacking off, I can make this class a real painful experience. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Excellent,” he said as he placed his hands behind his back. “Now, it’s time for us to get started. To begin our training, I want all of you to run ten laps around this football field. Don’t try to cheat by cutting across or running in the middle of the field. All of you are to hug the fences and circle the perimeter ten times. You have forty minutes to complete this task. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good, then let’s get started.”

Cyrus followed the other students towards the fence and began running at a leisurely pace in the back of the line. He stayed in the back, mostly to avoid the other students. However, after about two laps of this, he grew weary of the slow pace. Truthfully, Cyrus enjoyed running and being able to run at any pace he liked was exciting to him. Gradually, he started to speed up.

Soon, Cyrus felt the wind running through his messy brown hair as he ran around the football field. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the cool morning air against his face. When he opened his eyes again, he realized he had made his way to the front of the line. There were only a few people ahead of him, and he felt he would have been able to catch them if he tried. He didn’t feel like it though. He was enjoying his run, and he wasn’t competing with anyone.

At least, he wasn’t until one of the boys in front of him spotted him and slowed down to his pace. He caught Cyrus’s eye and made a motion with his head that he took as an invitation to a running contest. Liking the idea, Cyrus nodded and the two sprinted off.

Cyrus was impressed by the other boy’s speed. He was able to keep pace with Cyrus easily, and it was all he could do to keep up. He reminded Cyrus a little of the blond-haired boy Will from the perfect world. Briefly, he wondered how Will was doing, wishing he could be here to test his own skills at running. 

They continued to race until they had completed all ten laps, the other boy finishing a little ahead of Cyrus. They both stopped once they ended their tenth lap, hunched over and breathing hard. Sweat dripped down both their faces as they caught their breath, damp hair clinging to their foreheads. Finally, the other boy looked at him and smiled. He had curly black hair, dark, deep eyes and tan skin.

“Nice race,” the boy told him, giving him a thumbs up.

“Thanks.” Cyrus breathed out as he finally straightened out.

“The name’s Xavier,” he introduced, pointing to himself. “What’s yours?”

“Cyrus.”

“Hm, well, Cyrus, can’t say I’ve seen you around before. Did you get permission to transfer to this dome?”

Cyrus shook his head, not entirely sure what Xavier was talking about. “No, I just got here.”

“Just got here?” Xavier was clearly confused by his words.

Cyrus glanced around to make sure there weren’t too many people around, then he lowered his voice and said, “I’m from the perfect world. I escaped there a few weeks ago.”

Xavier’s eyes widened, and he looked a bit shocked. He recovered quickly enough, giving an impressed whistle. “So,
you’re
the one. I had heard that someone had managed to escape the perfect world and come into this dome, but nobody has said more than that.”

“Is it really that big a deal?” Cyrus asked, not liking the idea that he was being talked about without his knowledge.

Xavier snorted. “What kind of question is that? Of course, it is! We haven’t had anyone escape from there for a long time now.”

Cyrus considered this for a moment when Xavier stuck out his hand. Gingerly, Cyrus grasped it, and they shook hands.

“Well, I for one am glad that you managed to escape. It’s great to meet you Cyrus.”

Cyrus was relieved at the reaction. “You too.”

“Whoa, Xavier. Way to leave the rest of us in the dust.” Xavier and Cyrus turned to see the brown-haired girl who had been staring at Cyrus when she was standing in line. She had a heart-shaped face and her eyes were a brownish-green, flickering with amusement. Her skin was pale, which accented her full red lips. Cyrus blinked as he realized he had seen her before. She was the girl who he’d seen outside of Greenwald’s Restaurant some weeks ago.

Xavier’s eyes gave an appreciative glance at her figure, which was very curvy and especially top heavy. She flicked her braid back over her shoulder and said casually, “Who’s your new running friend?” Her voice had a deep, earthy quality to it.

“Who, him?” Xavier asked, clearly trying to be difficult.

The girl rolled her eyes. “Who else?”

“This is Cyrus.”

“Cyrus, huh?” The girl’s eyes met his and a nice smile lit up her face. “That’s a cool name.”

“Uh, thanks,” Cyrus said feeling a little uncomfortable at the gaze. He felt like he was being examined for something, and he wasn’t sure what. “What’s your name?”

“Priscilla,” she answered in a forced neutral tone.

“Oh. Your name’s uh …” He trailed off, trying to think of a compliment, but not being able to.

“Horrible,” she answered for him. When he tried to protest, she just laughed. “It’s okay Cyrus. I’m used to my name by now. It was a little difficult growing up with it though.”

Xavier grinned. “Poor little Missy Sissy Prissy, always being teased about her name.” At the name, Priscilla went  a little red and stomped hard on Xavier’s foot. The curly haired boy yelped and held his foot while jumping on one leg.

“Hmph. Now, who’s sissy?” Priscilla questioned, looking at her red manicured nails.

“Okay, okay, sorry, geez,” Xavier said through gritted teeth. He leaned closer to Cyrus’s ear and whispered loudly, “Be careful of this one. She’s got a scary temper.”

Priscilla heard the statement and rolled her eyes. Instead of looking angry, however, she looked amused. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Scary, huh? Way to give me a great first impression. How bout I stomp the other foot for good measure?”

“Then, you would just be proving my point.”

Priscilla’s mouth quirked. “I hate it when you make sense.”

Cyrus just watched the scene in bemusement. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be involved, so he just kept his mouth shut.

“All right, students,” the barking voice of General Gray called over to them. “Once you’ve completed your laps, you can take a five minute water break. Always be sure to keep yourselves hydrated, especially in this hot weather. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Cyrus and the others responded together.

“Come on, Cy, let’s get some water,” Xavier said as he tapped his shoulder. He turned back to Priscilla. “I guess you can come to.”

“Oh, may I?” she said sarcastically, giving him a light smack on the arm. “I’m so glad I have his royal highness’s welcome.”

“King Xavier does have a good ring to it.”

Priscilla made a gagging noise. “As if your ego isn’t already inflated enough as it is.”

“There’s a difference between cockiness and confidence. I just happen—”

“To have too much of both,” Priscilla finished, smirking at Xavier’s mock hurt facial expression.              

The two of them got along so well that Cyrus finally piped up and asked, “Are you two siblings?”

This time, Priscilla laughed out loud. “No, no. Xavier and I have just known each other a long time. We live a few houses away from each other, so we hang out a lot.”

“I see,” Cyrus muttered as they reached the section of bags. Xavier and Priscilla easily picked there’s out of the pile and slung them over their shoulders. Then, Xavier looked at Cyrus and said, “Where’s yours?”