At least I'd had Jamie to lean on, as bad an influence as she'd been. My mom had had no one when she should have had me.
God, I owed her so much. Tears burned my eyes.
Okay. Now I couldn't think about her, either.
Think about Ryan… his sexy image sprang into my mind, making me shiver. Relationships between trainer and trainee were forbidden, the manual had said, but that didn't stop me from hoping he found me half as attractive as I found him. I would have liked to kiss him. Just once. With tongue, his arms—
Suddenly all the lights in the room flashed on, extremely bright to my eyes, which had become attuned to the dark. The beige walls came into focus, the metallic dresser. A mirror. I saw my reflection: rumpled, long blond hair. Sleep-heavy brown eyes. Swollen lips. I'd chewed them the entire time I'd lain awake, I guess, not realizing I was doing it.
“Kitten and Phoenix,” a computerized voice said.
Kitten jolted upright, her gaze wild as she looked around. “What happened? What's wrong?” Her voice was scratchy.
“Your presence is required in room three A. You have ten minutes,” the computer finished.
Groaning, I eased up and rubbed a hand over my face. “I wonder what they're going to do to us.”
“Or what they'll make us do,” Kitten grumbled. She threw her legs over the side of her bed. “What time is it?”
I glanced at the digital clock and its flashing red numbers. “Three a.m.”
“What?” She frowned. “You're kidding.”
“Look for yourself.”
She did. Her frown deepened. “That's insanity! Who gets up at three a.m.?”
“Apparently we do.” I lumbered out of bed. We took turns in the dry shower, the enzyme spray cleaning us in seconds. We hurriedly brushed our teeth and hair before studying the mazelike map in the manual.
“We should have studied this more carefully before bed,” she mumbled.
“Note to self,” I said. “Listen to Mia Snow when she speaks.”
“Three A,” Kitten said, tapping a long, pointed nail on her chin. “Looks like that's like four halls over. We'll never make it in time.”
“Crap. We can't break a rule on our first day.”
“Well, we've only got three minutes.”
“Then let's haul ass!” Determination filled me. “Come on.” I raced to the door and commanded it to open.
“What will the ass**les who run this place do if we get lost?” Kitten said behind me. “Choke us with our own intestines?”
I didn't want to find out. “Being late is probably worse than committing murder.”
“We'll never make it,” she repeated.
“Yes, we will.”
We rushed into the hall and maneuvered through the unfamiliar passage. As we ran, Kitten fastened her multicolored hair into a ponytail.
Unlike the walls in the interview room, these hall walls were blue with posters taped throughout. THE FEW, THE PROUD, AND THE BADASS, one of them read. IT'S NOT HOW YOU DO IT, IT'S THE END RESULT THAT COUNTS, another said.
Surprisingly, there were other girls in the hallways, hustling from one room to another. No one said a word to us or even glanced in our direction. They were too focused, too hurried to reach their own destination.
Finally we found a door that had a large black 3A over the top. After a quick hand scan, we were able to enter. Mia Snow stood at the head of the room, her arms locked behind her back.
“You're late,” she said. “And that's not a good way to start the program. You're lucky I don't kick you out right now.”
“We're not late,” I told her through clenched teeth, trying not to pant. “It's three ten.”
Her dark brows arched. “If someone is six seconds late, they are…what?”
“Late,” Kitten and I muttered together.
“I told you to study the map.”
“We did,” Kitten said. “Kind of.”
I had glanced at it last night, but I hadn't tried to memorize it. Too complicated, I'd thought. I wouldn't make that mistake again. I would learn.
Mia's response was a commanding, “On the floor. Now!”
I looked at Kitten, and she looked at me. On the floor? Seriously?
“I didn't say stare at each other.” There was violence in Mia's tone. “I said drop.”
We dropped.
A minute passed in silence before Mia said anything else. She glanced down at her nails, suddenly radiating a breezy air. “I'm feeling magnanimous today. I'm going to watch you do twenty-five push-ups, twenty-five sit-ups, and twenty-five knee bends. Start.”
“Are you kidding me?” Kitten gasped out.
“Make that fifty.” Mia arched a brow. “Anything else you'd like to say?”
The words “help me” and “oh my God” came to mind. I remained quiet, though, and forced myself into motion. By the time I finished, I was a sweaty, burning, shaking mess. I'd never done so much exercise in my life. Kitten breezed through it as if she'd worked out her entire life.
I was beyond jealous.
“You're slow, Phoenix, and I expect improvement next time.”
Next time? I barely cut off my moan. “I'll do better.”
“Make sure of it,” was her clipped response. “By the way, you passed the test.”
A pause. “What test?” Kitten asked.
“I wasn't talking to you,” Mia snapped.
No, she'd been talking to me. I'd passed the drug test. Thank God.
“Make sure you pass the next one, as well, or I will be very upset.”
I gulped and nodded, not glancing in Kitten's direction.
“Sit, both of you.” Even issuing orders in the middle of the night, Mia was still as pretty as a ballerina. Her hair gleamed darkly in the light, like black silk. Her face was smooth, her eyes bright. Did the woman not need to sleep?
Both Kitten and I sat on the floor, right where we were. I sent my gaze throughout the room. It was like every classroom I'd ever been inside and that surprised me. I guess I'd expected guns and knives to be hanging on the walls. A mat for fighting, maybe. Not math equations projected from holoscreens. Not desks and chairs.
“At a desk, girls,” Mia said with a roll of her eyes.
Kitten and I scurried to the desks at the head of the class and sat like good little frightened robots.
“Now, then. Welcome to orientation.” Mia sounded calm and emotionless once again. She locked her hands behind her back. “I bet you're wondering why you were called out of bed this early in the morning on your first day here.” She paced in front of us.