The Program (The Program #1)

CHAPTER THREE

WHEN I FINALLY PULL MYSELF TOGETHER, I GO BACK inside the Wellness Center. It seems too loud, too alive, and I find the couch empty, both Liam and Evan now gone. Kevin is at the wall, talking with Lacey. When I approach, he quickly straightens and walks toward me.

I tell Kevin I’m ready to leave, and then say good-bye to Lacey before turning and heading toward the exit. The crowd in the room is suffocating me as I try not to think about what happened on the patio. Try not to think that Liam might have known me before. He called me a freak.

I notice the guy from outside, James, but he doesn’t acknowledge me when I pass. I want to thank him again, but Kevin appears at my side, leading me away.

As we reach the parking lot, Kevin stops me next to his van. “Sloane,” he says quietly, his face showing concern. “Are you feeling all right?”

My lips part to answer. I don’t want to lie, but I’m scared of telling the truth. When I pause, Kevin furrows his brow. “Look,” he says. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I think if I do it’ll help you to trust me more.” He waits a beat as if trying to decide if he should. “I was assigned to you for a reason,” he whispers.

I lift my gaze to meet his. “What reason?”

Kevin looks me over and then shakes his head. “Wait, you didn’t take your pill, did you? I can see the panic in your expression.”

“What reason?” I ask again.

“Michael Realm,” he finally answers. “He’s asked me to look out for you.”

I rock back on my heels. “Realm? But . . . why would you do that? He’s a patient and—”

“I’ve known Michael for a while,” Kevin says quickly. “And he asked this as a favor. He’s hoping that once you’re well, I can take you to see him. Off the grid.” Kevin looks around once, as if he’s worried about being overheard. It occurs to me then that he’s breaking the rules, that he can be arrested for what he’s doing.

And I think that he’s right. I do trust him more now.

“Thank you for telling me,” I say quietly. “And I’d like to see Realm again. But he told me I’d have to wait.”

“You do,” Kevin confirms, starting for the door of his van. “But in a few weeks, you should be okay. Just don’t . . .” He stops to look around again. “Just don’t do anything stupid. And whatever you do, don’t tell anyone about this. You’ll compromise us all.”

“I’ll try.” The nerves in my stomach calm. The fact that Realm is looking out for me makes me feel safer. And it makes me miss him. I don’t want to screw up my chances of seeing him again.

Kevin and I both climb inside the van, and he starts the engine, glancing over his shoulder to back out. “Kevin,” I say. “Let’s never come back here again, okay? This place gives me the creeps.”

He smiles and agrees, and then we leave the Wellness Center behind.

? ? ?

Lacey is waiting for me outside of class the next morning. Kevin stands off to the side of the door while I stop to talk to her, and Lacey shrugs apologetically.

“I don’t know what happened last night,” she says, quietly enough so that Kevin won’t hear. “But the way Liam tore out of there, I’m guessing he was a dick and you told him off. He can be that way sometimes.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I say. “He probably didn’t even think he was doing anything wrong.”

Lacey nods at this, and moves over as several students file past us into class. “It’s harder for returners,” she murmurs. “People know more about us than we do. There’s no one to trust anymore. It’s enough to make me . . .” She stops and looks to where Kevin is standing. “Never mind,” she says, waving her hand. “We should go in.”

I agree and follow behind her. Kevin enters after us, taking his place at the back of the room. I look around again, thinking that everyone seems content, easygoing. But I didn’t take my pill again today, and the fog of treatment is slowly clearing. Just then Lacey looks back over her shoulder at me and presses her lips into a smile. She’s not medicated, not like the rest. I wonder if we’re the only two lucid students in this room right now.

I begin filling out the daily assessment on my desk, lying on the first question. Because I do feel anxious and overwhelmed. But I’d never tell them that.

? ? ?

As I walk into my third-period math class, I see a list of problems on the board. I take out my notebook after I sit, and jot them down, hoping to be able to figure out at least one. Math is becoming a huge source of frustration for me. I’m lost in a calculation when a chair squeaks next to me.

I look over, noticing him—James. He looks a little different in daylight, or maybe it’s the fact that my medication has worked its way out of my system, letting images sharpen again.

He has blond hair, cut close to his scalp. He’s wearing a short-sleeved button-down plaid shirt that doesn’t seem to be his, something about it wrong on him. It also doesn’t hide the white scars on his bicep. I see him look at me from the corners of his eyes, but he doesn’t turn. In fact, he just leans forward and then takes out his phone to text, or play a game. I’m not sure.

There’s a strange mix of anxiety in my stomach as I watch him. I’m about to whisper a thank-you, even though I’ve already told him. I feel like I should say something, but just then our teacher walks in and tells us to take out our books.

I abandon the math problems from the board, and open to the correct page. I sneak a look sideways to see James continuing to type on his phone.

“Mr. Murphy,” our teacher calls from the front. “If you wouldn’t mind . . .” She raises one eyebrow at him.

James doesn’t immediately react, and I shoot a look back to Kevin. My heart rate spikes, afraid that this guy is going to get himself thrown out of class. But before anything else happens, James slips his phone back into his pocket and opens his book, never making a sound.

When that’s settled, Mrs. Cavalier starts in on the lesson, and I try not to look next to me. When class comes to an end, James is the first one out the door.

? ? ?

Lacey waves me over to her table when I get to lunch. Kevin tells me to go ahead. He doesn’t offer me the white pill anymore, which tells me that maybe I never really needed it in the first place. Maybe they were just to keep me complacent. At home my doses go into the disposal.

I sit across from Lacey, opening my brown bag. Now that I’m not taking anything, my appetite has returned. I bite into my sandwich as Lacey takes out her cupcakes, sliding one over to me.

“Evan broke up with me today,” she says conversationally. “He said my rebel ways make him nervous. Which I think is funny considering that he’s the one who’s best friends with a non-returner. That alone is asking for trouble—they’re paranoid and dangerous. Hell, they spread suicide. And truly, Liam is scared shitless of us. I bet he’s the one that told him to end things.”

“Liam’s not scared of me,” I say, taking the cupcake from the plastic to break it open. “But that other guy might have worried him just a little.” I lick the cream, and Lacey tilts her head questioningly.

“What other guy?”

I glance around then, trying to find him. When I see him sitting alone at a table, I don’t mention it at first. Instead I look him over. He’s really cute, in an intimidating sort of way. His light-blue eyes gaze out the window as he drinks from a carton of milk. I wonder why he helped me last night, yet he won’t look at me otherwise. At just that moment, he turns to meet my stare and I freeze.

Across from me Lacey laughs. “James Murphy,” she says.

“What?” Startled, I turn back to her.

She smiles. “That’s James Murphy who you’re currently eye-humping. He’s in my science class, but he doesn’t say much. And when he does, it’s usually obnoxious or combative.”

I can feel my cheeks redden. “I wasn’t . . .” I stop to laugh. “Okay, not the point. So are you friends with him?”

“Nope.” She bites into her cupcake. “I’m pretty sure that he hates everyone here. He’s been in and out of the office since transferring. I would have recruited him to my ‘Lacey Against the World’ plan, but he’s too unpredictable. He ended up assigned two handlers because he kept going off the grid. Can’t believe they didn’t send him back. Trying to keep up appearances, I guess.”

She crumples up her wrapper, and I pick through the rest of my lunch, careful not to look at James again. If Lacey thinks he’s trouble, that has to be saying something. But I might ask Kevin about him later.

“Wait,” Lacey says, looking up. “Is he the one that scared Liam yesterday?”

“Uh-huh.” I don’t go into details, but I’m not sure why. It’s like I’m suddenly protective of James’s reputation, even though I barely know him. Still, I owe him for sticking up for me. So I don’t mention that he threatened to turn a non-sick person into The Program. That could get him arrested, I bet.

Something tickles the back of my mind, but I can’t put it into words, this odd feeling I have. A feeling that has no meaning because I can’t remember what it relates to. It’s like I’m about to discover it when a memory of my brother sitting alone at the table calling out fractions on flash cards echoes in my mind. I blink quickly and try to clear it away.

“Well, who knows then,” Lacey says, not noticing my temporary distraction. “Maybe he’s not a total tool. So . . . do you remember having any boyfriends or anything? Evan is the first that I can remember. How sad is that? He uses way too much tongue.”

“Ew.” I pop the tab on my Diet Coke. “Not sure I needed to know that.”

Lacey leans her elbows on the table, the smile fading from her lips. “They watch you, you know. They monitor us all the time, even when we don’t realize.”

A chill runs over me as I stare back at her. Her dark eyes are painted with blue shadow, the liner dramatically cat-eyed. Her blond hair is flipped up at the ends, very preppy—almost comically so. It occurs to me suddenly that this is not how she wants to dress. That this is fake.

“Are they watching right now?” I whisper, suddenly paranoid as I lean closer to her.

“The place isn’t bugged or anything, but they take note of who we interact with. Where we go. They’re looking for signs of failure.”

“And if they find it?”

Lacey straightens then. “We don’t know. No one has failed. Yet.”

I lower my eyes, thinking that I don’t want to be the first person to get sent back to The Program. I don’t think I could bear being locked up there alone. I feel fine—a little confused, but not depressed. Although to be honest, I’m not even sure what depressed would feel like.

“Anyway.” Lacey sighs as if wanting to go back to the easy conversation. “If you want me to introduce you to James, I can.”

I shake my head, trying to relax the tension that is now squeezing my shoulders. “That’s okay,” I say. “I doubt he’s my type.”

Lacey snorts. “How would you know? I’m sure they’ve wiped out your dating history, too.”

She’s right. I don’t know anything about myself anymore. I don’t even know if I’ve had a boyfriend before.

“Maybe you like dudes on motorcycles.” Lacey grins. “Or supernerdy guys.” She giggles, but it’s deep and throaty. “I’ll tell you one thing, now that I’m free to date, I’m going to try all thirty-one flavors. It’s like I have a clean slate. I’m a born-again virgin.”

“Just remember that some of those thirty-one flavors will be disgusting,” I say. “Like, who would be the pistachio cream?”

Lacey smiles. “Already had him.”

I laugh again, shaking my head. “Have you ever asked anyone about your past? About who you dated before?”

Lacey seems to freeze at this. “I did actually, and my parents nearly died when I brought it up. They wouldn’t tell me a thing. Everyone else ignored the question because they didn’t want to get flagged. You know that, right? If anyone tells you about who you were, what you did before The Program, they can get flagged or arrested for messing with a returner.”

I lower my eyes, the thought troubling me. The fact that The Program has such complete control of what and who we’re exposed to.

Lacey continues. “After all the strained glances between my parents, I finally just went to search my room, looking for anything—a picture, a birthday card. But it’s all gone. Probably a good thing, though. I mean, how healthy could my past relationships have been if I was suicidal?”

She has a valid point. “Still,” I say, “I’d like to know. Just seems weird that other people can know and not tell me.”

Lacey pushes her lunch bag away and levels her stare at me. “It is weird. And trust me, it doesn’t get any less weird. But there are a lot sick people out there. You and me, we’re not like them anymore. Sure, I get a little irritated when I can’t remember something, but I’m not trying to slash my wrists, either. The Program worked. For better or for worse. Truly,” she says, looking down. “I’m not sure which it is.”

The expression that crosses her features is one of regret with a touch of sadness. I glance over at Kevin, hoping he hasn’t noticed Lacey’s change, but he’s watching us. He’s clearly seen.

“I did meet a guy while I was at The Program,” I offer, completely downplaying how complicated my and Realm’s relationship was to make it sound like gossip. With that, Lacey’s lips twitch with a smile.

“Really, now? That is scandalous, Sloane. A boyfriend?”

“No. Just a friend.” Lacey crinkles her nose as if I’ve disappointed her. “But,” I add, “he was the type of friend I’d sometimes kiss.”

The bell rings overhead, and I straighten, glad I snapped her out of whatever she was thinking about. She smiles broadly at me.

“I have to go,” she says, standing. “My chem teacher is giving me a hell of a time about not catching up. Maybe she’ll eventually take the hint that I hate science and have no plans to ever catch up.” She sighs and then waves before turning to leave.

I wait a minute, still taking in what Lacey had told me about being monitored, about nobody telling us who we used to be. I thought being clearheaded would help me figure stuff out, but instead it’s only made it more confusing. Just then Kevin appears at the end of the table.

“Do you monitor me when I don’t know?” I ask quietly.

“Yes.”

Tiny pinpricks of realization slide over my skin, and I nod, acknowledging that I heard him. It’s a helpless feeling.

“But . . . ,” he continues, “I try not to notice when you break the rules—like slipping out of the Wellness Center when you think I’m not looking.”

“Oh.” I feel exposed, but it also affirms to me that Kevin isn’t the bad guy. At least not that I can tell. And if Realm sent him, I should trust that. I should trust Realm.