Radioactive - Book 1: Birth 🪼

Nine

Matthew
I have developed a cold and so I end up needing to stay home for the day. I'm not too happy about it but then again, I'd rather be here and than at school right now. Ever since Dr. White got fired, everyone has been using me and Ellie as scapegoats for their cold shoulder since R has been out because of his clavicle. I'm not that close to R but it's not like he wanted Dr. White to get fired from the school. From what I got from him, he seemed to really like her because she seemed to be genuinely nice to people like him and that Nalak kid. If he had been there to hear of her being let go, he probably would have tried to get her to not be. But that's neither here nor there and even so, I don't see why he should be blamed for her being fired. He had just met her and he's been an Empty since he started high school so it wasn't like she offended him or something.
Now Nalak? He was the albino so... what if it was him that got her fired?
But no one ever thinks of that and so being here, sniffling and vegging in front of the TV, seems like a much better way to spend the day than avoiding everyone at school. I'm trying to find a show that's not on SN Studios. SN Studies is the studio that makes all the TV shows and movies for us here in Section N. They're okay but I like the stuff that comes from HT Studios, the studio for the AlexGens. HT Studio shows are ten times better than SN Studio productions because it's rumored that AlexGens see into other dimensions and so their content is a lot cooler and broader than Normal things.
As I channel surf, I lay down on the couch and cough, grabbing a cough drop from the bag on the table. My throat is hurting really bad and I miss Balister being here because he would make me soup and stuff, but he's on a business trip for the company he works for (even though he's on maternity leave) and so I have to take care of myself. I'm also kind of stressed out lately because I haven't had my swell yet.
Usually, a little bit after you turn fourteen, you're supposed to start getting pregnancy symptoms about a week or two (sometimes a month) into your fourteenth year. Well, I'm almost fifteen and I haven't had any symptoms at all; I'm so desperate and that even PICA would be a blessing right now. I can't be an Empty... I see how people treat R and I saw how fast the student body switched on that Nalak kid when they all thought he was an Empty. I'm too popular to deal with that social outcasting right now...
There is a knock on the door and I moan, sitting up and holding my head from the sinus drainage. I get off the couch and go to the door. I open it and gasp, almost swallowing my cough drop. I cough to get it to not get sucked down my throat and when I finally get where I can talk, I point to the person in the doorway.
"What the hell are you doing here?"

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

R

Even though I was able to go back to school about a week ago, I didn't actually go into the school. Dad wanted to make sure that the bone infuser wasn't disturbed so I took my classes in a separate room where the teachers gave me my stuff during their planning period. But, today is the first day that I am supposed to go back into the regular school. I don't really think much about the way people were looking at me but for some reason, I feel like it's different. I feel more socially outcasted than usual...
I adjust my sling and put my backpack on the ground so I can turn the tumbler on my lock.
"R, right?" I hear someone say.
I turn and am surprised to see Diamond looking at me with her grey eyes twinkling. I blink a little and smile slightly.
"Um, yeah, that's me... Are you coming over here because of another dare?" I ask, remembering the last time and looking around for her friends.
"No, actually. This is on a personal level."
"Okay..."
"I just wanted to say, on behalf of the student body, that you're officially outcasted."
I lift an eyebrow. "Wow, you're slow if you think that hadn't already been done."
"No, you don't get it. What was done was just a general avoidance because you're an Empty. This is a legitimate cold shoulder from the whole school."
I frown. "Why?"
"You got my mom fired."
I make a face as she stares at me, crossing her arms over her milk-enlarged breasts.
"How could that have happened? Doesn't Dr. White work from the RDC?"
"She had been but she was transferred from the RDC through a program of theirs to this job here. This job was her subject matter and you got her fired from here, so she had no subject, which got her fired from the RDC. It was all after she got done with that freshman; they gave her notice right before you went missing or whatever you did."
"Then why am I the one being blamed? You're talking about Nalak that had the hidden discovery."
"Because it was after the blood tests."
I blink a little and then shake my head, transferring my books into my locker.
"You know what, think whatever you want. I can't believe I thought that you would be as nice as your mother was toward me. I really liked your mom... I'm sorry she got fired but I didn't do it. If you're that idiotic and hateful, then forget you. See ya."
I close the locker and leave with a sigh. So much for asking her out one day...