Free The Boarding School Experiment by Emily Evans Page B

Water gushed out of his mouth, and over his chin. Hands grabbed my arms, pulling me from the pool. As exhausted as I was, I let them, falling to the concrete.
    The jumper coughed and grabbed his wrist. “My arm.”
    Coordinator Steele and The Scientist reached us. The Scientist helped him rise. “Let’s get you to the clinic.” He led the wounded guy from view.
    My hands and knees pressed into the prickly concrete and I sucked in another gulp of oxygen. I had plenty of air; I knew that. My body just needed time to accept it. The chlorine surrounded me, covering my heavy wet clothes and dripping from my hair.
    Orange-tipped toes came into view and Geneva crouched beside me. She slapped a cold hand on my shoulders and dropped a towel in front of me. I clutched at the warm dryness and buried my face in the terry cloth, breathing in the fragrance of the detergent. The familiarity calmed my heartbeat and I imagined myself in the warm, humid laundry room, sleeping on the dryer in a nest of newly-dried towels.
    “Good job.” A new respect and surprise echoed in Geneva’s voice. “I didn’t see him go down.” She tugged at my elbow with a strong hand, forcing me up and out of my laundry-room delusion. “Come on. We can take the elevators with the others.”
    We trudged across the deck, dripping, but my breathing had steadied. I dabbed at my face with the corner of the towel.
    Kaitlin and Declan stood ahead of us at the elevators. “Good job, guys.” Kaitlin’s usual perkiness layered her words. “We caught everything on the monitors.”
    The elevator dinged open, and Declan stepped into the doorway with his arms extended, barring my entrance. “I was about to jump.”
    “I know,” I said.
    “You shouldn’t have shoved me. I could’ve broken my arm, too.”
    “I know.”
    “You keep this shit up and I’ll quit.”
    Geneva slapped a hand on his shoulder and pushed until he dropped an arm. “Suck it up, buttercup. It’s over. Let’s go down and see where we rank.”
    A rush filled me at her words and we moved into the elevator. The top ten teams advanced, so I felt fairly confident we’d made it to the next round, but things derail you when you least expect them. The elevator ride seemed twice as long as normal. The moment the doors parted, I shoved through, renewed by the thought of a win. We ran to the auditorium via the spectator route. The stage below us lay empty.
    We took seats in the auditorium with the students who hadn’t participated in the physical legs. At the sound of rushing feet, we turned to the amphitheater’s entrance.
    Thane and another contestant skidded around the corner, appearing at the top. Picking up speed, they headed down the roped off aisle side-by-side. There were no signs of any other teams. These two were competing for first.
    They reached the end of the aisle with the other guy one step ahead of Thane. He veered left, going for the stairs. From this angle, we could see the right set of stairs were positioned a few steps closer.
    The watching students shouted encouragement, and we tried to shout over them. “Right, Thane, go right.”
    Thane ran straight. Using one hand against the front row of seats, he propelled himself onto the stage and into one of the ten circles. The crowd roared as he beat Lefty by at least four feet with his ridiculous, awesome leap.
    With the win, a rush of excitement filled me and I leapt in the air, screaming, relishing the elation.
    Feet pounded down the aisles as the other runners vied for a spot in the top ten. We cheered for them, too. Kaitlin bounced up and down, one of her hands on Geneva’s arm, one on mine. Geneva waved her fist in the air, and I screamed until my voice grew hoarse.
    The director moved to the lectern and clapped with waving arms. “Excellent. Everyone, please take a seat. Winners of this round, join your Captain on stage.”
     

Chapter Six
     
    Winners. We’d smashed the competition. The director went on and on about