The Ones (11 page)

And James's house wasn't exactly the most comfortable place to hang around now. Since the List had come out, his brother had berated his father for choosing to have James, and his father had basically admitted it was a terrible mistake. James actually felt a measure of relief that some of the uncomfortable dynamics he could never put his finger on were finally coming to light. That nagging sense that he could never be perfect enough made sense now. No report card was ever going to fix a “mistake.”

Making things worse, his parents had also seen that Cody wasn't on the List, and James's mom couldn't bite her tongue as she handed him a plate of toast that morning.

“I always had a feeling about that girl,” she said with a note of pride.

James glared at her and walked out of the kitchen. He felt desperate to get away from these people. Luckily for him, his address had been circulated to everyone alive who might want to harm him, so getting out of the house actually made sense.

James texted Cody and arranged to pick her up on the way to school. When he pulled up in front of her house, a weird sensation of butterflies swarmed his stomach. It was the same feeling he'd experienced when he arrived to take Cody on their first date more than a year ago, and it grew even more intense when she had walked out of the house and James saw her wearing a dress for the first time. Today, though, James wasn't so much nervous as confused. Cody—the epitome of being a One and his equal in all ways—somehow wasn't that person anymore. But that made no sense, because Cody was obviously still the same person. At least James hoped she was.

When she bounded out the door and loped down to his car, James's fears melted away. He pushed open the passenger's side door for her, but Cody circled around the Jeep and leaned into James's window to plant a kiss on his lips. They held together for a moment, sharing all the wild emotions of the past day.

Cody finally pulled back as James reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “I'm sorry. I never meant to lie to you. I didn't know, either,” she said. James nodded, only beginning to understand how confusing this must have been for her. “So am I allowed in the car, or do you only date gennies?” Cody asked sweetly.

“I don't care what the List says—you'll always be my one,” James said, pulling Cody closer for another kiss. When they finally came up for air, she had a huge smile on her face. “Unless you already joined the Equality Movement,” James joked.

“No, I figure you could probably use a bodyguard right now.”

“It's going to be pretty sweet for you, huh? You can get rid of your ID card, probably race in the meet on Friday, too.”

Cody pulled away. “Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. I guess I still think of myself as a One in spirit. But I should probably stop.”

As she climbed into his car and he started the engine, James realized how hard this was going to be for Cody. So much of her identity was tied up in her pride at being a One and in defending their rights. She had recently seemed like she was on the edge of doing something crazy, so James was grateful that this would pull her out of the chaos and maybe prevent a fight or confrontation that could ruin her life.

“I guess this means you won't be bombing any buildings with the Weather Channel then?” he said.

Cody looked at him—a little offended, it seemed. “Well, about that…”

“Cody, you can't—”

“It's a serious problem, James. They're pissed. They think I am some kind of spy.”

“Oh, come on, if you just explain what happened—you went to
one
meeting, which they made you attend! They need to leave you alone.”

But James knew this was going to be a tricky situation. He had spent only a few minutes around those people, but it was long enough to see they were serious, paranoid, and in possession of guns. Not exactly the ideal group to catch you in a lie.

“Maybe I don't want them to leave me alone.”

“What?”

“I still believe everything I believed about the Ones two days ago. I still think what's happening is outrageous. Even more so after this list. And I still want to contribute to this fight. The Weathermen are taking action, and I want to be part of that.”

“But Cody … you're not a One anymore,” James said. He immediately knew his statement had come out wrong, in a mean way, instead of just a simple declaration of fact.

“No, I'm not, I get it. But what kind of person would I be if I changed all my morals because of that?” Cody paused for a second. “They asked me to prove my allegiance, James, and I am going to do it. Now I just need to figure out how.”

James sighed, accepting the futility of fighting with her. Cody was still Cody. In one sense, it was a huge relief. He loved that fiery girl who wanted to change the world for the better. But the world was different now, and trying to change it was probably going to be very dangerous. James didn't even want to imagine what she might cook up to prove herself.

He also couldn't stop thinking about the package he saw at his father's office, the one shipped by the National Institutes of Health. In his gut, he knew this was something he should share with Cody. The NIH was something that the Ones talked about all the time, because it was the federal body that administered their pilot program. Every year they had to send in reams of data about their height and weight and blood pressure and triglyceride levels and everything else you could measure in the body. It wasn't much of a nuisance—everyone's doctor basically did it for them—but the NIH was still something that was always part of their life. James knew Cody had the tests done, too, but now he assumed her mother never mailed the results anywhere. Still, on a normal day, if James had gotten a weird feeling after seeing a package from the NIH, he would definitely loop Cody in on it.

But today was different. It was their first day together when Cody wasn't a One. It was a day when Cody was looking for a way to prove herself to the New Weathermen. And it was a day when telling her about a suspicious package in his father's lab didn't seem like a good thing to add into the mix.

*   *   *

The atmosphere at school was a little calmer than the day before. Marco and his cohorts were not prowling the parking lot with bounty posters. Sympathetic friends weren't rushing up with breathless warnings. When James and Cody walked in together, there were a few looks, sure, but it seemed that people were starting to move on from List Day. Anyway, James knew that in the grand scheme of the whole world, his high school was pretty safe. Obviously, the vast majority of the students weren't Ones, but most of them were still supportive of their peers in the minority. There were bad apples and bullies, but the younger generation was generally fine with the Ones. Knowing them, growing up with them, dating them, and being friends with them—James supposed it all made it harder to support their persecution. And his classmates weren't so freaked out by the technology, either. To them, genetic engineering was just another fancy gadget that had existed all their lives. It was the older generations that felt the most threatened. James knew this dynamic had existed in every generation since the apes looked disapprovingly at the cavemen, but this was different. Normal, upstanding adults—hell, even members of the Supreme Court—wanted to get rid of him. These people were the supposed silent majority in favor of the Equality Act. So, notwithstanding the recent experiences of being forced off a cliff and then almost pummeled in the parking lot, James felt he was safest around people his own age.

Today James and Cody had calculus together during first period, and they settled into their seats, relieved to be back in normal life. That normality lasted all of thirty seconds, however, because a blaring announcement came over the school PA system. Just like the week before, Margie's voice started calling out names to come immediately to the office. And just like last week, the names were all Ones. James stood up and gathered his things, frustrated. But unlike last time, Cody didn't join him.

“Punch Ms. Bixley in the nose for me, will you?” Cody said, only half-joking.

“I'll tell her you say hello.”

“Actually, do me a favor,” Cody said, reaching into her bag. “Give her this.” She handed James her ID card.

James took the ID from Cody and couldn't help but sheepishly look down at his own, hanging around his neck.

“You should give her yours, too,” Cody said.

“Let's see what she wants. I'll fill you in after class,” James said, and then departed for the office.

When he got there, James joined the usual roundup. Laura, impeccably dressed. Gregory, his muscles a little more concealed than normal, perhaps in deference to the List coming out. Victor, fiddling with his Rubik's Cube. And the half-dozen others with whom James shared a nod of commiseration. Like last time, they waited forever before Ms. Bixley emerged from her office. Margie, ever the sweetheart, passed around her candy.

Ms. Bixley finally came out, carrying a folder. She stood in front of the Ones, smiling wider than usual.

“An interesting week, to say the least,” she started. “As you know, we here at the school are committed to making sure all of our students are safe. And frankly, that's become a little more challenging. We are getting a lot of calls, a lot of complaints since the List came out. Threats, really. Some of them are anonymous; some of them are from parents. I'll be honest with you: Many people don't like the idea of you still being allowed in school.”

James couldn't believe this. Fine, he could believe there were people looking for any and all ways to lash out at Ones, but he couldn't believe that prohibiting them from attending school was actually something being considered.

“Surely you understand we don't want to create an atmosphere of violence here on campus,” Ms. Bixley continued. “And although I can see their point, I don't think barring you from school is the answer, either. So I've devised a way to ease tensions a little bit.”

Ms. Bixley opened her folder and started handing sheets of paper to each student.

“The goal is to show everyone that those of you on the List are not getting any special advantage, and to help you demonstrate some humility, some appreciation for being tolerated here. If you all look down at your new schedules, you'll see we've replaced your lunch period with a community-service class. I'm sure that participating in this new class will send a powerful message to the whole town: No student has special privileges here. It's an opportunity to extend an olive branch to the rest of the school. And in doing so, we can hopefully avoid some of the ugly incidents that are happening elsewhere.”

James and the rest of the Ones looked at Ms. Bixley in shock.

“So please report to Mr. Roland in the maintenance office at noon. And make sure to wear your ID cards so we know everyone is attending. Thanks, folks.” And with that, Ms. Bixley smiled one last time and walked back into her office.

*   *   *

Mr. Roland was more commonly known as Tommy the Janitor. His patchy beard and angry mumbling identified him as the number one potential ax murderer in the West. How he still had a job at the school was beyond James's comprehension. Janitorial tenure was an odd and scary thing.

The “maintenance office” was actually a shed behind the gymnasium. When James and the rest of the Ones showed up at noon, Tommy was waiting for them, spitting tobacco juice into a soda bottle. They entered the cramped, dusty building, and Tommy began to clap his hands mockingly.

“Look at these special volunteers,” he said with a sneer. “Boy, am I glad you kids offered to help.”

Tommy paced in front of them, eyeing each One with naked disdain, and then he stopped in front of Laura. James saw her hands start to shake ever so slightly. Laura was an easy target, and James disliked the superior air with which she carried herself, but he did have a little sympathy at the moment. Students made U-turns in hallways to avoid Tommy, so having him stare at you from six inches away was a legit reason to freak out.

“Perfect. What a
perfect
way to start our community service,” Tommy said to Laura. “Is that gum you are chewing?”

Laura immediately stopped chewing her gum. “Oh. It was.”

“I thought it was against the rules to chew gum in school,” Tommy said.

“I didn't mean to.”

“You didn't mean to put gum in your mouth?”

“I didn't mean to break a rule. I'm sorry.”

“Give it to me.” Tommy stuck his hand right under Laura's mouth.

Laura shook her head uncomfortably. She looked around at the rest of the Ones. James wished he could do something, but he was also kind of enjoying this.

“Give it to me!” Tommy shouted.

“It's gone.”

Tommy gave her a twisted smile, backed off, and started pacing again. “If only the rest of you animals were as considerate as…”

“Laura.”

“As Laura. But no, you're not. Where does everyone else get rid of their gum?” Tommy paused for a second. “ON THE FUCKING GROUND!” he roared.

James and the others staggered back from the outburst. Tommy was jumping around erratically now, working himself into a froth.

“Today we are going to fix that problem. We are going to find all the gum, scrape all the gum, and get rid of all the gum! Does that sound like a good plan?”

A few of the Ones nodded, trying to be agreeable. Tommy went to a drawer and then came back and handed rusty scraping tools to each student.

“Your first assignment in community-service class is to start in the lunch yard. Good Lord, do you kids love some gum after lunch. Now go. Find each piece and make it disappear.” Tommy grabbed his bottle of tobacco juice and stormed out of the maintenance shed in a huff.

*   *   *

Wednesday it was the gum. They crawled around on their hands and knees scraping the hard black spots off the walkways. The rest of the school watched in uncomfortable awe.