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Chapter 102: The Social Shift 3
Chapter 102: The Social Shift 3Liam’s Perception caught Derek and Nathaniel moving before either of them had left their table, the specific body language of people who had decided to do something and were committing to it publicly because an audience made retreat more difficult.They crossed the cafeteria with the unhurried pace of people who owned the space, and Derek stopped at the edge of the table and looked at Jessica with an expression that was performing casual surprise and barely concealing something considerably less casual underneath.“Jessica,” Derek said. “What are you doing over here?”“What made you come over here?” Sophie asked him, not unkindly.“Having lunch,” Jessica said, without looking up from her tray.“With him,” Derek said, and the way he said him communicated an entire paragraph of contempt in a single syllable.“With Liam,” Jessica said, and the correction was deliberate and clear. “Yes.”Derek’s jaw tightened fractionally. “Come back to my table.”“No,” Jes
Chapter 101: The Social Shift 2
Chapter 101: The Social Shift 2Andrew found him the moment he walked into the cafeteria.“Liam.” Andrew Grant appeared at his shoulder before Liam had even collected his food. He patted Liam on the back with the easy familiarity of someone who had decided they were already friends and was proceeding on that basis without waiting for confirmation.Andrew was the kind of person who existed in the comfortable middle tier of every high school social structure, not powerful enough to be Derek and not invisible enough to be ignored, affable and well-connected and fundamentally harmless. “Bro. That car. Every single morning it’s the first thing people talk about.”“Hello, Andrew,” Liam said.“Two point eight million,” Andrew said, with the reverence of someone reciting scripture. “I looked it up. One of fifty in existence. You know what Derek drives? His dad’s old Porsche. It’s not even current generation.” He shook his head with genuine feeling. “Not even current generation, man.”Liam sa
Chapter 100: The Social Shift
Chapter 100: The Social ShiftA week was enough time for the story to travel.Liam had underestimated how fast information moved through a high school ecosystem when the information was interesting enough, and apparently a formerly homeless teenager returning from a mysterious absence in a two point eight million dollar hypercar with the bearing of someone who had stopped caring what anyone thought was interesting enough to sustain a full week of corridor conversation without losing momentum.By Monday of the second week it had evolved past whispers into something more organized.People had formed opinions. Camps had developed. The school had collectively decided that Liam Parker required a position on, and different groups had arrived at different positions with the conviction of people who had access to approximately fifteen percent of the relevant facts.He felt it the moment he walked through the front entrance.“Liam.” A boy from his Chemistry class whose name he had never learne
Chapter 99: After School
Chapter 99: After School“Library tomorrow,” Sophie said when the bell rang and they were gathering their things. “Four o’clock. I have the corner table near the periodicals. Nobody ever wants to sit near the periodicals so it’s always free.”“Four o’clock,” Liam said.She nodded and left and Liam stood and picked up his bag and felt the room around him still carrying the residue of what had happened, the whispers that were already reforming into the next version of the story that the school would tell about him.He walked out into the corridor and headed toward the parking lot and thought about what Sophie had said.He just didn’t have the button anymore.She was right. And the reason she was right was sitting in the Nexus watch on his wrist and in the memories of ten trials that had recalibrated everything about what danger and difficulty and powerlessness actually meant.Derek Whitmore pushing a desk with one finger.Liam had watched a man drive a blade into his own chest to save a
Chapter 98: The Project
Chapter 98: The ProjectThe second morning was the same as the first, just louder.Word had moved through the school overnight the way word always moved through high schools, faster than administration and more thorough than any announcement, and by the time Liam pulled the Centurion into the student parking lot at seven fifty the crowd near the entrance had already developed the particular stillness of people who had been told to watch for something and were watching.He got out of the car and felt the attention settle on him like a physical weight.“That’s definitely him.”“He parked in Derek’s usual spot.”“Did he do that on purpose?”He hadn’t. But his Perception had noted Derek’s car pulling in two spaces down at the same moment and registered the way Derek’s jaw tightened when he saw where Liam had parked, and whatever the intention had been the effect was the same.He walked toward the entrance and the whispers followed him through the doors and down the corridor and into first
Chapter 97: Derek’s Move
Chapter 97: Derek’s MoveSophie had been gone about four minutes when Derek arrived.Liam heard him coming before he saw him, the particular rhythm of a group moving with performed casualness through a space while being very aware of who was watching, and his Perception mapped the approach without him needing to look up from his lunch tray.Derek Whitmore. Nathaniel Harrington. Jessica Foster trailing slightly behind with the expression of someone who had agreed to be present at something without being entirely sure she endorsed it.Liam kept eating.“Well, well,” Derek said, stopping at the edge of the table with the volume of someone performing for an audience rather than having a conversation. “Liam Parker returns from the dead.” He spread his hands in mock welcome. “Did you finally find a homeless shelter that would take you and your mom?”The cafeteria went quiet in the specific way it went quiet when Derek Whitmore directed his attention at someone, the collective held breath of
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