Free Minds

Chapter 47.

   If this was a manga comic book, there would have been smoke coming out of Tali's... well, everywhere.

   She had been breathing intensely since her fingers stopped typing and didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon. Tali even hadn't broken eye contact with her laptop. The numbers and figures were still in motion on her screen.

   Then everything disappeared. The screen was replaced with a blank white display.

"What the hell?" Tali's tone revealed nothing but frustration.

   She began typing away once more, her brows furrowed in annoyed concentration.

   The rest of us just exchanged looks. On my part, I wasn't sure whether it was appropriate to speak out. Not like I could anyway. My mind was only now recovering from what had gone down— most of which I couldn't even comprehend. Any relevant words to say were going to take a while to formulate in my head.

   My blood ran cold as Talise unexpectedly shut her laptop with a firm snap. Without uttering a word, she rose from her cross-legged sitting position on the ground and turned to face us. Her features revealed nothing.

   My heart sank.

"Talise," I squeaked. "Listen, next week is still around. We can try again."

   The words from me appeared to be useless. The distant look in Tali's eyes showed she didn't hear anything of what I'd just said. As she shifted the laptop from her right hold to the left, her facial expression toward us finally cracked.

   Shit.

   It was a smile.

"She did it," Rav voiced what we were all thinking under his breath.

   I ran a hand over my afro, not caring that I was ruining its patted shape. It was like a part of me had still been battling to believe it after her smile. Rav's words however, finally gave the greenlight to every expectant emotion within me to burst out with full force.

"Guys." My hand lingered in my hair in a loose grip while I spoke with a shaky laugh. "Destiny really got in. We got into Zavlon Academia."

   Right in the open street, where only a shallow number of people walked through to get to their destinations and even fewer loitered about, Camila went ballistic. She jumped up and down, accompanying her swift movements with hand thrusts into the air and the shrillest screams of joy I'd ever heard.

   This would have been shocking to us all if she wasn't simply a representation of the way we all felt.

   Rav at the moment was clinging onto Dorian like his life depended on it, giving small jumps and cheers of his own. For once, Dorian allowed him to carry on with his antics.

   The green-eyed boy didn't try to mask the wide-toothed grin that made its way to his face. It was only then that I noticed that Dorian Mathers had a subtle dimple on the left side of his face, just above his chin. I guess that only appeared during unprecedented moments like these.

   Rav ran over to Talise first, nearly lifting her off her feet as he engulfed her in a huge bear hug with multiple cries 'thank you'. Soon, her small frame was enclosed by the rest of us who did the same.

"You guys know that I have to be ALIVE and BREATHING to get to Zavlon Academia right?" Her question came out quieter than she'd yelled under the human pile we'd formed around her.

   It was enough for us to get the memo though. We pulled away.

"So what now?" Camila asked through her shallow breathing. "Right, the leg brace! Visitation Day is just around the corner. Beth, you'll have to start making it now if we want to be on schedule."