[OLD] The Supers Experiment (#1)

Eight

The smell of the ship's cafeteria reminded Ivy of her old school. She wasn't sure if it had fully sunk in yet that her old life was gone. Everything still felt a little surreal.

"What's for lunch?" Ivy asked as she walked behind Summer to the line. Spencer, Terrence and Claire weren't back yet.

"Pizza, I think," Summer replied. Ivy looked down at the band-aid on her arm. She, like many other Supers, let Dr. Newman take some of her blood to help with his studies. It hadn't been as bad as she thought it would be. Just a quick poke and it was over.

Ivy and Summer picked up their trays of food and walked to a table where a few other Supers were already sitting. Summer smiled and greeted them, while Ivy sat down awkwardly next to her.

"This is Ivy," Summer told the others. Everyone looked over at Ivy, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. A few kids introduced themselves before returning to their previous conversations.

One boy smiled, turned to Summer, and asked, "Did anyone tell her about the aliens?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "Those stories aren't real. Bored high schoolers made them up."

"What stories?" Ivy asked.

"Some people," Summer said, shooting the boy an annoyed look. "Like to tell stories. Apparently, Cladis Point was a hotspot for alien activity before the accident."

"Aliens?" Ivy asked skeptically.

"Yeah, it's dumb."

The boy leaned in. "Yeah, but me and a few others found news articles. There are tons of abduction stories..."

"They aren't true," Summer said.

The boy ignored her. "And they say that there were so many aliens in the area because they were looking for something."

Someone asked the boy a question, and the topic of conversation changed from aliens to training.

Ivy zoned out as she poked at her food, a thousand thoughts running through her head. She couldn't stop thinking about Cladis Point. Not the alien thing, that sounded ridiculous. But she wanted to know more about what happened. What was her life was like before the accident?

An idea popped into Ivy's head, but before she could give it much attention the cafeteria door swung open. Ivy looked up to see Spencer standing in the doorway.

He hurried over to their table, followed by Terrence.

"Hey," Spencer said as he approached. His gaze darted to Ivy's tray. "You gonna eat that?"

Ivy shook her head and pushed the pizza toward him. "All yours. Where's Claire?"

Spencer picked up the pizza and took a bite. "On deck," he told Ivy between chews. He and Terrence sat down opposite Ivy and Summer.

"What happened?" Summer asked.

"Well, it went well, I guess," Spencer said with a glance at the door. "There's just one problem." He took another bite out of his pizza.

"What?" Summer asked, her tone thick with impatience. Spencer opened his mouth to reply, but Summer shook her head. "Finish chewing, Spencer."

Ivy was on the edge of her seat, ready to stand up.

"Terrence, what's going on?" Summer asked.

"Claire and Victoria," Terrence said. "We found them, but..."