She glanced down the hallway and saw the girls from Monday at a distance. She fought the urge to run back into the classroom, but the tall girl—Tonya—had a cast on her arm, and that gave Sophie courage. Not that she would hurt anybody on purpose, but she felt proud she hadn’t let herself be pushed around.
“Hey, Slow Boat!” Tonya had spotted her. She and her friends strode toward Sophie and Kevin.
“That’s not my name,” said Sophie. Her heart beat faster. Hadn’t everyone said she wouldn’t have to deal with that anymore? Wasn’t Tonya supposed to respect her or be scared of her or something?
“You broke my wrist, bitch.”
Sophie had heard the word before, but nobody had ever called her one. It stung like a slap, but the slap reminded her of something. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. You guys started it.”
Tonya stepped toe to toe with Sophie. Sophie wondered if the other girl was going to club her with her cast. She looked for a teacher, but didn’t see one. Figured.
“Slow Boat, I don’t care what you meant to do. You’re not even a person as far as I’m concerned. You and your friends in your slow class are so sad, trying to keep up with the rest of us. Why don’t you drop out? You’ll never get through school without help. We’re the new humans and you are unevolved.”
The word “unevolved” reminded her of her sneaking snake from two days before, and Tonya reminded her of the Big One. Not the seizure itself, which she never remembered, but the sensation of something looming, waiting, ready to bring her down. At least Tonya was here in front of her, a monster she could defeat.
Sophie wanted to take a step away, but she knew she’d better stand her ground. She swung her backpack off her shoulder and fished in the front pocket for her geometry compass without lowering her eyes. When she found it she dropped her bag to the floor.
She lifted her compass. Tonya stepped back, and Sophie smiled. “Who hasn’t evolved? You have a device in your head, that’s all. My brother has one. One of my moms is getting one. No big deal. You know what’s a big deal?”
She paused for effect, then jabbed the compass point into her left thumb. Blood welled. She didn’t flinch. She stabbed the next finger, and the next.
Sophie smiled. “I can’t feel pain. You said I’m not even a person. So ask yourself: Am I someone you want to pick a fight with?”
She dropped the compass back into her bag in case a teacher appeared and accused her of using it as a weapon. Blood trickled between her fingers. A little, but enough. She kept her hand in front of her.
Tonya turned to her friends. “Come on. She’s crazy.” She walked away without saying another word to Sophie; the others followed in her wake.
Sophie watched them leave. She smiled when they turned the corner, and dug in her bag for a tissue to wipe the blood off her hand. Would her mothers have approved? She hadn’t hurt anybody, and she hadn’t gotten in any trouble. She wondered what those girls were saying about her. Crazy? Freak? She preferred “warrior.” She might not be able to beat the Big One yet, but at least she had used it to her own benefit for once. She had to admit she liked the feeling.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SOPHIE
Sophie waved at the driver as the school bus drove away. It had taken her ages to convince her mothers to let her take the bus. She was supposed to go straight inside, but instead she walked to the end of the block and sat on the low stone wall that curved around the corner. A pair of mourning doves landed across the street and began pecking at the fallen chokeberries that stained the sidewalk. They were pretty birds, elegant and soft-looking. Her mom said they were basically pigeons, but she liked them anyway.
A car sped by and honked at her. The doves flew off making sounds like squeaky wheels. She waved, though she hadn’t seen the driver. Her family had lived in the neighborhood for her whole life; even if she didn’t recognize the person in the car, they probably recognized her, which meant she should get home before she got in trouble. She didn’t want to get in trouble; she just liked carving out a few minutes where she wasn’t watched. A few minutes where a stranger might think she was a regular kid allowed to play on her street alone.
She dug in her pocket and found a button she’d pulled off her shirt during a seizure, thirty-five cents, and her house keys. When she let herself in, she found her mom asleep on the couch by the front window. There was a shaved patch and a bandage on the side of her head.
Sophie hadn’t expected this to happen so quickly. She took the moment to look more carefully than she usually could. Even parents found it odd when you stared at them too closely.
Julie looked tired and peaceful. She wore a checkered skirt that reached just below her knees, leggings, and a rumpled white blouse. Around-the-house clothes, not work clothes. Two dots of blood marred her shirt’s right shoulder, one small and the other smaller. A sun and a planet, or a planet and a moon.
Sophie found the two dots comforting, proof that a Pilot was not as easy as everyone pretended. It was an operation, even if a minor one. An operation involving drills and bone and blood and brain. People with Pilots weren’t so different from her; she wished they could see that.
“Hey, Soph. I didn’t hear you come in.” Her ma came around the kitchen corner. She spoke in a quiet voice. “How
