Page 31 of Dissent

It looked exactly like the old one I had, sleek and black. I snapped it on my wrist. “Thanks.”

She groaned. “Your hair is a total mess.” The hint of disgust in her tone caused me to feel embarrassed. And suddenly, I was back in Telvia, snapping at Chelsea for her mass of unruly curls. My how the tables had turned.

My hand went to my head, touching the bandage and swaths of brown hair cascading around my face. “It’s not my fault this place doesn’t have conditioner or a freaking hair dryer. And then with all this crap on my head”—I motioned to my gauze wrap—“it’s hard to even brush it.”

“Hmm…” She eyed me as her head tipped to the side, and then motioned me to come to her. Dubiously, I did as she instructed. “Sit,” she ordered, pointing at a chair. I followed directions and felt as she unwrapped my bandage. After rummaging in her bag, she produced a spray bottle of some sort, sprayed my hair down, and then began tugging on it. She was anything but gentle, and there was a part of me that strongly believed she was making sure I felt every tug and pull on purpose. At some point, however, I felt the bristles of a brush touch my scalp and glide backwards smoothly. And then I felt it…the sting at the back of my throat. My chin quivered as I closed my eyes and pressed my lips firmly together, feeling the guilt bubbling up within me.

I shifted my gaze down to my feet and cleared my throat. “I’m sorry.” The motion on my head stopped for the length of a heartbeat, and then started up again. I pressed on. “Belinda’s awful, I know that. I’m sorry for what happened to you that day. I…I could explain why and all that, but it really doesn’t matter, does it? All that matters is what happened, and I’m…I’m just sorry.” I wanted to say more. I wanted to explain myself, but I couldn’t, and I doubted she would care anyway.

She remained silent as she finished up. “There, all done.” I touched my hair, feeling it pulled back neatly into a silky braid. “Your head’s looking good. I think you can keep it uncovered for now. Air it out and all that stuff. You can ask Doc about it later. But for now, it looks good to me.”

“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure what else to tell her. She wasn’t responding to my apology, and I really didn’t know where we stood.

She took a step back from me and clapped her hands together. “Well, let’s go.” And then she was out of the tent before I could say anything else.

***

When she mentioned grabbing food, I thought it was a joke, because “grabbing food” usually entailed popping a few nourishment pills into your mouth like I had the day before. Never in my life did I think she actually meantgrabbing food.

The cafeteria tent was this huge rectangular space, long and wide with rows of tables and benches. At one end, there was a separate row of tables, lined up end to end with giant vats filled withsomething. Apparently,thatwas supposed to be “food.” Bowls and spoons were on the far right, and on the left, was what I assumed was supposed to be drinks.

Chelsea led me into the packed space, and the hum of people talking and laughing greeted my ears. I couldn’t help but notice that everyone was dressed exactly the same too, just like the day before. Same tan colored cargo pants, boots, and green shirts. Not much for self-expression around here. But who was I to talk? It wasn’t like Telvia was much better.

Chelsea made her way straight back toward the tables with the vats, and I followed, doing my best to keep my head down and making myself as small as possible.

It didn’t work.

My ears registered the chatter quieting until the room grew completely silent, causing me to halt my steps. I dared to take a quick peek at what everyone was so quiet about and instantly felt awkward. All eyes were on me.

My cheeks colored as my heart hammered itself against my ribcage. Fabulous… just what I needed. I took a quick look around, feeling myself growing smaller, more unsettled. Because the eyes that stared back at me weren’t friendly. In fact, most looked like they were planning the different ways they were going to make me pay for my father’s actions. I gulped.

Nope! Not doing it. Who needs food, anyway?

I could wait for Chelsea outside. No way was I going to become the victim of a rebel ambush in the middle of damn nowhere. I turned on my heels, ready to march right back out the way I came, when I slammed right into a brick wall.

“Oomph!” I stumbled back a step.What the hell?Confused about what I ran into, I looked up and felt the air escape my lungs in one breath. My chest tightened as my eyes met Chase’s green ones.

“Watch it,” Wes growled, his voice coming low from deep in his throat as he scowled at me. DefinitelynotChase.“And stay the hell out of my way,” he hissed through gritted teeth. Then he walked past me, shoulder checking me as he went.

God, what an ass! But who was I kidding? If I thought my cheeks were red before, they were blazing now. I could hear my heart pounding, the blood rushing in my ears. Wes scared the hell out of me. He wanted me to stay away from him, and I was more than happy to oblige. He maylooklike his brother, but he was the biggest asshole around in my book. And I wanted nothing to do with him, no matter how much my mind wanted to believe he was Chase. Chase was dead, and all that was left was ajerkyreplica.

My attention snapped back to the room, the eyes still staring at me, and the embarrassment became too much. I felt the tears flood my vision, and the urge to flee came sweeping in. Wanting to hide my face, I took steps toward the exit when something caught my elbow, pulling me backwards. I turned, catching sight of deep brown eyes.

“Hey, where are you going?” Matias’s voice was gentle, encouraging.

“I’m okay. I’m not really hungry,” I offered as I tried to look down to hide my face.

Cool fingers took my chin gently, tipping my head up to meet his eyes once more. They searched mine, flickering back and forth before the corners of his lips tipped upwards. “Don’t worry about him.” He took my hand into his own, interlacing our fingers. “Come on, let me show you how this works.”

I stuttered before finally managing an, “Okay.” I was pretty sure I was developing some sort of heart condition because it sputtered as tingling sensations skittered across my skin. Suddenly, everything around us disappeared. I no longer noticed the silence or staring eyes.

“The oatmeal doesn’t taste great, but it does the trick,” he said with a wink before showing me how the cafeteria worked.

After filling our bowls and pouring ourselves a dark, caramel-colored liquid he calledtea, we sat down at a table amongst a few others. Chelsea was already halfway done with her bowl by the time I sat—Matias at my side. She looked at him, then me, then him again, before finally glaring at me. Another girl sat next to her, who I quickly learned was Edith Le. She was absolutely stunning. Long, raven black hair, almond-shaped eyes, and alabaster skin. She was a living porcelain doll. And boy was she chatty.

“I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to grow up in Telvia,” she rattled on. “Chelsea says you guys never ever ateanything? It was nourishment pills all the time. Is that true?”

“Yeah, I guess. We try to conserve water and growing food uses a lot of it.”

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