The Drift that Made Us

Chapter 7

MYSTY

Friday went faster than Thursday. The university didn’t inform me earlier that I needed to take an exam. I believed that my teammates would be my classmates. But that wasn’t precisely true.

I went to the auditorium with the other students, primarily first-year students. We needed to head there at two o’clock in the afternoon. They called it the “team designation exam,” whatever that was.

Using our Xpad, we answered a long list of questions, and they gave us an hour to finish. I just winged it and gave it what I thought. The exam results were available the minute after everyone submitted their test answers. We should contact the “team representative” to claim our welcome shirt.

When a red flag flashed on my tablet, I did my best to find the one in charge of the red team. It was Rome, the same Rome who helped me with the roses and saw me at Serenity with Reed.

“Hello, Mysty! What brings you to our humble team?” Kiro greeted me with the warmest smile on his face.

“Oh, hi! Are you guys in charge of the red team?” I asked them. Rome and Kiro exchanged looks, and I wondered why.

“Your result flashed a red flag?” Rome clarified and slapped Kiro’s arm.

“Yes, why?” I replied, confused by their weird looks.

“Oh, we’re from the Red Drift team,” Kiro smiled. He looked nervous, to be honest.

“It is standard to ask if you would like to transfer teams. You can if you decide that you want to be with your friends. The test was just for formality,” Rome said. I liked these guys, they were sweet, and even if they didn’t know me, they helped me.

“No, thank you, I was glad I would be with familiar faces,” I said.

“Okay, welcome to the Red Drift Team, Mysty, Herrera? Right?” I nodded and expressed my gratitude. Rome handed me a red shirt.

They instructed me to sit in the designated seats for our team. I suddenly hoped that everything would go well from this point forward.

After Rome and Kiro accommodated every member, we headed to the Cloud Track. It was a racing track like those in the movies.

A group of guys welcomed us, and they were waiting on the bleachers, handing us plates. All of the guys who saw me had shocked looks on their faces. I scanned everyone I could look at; I was the only woman. Why? I guess that’s why they were staring hard.

A few moments later, a raging red car which I thought looked familiar, was heading toward Kiro and me. My mind blanked out at that moment and just froze. Kiro held my arm while Rome appeared and held my other arm out of nowhere.

I might pass out, but I didn’t. I lost my mind for a second. I didn’t know what had happened there.

“Get in!” A voice commanded me. It was Uno. I snapped out of my daze and got in his car without much thought.

“Why are you here?” He asked when we sat on the front side of the car. He was in the driver’s seat while I took the shotgun seat. Almost instantly, I put on the seatbelt.

“Huh?” I asked, back in my daze.

“Why are you here? Are you deaf?” I didn’t notice that he was yelling at me. My mind was still on the raging car.

“Uh, it’s not my choice. I am here because my team designation exam’s result flashed a red flag,” I explained. Uno increased the speed too much. My insides rocked and threatened to come out.

“What the heck are you doing?” I yelled over the screeching noise as he drew a circle in the track. Was he seven years old?

“I am showing you your future here,” he said without a glance. So, was he on drugs or what?

“If you’re that threatened, you should’ve just talked to me about it.” He laughed and gave me a look that screamed danger.

“You’re kidding, right?” He shook his head after saying that.

“Not at all. Why are you doing this?” I asked. He was still creating circles in the field.

“Why do you think I’m doing this?” He asked. He had this intense gaze when he looked outside. Ugh! This guy made my head spin, and not in a good way.

“Because you can’t accept that a woman has entered your team?” I said, not asking him but more stating a fact. Was he still mad about passing out because of my bag?

“You have guts; I’ll give you that,” he said without hesitating to increase the speed. I didn’t want to know the numbers, but it gave me a weird feeling in my stomach.

“Thank you?” I said, not sure how to respond to what he said.

“You’re a spy from the Asia Pacific, right?” He looked at me for two seconds and looked away.

“What? What do you mean?” I asked. Me? A spy? Like a super-secret spy who infiltrated schools because of illegal activities. Huh? I had no idea if that ever happened in this school.

“You’re here to spy on my team! So, this is the last time I am saying this, transfer teams and stay out of my way,” he said. Raising his voice as he went on.

“I am not here to spy on your team or anyone! I don’t even know what you mean! I don’t want to transfer teams. I know the other guys here. Why don’t you transfer?” I asked, why was he so annoying and calling me a spy?

“I’m the team leader! I can’t do that! So, are you leaving?” Was he the team leader of this group? Oh, come on? I thought it was Rome or Kiro since they were the ones who busied themselves to accommodate the new members.

“What? How did you become the team leader? You’re so—” He interrupted me.

“Are you questioning me?” He asked. He looked insulted.

“You did it first with the spy thing! I am not transferring teams just because you want me to!” I said. He suddenly stopped the car. I thought I would fly out of the windshield because of the impact, but I didn’t, thanks to the seatbelt.

“Get out!” He yelled at me. Why the heck did he love to shout? I thought he was a soft-spoken person when I first saw him. But I guess I couldn’t tell without him opening his mouth.

When I heard those words, I knew that I had won. Yes! But, I couldn’t unbuckle the seat belt because my hands were shaking like a level seven magnitude.

“Why are you still here?” Uno asked. I didn’t want to tell him, but the situation gave me no choice.

“The seatbelt has a problem,” I lied so awkwardly. I wanted to hide underground.

“What?” He asked, almost a whisper this time and a look of horror on his face.

Uno unbuckled his seat belt and leaned in on me, reaching over to my side. I could’ve looked away, but I didn’t. I’d smack myself later. I heard a click and a whisper, “Go,” he said. I froze for two seconds and shortly opened the door to go out.

I didn’t know what had happened next when I stepped out of the car. I regained my consciousness hours later, or were that minutes? No idea! I scanned the room where I was, and I could see clouds. I was either dead or in the cloud clinic. Rome shared exciting things for a few minutes and left.

“Mysty girl, are you okay?” Zai asked me.

“She’s in here. What do you think?” Rejine May said, as sassy as ever.

“I’m fine. I don’t know what happened, do you know?” I asked both of them.

“Kiro said you passed out after stepping out of Uno’s death car,” Zai said.

“I warned you, Mysty. Did you forget?” Rejine May asked.

“I forgot, oh, I passed out? God! So embarrassing!” I covered my face with my hands and took a deep breath.

“It’s not your fault! Don’t be embarrassed!” Rejine May said.

“Rome said you had a new death car record,” Zai said.

“What? What do you mean by “record”?” I even used air quotes.

“No worries, it’s a good thing. It was how long you survived Uno’s driving,” Zai said. She seemed proud of me.

“Not a proud moment! Uno’s the biggest asshole in the universe,” Rejine May said with disgust painted on her face.

“But he’s also the hottest,” Zai interjected dreamily. I didn’t say anything, and he may be a bit of an asshole, but his eyes said otherwise. He was like a hen being protective of her eggs. That was a weird comparison, but that’s what I saw. He protected his team so that he would do everything he seemed fit for.

I would never agree with the bullying bit, but I understood him. I only hated the asshole bossy part. Ugh!

“So, are you transferring teams? You can join us, the pinks,” Zai said. I wanted to join them, but if I did that, I would prove to Uno that I had backed down. That would never happen, not in a million years.

“No, I got this! I won’t let that guy get the best of me,” yeah, that guy. He was not worth mentioning. I understood him, but that didn’t mean I was not irritated and annoyed; that would be a different story.

~o~

“Announcement for the Red Drift Team… please check the school portal for your activity updates for tomorrow.” The headmistress said in the university’s broadcasting system.

I got curious and opened the school portal app on my X-pad. I dunked a strawberry in a chocolate fondue while the app loaded. Zai and Rejine May were busy with their pasta and bread.

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I saw the announcement on our team’s portal. It said, Hi RDT, tomorrow is your scheduled visit to AJA mountain. Please read the attached guidelines for clarification.

“Mysty, is there a problem? Your brows are almost connecting,” Rejine May said. I cleared the emerging uni brow away.

“Our team will go to AJA mountain tomorrow,” I said.

“That’s nice, hiking… oh, you’re not used to it, right?” She sensed my confusion. “You don’t hike in APU?” she added.

“We do, but not this early in the school year,” I said, bewildered.

“Oh, I see. Well, it’s pretty normal here. Have you seen the guidelines?” She asked and then smiled at me.

“No, I haven’t seen it….” I said. Rejine May was about to comment, but a ring disturbed us.

“It’s your Xpad,” she said. I looked back at the tablet. When I saw who was calling, it was Uno. I swiped to answer. His face was as serious as math.

“Cloud track, now!” He said and dropped the call, giving me no chance to answer. The guy was the definition of annoying! He was not bad-looking but as if he carried the whole world’s issues.

“I need to go,” I told them and rushed off—no chance he would have a reason to kick me out.

I snuck in to sit on the bleachers when I reached the cloud track. Uno was calling the other members, so he didn’t notice me. I hope he didn’t.

A few minutes later, Uno stood in front of us. His eyes scanned everyone. He saw me. I wondered if he would apologize for what happened, but I should know by now that it never happened.

“Let’s get to business! The university bus will pick us up from 3 AM to 4 AM. Remember that, with or without you, this trip is happening. The bus will leave whether you’re on it or not. Clear?” Uno asked in total volume so everyone could hear him.

“Crystal Clear!” Everyone but me answered. But it was not clear; how would I know what to bring? I asked my seatmate, but a voice called me.

“Herrera!” Uno yelled, chills!