The Metropolis Series #2: Quinn Beyond Bounds
9. Portents

OF ALL PLACES I could be in, I hoped that I wasn’t at the nurse’s office. Most new timelines started there, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with another one—mainly because they were utterly confusing. I had to go around and figure out what had happened and what didn’t, and with so much that had already gone on that day, it was a colossal task I didn’t want to face.

Especially since my entire face felt numb.

I sat up slowly, ignoring the world as it spun around me. When I could see clearly again, my eyes focused on the medicine cabinets right in front of me, and I could feel my heart slowly sink as I began to feel nauseous.

I was at the nurse’s office.

“He’s a good boy, isn’t he, Quinn?” a voice said.

I jumped, and my attention steered directly at the nurse on her desk. She was typing something on her desktop computer, her fingers smashing up against the keyboard.

“Um… who are you talking about?” I asked her.

“The American boy,” the nurse replied. “What’s his name again?”

I was still pretty shaken at this point. I was fidgeting with the blanket as my lip quivered. “Um… Curtis?”

The nurse nodded. “Ah, yes. He took you in a few hours ago. Said you got hit by a volleyball.”

Okay, at least I’d confirmed that gym class happened—probably along with other things like being Deus Ex Machina’s manager and being shoved into a closet by Bree Leonard. (It had been an eventful day, hadn’t it?) But getting knocked out by a volleyball? Well, that was embarrassing.

“What time is it?” I asked the nurse.

She leaned in on her computer screen. “Four-thirty.”

Oh shoot, it was already that late?

“Oh okay, thanks,” I said, crawling out of bed.

The nurse stopped typing and gave me a warm smile. “You feeling better?”

I found my shoes on the floor and put them on. “Yeah. Thanks.” I slung my school bag over my shoulder. It had been propped on a nearby chair; Curtis must have brought it in for me. “Mind if I use the bathroom?”

The nurse nodded. “Go on.”

I changed out of my gym clothes and slipped into my school uniform. Before leaving the bathroom, I checked my bag for Harumi’s list. I was afraid that replaceing it didn’t happen and that I’d lost it forever.

But there it was in the front pocket of my bag—just where I’d left it. I let out a sigh of relief.

I said goodbye to the nurse and stepped on the school grounds, carefully observing my surroundings. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, which was a good sign on its own. There were boys playing cards, couples flirting and making out, and cliques forming like ranks in the halls. Rumors spread, and that should have bothered me, but I was strolling through the regular side of my life, appreciating what little I must have had of it.

I passed by a few boys from my class. They didn’t give me nasty looks like I thought they would, but they thankfully ignored me as I passed them. Among these boys was Derek, who had recommended a trip to the arcade to his friends. All the other boys agreed.

I walked on, ignoring them.

I had my mind on getting to my dorm room that I almost didn’t hear Curtis calling my name. He walked briskly toward me, a concerned look on his face.

“Hey, Quinn,” he said. “I’m so sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to—a—are you alright?”

The problem with my brain was that it failed at multitasking. It would overthink this one task and forget things I was supposed to know.

Like why Curtis was apologizing.

“Oh—the volleyball,” I said, the thought finally resurfacing. “Yeah, it’s totally cool. I’m okay now, thanks.”

He didn’t seem convinced. “Again, I’m really sorry. I can make up for it. What would you like for lunch tomorrow? It’s on me.”

I felt my face go pink. Curtis was inviting me to lunch the next day. The other students would be staring, for sure, but at that moment, I couldn’t care less.

“I—I dunno,” I replied to his offer. “Surprise me.”

“I hear the caf’s having adobo tomorrow,” Curtis said. “I’ve never had it before, but I hear it’s excellent.”

As Curtis continued to talk about how great adobo was (and it is, by the way,) I spotted a dove flying across the sky. It had caught my attention because it reminded me of how worried I’d been for Julio and Viv. I had left them in the dorm room as doves the previous night. They were no longer there in the morning, so I thought that Cassandra might have kidnapped them.

And what I was about to see didn’t improve my composure.

The bird disappeared behind the girls’ dorm, and a red airplane took its place in the sky. It made my heart sink as it flew toward me, landing on a nearby bench.

Julio didn’t have a phone, so flying paper planes across the sky was the only way he could reach me.

A red plane, however, meant he was in danger.

I needed to go.

“So, what do you say, Quinn?” Curtis then asked. “You in?”

It took me a while to remember that Curtis wanted to have lunch me.

“Sure, tomorrow,” I said.

“Don’t forget.”

At best, maybe Julio just needed ten minutes of my time. Maybe he just sent a red airplane because the matter was urgent, and not because he was in danger.

With my fingers crossed, I said I would go, and he said he would text me.

I smiled as Curtis and I parted ways.