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Will didn’t kno he’d ended up on the floor The last thing he could reirls He had a vague flash of hooking up with one of the girls in the supply closet across the rooot fuzzy That was pretty standard these days

"There you are"

Will sat up and saw Lark walking toward him from the hall of containment cells

"I have to talk to you," she said She looked too serious for Will to handle right now His head washim

Poor Lark She was cute and clever and she liked Will A lot It wasn’t hard to tell

"What’s up?" Will said to her

Lark sat down in front of him and took his hands

"I’m here for you," she said

"Okay …"

"And it’s not even that bad Really, it’s for the best It’s high tie of panic "What are you trying to tell irl, Lucy And I saw her last night at the Geek show And I don’t know, I just feel like you can do better ’Cause, you know, sometimes it’s easy to make too much, like way too much, about the past, when the future is literally wide open Right in front of you--"

"Lark What are you talking about? You said you saw Lucy"

"Yeah At the Geek show I think she’s got a new boyfriend"

What was it with Lucy and h it wasn’t David this time, it still hurt Last ti He wasn’t about to do that again He had to go talk to her

Will pulled on clean clothes in his room, and headed out into the hall of containment cells He passed Saer at a zoo He froze when he saw Will and charged the clear door He spat on the thick plastic between theonna kill you," Sam shouted Will could only read his lips; no sound passed through the door

Will ignored him and continued on toward the closed metal door to the white room Sam continued to beat on his cell door The air in this hall had never lost a pungent chemical smell, and it made Will feel more ill than he already did Will hit the red door button on the wall, and the door to the white roo into the wall

The white roo table had been laid on its side and duct-taped against the other side of the doorway, and towels had been stuffed under it to keep the water fro out Another table sealed up the doorway to McKinley on the other side of the white roo and the white tiled walls Water poured down in continuous streaht hoses of the sprayer contraption on the ceiling Saint boys and girls in their underwear cavorted in the water Some floated around on inflatable mattresses Gates and Pruitt stood in the lasses that shined with the saht white of the rest of the room He was shirtless and he’d cut his pinstripe suit slacks into board shorts A tie rapped around his head like a headband, with the knot off to the side Pruitt was the only person as fully clothed, with his trousers rolled up above his knees He had his giant hands on his hips, and loomed over Gates

"Why do we have to talk about this now, Pru?" Gates said "Can’t it wait till, like, a group po or so?"

"Dude, we haven’t had a po in I don’t kno long When’s the last tiether?"

"I don’t know"

"Months Since before we got Saather around the campfire and say what’s on our hts are on"

"You knohat IPruitt upset He never talked this h event to keep Gates occupied, and that hat Will needed He’d never get to the cafeteria if he got sucked into Gates’s orbit Will pulled off his shoes and socks and rolled up his jeans to his knees

"Party pooper," Gates said to Pruitt

Pruitt poked Gates with a fat finger "I don’t have a probleot a proble else"

Will stepped over the table da to walk out unnoticed, but Gates saw hiuy! Get over here, Will! Isn’t the water great?"

The water was freezing cold against Will’s skin

"Pretty great," Will said

Gates walked toward Will

Pruitt threw up his hands "So, is that it? I’le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>