Viral Nation by Shaunta Grimes Read Free Book Online Page B

thick as one of her fingers. West had the virus scars on his cheeks, but they were less startling. Lots of people had those. “Does it still hurt?”
    “Not anymore.”
    “Did you get boarding?”
    Jude smiled and nodded. “Did you?”
    “Yes.”
    Jude looked at his green plastic watch, then leaned in closer to her. “They have ham sandwiches. Want one?”
    Clover followed him. Mango walked obediently beside her, nowthat she wasn’t giving him any reason to worry. The dog didn’t seem sick yet, so maybe one chocolate wasn’t going to do anything bad to him.
    “Crowds are hard for you, aren’t they?” Jude said.
    Was it that obvious? She looked up at Jude—at his scar again—and shrugged the same way he had when she’d asked a too-personal question.
    “Me?” he said. “I can’t stand confined places. I’m glad this is a nice, big room.”
    She took a bite of a small, square sandwich. It did taste good. She couldn’t remember the last time West brought home a ham from the Bazaar. A year ago, maybe. “Are there other Foster City kids here?”
    “Not here, but there are a few already enrolled.”
    “I wasn’t sure how many got through the exams,” she said. The Foster City kids didn’t study at the primary school, but they were all brought in when they were sixteen to test.
    “Our house parents are supposed to teach us. We try to teach each other.”
    “I thought they gave you the same resources we get.” She frowned for a minute, recalling what she’d read about Foster City in the newspapers.
    “Yeah, well, in theory.”
    If Jude’s house father did something that scarred his face as badly as it was, what were the chances that the man had made sure that his charges were ready for the exams? “You passed, though; that’s good.”
    “You did, too. Sounds like those girls didn’t expect you to.”
    Clover watched Heather and Wendy talking with a couple of other girls, their heads together. One girl’s head popped up like the periscope on a submarine and dropped back down when she saw Clover watching them. “People underestimate me a lot.”
    Jude plucked a peach from a bowl and took a bite. “I wish I could fill my pockets with some of this stuff.”
    “I won’t tell if you do.”
    Jude held the peach to his nose and inhaled. “I can’t go into my interview with food squishing around in my pants.”
    Clover’s stomach contracted at the thought of her interview. Maybe the only thing worse than a crowded room was a room with one adult who didn’t understand her. Sometimes it was like she spoke a language no one else could decipher.
    “Paulette Casey.” A man as short and fat as Santa Claus stood in the doorway. His white hair was combed from one side of his nearly bald head to the other and tucked behind that ear.
    Paulette was a girl who hadn’t been awful to Clover in primary school. Not friendly, either, but at least not overtly cruel. Clover watched her curl her index finger into one of her tight, dark, corkscrew curls.
    Clover turned back to Jude. “What do you think they’ll ask us?”
    “Who knows. You’d think with all the stuff they asked on the exams, they’d know more about us than we do.”
    The exams took three days and were designed to test not only knowledge, but aptitude, memory, honesty, and a slew of other characteristics.
    The Academy was only for the best.
    Clover was surprised all over again that Wendy and Heather made it in. They were still huddled together with a gaggle of other girls, looking over at Clover and Jude every once in a while. The hierarchy was already forming. Did they really have to be there? Maybe if Clover told Kingston how dimwitted they were, he’d kick them out.
    They must have cheated on the exams. Clover was sure that Mr. Kingston would want to know that. The Academy wasn’t the place for cheaters.
    “Do your folks work for the Company?” Jude asked.
    Clover picked up a chocolate from the tray on the table and shoved her thumb into