Imprisoned (Parallel Series Book 2) (Parallel Trilogy) Read online

  “Huh. Well, you can request a job. But there’s no guarantee that you’ll get it. Especially if someone who’s been here longer is already waiting.”

  That figures. “How do I request it?”

  “You can talk to your supervisor and see if he’ll put in the request for you. You have to get a reference from him anyway. No one wants to take on a slacker.”

  Glad I’d worked hard that morning, I decided even though I hated my job, I’d work my hardest to impress Kyle. Then he’d have to give me a good reference. As I ate my lunch, forcing down the liver, I half-listened to the others chatting and fantasized about working outside and slipping away when no one was looking. Then I glanced at the other people in the room, wondering who was there because of weight issues and who was there for punishment, like me. And what awful thing had they done to get them sent to Camp Willowmoss?

  “Are you gonna eat that?” Billy pointed to my half-eaten liver.

  I glanced at him and realized I must have been lost in thought. “Yes, as a matter of a fact, I am.” Stabbing my fork into the meat, I carved off a bite and put it in my mouth. Even though I didn’t really like it, I was hungry enough to eat it. When I looked back at Billy, he was smirking at me, but I noticed his plate was clean. I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for him. “Do they give you extra food if you have a physically demanding job?”

  He laughed and everyone at our table looked at us.

  My face reddened, and I turned back to my meal, ignoring him.

  “Morgan here wants to know if they give us extra food if we have a . . .” He turned toward me. “What did you call it? A ‘physically demanding job’?” He made air quotes as he spoke.

  The others grinned or laughed and I felt foolish. “I’ll take that as a no.”

  “The point is for us fatties to lose weight,” Alyx said. “If we burn more calories, all the better as far as they’re concerned.”

  I looked at each person at my table. None of them seemed fat to me. Well, maybe Piper was a little pudgy, but the rest seemed like they were at a healthy weight. “How thin do they expect you guys to get?”

  “What do you mean, ‘you guys’?” Billy said. “You’re here just like us. You have to lose weight too.”

  I looked at Billy and thought, I’m not like you guys. This is your world, not mine. As soon as I can figure a way out of here, I’m gone. But what I said was, “That’s what I meant. How thin do they expect us to get.”

  “What do you mean?” Billy said. “Don’t you know your own goal weight?”

  I thought about my conversation with Mr. Madsen that morning. He told me I needed to lose at least twenty pounds. “Of course.”

  “There you go, then.”

  “What about you?” I asked him.

  “What about me?”

  “No offense, but you look like you’ve gone a little past your goal weight.”

  Alyx giggled next to me.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked, turning towards her.

  “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just that Billy never needed to lose weight to begin with.”

  “What do you mean?” I looked at Billy. “Then why are you here?”

  “Enough of this.” He stood, obviously not interested in sharing his secrets. “I have to get back to work.”

  I watched him walk away, then turned back to the others. “What’s his story?”

  Alyx shook her head. “It’s his to tell.”

  I must have looked disappointed, because she leaned close to me and whispered, “You wouldn’t want everyone to know what you did, would you?”

  But I didn’t do anything, I wanted to scream. Instead I pressed my lips together and shook my head, deciding it wouldn’t do any good to argue.

  I unwrapped the power bar and ate it, remembering the claims I’d read on the packaging at home that it contained an appetite suppressant. I hoped it was true because I knew by dinner I’d be starving.

  “You should probably get back to work, Morgan.” Alyx said.

  “What time is it?”

  She pointed to the clock on the wall across the room. “Twelve forty.”

  I stood. “Please tell me that clock is fast.”

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  “Great.”

  “See you at dinner.”

  I said good-bye to my tablemates and hurried to the nearest trash can, tossing my utensils and milk container, and setting the plate and tray in its place.

  Chapter Six

  Though I was in a rush to get back to the sixth floor, I had to shuffle along with the herd and wait my turn to get on the elevator. When I finally made it on, I noticed that most of the buttons were lit up. With so many people needing to get on at the same time, and everyone waving their cards in front of the card reader, the elevator would need to stop at nearly every floor.

  Maybe this is a flaw in the system that I can use, I thought, fresh hope filling me. My gaze ran over the numbers and I immediately noticed that the first and second floors were not among the options. I wondered if they ever were.

  What about Billy? If his job is outside, wouldn’t he have to go to the first floor?

  The idea of working in the garden became even more attractive. I decided I’d talk to Kyle after my shift and ask him to recommend me for the job. But first I would have to impress him with my work—and being late certainly wouldn’t help.

  Sighing, I waited as the elevator stopped on the fifth floor and several boys got off. A moment later it stopped on my floor and I hurried toward the storage room/office to get my supplies. I hoped Kyle wouldn’t be there so my lateness would go unnoticed.

  He wasn’t there. I smiled, relieved, then gathered my supplies onto the cart and wheeled it out of the room.

  “You’re late, Morgan. Fifteen minutes late.”

  I stopped, caught off-guard by Kyle’s sudden appearance, but quickly collected myself. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t realize the time, and then everyone was trying to get on the elevators at the same time.”

  He frowned. “Look, I know it’s your first day, so I’ll let it slide this one time.” He paused. “Next time you’ll have to give up some of your evening to make up the missed time.”

  “Okay. It won’t happen again. I promise.”

  He nodded. “We’ll see.”

  Angry at myself for making such a stupid mistake, I pushed my cart down the hall and knew I’d have to wait to ask for a transfer. How could he recommend me now? Why would he even want to?

  I worked the second half of my shift, my arms becoming like lead weights as each minute passed. I felt like a wimp, but just wasn’t used to all this scrubbing. Finally it was time to stop. I’d cleaned all four bathrooms and done most of the vacuuming, but I needed to get to class. Taking my cart back to the storage room, I pushed it into a corner.

  Kyle was nowhere to be found. Sighing, I went to my room and changed out of my sweats and into a pair of my jeans, then went into the bathroom, which was very clean, and freshened up.

  As I left the bathroom and walked toward the elevator, I realized I didn’t know where the classrooms were. Hoping the elevator would know my schedule and only give me the option of the correct floor—although I wouldn’t object if the first floor was an option—I waved my card in front of the reader and waited for the elevator to arrive.

  A moment later the doors slid open and I stepped inside. When I waved my card in front of the reader, only the button for the ninth floor lit up. I pressed it and felt the car begin to move upward. A moment later I stepped into an open area where several teenagers were walking toward rooms with open doors.

  I had no idea where I was supposed to go, but I noticed an office straight in front of me and headed towards it. The woman who sat behind a desk ignored me. I stood there for a moment, trying to be patient, but finally said, “Excuse me.”

  The woman looked up from her computer screen, which I couldn’t see, but since she seemed annoyed at being interrupted I had to wonder if I
’d kept her from shopping or something. She stared at me, an expectant look on her face.

  “I’m new,” I began. “I’m supposed to have class now, but I don’t know where I’m supposed to go.”

  “What’s your name?” she asked, a fake-friendly smile on her face.

  “Morgan Campbell.” I wondered if pretending to be nice was a job requirement at Camp Willowmoss.

  The woman typed something on her keyboard, then walked to a printer and grabbed a newly printed sheet of paper and handed it to me. “Here you go. This lists your class schedule. The numbers are on the classroom doors, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding your way around.”

  I took the paper and glanced at it, then looked back at her. “I think I’m going to be late. Do I need a late pass or something?”

  She sighed, plainly feeling put out by my request. “Let me get you one.”

  When she turned away from me, I shook my head and frowned, but gave her my own fake smile when she handed me the pass. “Thanks.”

  I walked out of the office and took a closer look at the paper she’d printed, then scowled. Even though I only attended classes two hours a day, I still had four subjects I’d be studying. The classes were on a rotating schedule where today I had Math and English, and tomorrow I had Social Studies and Science.

  Exhausted from working all day, I trudged down the first hallway I came to and kept walking until I found the right classroom. The door was near the front of the room, so when I walked in, every eye in the room focused on me. I ignored the other students and instead walked to the teacher, who was staring at me as well. I didn’t know if his look of disapproval was because I had come in late or because my face was still bruised and swollen, marking me as a runner.

  I held out the late slip and he took it without comment, glancing at it before looking back at me. “Find a seat, please.”

  I turned toward the room, where everyone openly watched me. It was worse than my first day at the new school two weeks ago. Was it really only two weeks ago that this nightmare began? There were three empty seats, but all were in the front row. I slid into the closest one and tried to be invisible, although I didn’t think it was working—I could still feel the gaze of the other students upon me.

  “Where is your textbook, Ms. Campbell?” the teacher asked.

  Heat flooded my face at the further attention. “Uh, I don’t have one.”

  His eyebrows rose. “You should have gotten your materials from the office before entering my classroom.”

  That stupid witch in the office, I thought, anger welling up inside me, but manifesting itself as tears of embarrassment. I blinked frantically, trying to clear my eyes.

  “Please take care of it immediately,” the teacher said.

  I stood and walked toward the door, not making eye contact with anyone for fear of them seeing my mortification at making this mistake, even though it wasn’t my fault. How was I supposed to know the office was responsible for making sure I had what I needed?

  Anger at the office worker swept over me and I stormed down the hall. When I walked into the office, ready to complain, another woman was there, and the woman from just a few minutes before was nowhere to be seen.

  “How may I help you?” the woman asked. Her smile seemed genuine and I wished she had been there before.

  “I was here a few minutes ago and the other lady gave me my schedule, but she didn’t give me my books and stuff.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. She must have forgotten.”

  Yeah, right, I thought. Or was mad at me for disturbing her online shopping and wanted to punish me.

  “Do you have your schedule?” the woman asked.

  I handed it to her and she walked toward a tall shelf in the back of the room where textbooks sat in organized stacks. She pulled several out, along with a notebook and pencils, then set everything on the counter. “This should be everything you need.” She paused and reached under the counter. “Except you’ll need a backpack to put them in.” She set an obviously used backpack on the counter next to the textbooks.

  I loaded the backpack with the items she’d set on the counter, wondering how the other woman could possibly have overlooked this little step in the process of helping a brand-new student. Then I reminded myself how ridiculous this whole experience was and tried to forget about my annoyance and instead focus on getting through my classes.

  A few moments later I walked back into the classroom. Sliding into my seat without speaking, I pulled out the textbook, notepad and pencil and looked at the teacher. He smiled briefly in approval then went back to his lecture.

  Math had never been my favorite subject and I found my eyelids drooping. I had to use all of my self-control to stay awake. I hardly heard what the teacher said, but convinced myself I would be gone soon, so it didn’t really matter.

  Before I knew it, a bell rang and it was time to go to my English class. Shoving my things into the backpack, I checked my schedule for the room number, then left the Math classroom and walked down the hall. There weren’t really all that many classrooms, so it wasn’t difficult to find my way around, and after a moment I found the right room.

  Not many people were there yet and I went directly to the back row and slid into a seat, hoping I would be able to doze during class without being noticed. Pulling out my notepad and pencil so it would at least appear I was taking notes, I set them on my desk, then tucked my backpack under my seat. Other students came in and I watched them, wondering who each was and what their story was. My mind wandered as I thought about home and what Mom and Amy and the boys might be doing.

  “Hey, Morgan.”

  I turned to see who had spoken and was surprised to see Billy sliding into the seat next to mine. “Hi. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “Oh yeah? Where did you expect to see me?”

  I half-smiled at his sarcasm. “I just meant I didn’t know you were in this class.”

  “There are lots of things you don’t know about me, Morgan Campbell.”

  The way he said my name made me take a closer look at him. Why was he there, anyway? Alyx had made it sound like he wasn’t there because of weight issues, so it must be for some alleged crime. “Like what?” I hoped he might divulge some secret about himself.

  He stared at me, like he was deciding if he could trust me. I gazed back, trying to look trustworthy.

  “Okay, class,” an older woman with slate-gray hair and vivid blue eyes said from the front of the room. “Time to begin.”

  Billy turned away from me and focused on the teacher, leaving me feeling disappointed, like I had just missed my chance to learn something important. Tearing my gaze away from the boy with the short black hair and piercing gray-green eyes, I looked at the teacher.

  “As always, we begin with the pledge. All arise.”

  I stood with the rest of the students and when they began speaking, I said the words with them, though I had to force every word out of my mouth. “I pledge to always follow the rules and to take care of my body. I will strive to put the good of all above the desires of one. A healthy me is a healthy world.”

  When we sat down, fury pounded through me at being forced to say words that symbolized all that this world stood for, and it was all I could do to hold in a scream. To keep myself from losing it completely, I fantasized about the day I would leave Camp Willowmoss and pictured myself entering the tunnel that would lead me back to my world.

  My mind began drifting, and what seemed like a moment later, I felt a sharp whack on the back of my head. My eyes shot open and I realized I’d fallen asleep. Lifting my head, I saw the teacher standing next to my desk, a thick text book in her hand. Then I felt throbbing on the back of my head.

  Did she just hit me with that book? Shocked at the idea, my heart sank as I recognized that this place really was a prison and the workers were probably allowed to do whatever they wanted to us “campers”.

  “I don’t want to find you sleeping in my class again,
young lady.” Then she marched back to the front of the room.

  I’d never fallen asleep in class before and felt even more humiliated than I had in my last class when the teacher had scolded me for not having my books. My gaze traveled around the room and I saw that the entire class was watching me. Some of the students were obviously trying not to laugh, while others clearly felt sorry for me.

  My face burned with embarrassment. I could feel Billy’s gaze on me, but I studiously ignored him, afraid if I saw him laughing at me that I might just burst into tears. Instead I watched the teacher and bit the inside of my cheek to distract myself from the urge to cry.

  Trying to distance myself from my sorry situation, I listened to the teacher as she talked about some book I’d never heard of, and wrote down random things that she said. By the time class ended, I was able to push my feelings of mortification down into a place where I could control my emotions.

  The teacher left the room and I turned to Billy. “Thanks for waking me up, by the way.”

  To his credit, he looked embarrassed. “She noticed before I did and by then it was too late. Sorry.”

  My anger deflated. “It’s not your fault.”

  He smiled. “Are you hungry?”

  “I’ve never been so hungry.”

  He smirked. “You’d better get used to that feeling.”

  I put my things in my backpack and followed him out the door and toward the elevators. “Isn’t there some way to get a snack or something?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  “How can they expect us to work so hard on so little food?”

  “Morgan,” he said in a stage whisper. “You do realize this is a fat camp, right?”

  “Fat prison is more like it,” I said as we reached the elevators and waited our turn to get on. “But why do they have to punish us for being a few pounds overweight? That’s what I don’t get.”

  He looked at me like I was from another planet, which, in fact, I was. Or at least from another universe. “Really?”