Project Aquarius (The Sensitives Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

rules, too much silence, and not enough action. He had no clue where he was going to go, but there had to be a better school than JFK. He had heard about one in Somerville that had ice cream every day at lunch.
    Darnell’s classmates whispered and giggled as they walked, but he was left out of the joke. In his short time as the new kid, he hadn’t exactly made friends. Actually, Darnell found it hard to connect with other kids. They perceived him as aggressive and unpredictable. And he perceived them as untrustworthy two-faced liars.
    A girl two places ahead of him in line turned around, pointed at him, and giggled.
    Darnell’s blood heated under his skin.
    “Whatever,” he defended. “Hate on me if you gonna.”
    The girl’s smile faded and she dismissed him with a nasty hair flip as she turned back around. Darnell didn’t care. He didn’t have time to care about people. With a shrug he put on his emotional armor, ready for battle.
    As the class rounded the corner to the gymnasium, Darnell saw that the door to the school kitchen was slightly ajar. The shiny stainless countertops glistened under the fluorescent lights. Loaves of bread, stacked nearly to the ceiling, sat on neon orange pallets on wheels. The open door beckoned to Darnell. It seemed to glow and pop out from the wall, as though engulfed in a halo. He was compelled to act. He just had to.
    With three large swift steps, he disappeared behind the door into the steamy backroom of the school cafeteria. He flattened himself behind the stacks of bread, hidden from view.
    The lunch personnel were distracted. It was the first period of the day and some were cleaning up breakfast, others beginning to defrost lunch entrees. Darnell knew if he could just make it across the slick floor, thirty feet maybe, he could escape out the emergency exit and be home free.
    He stayed low to the ground. Amazing how little adults looked down. They were always busy yapping and making eye contact, two things that made Darnell uncomfortable. Hunched over, he scampered across the kitchen behind the backs of two lunchroom employees.
    Then he saw it.
    Someone had left the walk-in freezer open just an inch. The big bulky latch hadn’t closed all the way. It was highlighted in a yellow halo, beckoning to him.
    Darnell felt an overwhelming urge to go explore the freezer. It happened to him sometimes. This feeling. He had to act on it. It felt urgent and absolutely necessary. Like life or death.
    All other thoughts flew out of his mind.
    Darnell took his chance. With his best stealth move, he rolled into the freezer ninja style and caught the door with the tip of his toe so it wouldn’t slam. Sweet.
    The inside of the freezer was like a closet with tall aluminum shelves that climbed up to the ceiling. Darnell flipped the light on to reveal a hulking expanse of shrink-wrapped food–– a rainbow of beige freezer burn crystals clinging to plastic wrap. So this was what school lunch looked like before they melted the cheese. Nasty.
    The freezer’s metal shelves were perfectly constructed ladders that begged to be climbed. Darnell scurried up to the top and sat down on the cold metal rungs. He folded himself into a tiny ball, tucking his knees to his chest.
    Then without warning, the door slammed. Someone in the kitchen had seen that it was ajar and closed it. But Darnell didn’t waste his energy freaking out. This wasn’t his first time being trapped somewhere he didn’t belong. He knew there would be an emergency latch somewhere. It took a moment, but he spotted one just to the right of the doorframe.
    Everything was back in his control.
    Sooner or later someone would come to the freezer to get a forgotten ingredient or more supplies or something. He flipped the lights off. Darnell decided he would wait it out and scare the crap out of someone.
    He was good at being funny.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
    Drea
     
    The anticipation had been worse than the actual quiz. Now that it was over,