“You don’t always go to a mall to buy things. There are hangouts, right, Mayfairy?”
“No worries anyway. I have an ATM card with a thousand-dollar limit daily. Plenty of money,” Mayfair said. “I know what I’ll do. I’ll buy something new right away. You two will help me pick it out. I’ll change right there, dump the clothes I wore, and then we’ll explore the sperm throwers, whether they be alphas or deltas. That’s the way it was in Brave New World.”
“Great. It’s better if we go separately through the cafeteria to the pantry,” Corliss said. “Less chance of attracting attention. We’ll synchronize our watches. Be sure you wear something warm. It still dips at night in the desert this time of year.”
“I didn’t say I would go,” Donna said. “I just said I have no money to spend at a mall.”
“So say it,” Mayfair challenged her.
Donna looked at Corliss and then at Mayfair. “What time would we meet?”
Corliss looked at her watch. “Seven forty. It will take about six minutes to get to the pantry from our rooms.”
“Great plan. The kitchen pantry. Someone will surely be there. Dinner hours end at seven thirty,” Donna said.
“Cafeteria workers. They’re not going to question our comings and goings. We could be doing something school-related. They barely look at us.”
“Sounds okay with me,” Mayfair said. “When you look like you know what you’re doing, people don’t question you. Just don’t look sneaky, Donna.”
“I wouldn’t be able to help it,” she said, shaking her head. “I would be sneaking.”
“No false-face ability. How will you survive in this world?” Mayfair asked.
“We’ll wait until exactly seven forty-one,” Corliss said, not hiding her impatience with Donna. “With you or without you, we’re gone.”
Donna looked like she had lost her appetite. She stared at her food. The other two ate with renewed hunger.
“Got to get nourished for the journey,” Mayfair said, and Corliss laughed.
Mayfair and Corliss hurried up to their rooms after eating. Donna lingered and then followed slowly, obviously still deciding. Mayfair put on some warmer clothing and her running shoes and then actually, for the first time here, put on some lipstick and took a brush to her hair.
She was out first and down the stairway. The cafeteria was empty. She saw the employees going about cleaning up and circled carefully around to slip through the kitchen and to the pantry. As Corliss had predicted, no one paid any attention to her. The students at Spindrift were surely a curiosity to the employees who did the cleaning, maintenance, and food preparation. They had some vague understanding of how brilliant the students were. But the employees were afraid to ask too many questions of any of them, not only because they feared they might look stupid but also because they were afraid of offending one of them. They were convinced that they could be fired for something like that; these students were special and important.
Corliss appeared right on time. “Anyone see you?” she asked Mayfair.
“They looked at me, but they didn’t see me.”
“Exactly. Me, too.” Corliss looked at her watch. “She’s not coming. Let’s go.”
They went to the door, looked back, and then slipped out, making sure the door didn’t lock behind them. It was a partly cloudy evening, but in the high desert, where there were no stre
etlights, it took only moments for their eyes to adjust to and benefit from the starlight. Corliss started for the woods, Mayfair a step or two behind. They were almost there when they heard the door open and close behind them.
They froze. Were they being watched all the time? Was Dr. Marlowe coming after them? Had their table indeed been bugged? Maybe even their rooms?
The silhouetted figure stepped out of the shadows.
It was Donna, hurrying to catch up. “Just go,” she said, anticipating some wise-ass remark about her surge of courage.
“Did you make sure the door didn’t lock behind you?” Mayfair asked.
“Of course. You’re not the only one who can think ahead, Mayfairy.”
Corliss smiled to herself and led them through the brush until they reached the Darwin Trail and made their way back to the ditch. It was there that Corliss paused and looked at the other two. Sneaking out of the building was one thing; this was quite another. She held out her hands. Mayfair understood the gesture, grasped them, and looked at Donna. After a moment, she clasped hands with them, and then the three went through the ditch and made their way to the incline.
“Careful,” Corliss said. “It’s not steep, but you could ruin your makeup.”
“Oh, so funny,” Donna said.