Lost in Thought by Cara Bertrand

the uninitiated.
    We knew you had no idea, and honestly, we weren’t entirely sure either, but since you were a Legacy, we thought you must at least have the genes. So we’ve been waiting for you to manifest…which you finally did this afternoon.”
     
    L O S T I N T H O U G H T | 63
    “I’m so confused,” was all I could come up with.
    “The…visions”—I’d never mentioned them out loud before— “are…they’re real?”
    “They are,” Melinda replied. “Or they could be, if it’s a future vision you see,” she added thoughtfully. “Can you tell us…?”
    But she was interrupted by a loud knocking and then Amy’s voice, a little frantic, coming from somewhere nearby. “Carter?! Melinda?
    What’s going on? Is Lainey up here?”
    I opened my mouth to call out to her, but before I could speak, Carter leaned over, gripping my arm, and whispered emphatically, “She doesn’t know, Lainey. She’s not part of this.” He let go and stood up before calling out, “We’re back here, Amy. Everything’s okay.”
    She burst into the room moments later. “Jesus, shit, Lainey, I thought you were dead . Oops, sorry, Melinda. But what the hell happened?! Kids are freaking out all over campus, saying you’d, well, died at the bookstore, or…but Jill didn’t look like you’d punched her, and Jeff said you were up here and everything was fine…”
    As I’d predicted, according to rumor I was either dead or had gotten in a fight with Jill. I actually smiled. “I am fine, Ame,” I told her, a huge, enormous lie. “I was over here studying, and then unfortunately had one of my dizzy spells. Jill actually caught me, and I’m guessing kept me from cracking my head open when I passed out.” I turned to Carter for confirmation.
    “Definitely. I’d be downstairs mopping up your blood if Jill hadn’t saved you from landing skull-first on the coffee table,” he joked, lightening the mood in the room. I imagined the tension had been thick enough to touch before Amy arrived. Then my skittish brain started to wonder if I could touch tension, if I tried—I had no idea what this ESP
    thing really meant—and I think I started to pass out again, because I heard Carter say, “Whoa!” and grasp my arm.
     
    64 | C A R A B E R T R A N D
    I looked around the room at all the concerned faces then smiled over at Carter. “Oops. Sorry. Guess I’m a little wiped out.”
    “It’s okay, honey,” Melinda said. “But if you feel up to it, it’s probably time to get you over to the infirmary.”
    I didn’t feel up to it. I absolutely didn’t want to go anywhere until they finished explaining this crazy revelation to me, until my questions were answered and I felt like I understood what was going on with my own head. But unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. The whole campus already knew about my episode, so keeping it to myself wasn’t an option. I knew I’d have to go to the infirmary, and call my aunt, and have people fuss over me for probably the next few days, before Thanksgiving break started.
    This would also probably cause my first trip off campus—Aunt Tessa and I had planned to spend the holiday in Boston—to be canceled and ruin my entire break. I sighed, and started to get up. I noticed that Carter continued holding my arm, even though that wasn’t strictly necessary anymore. He didn’t let go until I was standing steadily.
    “Yeah,” I said dully. “I’m ready. Let’s get this over with.”
     
    I WAS FORCED to spend the night in the infirmary. Carter and Amy followed me as I followed the nurse all the way back to the room that had already been reserved for me. In addition to the standard slippery, squeaky beds with paper sheets used during the regular daily visits for head and stomachaches, our infirmary had four private rooms in the back. The nurse left us with a slightly disapproving glance at Carter and a promise to be right back.
    I plopped morosely onto the bed and looked at them