The Immortals by Mary Hallberg (chrysanthemum read aloud txt) 📗

his level of credits all the more impressive. “What are your plans after graduation?”

“I want to go to college and study English. I don’t know what I’ll do with that yet, but I figure why not get a degree in something I love?”

This was even more impressive. Immortals rarely went to college anymore; with the lifelong grant money that allowed them to not only earn a living but live lavishly, why would we need to?

“Matt’s a poet,” Jacey said.

“I know. You already told me.”

“You’ve been telling her about me?” he asked.

“It’s been positive,” I responded. “Most of it, anyway.”

Matt laughed but quickly looked down at his soup. Jacey changed the subject to some TV show I had never watched and, judging from Matt’s silence, he hadn’t either. I had a feeling if we took Jacey out of the equation, Matt and I could actually have a decent conversation and maybe even be friends. But Jacey wouldn’t allow us a moment’s peace.

I didn’t even want to talk about how he became Immortal, a topic that was usually as common among Immortals as talking about the weather or a favorite new restaurant. Most people who kept up with Immortals even casually knew what most of us had done to join. But Jacey had always been uncomfortable when the subject came up. Not only did the general public not know how she became Immortal, but I didn’t either. The first (and only) time I had attempted to ask her, she just said ‘I did a really good deed,’ and looked away. Most Immortals had gotten in for some good deed or another, or at least something that was twisted by the panel to seem good. How twisted was Jacey’s past?

chapter two

Matt left after he finished his soup. As soon as he was gone, Jacey said she didn’t feel like studying anymore. I should have known; we rarely ended up doing schoolwork when I came over, even if we specifically planned it. Though that night was the first time we had sat down to dinner with her ex-boyfriend. We usually ended up doing something menial, like painting our nails.

She didn’t mention Matt the next day, and didn’t seem too concerned about how she did on our test (which was multiple choice and not nearly as bad as I had feared, so I figured I did okay too). But it was Friday night, and she insisted that I come with her to a place called The Lab. I spent enough time thinking about class during the week, and wasn’t interested in spending any more time there, until she explained that it was actually a night club. “So if your parents call you and you don’t want them to know you’re out partying, you can just tell them you’re in the lab!”

“What about the people who aren’t taking classes that require a lab?” I said. “Or the parents who think their kids are going to a meth lab or something? And if you’re going to lie to your parents about where you are, why not just lie about it entirely? Tell them you’re at the movies or something?”

“Who knows. See you tonight.”

She picked me up just after nine, and she wasn’t alone. Elizabeth, one of her friends from our biology class, sat in the backseat, along with another Immortal I had only seen on a few news programs. She introduced herself as Paige, and couldn’t have been more than fourteen or so. I didn’t know much about her other than Jacey referring to her as a ‘little girl,’ even though she was just a couple years younger than us. She was cute, though, with dark-ish skin and long, black hair.

We were almost on the highway when Paige turned to Elizabeth and asked if she was going home with us tonight.

“Come on Paige…you know that won’t happen.” They roared with laughter.

“Well, I’m just glad you seem to be over Gage,” Jacey said from the front.

“Oh please. I would barely even call it dating. It was more like a few prolonged, glorified make out sessions. It wasn’t going to work anyway. I’ll be fine.”

“Gage is pretty cool,” Paige said. “But you guys are better off as friends. Besides, there are going to be so many hot guys there tonight.”

“Who says it has to be a guy?” Elizabeth said, and the three of them burst into laughter.

We parked in a lot outside what looked like a prison. I was about to open my door when Jacey leaned back and grabbed something from the back pocket of her seat. It was a syringe, filled with what I presumed was TNV. She pumped it a couple of times and shot a dose into her forearm.

Paige cringed. “How can you stand to stick that thing in your arm?”

Jacey shrugged. “It’s not that bad.”

I had never heard of an Immortal not liking needles, but I guess that was why the had the pill option. Sure enough, Paige pulled a prescription bottle out of her coat pocket. Jacey tossed the needle to Elizabeth, who jabbed it into her arm. Part of me still cringed when I saw people sharing needles, but I knew the TNV would cure whatever diseases the needle might cause.

Elizabeth gave herself a triple dose. “Guess I’m planning on drinking a lot more than you guys,” she said and passed the needle to me. “You might want to give yourself an extra dose too.”

 “Kenzie’s not much of a drinker,” Jacey said. “She might not need it.”

“Well, you never know. She might drink more than you think. Anyway, you can never have too much TNV. Better safe than sorry, right?”

“Why do we need so much?” I asked.

“Just a precaution,” Elizabeth responded.

“A precaution? Against drinking too much?”

“Yep. Last week I drove home and almost hit a pole.”

Paige snickered.

“Oh shut up! It would have cost me a freaking arm and leg if I had so much as scratched the bumper. That quadruple dose probably saved my ass. And my bumper.”

I didn’t even know