The Intuitives(44)

Miss Williams laughed. “And what about the other students?” she asked. “Nobody’s giving you a hard time, I hope?”

“Oh, no! I played HRT Alpha with Rush and Sketch and Daniel last night. It was really fun! I killed Sketch a few times, and I killed Daniel a whole bunch! I couldn’t kill Rush though. Did you know he had a chance to get on a pro team this summer?”

“Oh, really?” Miss Williams asked, clearly surprised.

“Yeah. He had to give it up to come here. His dad made him, since it’ll look good for college.”

“I see,” Miss Williams said thoughtfully.

“Oh, gosh! Don’t tell him I told you, OK? I don’t know if I was supposed to. I just don’t want anyone to be upset if he seems unhappy. It’s not his fault. He’s really nice if you get to know him.”

“I promise, Kaitlyn, no one is upset with any of you. We’re very glad you’re here, and I’m hoping to get to know you all much better! Remember, I’ll be working with everyone else together today while you’re working with Ammu, so be sure to come straight back and join us when you’re done, all right?”

“OK,” Kaitlyn agreed. During breakfast, Miss Williams had shown them a small classroom that had been set up in one section of the big conference room off the main lounge, where she said they would be working on teamwork and leadership skills.

“And we’re here!” Miss Williams announced.

The maintenance shop matched the design of the lodge but was just one story. It sat well away from the main building on an extension of the long driveway, with three large, garage-type doors on the front, all painted dark green, and with a normal door on the far end. The middle garage door was wide open, and Miss Williams walked through it, followed closely by Kaitlyn.

“Hello,” Miss Williams called out. “Professor?”

“Yes, yes! Over here. Welcome!” Ammu replied, waving to them from the far corner of the garage as their eyes adjusted to the interior lighting.

“Wow! Nice!” Kaitlyn exclaimed.

“Do you approve, then?” Ammu asked. “You will have what you need here?”

“Oh, definitely!”

The inside of the building consisted of a concrete floor and three vehicle bays. The bay on the right held three lawn mowers, with a variety of trimmers and ladders hanging neatly along the right-hand wall. The center bay contained a large, solid table with several industrial-looking stools scattered around it, and the left-hand bay housed a well-stocked work area, designed for woodworking as well as mechanical maintenance.

A long work bench ran the full length of the left-hand wall and then turned the corner to run along the back edge of the left and center bays. The bench housed a high-end table saw, and Kaitlyn recognized a drill press and a lathe as well. Other than a few standing machines, the middle of the left-hand bay had been left open, with four saw horses stacked along the edge, obviously designed to allow the maintenance crew to work on larger projects there.

“May I?” Kaitlyn asked, pointing toward several closed cabinets, hanging both above and below the workbench.

“Please!” Ammu said.

“I’m going to leave you two at it, then,” Miss Williams announced, smiling over Kaitlyn’s enthusiasm.

“OK. Thanks, Miss Williams!” Kaitlyn called out, her voice muffled by the cabinet that her head was already buried in.

“It’s Christina!” she called back. “I told you, call me Christina!”

“Thanks, Christina!” Kaitlyn said, pulling her head out of the cabinet and grinning before turning and plunging back in, opening various drawers and cubbyholes and oohing and aahing over their contents.

As Christina started up the driveway, she heard Ammu begin to speak.

“Throughout human history,” he was saying, “there have been a select few among every generation who have been revered for their abilities…”

? ? ?

“OK, guys. This morning we’re going to talk about what it means to be a team.”

The classroom held six chairs, arranged in a semi-circle, all facing a whiteboard in the back of the room, where Christina stood now. Rush and Sketch sat in the middle, with Mackenzie on Sketch’s other side and Daniel next to Rush. Sam slouched in her seat next to Mackenzie and rolled her eyes.

“I myself have always found,” Christina continued, looking directly at Sam, “that being able to express one’s concerns productively is critical to a team’s success. You look skeptical, Samantha. I’d like to hear why.”

“Sorry,” Sam said, sighing and sitting marginally straighter in her chair.

“No, no. I mean it,” Christina assured her. “That’s exactly my point, in fact. I would never ask for your viewpoint if I didn’t want you to express it. That’s not direct communication.

“You rolled your eyes a moment ago, which implies disagreement or skepticism. My primary goal is to make sure we can all share our viewpoints openly and honestly, without reprisals and without ridicule. I realize that will take some time to establish, especially when we’re all still getting to know each other, but the only way to get there is to begin.

“So please, Samantha, tell me why you rolled your eyes.”

“Teams are stupid,” Sam said, shrugging.