"We'll have to loop out and around to the girls' side of the building," Aaron told her. "Mindy will take you up."
"Oh. Right," Stacey shook her head.
"What's up?" Aaron asked in concern. "You feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," Stacey smiled, still rubbing where she'd hit her forehead into Endo's hard one. It felt like she had a little lump there. "Just post sleep dizzies. You know when you're in a deep sleep and someone wakes you up and you don't really know what's going on?"
"I see," Aaron made a face. "I get what you mean. My little girl gets that sometimes. It's cute."
"I'm not cute," Stacey said, tripping down the stairs and accidentally missing a step. She grabbed hold of the railing to prevent herself from falling over. "I'm too old to be cute now."
"Whoa. Careful," Aaron steadied her. "Watch your step. I think you're cute, but it's a different sort of cute. You have a nice shine of individuality that makes you stand out. It's refreshing to have someone like you, so down to the ground, to be honest. You're kind of like the best mate, girl next door. It makes you relatable."
"If you say so," Stacey shrugged.
"I have to confess," Aaron said, "that you're not just going up to your bed with the lady mentors. We're giving you a literacy test to complete, since we have no idea of what your academic level is and we need to know where to start with you."
Stacey sighed but nodded. Academics made sense for her presumed age. Not that she'd used much of that school knowledge at work back home.
"Also, the producers are working on trying to find a way to squeeze you in with the other girls. Once there's space, you'll be joining them in their dorm properly. We can't keep you separated for the entire program."
Yeah. That made sense. Stacey made a listening noise.
"You need to be able to make friends and network with the girls. We've seen that you seem to get along with the boys pretty well. Make a bit of effort and maybe you'll find best friends amongst the girls."
"Whatever you guys say," Stacey shrugged. "As you all probably already know, I'm just here for the food. You guys are the bosses."
"I'm relieved that you're so easy going," Aaron said. "It truly makes things a whole lot easier."
"Hey. I'm just a spare tire here."
"You aren't," Aaron said. "Oh, hey, there's Marvel. Let's go and say hi."
Aaron gestured to a man in the distance who was talking to a group of cameramen. The man had carrot orange hair that stood up like he'd been shocked. Honestly, it reminded Stacey of an old movie from 1991 that her dad had showed her. The movie had contained a green suited, carrot-haired imaginary friend.
"Hey, Marvel," Aaron called. "You found a great candidate among the Lost Kids here."
"I did? This must be Anastasia Wright, right?" the green and orange man called Marvel turned around and came over to meet them. The corner of his lips ticced. "People keep congratulating me on finding her but to be honest, I'm not the one who scouted her. We've never met."
Without stopping to take a breath, he turned to Stacey with a faint, formal not-quite-a-smile. His fingers twitched.
"Hi, Stacey. I'm Marvel. On paper, the State Government appointed me as your temporary main guardian for the duration you're with our program. I just found out. Nice to meet you anyway."
"Nice to meet you too."
Stacey shook his offered hand. His limp hand shook her off almost as soon as it had touched hers, making a sense of foreboding well up in her stomach. It was almost as if he was just trying to get the formalities out of the way and was actually disgusted by her.
"May I ask exactly how you ended up joining our program?" Marvel asked her, polite but through gritted teeth. He leaned too far forwards, making her lean back. "It's important to know what happened. I heard you claim to have lost your memory. Can you tell me everything you remember?"
"A few days ago," Stacey took a breath and recited the story she had worked out while going through the interview earlier in the day, "I woke up under a bush outside town..."
It was best for her to stick to the real facts. She wasn't lying exactly. She was just omitting the fact that she had somehow arrived here from her world and she had no idea where she was or what was going on.
"A remarkable story," Marvel remarked.
He threw his head back and barked a short laugh. Everyone around Marvel took a step back.
"Oh, I have amnesia," he said in a high-pitched voice, making mocking mimicry of Stacey. "Nobody will be able to tell that I'm a bad liar. I'm such a good faker. I spy, I sabotage, I ruin Marvel's good name - all for my masters!"
Stacey took another terrified step away from the man as he suddenly leaned toward her, accidentally bumping into Aaron, who steadied her. Aaron seemed as surprised by the over the top reaction as she was.
"Calm down. It's alright. I think," he told Stacey, staring hard at Marvel with a frown.
Marvel advanced two steps. Stacey hurriedly backed away again. Before she could trip, Aaron caught her by the shoulders. Marvel tilted his head sideways, neck popping.
Marvel's high-pitched mockery dropped into a snarl.
"As if pretending to have forgotten solves anything. An amnesiac street kid just drops in. How convenient."
He chuckled and gave another short and hard bark, then snapped into a low, controlled growl.
"You make me sick. Come. Let's go turn you in to the police so you can go to prison where you belong."
His hand darted forward to capture Stacey's wrist. Gripping her wrist hard, Marvel dragged her away. Stacey struggled to pull her wrist free, digging her heels in.
"Let go. It hurts," she gasped. "I'm sorry. I was just hungry. I just wanted something to eat. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll leave if you don't want me here. I'll leave town and go starve where no one can see me. I didn't mean to interrupt your program. I tried to get out when I realised things were getting serious but I couldn't. I'm sorry. Please, let me go."
"Who sent you here? What agency are you from? Whose spy are you?"
The glare in Marvel's eyes cut through her. Stacey's heart shook and jumped. It wasn't safe here with him. Starving to death slowly would be better than getting stabbed in the back by a man who didn't want her here.
"I don't even know what agencies there are," Stacey cried, trying to shake and pry his hand off her wrist.
"Marvel, that's enough," Aaron said, stepping forward to help her, still frowning at Marvel in a meaningful way, trying to communicate without words.
The camera men hesitated to come forward to help.
"Enough? How is it enough if we don't scare the lights out of an industry spy like her? How will she learn otherwise?" Marvel snorted in reply, using both hands to try and drag Stacey along with him.
He jerked to break Staceys's resistance and pull her off balance. Stacey was forced to stumble behind him.
"Who are you?" he barked at Stacey, when Aaron stopped him.
"I am a loner," Stacey shouted, unable to take it anymore. "A crazy wide eyed loner on a doomed mission to Venus to battle with the three headed mega beast but on the way I caught cornflakes disease!"
"What?"
All the men stopped to stare at Stacey with confused incredularity.
Oh. She'd finally caught their attention. What joy.
"I can't read the signs. Don't know any of the mentors," Stacey vented. "Half of what anyone says doesn't make sense. I've fainted, been pushed around, scolded, please… I just want food. Somewhere to stay. Is that too much to ask?"
The hand on her wrist that had slightly loosened tightened painfully again. There seemed to be a low, wordless growl rumbling in Marvel's throat. His hand twitched around her wrist as if he wanted to crush it.
"The other kids seemed nice and just accepted me despite all my flaws. I feel bad. I'm not even supposed to be here. If I'm too much trouble, just say the word and I'll leave. Why accuse me of being a spy? If I'd had the choice, I'd have chosen almost any industry besides this one."
The men looked taken back at that. Almost insulted. The cameramen exchanged glances, but Stacey was only focused on trying to break free. She had tried to keep her head down but that hadn't worked. She wasn't wanted here.
"But I was starving and this was my only chance. I can't even apologise," Stacey tried to stop yelling, but it came out all strangled. She stared at the man in a green suit with bright orange hair. Although she knew he wouldn't get the reference, she couldn't help it. She shook her arm hard. "Drop dead, Fred! Let me go!"
Marvel froze. He blinked and twitched again.
Stacey yanked herself free with a twist, hopping away. Fred - no, Marvel lunged, but Stacey dodged, sprinting away.
"Fred?" Marvel muttered to the air.
Did she just get his name wrong and mock his entire existence? Was he not famous enough?
"Marvel, she's actually a really good kid," Aaron protested, preparing to follow her. "We already love her. She's a treasure."
"That's right."
The cameramen nodded in agreement, but Marvel rolled his eyes.
"We don't need a knife in the dark," Marvel blocked and held Aaron back from chasing after Stacey.
The cameramen paused. Should they go after Stacey or not?
Aaron waved a hand at the back of Stacey's fleeing figure, noticing with some relief that at least one cameraman was chasing after her.
"But Landen wants her. He showed you her audition tape, right?"
The cameramen nodded again.
"Loafer was there. He told us about it," one of the cameramen said, looking around for Loafer.
"Yeah, but even if she's really the genuine thing, that unknown background could be a hidden bomb. What did the doctor say?" Marvel asked, putting a hand on his hip.
Aaron recapped the events Stacey had been involved in so far during the day for Marvel and told him the results of her medical checkup.
"Where is Loafer? Wasn't he here just now?" the cameraman who had spoken earlier asked.
"I think he went after Stacey," another cameraman gestures but the runners were no longer within sight.
"She doesn't even know any Tadpole," Aaron said. 'Can't read or understand it."
"Who in this day or age doesn't know Tadpole?" Marvel threw his hands up in the air. Doubt flickered in his face.
"Exactly," the cameramen murmured to each other.
"Exactly," Aaron pointed. "Given the number of things she genuinely doesn't know or can't remember - that can't be faked. Whatever she's hiding, whatever situation she's in, she needs help. Her body language says it all. She just doesn't trust anyone enough yet."
Marvel sighed and rolled his eyes again.
"She's so fake, it can be spotted from the other side of the country," Marvel snorted, crossing his arms. "The girl can't act to save her life. Look at her. Everything about her is just off."
The cameramen looked between the two, while one ran off to inform someone of what was going on here.
"She's scared, not fake. The way she gets along with her peers isn't fake," Aaron said. "You can see the footage later. The boys tucking her into bed was so cute. She only seems off when she's around us adults."
"Oh, I haven't seen that yet," said one of the cameramen with interest. "Anyone know which camera might have caught it?"
"Should be one of the boys' dorms cameras," another cameraman said.
"Right," Aaron smiled in memory, chuckling to himself. "Room 6."
"Uh huh," Marvel just nodded with a raised eyebrow.
"She's a great story waiting to happen," Aaron persuaded. "Mindy wants to make a feature of her. If you really kick her out, Mindy might cry."
"Hey, guys, what's going on?"
Landen and Hugh came over to see what all the noise and fuss was. Many more of the crew gathered around, having been notified by a cameraman earlier.