Chapter 5

Kurt and Sarah entered a wide corridor. There were a few people passing by or just standing there and chatting in small groups. It was quite noisy though they couldn’t hear anything back in the room. It must have been soundproof.

People of different age were wearing rather similar clothes. Black shoes, black pants and plain t-shirts of different colours. Kurt noticed blue and orange. Meanwhile two boys in purple looked at him curiously, then at each other and nodded mischievously but Kurt wasn’t looking their way so he didn’t see anything.

“You must be hungry,” Sarah said leading the way.

“Not really. I’d rather have some aspirin,” the boy said walking by her side.

“Oh,” she looked at him apologetically. “Sorry about that… I will tell one of the nurses to come to the cafeteria and bring you some medicine. By the way, you will meet those four people you are going to train, study and live with.”

“Awesome.”

Jesus fucking Christ, how long are you going to lie to me? It really is getting boring.

Though Kurt had to admit, someone has put a lot of effort into this joke. The place itself was huge and he couldn’t think of any place where people would wear similar clothes, just different colours. They must have been in this joke as well.

“Sarah? Do you have a second?” a blond boy with a green t-shirt approached them.

“Yes, Sam? How can I help you? But be quick, I don’t have time,” Sarah stopped, Kurt next to her looking curiously at the cute guy.

“I just wanted to let you know that the report you asked for is on your table. I finished it last night. But I didn’t have time to give Michael to read it first…”

“Don’t worry. I will read it when I finally get into my office. It’s a busy day, you know, new members and stuff, so you may need to wait for the evening for me to get back to you.”

“It’s not a problem, Sarah. Call me when you finish,” Sam said and turned around to leave. “Welcome to C.A.T., new kid,” he winked.

Kurt blushed. Even though that guy must have been an actor or a wannabe, he was kind of cute. Sarah pretended she hadn’t seen anything.

After fifteen of twenty minutes of walking they reached the cafeteria. The building was really huge.

“Aren’t there any short cuts?” Kurt asked.

“Of course there are, I just wanted to show you around,” Sarah smiled.

Typical, I need aspirin and she decides to give me a tour…

As if she had a power of mind reading the woman said, “I texted a nurse. She will bring you the medicine.”

“How is she going to know which one I am?” Kurt asked walking into the cafeteria, his eyes wide open. “There are hundreds of people!”

Not to exaggerate there were three or four hundred of people. All wearing black pants and t-shirts: green, blue, yellow, orange, red, and purple. In the corner he saw two girls and two guys in white t-shirts. They were pale and silent. None of them seemed to enjoy the food in front of them.

“There aren’t many ‘whites’ so she will find you easily. But let’s get you something to eat and then you can join your group,” Sarah spoke and led him to the counter.

“Actually I’m not hungry at all.”

“Then have some juice,” she said and grabbed a tall glass of some juice with a straw. ”Here, this is compulsory for breakfast.”

Kurt took the glass carefully and went to the corner table. He started doubting the whole practical joke thing. This all seemed to be too serious. Who would put so much time and effort to just make fun of him?

They reached the table and people looked up at him. They all looked curious.

“Hi again, guys. I would like to introduce Kurt, the newest addition to the team,” Sarah introduced him and showed with her eyes that the boy should say something.

A simple silent ‘hello’ was the only thing he managed to say and he scolded himself for that. Suddenly everything felt too real. But it couldn’t be. Could it?

“So these are Sebastian, Wes, Tina and Santana,” they all nodded at their names, “They will be your team while being here. If you stay here for one year you will get into one of the squads depending on how you perform. But later about that… Now enjoy the breakfast.”

Sarah patted Kurt’s shoulder and left. Not knowing what to say or what to do the boy sat down next to Wes. It was getting awkward and Kurt had no idea what to make out of all this.

“Are you all actors?” he demanded frowning a bit.

“I would like to ask you the same,” Santana said crossing her arms over the chest.

“You’re reading my mind,” Wes added.

Seriously? You probably think that someone has built this building, hired hundreds of people, and flew you to another continent just to mess with you. Sure, sounds legit, Tina thought smiling slightly at people around her.

“So,” Sebastian began, “if we are not actors… then what a fuck?”

“Yes, what an actual fuck?” they heard someone saying and a smiling blond guy approached them, but it wasn’t Sam this time.

The boy smiled even wider when he saw how confused everyone looked. He sat down next to Santana and started drinking his own juice. Following his lead Kurt tried his own. It was so sour that he spat it back. The boy laughed at him.

“It’s freshly squeezed lemon juice, a bit sour but you will get used to it. The trick is you drink it straight to your throat with a straw so that the liquid doesn’t touch the tongue. Oh, and it’s not good for teeth either so be careful. Despite that, it’s very healthy: it helps digestion, skin, and some other stuff. You can google it. Or I could go and google it for you and come back in five minutes with all information.”

How much and how fast can someone talk? One day he will break his tongue, Tina thought raising one eyebrow.

Nobody said anything; they just stared at him with disbelief.

“So I guess I’ll be going. Will you be here in five minutes?” the boy asked rising from his seat.

“I’m Kurt,” the boy in front of him said and the blonde sat down.

“Oh, hi, Kurt. And everyone. My name is Jeff. It’s nice to meet you. I was very excited when Tom said you would be coming. I didn’t expect you until July. Usually new members come here a bit later. I mean, the decision is made on the first of June once old newbies are sorted, but it takes time to get ready. It’s weird that the preparation didn’t take that long this time. You were either easy targets, or they wanted you to train for as long as possible. I mean, you only have a bit less than a year until the sorting into squads. And if you’re not in a very good condition now you may not make it even into the Yellow Squad which is the lamest if you asked me or anyone. Or even if you asked the ‘yellows’ – they would say the same.”

Please, someone shut him up, Tina giggled at the guy’s enthusiasm.

Santana voiced her thoughts, “Could you please shut your loud mouth?”

“I’m sorry!” Jeff apologised quickly, looking guilty. “People always tell me I talk too much. Probably it’s the reason why I didn’t get into any of the squads. My colourful t-shirt is an indication that I’m a free bird. To tell the truth, I am here only because my dad is an agent. I basically grew up here. That’s why everyone expected me to be an awesome agent. And I am! I know about computers more than anyone here. So if you need anything just let me know. And not only about computers but anything. I think I know more than I should but oh well, it’s fun. So can I get any gossips about you, guys?”

Silence met his words again. Sebastian cleared his throat.

“Are we allowed to talk now?” he asked.

“Of course, you’re always allowed to do what you want! Okay, not entirely. You can’t leave the building without permission, you can’t tell anyone about this, you can’t skip classes, you can’t eat some things because the cafeteria doesn’t have them, you can’t have pets in your dorm room, you can’t train naked, trust me I tried, but you can always, always talk to me.”

“Good to know,” Wes smirked, “I love mutual conversations.”

“Me too! I’m sure we will be good friends. And you will need friends. I mean it will be difficult for you to keep in touch with your old friends because you will be very busy here, and the time difference with the places you lived is five hours–”

“What?” Kurt and Santana shouted. Some people looked at them curiously.

“Didn’t you know? You are no longer in America. Welcome to Europe. So about friends–”

“What do you mean Europe?” Wes asked.

“C’mon, guys, it’s not polite to cut in when someone is talking. How do you expect to keep the conversation going when you keep interrupting?”

He must be joking, Tina smiled.

“So, we are in–” Kurt began.

“Yes, we are in Europe. I can’t tell you where exactly. But just so you know if you call your friends or family they are five hours behind.”

England, Tina thought.

“And now we are back to the beginning where I was telling you will need friends. Sure, you have each other but you could use some experienced friends. It would be helpful. And it would look like you’re full of yourself and don’t want to meet new people if you don’t make other friends.. Besides, one day you will become a part of one of the squads so it’s good to have friends. But be careful, there are some jerks here as well as anywhere else.”

Jeff finished his juice and stood up.

“I have to go to the guitar lesson. It was nice talking to you, people. I’ll see you around. You owe me some details for my gossiping pleasure. Bye!” he said and walked away.

“Well, that was interesting,” Kurt said and everyone laughed. The tension subsided.

At that moment a nurse came.

“Who needed aspirin?”

“I did,” Kurt said quickly suddenly relieved that his headache would soon be over. “Thank you.”

The nurse left and he drank the pill.

“Is it good to drink medicine with lemon juice?” Wes asked.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Kurt answered. “Um… This is real, isn’t it?”

“It seems so,” Sebastian answered, still a bit suspicious. “but I’m not sure. It’s all just surreal”

“I would understand if we were somehow special. But knowing myself and looking at you I know that we aren’t,” Santana said and everyone nodded.

“How about we stick together until we figure everything out?” Wes suggested.

The first wise words today, Tina nodded at him.

“Hey, guys,” Sarah came out of nowhere, “have you finished your breakfast?”

There were some nods.

“Great, Tom wants to see you. He and I are going to explain you some things.”

They all stood up and left. Once again two guys in purple t-shirts smiled at each other.