Over the next week or two, Reed attended several more meetings in the apartments. He grew more comfortable around the other teens as he got to know them, and he even ran into some of them around the Dorms occasionally.
At the same time, he did what he could to keep up his status in Dorm society. Reagan’s predictions had come true; Reed was getting quite popular on the Hill. His memory of names and faces served him well, and he came to know an incredible number of the Dorm residents on sight.
But the deeper Reed got into the culture, the more he became aware that a memory lingered at the heart of the Hill, a name dropped in conversation or woven into a story that seemed to bring his two parallel lives together.
Elijah.
Reed was surprised. Elijah was only one of thousands of teens here, and he had left the Dorms months ago. Why did so many people seem to know him?
This was on his mind one evening as he walked with Lucy, Nathan, and Katy back from supper at the Mushroom. Dusk had fallen over the city below, and shadows crept up the Hill as the sun sank behind a bank of clouds, turning the wispy shrouds to a spread of crystalline orange and pink, like the frozen sherbet bar Nathan was finishing. As they turned up the North Stairs, Reed glanced out over the western glory, burying his hands in the warmth of his coat pockets.
“You know,” he said suddenly, “it’s really weird how many people around here act like they know Elijah. I mean, he moved off a while ago, and there are so many people here. I don’t understand why anybody still knows who he is.” Reed wiggled his fingers in the flannel lining of his pockets. “Funny thing, most of what I hear about him has Reagan mixed in somewhere, too. I thought they ran with different crowds.”
“Hmm…” said Lucy. She was gathering her golden hair with both hands to keep the wind from tossing it about her face. “They usually did, but some factors can’t be helped.” She glanced at him. “Has Reagan told you about the way things were before you got here?”
Reed shook his head. “Not really.”
“Interesting.” She gave up, shaking her hair loose in the cold breeze. “I thought you would have figured it out by now since it kinda involves you.”
“Yeah, kinda,” Nathan agreed, licking a melted stream of orange off his thumb. “Might as well go ahead and tell him.”
Reed eyed them in the fading light. “Tell me what?”
Lucy hesitated before explaining. “Well, before he moved out with Cody, Elijah was kind of a celebrity in the Dorms. You know, he’s good-looking and super nice and all that. He was actually more popular than Reagan.” She reached the top of the steps and turned to face him. “In fact, Elijah was Reagan’s other roommate—the one you replaced.”
Reed stopped dead at the top of the staircase and stared at her. “What? I’m not their first one?”
“’Fraid not,” Nathan affirmed, sucking his Popsicle stick clean. “It was Reagan, Riley, and Elijah in a room till the end of last year.”
Reed was thunderstruck. He looked away, opening his mouth and then shutting it again. “Elijah and Reagan as roommates? I don’t even know how to process that. I bet all the girls…”
“They did,” said Katy, stepping aside to let a group pass down the stairs. “That’s one of the reasons Elijah moved off. It was intense. He was getting hit on non-stop.”
“But he left? Why in the world?”
“He didn’t want it,” said Nathan simply. He tossed his empty stick into a nearby trashcan and turned to meet Reed’s bewildered eyes. “He’s like that. He loves people, and people love him; but he doesn’t like being turned into an idol. Everybody knew him back then and kinda worshiped him. You know how the Dorms are about looks and appearance.”
“Oh,” said Reed. He moved into a walk again, still not sure what to think. “I imagine Reagan enjoyed it, though.”
Lucy coughed. “You better believe it. He and Elijah got so much attention. You just hear about them together a lot because they lived in the same room. They were actually total opposites.”
Reed was still musing over this new information a few minutes later as he mounted the stairs to his hall. It was a surprise to say the least: someone he’d thought to be a random nobody was actually the biggest icon the Hill had ever known.
And roommates with Reagan? It was like putting two characters from different fictional universes together. Why had no one ever told him? Elijah had said nothing about it; Reagan never mentioned it. Reed frowned. There was something else in all this, something nobody wanted to tell him.
He opened the hall door to find a large crowd of boys blocking his way. They didn’t notice Reed as they talked and laughed at something he couldn’t see. Something in the center of the group held their attention; curious, Reed pushed his way in.
In the middle of the hall, a boy crouched on the floor with a can of spray paint in his hand, demonstrating his artistic skills on the tiles. Reed studied the artwork for a moment before he recognized an unfinished attempt at a portrait of Director Connors, the face blown ridiculously out of proportion and done in a sickly green and black. Reed couldn’t tell who the artist was, however, until he looked up. It was Sam. Reed instinctively rubbed the back of his neck.
The crowd was enjoying the show. Even Reagan stood nearby, throwing in occasional critiques and grinning. Reed had to admit the picture was an obvious but ludicrous likeness. Still, he couldn’t believe Sam’s stupidity. He shouldered his way into the crowd and called out over the noise, “Sam, what are you doing?”
Sam glanced up and brushed his hand across his forehead, leaving a streak of green through his blond hair. “What does it look like?” he grinned.
Reed pushed past the last few boys and crouched down next to the picture.
“But why?”
“’Cause Dylan said it would be really funny.” Sam bent back to his work. “And he’s the second coolest guy on the hall.”
Reed pondered that for a moment. “I thought you said Will was the second coolest guy.”
“Not after that stunt Dylan pulled two nights ago,” Sam retorted. “He’s awesome.”
Reed stood up slowly. Sam’s last shenanigan and Riley’s response suddenly made more sense. He stepped back into the crowd; he was in no mood for this tonight. He turned to leave. As he did, he almost bumped into someone behind him. It was Hunter. Reed had kept up with the other boy after their chance encounters, and Hunter now spent a lot of time on Reed’s hall. Reed couldn’t blame him; most people avoided Dorm One when they could. Hunter caught Reed’s eye and smirked.
“A dumb thing to do, but not bad, eh?”
Reed snorted. “He’s not known for his intelligence.”
“I’ll say. Idiot, he’s made the glasses too round!”
Reed didn’t answer. He turned and shoved through the crowd toward his room.
He was never sure how word of the incident found its way up the chain of command but, by that night, everyone on the Hill had heard it. The next day when Reed entered the hall, he found Sam again on the floor, this time scrubbing up the dried paint. Michael supervised from the doorway. According to rumor, Director Connors imposed several other consequences as well.
The episode was forever attached to Sam’s name. Apparently, he was notorious for a number of idiotic exploits in the past, but this latest one topped them all. The mere mention of his name was enough to bring a sneer or a laugh.
At first, Reed shied away from all the talk. The blatant ridicule and mocking laughter made him uncomfortable. But then, he reasoned, it was the truth—most of it, anyway. And some of it was really funny. Besides, nobody else was hanging back; they all thought it was great. It was like having an inside joke with everyone on the Hill. Besides, it wasn’t like he particularly cared for Sam anyway.
He “tested the waters,” so to speak—hesitantly at first, but then more boldly as he warmed to the idea. Everyone else was doing it, so why shouldn’t he? It didn’t bother him as much as he’d thought it might, and he found he could enjoy it.
But his pleasure was short-lived.