11.01: Testing Time - JP

Jamie felt a sense of dread as he packed his books for history, maths and English literature. He hadn't been able to understand most of the maths homework and without his best friend and maths genius Noah around he was stuffed. Instead he was relying on summaries he had found on the web to make up for only having read fifteen pages of Of Mice and Men.
In between breakfast and history class Jamie had to take Danny across to the medical centre where he would begin his recruitment tests. It was a drizzly morning with a biting wind.
“Campus seems bigger without the electric buggy like I had on the tour,” Danny
noted, as he rubbed goosebumps on his arms which were bare under his waterproof.
“You should have put a hoodie on,” Jamie said. “But the tests will warm you up.”
That sounded ominous to Danny, the foreboding was not lessened by what looked like a stifled grin from Jamie.
Danny had been here a couple of weeks now and had learned that there were students who went out into the world to help other mutants. Usually these were what was called First Contacts when a new mutant was discovered and given the opportunity to come to the school. Emerging mutants had all the problems that most adolescents had, with the addition of an angry mob of a pitchfork wielding mob waving torches.
To Danny this had sounded like a good idea. He wanted in.
The infirmary was state-of-the-art, clinical appropriately enough, and included a twelve-bed ward, a dental suite, nurse’s office and a sports medicine facility used for fitness assessments and rehabilitation.
“Good morning,” Dr MacTaggart said, with a thick Scottish accent. “Ah another couple of recruits for the mincer, eh?”
“Two?” Danny said, as MacTaggart led them into an examination room.
The sports medicine and fitness testing facilities were similar to ones Danny had seen at his old school, but much more expensive was his guess, and this equipment probably worked. Jamie was already in the examination room and Dr MacTaggart bit his head off for sitting on a worktop.
“This is a medical facility,” she yelled. “You may think that the sun shines out of it Mr Braddock, but it does not belong on my ster¡le work surface.”
Jamie put on an ‘I'm sorry’ face as he jumped down.
The other person in the room was a boy who looked about ten. He wore the same grey uniform shirt and trousers as Danny, he also had boots on. He had a slim build, with glossy black hair and a Mediterranean complexion.
“Danny, this is Faisal. Faisal, Danny,” Jamie said. “You'll be going through all the assessment tests together.”
Faisal was shy and it took a nudge from Jamie to get him to come forward and shake Danny's hand. He had a slim wrist and long slender fingers with chewed nails.
“Good luck,” Danny said.
Faisal narrowed his eyes. “I don't believe in luck,” he said.
Danny thought Faisal sounded arrogant, but he was keen to make nice so he smiled and said, “Maybe you're right.”
Dr MacTaggart glared at Jamie and Jamie. “If you see Sharon the nurse on
your way out of my medical unit, tell her to come immediately.”
Jamie took the hint about leaving and exchanged smiles as he headed into the hallway.
Jamie wagged his finger at an imaginary and mocked Dr MacTaggart's words in a harsh German accent. “You vill not sit on my sterile surface. If you do I'll have you shot by the Gestapo.”
“We have Jewish members of staff and children, Jamie,” Sharon Friedlander said quietly. “I wouldn't make any Nazi cracks around here, unless you want to end up
with a thermometer up your butt next time you stop by to get your blisters popped.”
“Good call, Sharon,” Jamie said, laughing as he backed up to the wall to let the nurse get by.
She was pushing a trolley laden with heart monitoring equipment and two rather sinister-looking sets of pincers that were used for muscle biopsies.
Doc is waiting for you,” Jamie told her.
“She's a grumpy old sod,” the nurse said. “And she wonders why everyone quits. I can’t wait for her replacement to arrive.”
This was news to Jamie, and it made him smile.