The Hubby Hold (IQ Testing Book 2) Read online

  The Hubby Hold

  ipam

  Chapter 1

  Green

  My me-chee chair rises within the brightness of the tunnel, blinking my eyeballs into the infamous Cubby Hole. I am really starting to greatly dislike the Cubby Hole and Citizenship Day, along with the raw gnawing irritation of my BPs lack of verbal, or written, or electronic communication, about my last session, as a schooler.

  I exhale, surviving another round of the color chart along with the cute white sea mice. The mice are safely alive and breathing, back at home, inside the sea weeds on top of limestone cliff buff, wherever the cliff buff is located. I ponder the geographical locations of the last four park places then clear my mind along with my eyesight.

  The shielding of red dulls the bright neon puke green on the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and the silly me-chee host. I see Marsilla’s me-chee, resting ahead of me, without Marsilla. Rincon’s me-chee is three chairs ahead of me, without him, too.

  I chased him up the stone steps of the cliff face pretty slow, after recuperating from a heart stopping fifty feet jump into cold water. He had dashed into the red room of mirror, first, then stopped and spun around, smiling and motioning for me to follow.

  When I entered the red room of mirrors, his me-chee was dropping down into the flooring with a silly smile pasted on his face, since the fabric of the me-chee glued you into the chair for the wind tunnel ride.

  I gasped with both shock and rudeness.

  Buffo would have never descended, first, from the room, without me, being properly secured into my chair for both his love and protection.

  My me-chee halts with a tooth-jarring jolt on top of the flooring of the Cubby Hole. I turn my face, staring at the empty spot, glowing in green light, where Buffo and his me-chee are supposed to be positioned for the next color tone array of questions.

  But, Buffo failed one of the academic questions during the red color tone. Therefore he dropped back into the orange color tone with his fifty percent wrong answers.

  However, I, personally, eye witnessed him and his new farm friends, holding some type of horse rodeo and cowboy picnic around the campfire, when I was able to see Buffo through the shimming orange wall barrier from inside the red color park place for some strange reason.

  I exhale, feeling both unhappy and happy about the quick turn events for me.

  I feel confused about both Rincon and Buffo. I was to be married, next week, after starting my new job, as medical technician to Buffo, instead, I didn’t know of my future, next week. However, I find Rincon comfortable and comforting during my loss. He is cute, funny, smart, and compassionate in his own way, but he is not Buffo.

  I exhale staring at the glowing green light from Buffo’s me-chee chair position. I miss Buffo’s smile, deep laughter, gently hands, big hugs, and soft kisses.

  Rincon possesses a smug smirk, girly giggle, small hands, loose hugs, and rough kisses.

  I touch my wounded lip, feeling the sealed blood after Rincon bit on my inner skin from his rough kiss, before rushing off the cliff tabletop.

  Currently, I feel both scared and brave.

  I exhale.

  Rincon is trying to fill the boyfriend role. He is very qualified, I guess. I’ve known him, since the day after my birth, when my BPs gathered with the babies. Rincon and I are next door neighbors, sharing the yard, the trees, the bushes, the sidewalk, the sun, the moon, and our school. Our mamas are very good friends, too. If I remember, correctly, they all attended Citizenship Day together, as teens.

  I nod, that would explain Rincon’s brilliant knowledge of the Cubby Hole, the academic questions, and the park places.

  Buffo, I met him in elementary school between our class sessions, hanging around me and my girlfriends. He, also, sweetly protected me, when the bigger kids picked on me, my hero. I fell in love with his protective nature, back then.

  So really, I was just infatuated with his tallness, his bulging muscles, his twinkling eyeballs, and his pretty smile, not his smarts.

  Buffo has proven his un-smartness, failing to pass into the next color tone with me.

  Rincon and I are the same height on the lean side. He has a pretty smile and very smart, too. We share the same ambition, reaching the gold color tone for our dream job.

  I nod with determination and purpose, reaching the gold color tone for my dream job, becoming a medical technician, like my BPs.

  I giggle with amusement, finding the new girl Duchie from Dandine to be a good new friend. She’s smart and sassy, refreshing from snobby Marsilla, shy Rincon, sexy Jara, sneaky Hatch, and silence Buffo.

  Overall, I guess Citizenship Day has been sorta kinda pretty good for me.

  I slap the red shielding, allowing me freedom from the me-chee. I stand and stretch my curled limbs from the crazy chair ride and crazier cliff jump.

  I scan the room, seeing other unknown teens inside separate huddles, talking and laughing for both their fun and entertainment. No one is sitting inside the me-chee chairs. So, I guess, break time which makes me urgently urn for the bathroom.

  I shuffle into the girls’ locker room, refreshing my body and my mind for the next color tone of green.

  Chapter 2

  Locker room

  I stand in the archway.

  Most of the girls are located here, duplicating my mental thoughts.

  I stroll by the first group of three females, huddling into each other’s nostrils then slow my pace. I hear.

  The first female says. “The electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force are different forms, which create the same force in physics. What is name of the same force?”

  I giggle, whispering for my eardrums only. “The electroweak force.”

  The second female says. “Ya got only fifteen seconds, so I’m timing ya. One, two, three…”

  I stroll by the second group of four females, almost kissing each other’s earlobes then slow my pace. I hear.

  The short female nods and says. “Strong, gravity, and what is the third force of physics?”

  I giggle, whispering for my eardrums only. “Electromagnetic force.”

  The tall female says to her friend. “Fifteen seconds for your response to the academic question. Go, honey! One, two, three, four…”

  I grin and giggle, stomping by the rows of individual locker covered in pretty mirrors, showing my ugly reflection of hard work and sweat from my past achievements, inside the Cubby Hole.

  I stop at my personal locker, examining my petiteness, black waist length hair, pale skin, dimples, my wide nose and two narrowly spaced eye sockets, a set of slightly crooked teeth, too. I am short, smart, and sassy, living in Colfax, following in my BPs footsteps for a perfect career and a successful marriage, too.

  I slam open the door, viewing my cellie, showing two texts from my BPs. I exhale, wishing the two texts from Buffo.

  That is impossible.

  Buffo is trapped inside the orange color tone.

  I exhale, sliding my cellie back into the locker, not bothering to read the texts, since my BPs are both boring and bothersome parents, when it comes to my higher education. I really do not want them learning of Buffo’s poor performance, inside the Cubby Hole, either.

  They will nod and grin with their correct assumption of my boyfriend. Actually, they would also applaud my current situation with Rincon.

  I toss my head, viewing the red colored ceiling then drop my face into my chest. I touch my cat suit, feeling dry and clean. The tiny charged color matching electrons with the barrier wall work extremely well, within the cloth fabric of the cat suit.

  I back step from the locker, hearing the females, inside another cute multiple girl cuddle, next to me. I
stroll by the third group of three females, almost kissing each other’s cheekbones then slow my pace. I hear.

  The black haired female says. “Ya got a standard coordinate plane of x and y points, what’s the coordinates of the midpoint of the line segment with the endpoints of (–3,0) and (9,4)?”

  I giggle, whispering for my eardrums only. “Ya take the average of the each of the coordinates finding the midpoint. So, the first coordinate is -3 + 9 equals 6. Then, the number 6 is divided by 2 equals 3. The second coordinate is 0 + 4 equals 4. Then, the number 4 is divided by 2 equals 2. The midpoint is (3,2).

  The blonde haired female nods. “I’m starting the count down from fifteen seconds to zero. One, two, three, four…”

  The brown haired female stomps her foot, frowning. “I need more than fifteen seconds to solve that math equation…”

  Nephella: tall, slender, pale skin, black long hair, colorful tattoos, body piercings on ears, nose holes, and eyebrows

  Duchie: petite, red waist length ponytail, pink skin, freckles.

  Nephella and Duchie stand in front of the long mirror bureau, combing out their partially wet curls from the wet waves of the cliff jumping, talking and giggling.

  Marsilla: petite, pixie brown hair, mint colored skin, slender, smart. She stands in front of the sink, washing the pretty white tiny grains of sand out of her dark locks. She didn’t actually jump from the cliff tabletop, which would have cleaned the beach sand from her hair plus unplugged any stopped up sinuses. She huffs then grunts then puffs then grunts with her face and hair roots hidden inside the sink of water.

  I giggle with amusement.

  Lamis: tall, plump, bronze colored skin, short blonde-hair. She stands at her locker, studying an academic textbook.

  I gasp then stroll to her, smiling and saying. “Hi there, Lamis! What ya doing over here by yourself?”

  Lamis exhales, flipping the page. “I’m studying some of the math equations. The last question involved algebra, so I’m brushing up on the concepts…”

  I view the ceiling then Lamis. “The last math problem was a word solution with dollars and...”

  She sneers and views Ketona. “I’m referencing the other math problem.”

  I view the floor then Lamis. “O! Within the yellow color tone, the math problem with the sum of the two roots of a quadratic equation…”

  She nods, widening her eyelashes. “Yeah, that one!”

  I frown with confusion, shaking my curls. “You don’t have to…to con…continue to study. Good plan! Ya know, the word algebra means the reunion of broken parts. I would try to remember that phrase which would help ya solve the math problem, a little faster, within your mind, ya know. Algebra differs from arithmetic in the use of abstractions, like using letters to stand for numbers, that are unknown, or take on many values. The letter substitution, used in the yellow color tone, is called elementary algebra. There’re, also, more branches of algebra, such abstract using groups, rings, and fields of axiomatically equations, and linear algebra for properties of vector spaces and matrices…”

  “What are ya talking about Ketona? I’m talking about algebra, not geometry theorems,” she frowns with confusion then exhales. “I got all freaked out and couldn’t remember my algebra equations, so I’m refreshing my memory banks for the next set of academic questions. Duchie told us that the other color tones are going to be much more difficult, with less time to response with the correct answer. Ya know, if I don’t pass into the gold color tone, then I don’t get my dream job, and I disappoint my parents. I wanna be a me-chee design technician. I love drawing and painting on everything my walls, my clothes, my trees. I got some great ideas for creating a new me-chee machine, too.”

  I nod and smile. “That’s a good job, both fun and challenging…”

  She frowns with confusion. “How da ya know that?”

  I drop my mouth then close it, exhaling. “I heard the exchange information from some of the BPs. Ya know, well, good luck, Lamis!” I two-step, frowning with worry for Lamis. If she didn’t learn about the other higher branches of algebra, then she might not be able to continue, answering the other difficult math problems, within the next posed color tones.

  I shake my curls, clearing that sad mental thought then think of Buffo, creating more sad thoughts.

  Buffo was going to be a me-chee design technician, like his BPs. Now, he will be a crop farmer, like his grandfather, unless he passes out of the orange color tone, and into the red one, before the end of the race, or the end of the night, or the end of something, based on the poor versions from both Rincon or Nephella.

  I don’t know who to believe, anymore. There’re too many versions of the Cubby Hole, running out of mouth corners, and spitting off tongue tips.

  I walk and join Nephella and Duchie, slapping on the back muscles of Nephella, since she’s taller than I. I punch Duchie on her bicep, since we’re the same height. I giggle and smile with my new friends.

  Duchie giggles. “Hey Ketona.”

  Nephella smiles and nods. “Hi Ketona! You’re just in time, for the next bout of geometric quizzes. Okay, Duchie, ya got that one correct. Answer me, this one. A right circular cylinder has a radius six and a height six. If X and Y are two points on its surface, what is the maximum possible straight-line distance between Y and Z?”

  Duchie smiles and nods. “You use the Pythagorean theorem to solve the geometry problem, which I tired of answering your posed questions, like a me-chee, Nephella. Where’s Rincon?” She winks at Ketona. “I thought you’d be hanging off his arm, being a great catch and all…”

  I drop my mouth then close it. I smile and wink. “And all,” I swing around then exit the locker room.

  I don’t want, either conversation, or comparison, of Rincon and Buffo, at the moment.

  Chapter 3

  Green auditorium

  I priss into the auditorium, taking my sweet time and mind relaxing for the next round of academic questions.

  Marsilla races by Ketona then stops in front of the me-chee. She tosses her arms, tilting her skull to the right, shouts in angry. “I demand a short respite. I demand to go back to my house. I demand a refreshing bathe. I can’t get the sand grains out of my hair, after jumping off the cliff…”

  I gasp, standing in the middle of the partially empty auditorium. Most of the me-chee chairs are huddled into groups, since the same common friends have passed through the color chart together, like me and Rincon.

  Marsilla is shouting a big lie. She didn’t jump from the cliff. Her cat suit did with the brilliant scientific idea of both Nephella and Duchie.

  Marsilla shouts in fury, waving her arms. “I demand stoppage. I demand a new cat suit...”

  The me-chee stands under the color chart with a painted blood-red smirk, clashing ugly with the bright green colored metal of the current color tone. It says. “Welcome back, teen! There is no rest, or respite from the Cubby Hole. Please, return to your me-chee chair for the next set of academic questions.”

  I grin with victory for the me-chee.

  Rincon: short, olive-skin, black-hair shoulder length hair, cat whiskers, slender, bookworm. He stomps in front of Ketona, blocking her view of Marsilla. He looks behind his collar bone at Marsilla then views Ketona. Rincon pulls Ketona from her me-chee over towards the wall, where a row of empty me-chee chairs used to stand at attention. He noted that the machines were empty, while parking inside the Cubby Hole. He pulls her close to his lips then smiles. He touches both her biceps. “Marsilla is a spoiled brat always getting her way. I hope the me-chee doesn’t toss her out of the Cubby Hole on Citizenship Day.”

  “Me-chees are machines…”

  Rincon nods and smiles. “A me-chee is a mechanical electronic machine in the form of a humanoid. A me-chee has two arms, two legs, and a flat torso of silver-tone metal, except the metal will change color, depending upon the job performance of the work task, as set by a human, who is trained as a me-chee technician. The metal skull of the me-che
e appears, like a human’s head with two eye sockets, two nose holes, a mouth, and no earlobes. The hair is always colored rich black, but styled in different arrangements, such-like, a ponytail, or a buzz cut, or a shoulder length style with bangs, or a waist-length design, parted in the middle, or cropped with left sweep, or a cute pixie. The me-chee physical displays other human traits, too. Normally, the me-chee is a work machine, such-like, teaching students, building structures, cleaning houses, piloting vehicles…”

  I exhale, frowning with annoyance. “I wish a me-chee could finish Citizenship Day for me…”

  He shakes his curls. “Why? We both are doing an outstanding job on Citizenship Day. I’ve received hundred percent, within every color tone, on every single academic question. And, you have, too, being similar in talents and intelligence to me. Intelligence is knowledge. But, I would rejoice in celebration, if the me-chee dismissed the other graduating teens from Hamlin, Burrville, Montag, Albend…”

  “Why?” I frown at him then survey the half-empty auditorium. The teens are inside the locker rooms, or inside the previous park places. Then, I view him.

  He leans into Ketona, whispering. “This is our town of Colfax for celebrating our Citizenship Day. The other outer small towns are only invited, since they lack technology advancements and proper civil behaviors. They should gather and create their own festive celebration for graduation. It is ridicule for them to participate in our fun…”

  I exhale. “This is not fun…”

  “Keep your pitch under control Ketona. You are not a dookie girl.”

  “I am me…”

  Rincon pats Ketona on her arm, nodding and smiling. “We are living our dreams, Ketona. When our BPs graduated as schoolers from here, they were awarded with their individual dream jobs, too. My BPs told me, that they both prepared and presented almost the exact same acceptance speech, when we were awarded our new work positions. My mama spoke first…”

  I gasp. “My daddy spoke second…”

  “A set of parents includes one biological mother and one biological father,” he chuckles, patting her collar bone. “I thought you were hundred and ten points proficient in all biology concepts, Ketona…”