Life Designed (Life Plan Series Book 1)

by Eliza Taye

  “Ugh!” cried Opal aloud to herself. “Maybe I obsess too much.”

  A knock on the door brought Opal back to her senses. “Come in.”

  “Hey, Opal.” Gabrielle shuffled into Opal’s room, barely opening the door enough to get inside. Climbing onto Opal’s bed and nestling up to her, Gabrielle pulled her long hair over her left shoulder.

  “Hey, Gabrielle, what’s the matter?”

  Gabrielle twirled a lock of her hair around her finger.

  Opal observed the nervous habit and put her arm around her sister. “Gabrielle, what’s wrong? You can tell me, you know that.”

  “Are you mad at me?” Gabrielle gazed into her sister’s eyes, silent tears glistening in her own.

  Opal encircled her arms around her little sister, pulling her close. “No, of course not.”

  “Then why don’t you spend time with me anymore? For the past six months, you’ve been so distant and distracted. You used to play with me all the time, but not anymore.”

  “Oh, Gabby.” Opal rested her chin on top of her sister’s head and pulled her even closer, using Gabrielle’s nickname. “I’ve been so caught up in designing my Life Plan that I haven’t really thought of anything else. I haven’t meant to shut you out. I just wanted to ensure the rest of my life would be perfect. I don’t want to make any mistakes. This is really serious; you’ll see when you’re my age one day.”

  Gabrielle wiped the tear that escaped from her right eye. “I know. I just miss spending time with you and in two weeks you’ll be gone forever.”

  “Oh, no I won’t, silly. I’ll be moving into the dormitories at the Academy of Higher Learning’s School of Law, not to Bayenar. I’ll still be able to see you now and then.”

  “You promise? You promise that you’ll always find time for me?”

  Opal nodded definitively. “Yes, I will always find time for my most favorite sister in the world.”

  Giggling as her sister wiped away the last few tears in her eyes, Gabrielle clarified, “I’m your only sister.”

  “True, but you’re still my favorite.” Opal smiled wide, beaming at her sister.

  Grinning, Gabrielle asked, “Do you want to come downstairs and play with me now? I think Mom and Dad are setting up another game?”

  Unwilling to diminish the brilliant smile on Gabrielle’s face, Opal agreed, “Sure, we’ll see if you have what it takes to beat me.”

  “Ha!” Gabrielle jumped off the bed and ran to the stairs. “We’ll see about that.”

  Laughing, Opal followed her sister and joined her family. It wouldn’t hurt her to spend the rest of the day with her family since she had so little time left with them.

  Chapter 2

  The sleek, white transporter slid to a halt in front of a sea of green. Opal retrieved her book satchel and followed the two others exiting the transporter. The others veered left and soon she found herself walking alone down a narrow pathway through the woods. Before long, the pathway opened and she saw the group of her classmates waiting around for the occupation tour to start.

  “Hey, Opal.”

  Opal turned and was nearly slammed into by Garrett who skidded to a stop right next to her. “Garrett!” she complained with a shake of her head.

  Ignoring Opal’s pretend annoyance, Garrett hopped once and clapped. “Guess what, Opal?”

  Tilting her head to the side and smirking, Opal asked, “What?”

  “I started writing my Life Plan last night.” Garrett grinned and clapped again.

  Narrowing her eyes, Opal guessed, “You wrote your name on the top of the page, didn’t you?”

  Garrett’s face fell and he muttered, “Yeah.” His hope rising, he asked, “That counts right?”

  “Not really, Garrett.” Opal shook her head emphatically.

  “Everyone,” a woman walked toward the center of the scattered students. “Everyone, please gather around. Our first occupation tour of the day is about to begin.”

  Opal and Garrett began walking towards their teacher, Miss Harrigan, following her instructions.

  “Now, I know the occupation tours might seem a little drab since we’ve had so many over the past year, but I want you to be as attentive and engaged in the ones today as with all the other tours. On the off chance that you haven’t finished your Life Plan yet...” Miss Harrigan’s gaze lingered for a moment in Garrett’s direction. Garrett turned away as Miss Harrigan continued, “You may decide to choose one of the occupations you see today.”

  A girl with rounded eyeglasses adjusted them while raising her hand and asking the question, “Can you remind me of which occupations we will be touring today?”

  “Amy, I told you twice already, but I’m sure you’re not the only one who is wondering.” Once again addressing the entire group, Miss Harrigan said, “Cultivating, Forestry, and Husbandry.”

  “Husbandry?” wondered a boy with large eyes and spiky brown hair. “Are you helping the girls finish their Life Plans by pairing them with their future husbands?”

  Most of the other students laughed, a few smirked, but Opal cupped her palm against her forehead as she shook her head.

  “No, Carl, husbandry is the occupation where people raise and care for animals to use for our benefit,” further explained Miss Harrigan, trying to keep her sanity.

  “Oh,” meekly responded Carl as he lowered his hand and blushed in embarrassment.

  “Now, if you would all please follow me; I can see that our guide is waiting up ahead.” Miss Harrigan proceeded down the tree-lined path toward a tall man dressed in overalls at the end of the path.

  “Hey, Opal?” wondered Garrett as he caught up with her at the end of their classes’ single-file line. “What number occupation is this? I know you’ve been counting.”

  Sighing, Opal folded her arms as she walked and stated nonchalantly, “It’s number one hundred twenty-four.”

  Nodding, Garrett broke formation and walked side by side with Opal. “And how many students do you really think have changed their minds based on an occupation tour?”

  Opal’s glare spoke volumes.

  “Okay, okay…but seriously, I have never found any of these to be interesting.”

  “Well, Garrett, I think your problem is that you don’t know what you want out of life. It’s probably why you’re having such a hard time writing your Life Plan.”

  Garrett considered Opal’s words until his thoughts were interrupted by a loud announcement.

  “Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Cardingriver Forestry Grounds. Here we grow many of the trees that we use not only in our capital city but also in the entire province. We have over a thousand acrions of trees. Nearly every species of trees in our entire world is represented here. Every day, we maintain the trees, plant new ones, and cut down the ones that have reached the level of maturity where they are fit to be harvested.”

  Raising her hand and interrupting the guide, the girl with glasses from earlier asked, “How much does a career in Forestry pay?”

  The guide laughed heartily. “Well, we aren’t the highest-paid people in the world, but we are paid enough to maintain a modest living. The greatest thing about working in forestry is that we are helping to keep the environment in balance. We never cut down a tree that hasn’t grown large enough to be harvested, and we plant more every year than we cut down. Essentially, it maintains the same number of trees to be harvested every year so that we will never run out of lumber. It is a very important material in our society, and without it, we would crumble. Don’t you think having an important job like that pales in comparison to being wealthy but harming the planet?”

  The girl said nothing as the guide continued to grin ecstatically.

  “I think it would be great if we started the tour, Mr. Greenwich. We have two other occupations to visit today,” suggested Miss Harrigan, gesturing towards the various pathways leading to different sections of the grounds.

  “Ah, yes, I also have an activity for everyone near the end of our
tour. So, if you’ll follow me.” Mr. Greenwich began down the path straight ahead of them, gesturing for the students to follow.

  Shuffling their feet along the white stone pathway, the students halfheartedly followed their guide. Mr. Greenwich first led them to a row of trees so tall their spindly branches seemed to disappear into the sky. The base of the trunk was so wide that ten students could have stood side by side without equaling the width of the tree.

  Smacking his hand against the solid trunk, Mr. Greenwich explained, “This tree is the largest tree in our world. It is called a Jerio tree. They live for well over two hundred years. We consider them mature at age one hundred and fifty, so we never cut them down until after they’ve achieved that age. They contain the hardiest wood in all the forest. If you were to build a house to last, it would be out of Jerio wood. Each plank of wood from a Jerio tree sells for thousands of trecins. Only the wealthiest individuals can afford to use them in construction.”

  Every student in the group’s eyes widened. None of them had ever heard of a Jerio tree or any wood that could cost thousands of trecins for just one plank.

  The tour continued for over another hour. Mr. Greenwich stopped at every major group of trees and gave a long explanation on the type of tree, its uses, and a short overview of its origins. At last, they came to the activity portion of the occupational tour.

  “In small groups of three, I want you to fill out this worksheet on the different types of trees and where you can find them on the grounds. Some of the trees I didn’t point out specifically on the tour, but I did show you another in the same family. Your mission is to find the tree and then prove that you found the correct one by drawing a quick sketch of the tree for me.” Mr. Greenwich began walking around handing out the sheets and a small remote with a singular button. “This button is in case you get lost. If you find yourself lost, press this button, and one of the nearest forestry employees will guide you back to this spot. Any questions?”

  Opal’s hand shot into the air. “Yes, I do have one. Can we choose our teams?”

  “Yes, you may choose whom you wish to work with.”

  Opal smiled and nodded at Garrett, who in turn smiled and nodded back. Before either of them could choose a third person to join them, someone had appeared next to them and linked arms with Garrett.

  “Hi, Garrett! I want to be in your group with you and Opal.”

  Hearing the high-pitched, sweet-sounding tone, Garrett winced and turned to face Miranda. “Hi, Miranda.”

  “Hi!” Miranda beamed, her white teeth glistening in the glow of the lamplights illuminating the forest.

  “Are you certain you want to be in our group? You know I’m no good with these sorts of exercises.”

  With a pouty frown, Miranda looked around at all the other students and quickly replied, “Well, everyone else has already chosen their groups, so even if I wanted to change now, I could not.”

  Garrett tensed his shoulders but remained silent, so he didn’t hurt Miranda’s feelings, even though he hated the idea of having to work with her on the assignment.

  “Great.” Miranda snatched the worksheet from Opal and started scanning through the list of trees. “It looks like the first tree we need to locate and identify is a feather tree.”

  “A feather tree?”

  “Yes, and I know exactly where to find it!” Miranda clasped Garrett’s hand tightly in her own and dashed toward the direction she thought the feather trees were.

  Stifling a laugh, Opal quickly hurried after them. Even though Garrett would act as if he were in agony, Opal knew his responses to Miranda’s overenthusiasm could be funny to watch.

  At a near run, Miranda led them through the various trees until they were far from the central location in which they were to return. Pausing, she looked to the left and then to the right. “I know it has to be around here somewhere. It just has to be. I know I was going in the right direction.”

  “Are you lost, Miranda?” suggested Opal, hoping she’d take the hint.

  Seizing the opportunity, Garrett tried to pry his hand out of Miranda’s grasp. To his great dismay, her grip only tightened when she discovered which way to go and began running down the path.

  “Ah, here we are. Right there…that is a feather tree. I’m certain of it.” Miranda pointed dead ahead as she spoke.

  Opal scanned the tree from trunk to the smallest branch rising towards the sky. Craggy branches reached up in waves toward the sky, bowing out at the sides about eight feet from the roots. Cylindrical leaves shaped like the feathers of a bird hung from small twigs growing from each branch of the tree. The densest collection of leaves concentrated near the top of the tree, while most of the lower branches were mostly bare.

  “Good job, Miranda. I think you’re right.” Opal held out her hand. “If you’ll give me the worksheet, I’ll draw the illustration we need.”

  “The worksheet?” Miranda glanced down at her left hand. “Oh, right, sorry. I shouldn’t have snatched it away like that earlier. I got carried away.”

  Opal smiled and took the sheet. “Don’t worry about it. I could tell how excited you were.”

  Miranda blushed, suddenly feeling awkward holding Garrett’s hand, so she finally let it go.

  Reaching into her satchel, Opal drew out a pen and began to sketch the feather tree. With confident strokes, she drew the tree mainly from memory, only glancing up for reference a few times. Within a few minutes, the entire tree was carefully outlined in the small space provided on the worksheet.

  Returning her pen to the tiny pocket inside her satchel, Opal turned the worksheet over and examined the other two tree types they needed to locate. “It looks like a Venera and Braniaen tree are the other two we need to find.”

  Before either of the two girls could say anything, Garrett dashed down the nearest path. “I know where the Venera one is. Follow me!”

  This time, Opal couldn’t help but laugh a little. She knew Garrett had no idea which way the Venera tree was. He simply wanted to get away from Miranda again and keep her from touching him.

  For the next several minutes, Opal allowed Garrett to lead them blindly through the forest before correcting him. She led the way to the last two remaining trees and helped her group answer the questions and sketch the trees. By the time they returned to the meeting place, they were one of the last groups to arrive due to Garrett’s impromptu detour.

  “All right, class. We’re done here at the Cardingriver Forestry Grounds. The next place that we’ll be heading is to the husbandry occupation at the Shrenien Animal Husbandry station on the other side of the forest. If you all will follow me, we will take the academy transporter there,” loudly announced Miss Harrigan to all the chatty students.

  The academy transporter arrived to take them to the next location. To Miss Harrigan’s chagrin, the students took their time getting onto the academy transporter and finding their seats. As soon as everyone was seated, the academy transporter lurched forward with a jolt and began making its way down the hill towards the side road that wound around the edge of the forest. The academy transporter turned onto the side road, but ground to a quick halt in front of another transporter.

  The transporter was huge, easily twice the size of the academy transporter. Painted entirely green from top to bottom, a small gap on the side held a movable hatch. Two men in green uniforms were collecting waste from the Forestry Grounds’ dump station. One of the men’s backs curved from the weight of the trash crates as he lifted them to carry to the enormous transporter. The other was busy helping order the crates to allow the maximum number of crates to fit inside.

  “Ah, this is a good learning opportunity. A cautionary sight if you will.” Miss Harrigan twisted around in her seat near the front of the academy transporter to address the class. “I’m sure you’ve all seen a trash collection truck before, but this is a likely occupation that you could be assigned if you become one of the Undecided.”

  Garrett averted his eyes from Mis
s Harrigan, but he couldn’t stop staring at the men working in front of them. Both had miserable expressions as if they lived a life full of hardship and misery. The man carrying the crates caught Garrett staring at him as he straightened from the load he had just placed in the truck. Looking away from the man, Garrett found himself staring into Opal’s worried face.

  With another lurch, the academy transporter continued past the trash collection transporter, driving slightly off the road in order to pass.

  Garrett returned to staring out the window. Although the rows and rows of trees passed him by, he couldn’t erase the look of the man who’d caught him staring. None of the occupations shown during his time in his Choosing Class had ever clicked with him. Had it been the same for that man or had he had a Plan and it was simply rejected?

  “Garrett…that won’t be you,” assured Opal, resting her hand on Garrett’s shoulder in comfort.

  Sighing, Garrett turned to face his friend. “I don’t know, Opal. I really don’t know.”

  Not wishing to make his pensive mood any worse, Opal remained quiet until they reached their destination.

  The husbandry occupation tour was even more hands-on than the forestry one. The guide made every student learn how to milk the animals, prepare meals for them, categorize them for daily counts, and even mend broken fences surrounding their pins. At the end of the tour, an urgent calf delivery garnered the guide’s attention, so he brought the class along.

  By the end of the tour the students were exhausted, but a few were excited that perhaps they would be changing their Life Plans to include the career of animal husbandry. Before long they had dragged their weary selves back onto the academy transporter to go to their final destination.

  “I know you are all tired, but we still have one last occupation tour for today,” encouraged Miss Harrigan, although she too had thought the husbandry tour was more taxing than most occupation tours were. She dreaded it every year, but she wasn’t about to let the students know that.