Life Designed (Life Plan Series Book 1)

by Eliza Taye

  Shrugging, Opal responded, “I don’t know, Garrett, but why does it matter? If you think that questioning the system is going to keep you from having to write your Life Plan, then you’re wrong.” Standing and striding over to Garrett, Opal added, “Do you really want to become one of the Undecided?”

  “No, I don’t. But who decides that people will be one of the Undecided? Who assigns the Undecided their jobs and overall fates?”

  “The Council does…you know that.”

  “What council? All everyone does is to refer to it as ‘The Council.’ No one has ever seen this so-called council. We don’t know if it is a person like us or something else.”

  Puzzled, Opal couldn’t help asking a question herself. “Where is this coming from? I’ve never seen you so inquisitive about anything this much before.”

  Collapsing down onto his bed, Garrett groaned, “I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about it a lot lately. I guess today really solidified it for me.” Rising to a sitting position, Garrett further explained, “That’s why I went exploring at the Cultivating Grounds today. I had to find out what was going on there. How are the Cultivating Grounds able to produce enough food for the entire province and maintain a sustainable harvest each season? How is it that nothing dies? How is the system so perfect?”

  This side of Garrett was one Opal had yet to see. Usually, Garrett was the type of person who skated by on the bare minimum level of effort. Never had he been so curious about anything in their society.

  Guessing that the increasing pressure from the impending Submission Day had something to do with it, Opal sat down next to Garrett. “Garrett, I think you need to start writing your Life Plan. This inquisitiveness about the inner workings of our society is just driving you mad. You’re asking questions that no one knows the answer to. Not to mention that most people don’t even ask these questions.”

  Garrett whipped around to face Opal. “How have you never asked these questions, Opal? You’re the smartest person our age I know. You’re probably the smartest person I know altogether. How can you not ponder this?”

  Ashamed, Opal couldn’t admit that she had thought of those questions. Ever since birth, she was raised that her entire life depended on the choices she made for her Life Plan. It was simply the way things were.

  “I can tell by your silence that you haven’t.” Garrett shook his head. “I’m disappointed in you, Opal. Out of anyone else in the world, I would have bet on you having thought these same thoughts at one time.”

  At that moment, Mr. Snuggles appeared, rubbing his gray body against Opal’s leg and meowing. Opal leaned down to pick him up and stroked his fur. “Garrett, I don’t think any of that matters. It is what it is. We can’t change the way the world works, it’s just this way and we have to live with it.”

  A flicker of the excitement and passion in Garrett’s brown eyes diminished and Opal began to feel bad. “Look, Garrett, I’ll help you with your Life Plan. You don’t have to do it alone. I know each person has to write their own, but nothing in the rules says that they have to plan everything on their own.”

  “Forget it, Opal.” Garrett stood and walked over to the silver sciorb cube on his desk. “I just thought maybe you’d be as curious as I am about it. I thought we could try to uncover the answers to it ourselves. Perhaps we could figure it out and be the ones to tell everyone else.” Garrett ran the fingers of his right hand through his jet-black hair. “I don’t know. I guess it was a stupid idea to begin with.”

  Opal considered it for a moment. How was it that everything worked the way it did? It would be fascinating to find out. An air of mysticism and secrecy did revolve around the Life Plan system. She’d always reasoned it was to keep people from knowing too much and using it to their advantage when planning out their lives. But what if it was for some other reason?

  “I’m guessing you’re also here to help me finish the occupational tours essay?”

  Snapping out of the bubble of her own thoughts, Opal responded, “Yeah, since you missed the entire Cultivating Grounds tour, I figured you’d need my help writing it if you wanted to pass with a decent grade.”

  Returning to his normal, less-pensive self, Garrett grinned and spun around in his chair to look at Opal. “That’s my best friend! Always there for me.”

  Laughing, Opal put Mr. Snuggles on the floor to the cat’s dismay and gave Garrett a half-hug. “Yes, you’re right. I’ll always be here for you and I know you’ll always be there for me.”

  “You’ve got it! Friends forever.” Garrett hugged her back.

  Chapter 4

  Garrett began jogging as the warning beep for the start of class echoed throughout the hallways. He’d been late to class several times before, and usually, he didn’t care, but today he wanted a chance to talk to Opal before class started.

  After she’d left his house last night, he’d spent the rest of the night scouring the dataweb for anything and everything relating to the elusive council. There was nothing. Not even a hint of who they might be. He’d wracked his brain over and over to discover different keywords to use that might lead him to his quarry, but none worked.

  Garrett’s new shoes screeched across the sleek floor as he skid to a stop and changed direction to enter the open door of the classroom. Nearly falling to the floor, he gripped the door handle to stop his sideways momentum and wrenched it open as the last beep sounded.

  “Garrett Gibbons, you are late for class…again,” stated his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Steinworth.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Steinworth, it won’t happen again.” Garrett kept his gaze down and shuffled to the other side of the room where Opal sat, taking the seat behind her.

  “Sure, it won’t,” muttered Mrs. Steinworth as she returned to the screen projector in front of her.

  “Garrett, we only have another week of classes left. Can’t you be on time for the last week of academy?” admonished Opal through gritted teeth.

  Leaning forward, Garrett whispered, “I really tried to today. I want to talk to you about something important, but I overslept and missed the transporter. I had to run all the way here.”

  Opal sighed softly. Garrett never took much of anything to do with academy seriously. “Okay, we can talk after class.”

  “As you all know, today marks one week until Submission Day. Tomorrow, you all will be given the final week before Declaration Day to finalize any last-minute amendments to your Life Plan. Yesterday was the last occupational tour required of you. With the remaining days, you have the option to revisit any occupational tours from the past year in the event you are still on the fence regarding your future occupation. If you are already certain of your future occupation, you may use class time to work on finalizing your Life Plans.” Mrs. Steinworth’s gaze swept across the classroom as she spoke, making eye contact with each student. “Today we will be reviewing the required elements in a Life Plan and how to submit it for pre-approval before Submission Day if you so wish.”

  The corner of Opal’s mouth crept up into a self-satisfied smile. She was already way ahead of the class. Now all she had to do was wait on the results of her pre-submitted Plan. In fact, the results should arrive tomorrow, if not today. Still, she’d have plenty of work during class. Per usual, her classmates would soon come over and ask for her help with their Plans, but she didn’t mind it. Helping others was her passion.

  “So, as you go through your classes today, be sure to pay close attention and make any necessary corrections to the Plans I’m certain you all began weeks ago.”

  The double beep that signaled the end of homeroom caused the students to jump up and gather their things to go to their first real class of the day.

  “Remember everyone, pay attention!” reminded Mrs. Steinworth one last time as the students flocked out of the classroom.

  “Okay, Garrett, what was it that you wanted to tell me?” wondered Opal as she picked up her satchel and began walking out of the classroom.

  Slinging his
backpack over one shoulder, Garrett hurried to follow her. “Last night, I looked up The Council on the dataweb to see if I could find out any information on them and there’s nothing. It’s like they don’t even exist!”

  “Garrett,” groaned Opal. “I thought I told you to forget about it. Your Life Plan is so much more important. If you’d spent half the time on your Life Plan as you had researching The Council, you could be halfway finished by now.”

  Garrett didn’t want to admit that Opal was right, but something kept tugging at him about this council. He had to know what they were about and how they operated. The Council was so mysterious. If they were responsible for maintaining the world order, how come no one knew anything about them?

  “Garrett, are you listening to me?” asked Opal, watching her friend stare at the ground as he walked. “Garrett, watch out!”

  Garrett snapped his head up just as he collided with an open metal locker door, slamming him in the face. “Ow!”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” apologized the student as she downcast her hazel eyes, her long black hair falling to obscure part of the blush of embarrassment on her face.

  “It’s okay, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” muttered Garrett, rubbing his forehead.

  The hallways were sparsely populated. Most of the students still lingering in the hall were the lowerclassman, still too far away from finalizing their Life Plans to worry about them. The black speckled white floor was spotless and the bright blue walls were as clean as the floor. Student’s shoes squeaked across it as they hurried to their next class, sensing the incoming beep.

  Opal and Garrett walked an additional two doors down until they reached their first and only official class of the day—Life Plan Preparation. Three columns of single desks faced a wall with a whiteboard encompassing most of the space. Directly in front of the central desk on the front row was a digital projector with a platform for the teacher to write notes on. Most of the seats in the classroom were filled, but Opal and Garrett’s typical seats two rows from the front were empty. They shuffled over between the desks to them and sat down.

  Opal immediately took out her neatly typed Life Plan, but Garrett simply sat there in thought. The more time he had spent researching The Council the previous night, the more his curiosity grew. The thoughts infected his mind like a virus infecting the body. He couldn’t shake it off. He just had to find out what was going on. But how?

  “All right, class. The bell will be ringing at any moment now. Those of you that have already written up your Life Plans or are close to completing them, please take them out and place them on your desk.” A man wearing a dull green vest with long white sleeves sticking out addressed the class. The black-rimmed glasses on his face gave him a distinguished look that influenced him to carry himself with an air of importance.

  The class did as they were told by their teacher, unzipping backpacks and opening books to obtain the latest drafts of their Life Plans. Some had thin packets detailing their Life Plans, others had small ones. Opal glanced around the class, mostly through her peripheral vision. None of the others had Life Plans as long as hers. She once again wondered if she’d been too detailed.

  The beep coming from the outside hallway echoed through the classroom, indicating the start of class. The teacher took the moment to go over and close the door, speaking as he walked. “All right, everyone. We’ll first start with a simple list of the exclusions in one’s Life Plan. In other words, what is not allowed to be in your Life Plans. If any of you have anything on this list included in your Life Plan, cross it out with a pen so that you can go home and eliminate it. Anything on this list will cause your Life Plan to be rejected immediately after submission.”

  Opal inhaled a proud breath of air. She’d already checked her Life Plan five times for exceptions to the rule. She knew she was safe.

  A soft shuffle of papers echoed across the room as people began scanning their Life Plans. Everyone knew what wasn’t allowed, but the teachers incessantly reminded everyone during the final days before Submission Day.

  “First, any intent or plan to harm another person is forbidden. Second, anything too specific will be a cause for rejection. You may not choose a specific date for anything in your life. For example, you cannot state that at 4:35pm on First Moon 4080 you’ll suddenly inherit a billion trecins from a long lost relative. However, you can specify the year in which a big life event will occur such as a career change, marriage, retirement, etc. Just remember that you may not choose the date of your death…” The teacher droned on as a few people in the back of the class groaned and the sound of pens scratching against paper could be heard as they crossed out specifics in their Life Plan.

  Opal tuned out the teacher as she reread her Life Plan for what seemed like the gazillionth time. The further she read, the more she became anxious that perhaps she’d forgotten or excluded an important event or included a detail she shouldn’t have. Taking a deep breath, she returned her eight-page packet to the front page and rested her hand atop it to resist the urge to reopen it. She wouldn’t read anymore. It would only add to her anxiety.

  Garrett wasn’t focusing on the teacher’s words either. His thoughts had drifted into the recesses of his mind as he contemplated strategies to expose The Council’s secrets. If push came to shove, he could always come up with a basic Life Plan the day before Declaration Day. Plenty of people had done it and gotten approved. He would too. But to discover the inner workings and origins of The Council would be something no one in the provinces had done. He’d be the first.

  “…and lastly, the last exemption from your Life Plan must be anything impossible. You cannot state that at age 45 you will grow wings and be able to fly around the city. It will not work. Your Plan will be denied.”

  Chuckles and giggles erupted from the class. If one exception was never forgotten, it was that one. It was the only exception everyone complained about from childhood. No flying, breathing underwater, teleporting, or mind reading. If it didn’t exist in the realm of reality, you couldn’t plan for it.

  “Now, I am going to pass out an approval guideline. I want you all to divide into pairs and examine each other’s Life Plans for potential errors. This is not a time to be shy, people, remember that your futures are at stake. You don’t want to become one of the Undecided.” The teacher began to hand out the quarter of an inch-thick packets to each student.

  “Mr. Gargen, what happens if you haven’t progressed with your Life Plan far enough for an evaluation?” wondered a girl with wavy, sandy blonde hair.

  “If you haven’t compiled your Life Plan to that extent yet, I suggest you take the time to work on it now,” instructed their teacher.

  The girl nodded, her cheeks blushing bright red in embarrassment as she took out several sheets of blank paper and a pen to start writing.

  Garrett couldn’t help smirking and tapping Opal on the shoulder to get her attention. When she glanced back at him, he flexed his eyebrows at her. He wasn’t the only one waiting until the last minute to write his Life Plan.

  Opal just shook her head and refocused her gaze on the papers before her. A girl with curly black hair cut short in a crown about her head had switched desks with the boy to her right and was addressing her.

  “Hi, Opal, do you want to examine each other’s Life Plans?”

  “Sure, Crystal.” Opal smiled at her as they switched papers. Besides Opal, Crystal was the biggest overachiever in class. She’d probably handed in her Life Plan for pre-approval already as well.

  “I figured each of us would be at the same stage in writing our Life Plans, so we could give one another a fair examination,” reasoned Crystal.

  “Good idea,” approved Opal, returning Crystal’s nod. “Have you sent yours for pre-approval yet?”

  Crystal’s smile dimmed as she shook her head. “Not yet, I was waiting until after class today to go to City Hall and submit it. I wanted to have one last pair of eyes check it over for me.�
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  “Well, in that case, I’ll do my best to look for any problems for you.”

  “I’ll do the same.” Crystal twisted in the chair to face the desk and began meticulously reviewing Opal’s Life Plan.

  Opal noticed that Crystal hadn’t asked if she’d sent hers for pre-approval, but she decided not to offer the information herself. She and Crystal had always vied for the top spot in class, both continually striving for academic success. But instead of being bitter rivals, they often supported and helped one another. Each loved to help others and had planned for lives doing just that. Whereas Opal wanted to become a lawyer to help the underrepresented Undecided, Crystal planned on becoming a doctor. A heart surgeon to be exact.

  As Opal read Crystal’s Life Plan, she became increasingly impressed. It was as meticulous and detailed as hers was. Of course, Crystal hadn’t specified dates where small events of her life were to occur, but she had created a realistic timeline for which her life could unfold. Crystal planned on completing her medical training by age thirty and getting married by the age of thirty-two. She planned on having two kids—a boy and a girl—and spending one day of their family weekends helping sick Undecideds. So far, Opal hadn’t noticed anything wrong with her plans. Nothing contradicted the list of nonacceptable plans. Opal was about to continue reading when a loud voice broke the silence.

  “Garrett Gibbons! Stop staring out into space and start working on your Life Plan! I’ve noticed that you haven’t joined up with a partner or taken out a piece of paper to begin writing. You need to use this time wisely. The deadline is fast approaching.” Mr. Gargen’s piercing blue eyes the color of frost stared out across from his desk at the front of the class directly in Garrett’s direction.