by Eliza Taye
Garrett looked to his father who hadn’t spoken a word yet. “Dad?”
“Tell us, son.”
With a heavy sigh, Garrett looked down at the floor as he admitted, “I broke into City Hall tonight.”
“You what?” exclaimed his mother, letting him go and folding her arms in annoyance. “Why would you do such a thing?”
“Do you have any idea how serious that is?” chastised his father. “Just when we thought you were taking your Life Plan seriously and were making changes in your life, you do this?”
“I agree with your father, Garrett. You’ve never done something as bad as this before. What on Taeopia were you thinking?”
“As I already told the guard,” Garrett kept his gaze trained to the floor, “I wanted to know more about what it takes to become a council representative. I couldn’t find anything in the library on it nor from any of my teachers. There were no shadowing opportunities, so I wanted to speak directly with a council representative about it.”
Garrett’s parents went dumbstruck, unable to say anything. When their silence continued, Garrett further explained, “Opal and I went to City Hall to see if I could talk to the council representative earlier today and the woman at the reception desk in the pre-approval room simply laughed at us. She wasn’t helpful and I didn’t know what else to do.”
Mrs. Gibbons opened her mouth to speak, but only fragments of words stammered out.
Finding his voice, Mr. Gibbons declared, “That is not a viable excuse, Garrett. There are other legal avenues to get what you want. Choosing to do something like this is beyond not okay.”
Furrowing her brow, Mrs. Gibbons asked, “How did you even break into City Hall anyway?”
The guard from before answered her, “With this ma’am. We found it attached outside the door to the apartments for the representative.” The guard held up the lockaway device.
“What is that?” wondered Garrett’s mother.
“It’s an entry device used to hack into secure electronic locks. It’s something you only find in the Undecided sector. I’m guessing your son paid a lot of money for it.”
“Garrett!” Mrs. Gibbons yanked him to his feet. “You are beyond in trouble for this. Everyone has been patient with your procrastination in writing your Life Plan. Your teachers, Opal, your father and I have all tried to guide you as best as we could, but now you have gone too far. Have you been going to the Undecided sector when you’ve told me you were in the library working on your Life Plan?”
Knowing his mother could spot a lie from a mile away, Garrett remained silent.
Exhaling in exaggeration, Mrs. Gibbons set her face and turned to the guard. “I deeply apologize for what my son has done. Any punishment the council representative demands for his behavior, my husband and I will willingly accept and agree with.”
The guard nodded slowly, then addressed Garrett. “Is your Declaration Day going to be in four days?”
Garrett nodded.
Uncrossing his folded arms and reaching for a pair of scissors on his belt to cut the ties on Garrett’s wrist, the guard said, “In light of the fact that his Declaration Day is so close and he will either be enacting his Life Plan or placed with the Undecided, I suppose that whatever punishment you see fit, Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons, will suffice. You come across as parents who do not condone such behavior as was exhibited by your son.”
“We most certainly do not.” Mrs. Gibbons grabbed Garrett by the arm. “Let’s go home. We will discuss your punishment there.”
Chapter 14
A knock sounded on the door and Garrett lifted his head. “Come in.”
“Hey, Garrett,” Opal walked in and closed the door, standing quietly in the center of his room.
“Go ahead. Say your part. Both my parents have already chewed me out for what I did. I know you’re next.”
“Garrett, I may often be hard on you, but I’m still your best friend first and foremost. I can understand why you did it. I don’t agree with it, but I understand why you felt compelled to break into City Hall.”
Shocked, Garrett slingshot his surprised gaze toward Opal. “You do?”
Nodding, Opal kneeled beside the desk chair Garrett slumped in. “Yes, I do. I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to try to write a Life Plan without any guidance as to which choices are the correct ones to obtain approval.”
In that moment, Opal’s compassion for him almost convinced Garrett to reveal his real reason for the break-in—to investigate The Council. But he stopped himself. He knew her well enough to keep his mouth shut. She was understanding now, but if he admitted to pursuing a conspiracy theory mere days before Submission Day, Opal would not be happy.
“So how were you permitted entry into my fortress of penance? My parents told me I can’t have any friends over.”
“Well,” Opal winced. “Apparently, your mom trusts me enough to appoint me as your own personal restriction guard.”
“My restriction guard?”
“Yes, I am supposed to ensure that you only go to academy and back home each day. I’m to ride the transport with you to and fro until Submission Day has passed to prevent you from getting into any more trouble.”
“Wow, so my mother has essentially made you my keeper.”
“Well,” Opal hung her head and grew quiet, “in a sense, yes.”
Sighing, Garrett leaned back in his chair so only the back legs connected with the ground. “I guess I should have seen that coming. My mother thinks you’re the perfect child anyway.”
“Garrett,” began Opal.
“No, it’s true. You literally can’t do anything wrong in her eyes. You could get away with anything when it comes to her.”
“Hey, that’s not fair.”
“It might not be fair, but it’s definitely the truth. When has my mom ever been mad at you? Name one time.”
“Well, there was that one…” Opal bit her lip in thought, “well, um…”
“Exactly! You never do anything to upset her. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if we’d be better off switching families. Yours doesn’t care what you do and you’re so driven and hard on yourself. I swear I was meant to be born into your family and you mine. I think we were switched at birth.”
Opal couldn’t help but laugh, even though she’d considered the same thought herself once or twice before. “I highly doubt that, Garrett. I’m sure someone would have noticed that you were a boy and I a girl.”
“Well, maybe the switch occurred before we were ever born, I don’t know.” Garrett folded his arms.
“Come on, Garrett. We’re going to be late to class if we don’t head off to the transport station.”
Avoiding his parents, Garrett rushed out the front door and waited for Opal to say her goodbyes to them.
Together, they walked to the transport station and rode mostly in silence until Opal asked, “So did you at least get to see the council representative?”
“Yeah, she was really curt about what she wanted done to me.” Garrett mimicked her voice, “Get him out of here.”
“She was? What did she look like? Was there anything special about her that may have identified how or why she was chosen as a council representative?”
“No, Opal, I didn’t get a chance to check her out as I was thrown to the ground.”
Hearing the annoyed tone of his voice, Opal let it go. She decided not to speak until they got to class. They walked together in companionable silence until they reached the classroom.
Garrett expected everyone to be talking about him or barrage him with questions when he entered the classroom. They had to have known what he’d done the night before. Instead, it was work as usual. Everyone poured over their Life Plans or assisted others with theirs.
Opal set to helping others as soon as she went inside. Garrett felt a pang of guilt rise into his gut about pushing her away. It wasn’t her fault that she was stuck being his keeper. She was just the only person qualified for the job and his mother trusted her. Still, i
t hurt that his best friend was being forced to act like his probation officer.
“Class, attention, if you could put your Plans on hold for right now, I do have an announcement.” Mr. Gargen stood at the front of the class, waiting for everyone’s eyes to be on him before speaking. “As you all know—or should know—Submission Day is only two days away. Your Plans must be completed and proofed by then. With that said, I want you to have your Plans completed by tonight so we can proof them tomorrow. You’ll be working in pairs and trying to find any flaws in the other person’s Plans that may keep them from being accepted. Do not forget that this will determine the rest of your lives.”
Rolling his eyes, Garrett had to stop himself from mumbling that the teacher had wasted his time in telling everyone what they already knew. He could have also waited until the end of class today to remind everyone to have it finished by tomorrow for proofing.
“Do you have a comment, Mr. Gibbons?”
Freezing, Garrett met the gaze of his teacher. “No.”
“Oh really? The roll of your eyes suggests otherwise.”
With a grimace, Garrett realized his teacher saw him roll his eyes. “No, sir, I was just wanting to work on my Life Plan, and I didn’t want to stop to hear the announcement.”
Mr. Gargen watched Garrett closely, his eyes narrowing before he stated, “All right, everyone, get back to work.”
For once, Garrett did as he was told and got to work on his Life Plan with vigor. At least, that’s what he made it look like. Unperturbed by his parent’s wishes and even the risk it would be, Garrett knew he couldn’t give up on trying to break into the Secret Collections Room at the library.
With his failure last night, it would be even more important to sneak into the library. Unfortunately, the guard had kept his lockaway device he’d spent a small fortune on, which would make it more difficult to gain entry. However, Garrett was determined and he knew that he’d find a way.
The academy day couldn’t end fast enough for Garrett. As he gathered his papers filled with plans on how to infiltrate the library before anyone else could see them and stuffed them away into his backpack, Mr. Gargen dismissed the class.
Outside, he met up with Opal, who walked him to the transport station.
“Can you believe that Submission Day is only two days away?” With a satisfied sigh, Opal turned to Garrett, her face falling. “I’m sorry, Garrett. I should have thought about how frustrating this is for you. There must be a way to gather information on what it takes to become a council representative. I mean, if there are representatives that visit cities all over the world, there have to be hundreds of them, if not thousands. So, someone had to have written it into their Life Plan. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have any. I highly doubt they’d appoint such an essential job like that to an Undecided.”
As Opal rambled on, Garrett mentally reviewed his plans for breaking into the library tonight. He’d solved how to evade the cameras once inside the building but getting into the building was still his biggest problem. Another lockaway device would have been invaluable, but he didn’t have any money to buy another one. Returning to the Undecided sector to buy another one wasn’t an option anyway. Besides, if he went back to the guy he’d purchased it from and the man discovered Garrett had lost it, he’d probably quadruple the price for another one. Why did that guard have to take it and keep it anyway?
“Garrett?” Opal stared at him intently. “Are you even listening to me?”
Garrett shook off his thoughts and focused his gaze on Opal. “Oh, sorry, Opal. I just have a lot on my mind.”
Opal nodded solemnly. “Yes, I’m sorry. I’m sure you do.” Brightening her tone of voice, she added, “I saw you working hard on your Plan today, Garrett. I’m proud of you.”
“What? Uh, yeah. Thanks, Opal.” Garrett hung his head, too ashamed to meet her gaze. He wished he could tell her his real plan, but a nagging part of him told himself she’d never understand.
Opal narrowed her eyes in suspicion at Garrett as they stopped at the transport station, awaiting the transporter to their neighborhood. “Garrett, what’s going on? You’re rarely this pensive.”
Sighing, Garrett replied, “Nothing, Opal. I’m just contemplating how I’ll fill the gaps in my Life Plan if I don’t know everything I need to put in it. I mean, I can fill in all the other stuff but how to attain the position I want. I have only one day left to fill in the gaps and that’s it.”
Garrett hated continuing to lie to Opal, but there was no other way.
Turning toward the incoming transporter, Opal empathized, “I know. I hate that the library didn’t really have anything on it. I have to admit, Garrett, you’re right.”
“I am?” Garrett’s eyes widened as the two of them stepped into the transporter and found a seat. “About what?”
“About all the secrecy. If a council representative is just like any other job, why don’t they have any information on it? It’s one of the most essential jobs and yet it’s never mentioned in class and we don’t have an occupation tour for it. Why is that?”
Feeling hope that maybe Opal would understand his position, Garrett opened his mouth to tell her the truth when Miranda popped into the empty seat beside him.
“Hey, Garrett! Hey, Opal.” Miranda waved curtly at Opal before staring doe-eyed at Garrett. “What were you guys talking about?”
Pursing his lips and chewing on the inside of his cheeks to keep from saying something mean, Garrett finally replied, “We were just discussing our Life Plans.”
“Oh, of course. I can’t imagine the stress of waiting until the last minute to complete one’s Plan. I finished mine four days ago.”
Opal’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Really, Miranda? You finished yours that long ago? Did you submit it for pre-approval?”
Miranda shook her head. “No, I’m not worried about it being approved. I left it pretty simple. There really isn’t anything that can’t be approved on it. I mean, I know the way I want my life to pan out.” Miranda dreamily looked at Garrett and tried to loop her arm through his, but he kept his arms clamped tight to his sides.
Garrett gave Opal a pleading, help me gaze and Opal had to hold in a laugh.
Feeling bad for her friend, she said, “Oh, sorry, Miranda, this is our stop, we’ve gotta go.”
Before Miranda could retort, Garrett yanked Opal to her feet and they left the transporter just before the doors closed.
“Thanks for the save, Opal. I don’t know how she keeps finding me.” Garrett grabbed his chest as if he were having a heart attack, then glanced at their surroundings. “Uh, Opal? Where are we?”
“Two stops from our neighborhood. The downside to saving your butt is that we now have to walk home.”
“Or we could just wait for another transporter,” suggested Garrett with a grin.
“Yeah, and do you have any money to pay the fare? It’s only free if we ride it straight home from our academy.” Opal furrowed her brow.
Recalling that he’d spent almost all his savings on the lockaway device, Garrett shook his head.
Opal started walking and Garrett followed.
For a while, they walked in silence until Opal whispered, “What will do you if you can’t be a council representative?”
“What? Well, um…I don’t know.”
Opal turned her melancholy eyes to her friend even though he remained staring ahead. “Garrett, we’re so close to Submission Day. If you submit your incomplete Plan to become a council representative, then it will be denied. Maybe you’ll have to put something else in there.”
Garrett met her gaze and was about to say something snarky until he saw the fear and worry in Opal’s eyes. Reconsidering his words, he instead responded, “I don’t know, Opal. If I choose something I really don’t want to be, I’ll be miserable for the rest of my life. Think about it. Is it any different to be stuck doing something you hate for the rest of your life or to be one of the Undecided?”
Opal hung her h
ead, considering his words. He did have a good point. If you hated your job and your lot in life as a Decided, how were you any different than an Undecided? “Have you tried researching on the dataweb about being one?”
“Yes, that was the first thing I did.”
More to herself than Garrett, Opal mumbled, “and we’ve already tried the library.”
For the next agonizing twenty minutes it took for them to walk home, Garrett listened to endless suggestions by Opal on how he could finish the rest of his Life Plan. At last, when he saw the door to his house, he spun towards her, “Thank you for trying to help me, Opal. You’re a great friend.”
Opal gave another self-satisfied smile, stepping towards Garrett’s front door. “You’re welcome, Garrett.”
Garrett blocked her from entering. “I really do appreciate your help, but I’ll spend the rest of the night figuring out what else I might want to be and adding it to my Plan.”
Opal’s smile faded as she tried to sidestep Garrett to get into his house, “Are you sure you don’t want any help with it?”
Garrett shook his head quickly. “Nope, I’m good with it. I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”
“You’ll see me tomorrow morning when I pick you up for academy. Your mom made me your keeper, remember?”
Garrett rolled his eyes, exhaling. “Yes, you’re right. How could I forget it? I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“Bright and early.” Opal spun on her heels and with a last wave at Garrett, began walking down the street to her house.
Garrett watched her for a few seconds until he was sure she wouldn’t turn back, then he shut the front door and raced up the stairs. Once in the safety of his own room, he upturned his backpack, spilling out all the crumbled papers with his burglary plans.
Kneeling on the floor, he smoothed out the plans, gathering the scattered sheets and placing them in a chronological order on the floor. Everything was laid out before him, he just had to figure out how to actually break into the library. He’d only have one shot at this. It would be tonight or never. Miranda had been right about one thing. It was stressful waiting until the last minute, but not because he hadn’t finished his Life Plan. If only he knew how the lockaway device worked, he could try it himself.