"Good." We eat our food alone and silently think about what just happened. The room is too loud to hear each other anyway.
Avra is extremely disappointed that she won't get to see Scott again tonight. She and I go into our room to escape the loud chatter about the boys and the punishment that we will all suffer from. Avra talks about Scott until she falls asleep. I think the excitement of the day wore her out.
As the world gets dark and drowsy, I enjoy my new bed by the window. The foot of my bed is pressed up against the wall with the window. If I kneel on the end of my bed, I can look outside. I watch the wind in the trees, loving every minute I can get. I even see a bird in the trees as the sun sets. I wonder if the bird has a nest with eggs in it out there somewhere. I see a guard marching toward me. He is slow-moving and probably tired. I'm glad there is an outside light on this side of the complex. He leans against the building. I wonder if he's asleep behind that thick helmet...
Low branches wiggle on the pine trees straight across from me. I hope it's a raccoon or a fox! I would love to see a real animal like that. Huh, it doesn't look like any animal I've studied at school. What has long black curly hair in the animal kingdom? The only mammal I can think of is humans... An actual woman crawls on her hands and knees through the thick trees. How is she surviving the toxins? Or the snow that I've been taught is very cold? She stands up and I can't visibly see any deformities on her pale white face, but her coat and gloves are covering most of her. Her deformities are probably internal. She starts walking, straight toward... me!
I don't know what to do, so I just stay where I am and watch. The woman moves her arms and hands in a quick, purposeful way. I think she's trying to communicate with me, but I have no idea what she is saying. She points at the guard who still seems asleep, then she points to me and starts moving her fingers in intricate ways. I really wish I could communicate back, but I don't know how. I shrug my shoulders. Just then, the guard wakes up and runs toward the woman. She turns and runs back to the trees, crouches down, slips through the gap at the bottom of the trees, and is gone. The guard pulls a little communication box out of his protective suit and starts talking to someone.
"What are you looking at?" a deep female voice asks behind me. I turn around to see Mentor Roberta leering at me. I have never liked Mentor Roberta. She reminds me of the evil step-mother from the book Cinderella. She assists in keeping me alive, but she doesn't love, or even like me.
"I saw a grown woman crawl through a gap in the trees, then the guard chased her away. She didn't look like she had any deformities. How can that be?"
Mentor Roberta rolls her eyes and smirks at me. "Surely you know by now that some deformities are on the inside, right?"
"Yes. I know. Why does she live out there? It's toxic."
"She can't afford a place in here, so she has no choice. The guards usually do a better job of keeping the riff-raff away from the complex. I will have to report this. Excuse me," Mentor Roberta says as she turns around and leaves.
Chapter 5
I have weird dreams that night about the mysterious woman in the trees. She knocks out the complex guard with a giant club and then tries to break my window with the club. I wake up feeling unrested and full of questions. I eat my morning victuals in a daze. Julie bumps into me as I walk into the school room. Just great. I need to pay attention to what I'm doing.
"Watch where you're going, raccoon face."
"Oh, sorry. I don't want you to take away my membership to the yellow club. I'll watch out next time."
Julies eyes narrow. "You are so full of yourself."
"Yeah, that would be me you're talking about," I mumble as I shuffle to a desk next to Avra. I realize I don't have any paper, so I get up and approach the mentor's desk at the front of the school room. "May I have a piece of..." The grouchy look I get from the new school mentor makes me shut my mouth and take the piece of paper she extends toward me. I turn around and find my desk quickly.
This new school mentor is very tall which is intimidating to me. She is slightly curvy and has curly medium brown hair that sits on top of her shoulders. Her black eyes stare out at us like cannon balls about to destroy us. Why can't they all be more like Mentor Maxine? She doesn't answer every question I have, but she's kind and cares about my development. I turn around and see the cute boy with dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes talking to his mentor from the second row of their school room. Avra nudges me so I turn around.
I'm not expecting a good experience as our new grouchy mentor clears her throat. "Hello, my name is Mentor Bridget. I will be the mentor who prepares you for the jobs you will soon have. We will be adding chemistry and advanced algebra to your curriculum this year. Let's begin." She is stern, but she is very knowledgeable. I am surprised at how much I learn from her first lesson. I get my reading assignment done quickly. As I wait for everyone else to finish so we can move on to math, my mind wanders...
I wonder where the mentors sleep. They get days off; they have to go somewhere. I wish we were allowed to explore the complex. Unfortunately, the last girl who tried to leave her dorm through the doors the mentors use was charged as a dissident and she never came back. I've wondered about some of these things for the past few years, but seeing that normal looking woman outside makes it hard to think about anything else today.
Mentor Bridget has an approach to math that is very easy to understand. This crabby woman actually has skills. I finish that assignment quickly too. Mentor Bridget notices that I have nothing to do, and that my head keeps turning around to look into the boys' school room, so she writes an extra credit problem on the board. It looks like a fun challenge, so I get to work on it.
I'm glad the glass wall is in the back; it's distracting to know there are boys back there who could be looking at me. I sneak a quick peek behind me. The handsome boy with dirty-blonde hair is sitting on the back row now, near the glass wall. Wait, do their mentors let them change seats in the middle of lessons? He peeks at the same time I do. I look away quickly. My heart beats faster.
Luckily, their desks face the other way too. When we get ‘exploration time,' the telephone will be all abuzz I'm sure. I won't get to use it. Oh well. Avra will need help with today's assignment. She's not too good with numbers. She will need to figure it out if she wants to be a cook though. Cooks have to have at least a B average in math to get the job. No one wants the wrong number of ingredients put into the victuals.
I wonder what job I should apply for in two years. I am pretty good at all the school subjects. Mentor Maxine says I should be a chemist. I kind of like the thought of making things out of chemicals. But secretly I want to know that I'm making a big impact on this crazy world of ours. How impactful will I be if I spend all day making soaps and cleaners for the janitors?
When Mentor Bridget's done teaching, she says, "You have 30 minutes of exploration time before victuals. Remember to sign up if you want to use the telephone." A mob of girls jump up and run to the telephone.
Avra leans over to me. "Will you sign me up, please? I want to talk to Scott."
I roll my eyes and walk over to the sign-up sheet which is actually part of the glass wall. The line is long, but I wait patiently. I read all the girl names on the list already—what do you know, all the boy-crazy girls are on here. Reading the names of the boys is tricky. I have to read their names backwards since they wrote on their side of the glass. I use a marker to write ‘Avra' on the glass on spot 25. On the boy's side of spot 25, I write Scott's name. I almost walk away, but then I decide to write my name on spot 26. I leave the boy side of spot 26 blank. If someone wants to talk to me, here's their chance. I doubt anyone does, but I do kind of want to hear what a boy's voice sounds like.
The marker in my hand is pulled out by some pushy girl behind me. The rush of girls crowding around the glass smooshes me against its cold, hard surface. Ah, back off people! I hope th
at I get my turn today, but since we lost our evening free time, it looks like it will probably be tomorrow or the next day. Oh well.
I sit down and ask Avra if she needs help with her math. I'm surprised to see that she is almost done with her assignment. "I like Mentor Bridget. She explains how to do the problems in a way that I can understand."
"Good, because I get tired of being your second teacher."
"Do you really?"
I smile at Avra as I pick a few curly stands of hair off her back. "No. I don't mind. Are you going to try the extra credit problem?"
"No, I want to see if I can find Scott when I'm done."
"Okay, but don't fall in love with him."
Avra lets out a breathless sigh. "I won't."
I have some serious doubts that Avra won't fall in love. She's easily captivated. I get back to my extra credit problem. It takes a while to get it done. I like it when mentors challenge me. This problem has me second guessing myself. I am pretty sure I am right though.
I stand up and look around the room. "Did anyone do the extra credit problem?" I yell out to the loud, giggling room. No one answers back. They are too busy oogling the boys to do anything extra today. Dang.
I look through the glass at the boy's school room. The same extra credit problem is written on their white board. All but five boys are turned around in their seats, or are standing up, flirting with the girls through the glass. The five seated boys are working on the extra credit problem. Mentor Maxine did say that we should learn from other points of view. I wonder if I can get one of the studious boys to look up. I walk over to the telephone where flirty red-headed Liza is talking with a boy who is missing an eye. I know the eye is missing because he flips his black eye patch up as I approach the glass. Ahh! I can't unsee that. Liza must like him for his dazzling smile because, ew.
"Hey Liza, ask him if anyone on his side has finished the extra credit problem." Surprisingly, Liza and the pirate boy help me out.
I see the five heads leaning over their desks look up and turn around. The good looking dirty-blonde haired boy is one of them. In fact, most of these faces look familiar to me. I squeeze into the crowd at the window and press my paper to the glass. The boy with black curly hair and pale white skin from yesterday's sink escapade jumps up with his paper and looks intently at my paper. He looks at his own assignment, and then looks at mine again. He starts to nod. He mouths the words, "You're right." He then presses his paper to the glass. I see that on the top of his paper it says, Rocky 173. He solved the problem exactly the same way I did. Awesome, I guess that's all I need... but before I can get away from the glass, Rocky motions for the other four problem-solving boys to join us.
Bicep is one of them. I'm thrilled to see that the good-looking, dirty-blonde haired boy is one of them, and wait, here he is again? Oh, he's actually a twin! Okay, that explains how I saw him in two places at once. Identical thin faces with dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes look back at me. They are about two inches taller than I am, and I'm pretty tall, about 5'9. I can look right into their eyes, and they are gorgeous. The only way I can tell the boys apart is that one of them has a yellow button and one of them has an orange button. A round faced boy with a shaved head looks at my paper and nods. He writes on the back of his assignment, Hey beautiful, I'm Bryon, what's your name?
My eyes pop open in surprise and my cheeks feel like they are on fire. I almost back away from the glass, but I don't. I feel incredibly shy as the five faces look at me. They stare at my raccoon eye, with curiosity. It makes me feel self-conscious about my looks for the first time in many years. My hand automatically pulls a chunk of hair forward to cover my birthmark. Should I tell them my name, or am I just a freak show to them?
After some deliberation, I decide that if these are the only boys who do the extra credit, then I may as well know their names, for the next time I need help. I flip my assignment over and write Elira. When I press the paper to the glass, I watch the five boys' mouths try to sound out my name. One of the dirty-blonde haired boys writes on the back of his paper, Is your name pronounced El - ih - rah, or Eel - ira?
El - eye - ruh, I write back. The twins and Rocky smile and nod. Bicep nods and writes his name on Rocky's paper. His name is Andric. He'll always be Bicep to me though. The shaved-head boy Bryon winks at me then wrinkles his forehead and keeps trying to sound my name out. I've always known my name is a little weird, but I still like it. It's the only thing my parents gave me that I still have.
I point at the twins and shrug my shoulders. I hope they get what I mean. They both smile at the same time in a heart-stopping way and write on their papers. The papers pressed to the glass reveal that the twin with the yellow button is Jefrey. The twin with the orange button is Garth. I feel my cheeks turning red again as I look at them and nod.
Mentor Bridget interrupts my reverie as she taps me on the shoulder. "Elira, may I see your assignment please?" I hand over my assignment. Mentor Bridget looks at both sides of the paper before writing something down on her clipboard. "Very good, Elira. I'm glad we have at least one girl in this class with brains." She turns around and pushes the button on her square device that lets out a loud shrieky noise. "Victuals are ready; everyone clear the school room immediately."
I turn and see that the same thing is happening on the boy side. I wave at the five smart boys and gather up my things to walk with Avra to the eating area. I look back one last time before leaving the school room, I see Andric swipe a metal ruler off their mentor's desk. That boy is a trouble maker. Most importantly though, I see one of the twins looking back at me. I just can't tell which one.
Chapter 6
As Avra and I get ready for bed, I look outside our bedroom window. The guard is there, leaning against the building as usual. I see a glint of something in the trees; it looks like eyes. I wonder if it's that woman again. Upon closer inspection, a furry body and triangle ears poke out of the gap in the trees. Ooh, a fox. It's too dark to see the distinct orange color of the fur, but the white tipped tail gives it away. He's so cute! I press my forehead to the cold glass, completely fascinated. The fox suddenly disappears. I can't hear anything, but I'm pretty sure the guard has just shot at the fox. He has his gun out and the fox is gone in the blink of an eye. I turn around to see Shasta, my tall, skinny, blonde roommate, looking over my head out the window.
"If I weren't a red, I would apply to be a guard."
I am shocked to hear this from such a shy, scrawny girl. I try to be funny. "Are you sure they make giraffe-sized guard suits?"
Shasta doesn't laugh.
I feel like a jerk. "I'm sorry, Shasta. I shouldn't have said that. I hate it when people make fun of my deformity too."
"It's okay, I'm used to it."
I think back to what she first said. "I didn't know that we could apply to be guards. I thought only mentors could do that."
"No, yellows can be guards, and a few oranges can. Not many girls get accepted as guards though, and reds are never accepted." Shasta looks down at the red button pinned to her chest with sadness in her eyes.
I look down at my own yellow button and tap it with my fingernail. I could be a guard. I have never considered that. "Shasta, would you feel comfortable shooting a gun?"
Shasta looks down at her long slender fingers. "Yeah, I think so. I like to protect the people I care about."
"I never would have guessed that about you. You seem so timid."
Shasta's face turns hard. "Even timid people can be protective."
Avra pipes in from under her covers, "I'm going to be a cook." She lazily looks at the ceiling. "I like food, and I want to feed people. Reds can be cooks. Maybe we could be cooks together, Shasta."
Shasta smiles half-heartedly. "Yeah, maybe." She turns around and heads to her own bed. I watch to see if her feet hang over the edge of it. Yep. They do. That must stink.
I look outside and swear that I can see eyes peeking through the gap in the trees again. "I don't know. I keep changing my mind about what I want..."
•
Today Mentor Bridget announces that the older 17 girls will be visiting their number one choice of job to see if it is a good fit for them. I'm okay with that, because it means less noise in the school room all day. The older girls line up and leave the school room with an elderly mentor I don't know. It's so quiet in here. I do my assignments plus several extra credit problems quickly without interruptions.
Once we're mostly done with our math, Mentor Bridget asks, "Since half of the class is trying out jobs today and we have some extra time, I would like to have a discussion about your futures with you. Who knows what the 12 complex jobs are?"
Mara flips her white-blonde hair up in the air as her hand reaches into the sky. "I do. They are: gardening, textiles, janitorial, chemistry, artistry, weaving, metal welding, cooking, guarding, laundry, fabrication, and carpentry."
"Correct. Can everyone do every job?"
Avra's hand shoots up. "No. Reds can only do gardening, janitorial, artistry, cooking and laundry."
"Correct. Can girls do every job?"
Mara the know-it-all pipes in again, "No. Girls can't do metal welding, fabrication, guarding, and carpentry."
"Incorrect. Girls can be guards. You must be both physically and mentally strong though. Out of the 20 guards we have at the complex, only two of them are female."
Liza giggles as she raises her hand to ask, "Which of the jobs can both sexes work together?"
Mentor Bridget narrows her eyes at Liza as she answers, "Quite a few actually: gardening, janitorial, chemistry, artistry, weaving, cooking, and guarding. But don't think that you can apply for a job just so you can flirt with boys the whole time. That just won't happen. Sorry."
The Complex Life (The Complex Trilogy Book 1) Page 3