by S. L. Baum
“Clay got something technical,” Stone said. “That’s all I know.”
“As if we didn’t expect that,” Fisher added.
“It is not just something technical,” Clay scoffed. “I will eventually be apprenticing with the Concord One Information Systems Department. I hope to eventually work my way into the Overseer Division and encompass Two, Three, and Four as well.”
I tried to picture Clay in any profession that wasn’t technical and I just couldn’t do it. If he wasn’t able to analyze something he’d be a miserable boy. “That sounds about right,” I smiled.
Stone puffed his cheeks out huge and then expelled the breath. “Alright, Miss Blue, let’s see it.”
“Arm on the table, oh Lush one,” Holly added.
I sighed, quite loudly.
“Bluebell, I have a feeling you’ll be doing this quite often. So you better get used to it,” Lily coaxed.
“Plus, we are your friends, so we get first dibs to gawk at you,” Fisher smirked.
Willow nodded her head. “Who better to expose yourself to?”
“Willow!” Holly laughed.
“I didn’t mean it that way!” Willow gasped.
“Alright, alright,” I said and placed my arm on the table, palm up, Citizen Brand exposed. “Gawk away.”
Clay moved in for a closer look, examining the circles quite intently. He was taking mental technical pictures to file away in that overworked brain of his. I just knew it. Holly and Willow put their fingers out at the same time and began touching it. But Fisher and Stone just observed from where they sat. I felt like an oddity… an interesting oddity.
Ash turned his head. He didn’t want to look at it, and I didn’t blame him. He had bragged about and expected an O, but had ended up with an X. I had been secure in the fact that I’d be fine with either mark and I’d been blessed with something entirely outside of the realm of my expectations. We had both been thrown. He’d be fine though, I knew he would. Ash had genuinely good looks and had been placed on a promising career path, even though neither of his parents were all that influential. There was a novelty in being a twin, and that novelty had saved him. He knew it, I knew it, we all knew it; but none of us needed to point it out. I’m sure we were all just glad that Ash would be able to secure a noble place in Concord Society.
“Anyone know about Coral?”
Rosemary walked by our table just as I asked the question. “She was given a choice between Custodial Management and being a Guardian. She has to decide by tomorrow morning,” she laughed. “So much for the 1.01. Her family has been steadily falling from its rickety pedestal for years and that X on her arm just knocked them to the ground.”
“Rosemary, that’s a little harsh, isn’t it?” Lily frowned.
“If you’d been secretly belittled the way I was for most of my time at Training Tech, you’d be harsh too. You get what you give, right? And that girl gave me smiles and then backstabs for many years. She got what she deserved,” Rosemary countered. “I’m destined for Party Planning, if anyone wants to know. Galas, parties, balls, soirees… mine will be outstanding.”
Rosemary clasped her hands together, tilted her head up, and closed her eyes, as if imagining one of her fabulous celebrations. When she opened her eyes, she looked at me.
“Congrats on the Brand, Blue. You lucked out with that one,” Rosemary stated. “Although I think I’d excel in a position like that. It’s kind of wasted on you, isn’t it?” She spun around and walked away.
“Rosemary is the new Coral,” Willow whispered.
“I think we will just have two of them now,” Holly whispered back.
“No,” I said, being the realist. “Neither of those positions will allow for Coral to act with her usual flippant behavior. She will have to learn her place or suffer the consequences.”
A collective sigh went through the group.
I pulled my arm back and hid it under the table. “I’m really hungry,” I declared. “Can we order some food now?”
There was no longer a Food Manager dispensing required sustenance at the CEC. We were finally able to order whatever it was that we wanted to eat, with few, if any, restrictions. The food was delivered to the table in precisely measured portion sizes. It was artfully arranged and visually appetizing.
“Willow, take note.” I called her attention to my plate of food. “This is a beautiful thing.”
“Mine will be better,” she smiled.
“I have no doubt, my friend,” I smiled in return before taking a bite.
Chapter Eight
Shimmering Blue
When I arrived home that evening, Aspen was waiting in the sitting area. Her tablet was perched on her lap. I was ready to bypass her and head up the stairs to my room but she had other plans. “Bluebell, I’m afraid we really should discuss a few things for this Gala. Sharing the spotlight is going to be so hard for you.”
“Actually I think it will be nice to share the night with Lily. She is my best friend.”
“I know, but the night should be all about you. As mine was,” she almost whined.
I sat down in the chair beside hers. “Aspen, I’m sure you will find a way to make it special for me.”
A look of distaste crossed her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be calling me Mother now?” she reminded me.
“Cimarron said that I should make sure to do it when we are in public. I assume Aspen will still do when we are at home,” I stated. I didn’t like the prospect any more than she did.
Her face brightened a little. “This is true. Good. That’s settled. Back to the Gala. I really want to go with a floral theme. So I’ll have bluebells brought in to decorate the space. I’ve spoken with Cheyenne and she said that she’d like stargazer lilies. That makes our color palate blue, pink, and white. I am not completely in love with that idea. So I’ve decided to throw in some shades of lavender as well.” She looked at me for support.
“I think I can live with that,” I stated, not sure which direction I was supposed to take with her.
“Good. We must find a way to concur. Jackson and my father assure me that it is for the best.” She turned her tablet on and opened up a gallery that contained dozens of pictures of dresses. “Here are a few of the gowns that I thought would make you stand out and would flatter, um, well, you. The dressmaker will be here in about twenty minutes. She is bringing some samples. It would be best if you took a quick shower and put on some clothes that will allow her to easily observe your natural form. Something snug to your body will do just fine.”
“Why wasn’t I aware of this? I wish you had told me… I’m actually a bit tired. But of course I’ll go get ready,” I sighed.
“Yes. Quickly please. I don’t want to keep her waiting,” Aspen replied, not looking at me.
While she flipped through the photos on her tablet, I ran upstairs to shower. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun, and hurried through a rinse off. After I dried myself, I pulled on a simple tank top and some tight fitting fitness shorts, hoping that they would do. I was working with a limited supply of clothes. I’d yet to meet with a dressmaker or tailor, and Aspen had only given me a few basic pieces when I’d first arrived home. Those pieces comprised my entire wardrobe, along with the fitness wear and sleepwear I’d departed Training Tech with. After so many years with a strict dress code, I was eager to explore my fashion options.
Aspen never seemed to have the time to take me shopping. I wondered if Lily’s mother would go with me. A laugh escaped my lips at the thought. Aspen would not be happy with that scenario and I knew it. It was silly to have even let the thought cross my mind.
I hurried down the stairs to find Aspen waiting in the sitting room with a very tall, very thin woman at her side. A metal rack had been wheeled into the room. Several dresses hung there, each of them a shade of blue or lavender, or somewhere in the middle. I decided immediately to try on each and every one of them.
“Bluebell, this is Raleigh. She is a wizard whe
n it comes to perfectly fitting a dress to one’s body. I’m sure you will appreciate her skills as much as I do,” Aspen said, introducing the woman.
Raleigh looked from me to Aspen, tapping her cheek as if in thought. “Aspen, your daughter is gorgeous. She has your perfect nose and your lovely smile. But she’s a bit curvier though,” she frowned.
“Yes. She must have inherited that from Jackson’s gene pool. I hope it will not be a problem. I know how you’ve always commented on how easy my straight lines were for you to fit.”
Raleigh shook her head. “No. It won’t be a problem. A rounder hip and a fuller bust will just require a different approach. Have no fear. I’ll make it work.”
I stared down at my body and wondered what they could be talking about. I was at the precise weight that Dr. Odessa had recommended for me. While at Training Tech, no one had ever suggested that finding a uniform to fit me would be a problem. I wasn’t as thin and flat as Aspen; that was obvious. But was I too curvy? Did I need to eat less? Aspen hardly ate at all. Dinner seemed to be her only solid meal.
I pushed the thought from my mind. I enjoyed eating, and I really didn’t want to walk around hungry. My size was fine. I knew it was. Dr. Odessa would have altered my diet at Tech if it hadn’t been acceptable.
Raleigh pulled a dress off the rack and motioned for me. “Bluebell, we’ll try this one first. Be very careful as you step into it. The fabric is quite delicate.”
I approached the dress with hesitation. It was, in all honesty, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The pale blue material was so light and shimmery. As Raleigh pulled the gown up it seemed to billow and puff around me, catching the light in the most amazing way. I turned to look in the mirror as she pinned the fabric in the back.
“It’s so pretty,” I whispered.
“The fabric is of the finest quality. Hours of craftsmanship went into the pleats and the draping,” Raleigh explained.
Aspen clicked her tongue in approval. “Raleigh is the best. I wouldn’t accept anything less… not for me and not for any member of my family.”
“Do I have to try on any of the others? I really like this one,” I smiled, taking back my original thought. I just couldn’t imagine anything that could possibly surpass the first dress.
“Of course you do. You’ll like all of them. I wouldn’t have brought a gown for your consideration if it wasn’t stunning,” Raleigh balked. “I must be absolutely sure that this is the right one. There could be something better on that rack. This is my reputation, everyone will know that the dress came from me! There will be one that will take our breath away. There is always one,” she smiled. “We must go through them all to see which one it will end up being.”
Aspen vetoed dress number two. She said it made my posture look horrible. I didn’t like dress number three. It was entirely too clingy and tight. Raleigh rejected dress number four, she said the shade of blue was too greyish and made me look like an animated corpse (I thought that was a bit harsh). So we moved on to dress number five.
The gown was a purplish one-shouldered affair, tight to the waist, and then draping beautifully to the floor. It moved gracefully, twirling about my legs, as I twisted my body back and forth. I liked it. But did I like it as much as the first one?
“This one is beautiful too. But I’m not sure,” I worried. “I still like the first gown. Well, actually I like them both.”
“They are both quite lovely. I think the first one might have an edge over this one,” Aspen noted.
I thought about it for a moment and then decided that I agreed with her. “Yes. I think you’re right. The shimmer in that fabric is eye catching.”
“There is still one more,” Raleigh stated, holding up the last dress from the rack.
As I stepped into the last gown I immediately noticed that the fabric was quite similar to the first one. It shimmered and billowed in just the right way. I twisted my body back and forth and was delighted to find that it twirled. The strapless bodice had unique draping and texture to it that made one think of a flower. A satin ribbon was just under the bust line, where the fabric changed to the shimmering one and draped gracefully to the floor. I adored it.
“This is the one,” I sighed.
“This one it is,” Raleigh smiled. “I always save my favorite for last. Now I just need to fit it perfectly to your body. Hold still so I don’t stick you with a pin.”
“She’ll need some bracelets to keep that Brand covered. I don’t want everybody staring at that thing all night long. I’m sure Bluebell wouldn’t either,” Aspen said, addressing no one in particular. She was just thinking aloud. “Pearls, maybe. Gemstones would distract too much. Then the other girl should wear an accent color too. Maybe some flowers for their hair. Yes. That would look quite nice. Does it need a necklace? I should contact our jeweler. Where did I leave my tablet?”
Aspen walked out of the room, leaving Raleigh and I alone.
“Are you excited for the Gala?” she asked, kneeling on the floor to mark the proper length.
“I think I am more curious, because Aspen, I mean Mother, has planned so much and I suppose she must want the whole experience to be a surprise for me. And I’m slightly overwhelmed by everything,” I admitted.
“If you are worried about people staring at your Brand then I suggest you keep your wrist covered, like your mother does. She has been doing it for so long that it has become a desired look. I believe she had a row of pearls on her wrist when we first met, as I was fitting her for her own Gala Gown. If the Citizens can’t see it, then eventually they will stop focusing on the fact that you are different. It is a beautiful thing, by the way.” Raleigh brushed her hand across my wrist before standing up again.
“I don’t think The Council will allow me to wear jewelry or longer sleeves all the time. They have more public plans for me,” I sighed. “It’s to be announced soon.”
“I know all about it,” she smiled. “I am to take a full set of measurements before I go so I can begin work on a full wardrobe designed specifically for you. I was told to make sure you looked young, fresh, and stylish. I’m sure accessorizing will be permitted.”
I wasn’t as sure as she was.
As soon as I was back in my room, I collapsed onto my bed and picked up my tablet to start a video chat with Lily.
“Lily, has you mother told you anything about this Grand Gala?” I asked.
“Of course. What do you want to know?”
I sighed. “Everything.”
“Okay. Well, it will be held at The Citizens’ Ballroom. It’s in about four weeks. It is themed pink for me, and blue for you. Invitations go out tomorrow. Want to see one?”
“Yes,” I groused. “I can’t believe Aspen has shared almost none of this with me. She just keeps muttering about the details and then leaving the room to arrange something.”
“Here,” Lily said, holding up the invitation for my inspection.
“What else?”
“Um, the music soundtrack was set up by some popular music playlist expert. The food will be by Aspen’s favorite chef. Did you pick out a gown?”
I nodded at the camera in response. “The dressmaker just left.”
“Mine too!” Lily exclaimed. “My dress is brilliant. I love it.”
“Aspen said something about pearls for our jewelry and flowers for our hair,” I offered up the little information I did have.
“I haven’t heard about that yet. I bet she’ll message my mother later. You should see some of her messages. Mother showed me a few. They are overflowing with plans and details. You should try to ask her questions about it. Maybe she’ll tell you more about the Gala if she sees that you are really interested.”
I rolled onto my back and held the tablet in the air above my head. “Maybe. But she’s always running from one room to another. That woman can’t stay still.”
“Then follow her! You can’t blame her for leaving you out of the plans if you haven’t demanded to be informed
of them. My mother likes to share things with me, Blue. Yours doesn’t. So make her.”
“Easy for you to say. Cheyenne actually listens when you speak,” I pointed out.
“Blue, I love you, but you are so accepting… stand up for yourself a little. You can still be a good Citizen and ask questions and expect answers.”
“All good Citizens know that Concord always does what is best, chooses what is right, and acts with honorable intentions,” I quoted.
“Aspen is not Concord,” Lily argued. “Ask your questions and get your answers!”
“I’ll try to do that,” I gave a half-hearted promise. “I wonder who else is having a Gala. I know Rosemary’s is next Saturday.”
“The Pets are the Saturday after that and we are the Saturday after. I overheard Rosemary at the CEC today, she said Coral isn’t having one.”
“Even if she did, I doubt we’d be invited. And if we were, I doubt Aspen would allow me to attend,” I said. “Aspen has declared that since Coral was assigned unfavorable occupational choices, is marked with an X, and will be unable to extend the 1.01 family line any longer, she is not considered a desirable associate. I was told to keep my distance. Which is fine with me. Coral was never a friend of mine anyway.”
“I’m marked with an X,” Lily reminded me. “Will she order you to keep your distance?”
“Oh Lily, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that. Aspen couldn’t keep me away from you if she tried. You’re my best friend, Lil. I don’t care what that mark on your wrist is. If you must know, your father’s influence has saved you in her eyes. In my eyes, you’ve never ever needed saving!”
“Thank for telling me the truth, Blue. My mother keeps telling me that nobody will care. But some people do care. Don’t they?”
“Yes. Some insensitive people, who we’d never want to be friends with anyway, care. But I don’t, Fish doesn’t, Stone doesn’t… lots of people don’t, Lil. I promise,” I smiled at her. “At least you don’t have to offer up your arm for anyone and everyone so they can ogle it and touch it.”