BORROWED [Watty Awards Finalist/NEWLY EDITED!]

[SNEAK PEEK #3] Chapter Three (second draft/revised): Orientation

This is it! Enjoy.

Chapter Three: Orientation

The cafeteria is full today, since they merged the twelve o’ clock lunch with the twelve-thirty.

But my usual table in the corner still has one seat left, so I quickly make my way towards it, slinking down into the red plastic chair. Letting my hair fall past my face, I listen to three girls chatter next to me, passing around letters. I sneak a glance, noticing PURE’s symbol stamped at the header of the pages.

“Orientation is today!” the blonde girl whines, waving the piece of paper in front of her friends face.

“I can see it, Milly,” says the athletic brunette. “There’s nothing we can do but go.”

Milly sighs and sips on her milk. The brunette girl catches me watching her and scoots her chair closer to mine. She leans in, tucking my hair behind my ear. Her smile is wicked.

“This creep is spying on us,” she says to the two, now-giggling friends. “Isn’t that right?” Her breath smells like dairy that has sat in the sun far too long. I try holding my look of disgust.

I can’t speak. I’m afraid if I do, I will have an outburst like I did with Kyler earlier. So I just remain quiet, letting them all laugh at me.

She nudges my arm – a little too hard – and leans closer to whisper. “Hey freak, you don’t have a letter do you? I bet all you’ll be good for is tending to the chickens at one of the vendors in Abdicate. You look poor, so it will suit you.”

“Back off, Kendle,” a male voice says from behind.

She sits back, gazing up at the new arrival. “Why do you waste your time with this mute?”

“This mute is better company than you and your bird-brain friends. Get lost,” he says, and maneuvers into the seat she gives up, pouting as she walks away with her friends.

It’s Kyler. I should have known. He sits quietly, poking at his food, moving pieces of vegetables to the side, mostly the green ones. I look down at my tray, noticing I’ve done the same subconsciously.

He digs inside a bag that is hanging on the back of his chair. I look over, watching him pull out a white envelope.

“This dropped out of your bag earlier at the bus stop,” he says, holding out the piece of rectangular paper.

“Are you sure?” I choke out, looking away and back down at my food.

“It has your name on it. Here, why don’t you open and see.” He waves it in front of my face until I snatch it from him.

Mom must have put it in my bag this morning. She knew I’d get upset and probably didn’t want to be around when I read the letter from PURE.

I tear open the envelope and pull out the piece of beige paper inside. In the header is PURE’s stamp, and below it, it reads:

Dear Arid citizen,

We’re proud to welcome you to our 2nd annual orientation at the L’ Opera inside the beautiful city of PURE. It is an honor to have you as a candidate and possible employee of our Borrowed Project. The future of science could now be in your hands.

Date: May 21st, 2035

Time: 5:00 p.m.

Food will be served before selection.

 

Sincerely,

Secretary of PURE