Listed: Book One of The Listed Trilogy

Chapter Eleven

 Gray

Everyone completed task one, so we still don't know what happens if you don't by the end of the day.

Dinner is pasta and garlic bread, but I don't eat the bread. The memory of my discovery is weighing on me heavily, and I still remember the words that changed my life. The words that told me that my father's death was purposeful. That told me that my name was an act of rebellion, that it's of foreign origin.  

"Athena, are you listening?" I'm snapped out of my dark thoughts by Lavender.

"What? Oh, yeah." I lie.

"Really, because it didn't look like it." Laila chuckles. I shake my head, and her smile is lost.

"What's wrong?" Lavender asks.

"It's nothing, guys. It's kind of personal." I say. They nod, but still don't look happy. "Can you excuse me, for a moment?" I ask. I get up without waiting for an answer. 

I walk through the hall, not caring about the consequences of leaving dinner early. I push open the doors to Facility 1, and gasp when I see Alan sitting at his desk, looking at his laptop intently.

"What are you doing here?" I ask. He looks up, and a look of surprise flashes across his face.

"I could ask the same of you." he says calmly, closing the laptop. "What are you doing out of the cafeteria so early?"

"I asked you first." I say, and scold myself for saying such a lame comeback. He laughs.

"Alright, I'll tell you why I'm here." he says.

"Why?" I ask, putting my hands on my hips and raising my eyebrows.

"Because I'm not hungry, and I have things to do." he says, turning back to his laptop and opens it up.

"What 'things'?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"You never answered my question." he says, looking at me.

"What question?" I ask, putting on an innocent face.

"You know my question." he says, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, I came here because I needed to look something up on my laptop." I lie, walking over to my desk. I open up my laptop, and tap the google link. I type in "Lavender Tiller", not caring if I'm tampering with government files. Several links come up this time, and I tap on one connected to a video.

The bar loads, and suddenly I'm on a site called "YouTube". A black box is in the center of the screen, with a sideways triangle in the middle of it. Below the box are the words "First Eleven-Year-Old Listed Ever!' I tap on the triangle, and the box comes alive.

I'm in a sea of people, no doubt in the middle of the Listing, and Lavender stands on a stage with her guardian. Two large screens are next to the stage, and both are a close-up on Lavender's face.

"How old are you, sweetheart?" her guardian asks. Lavender looks nervous, and she swallows.

"Eleven." she says into the microphone. There are gasps and murmurs, and Lavender looks like she might throw up.

"Well, I can agree that this is quite the sur-"

"What are you watching?" Alan asks behind me. I jump and slam the laptop shut.

"Can you be any more creepy?" I ask, turning back to my laptop.

"I could be plenty creepier." he says, and walks back to his desk. I groan.