What if she’s already watched me and I didn’t notice? Did Ellen stare at my answers? Were my answer right? Did anything about me stand out? Was I unconsciously doing something that showed defiance?
I glance back at my hologram and dread sinks into me. I’m supposed to type into the box the string of numbers that was just on my hologram. I missed them while watching Ellen. My fingers fumble across the keyboard, typing in random numbers and hoping for the best. I don’t know who looks through our results, but they’ll notice a difference there.
I force myself to focus on my Teaching, watching Ellen only out of the corner of my eye. She slowly moves along the spiral, moving into the second row. She passes in front of the first row. Each girl struggles to control the fear across their faces as Ellen walks past them.
Just as Ellen reaches the center of the spiral, the Teaching Bell rings. Girls struggle not to stare at Ellen as they walk out of the room. Ellen stays behind, staring at our backs.
The crowd flows to Mid-day Meal. I wait patiently in line, scanning the room out of the corner of my eye. Will Ellen watch us eat as well?
The Official hands me my tray and I walk back to my seat. Multi-grain crackers. They once again are high in health, low in flavor. Water. Vita. I stare at the Vita, the bright orange shining under the florescent lights. Should I listen to Josh, just to see if there’s something wrong with it? What if I get sick from not eating it? Would it hurt me if I skipped it, just one time?
Dana steals suspicious glances from the corner of her eye. Does she think she can get more information by simply staring at me?
I can’t skip it, not when Dana’s watching me. I don’t want to give her more things to tell Kate.
Mid-day Meal passes without Ellen’s arrival. I anxiously arrive at Etiquette Teaching, the next class of the day. Ellen wants us act like perfect ladies. No. She wants us to be perfect ladies. We practice good manners. Proper ways to act at eating hours. We learn how we should treat the Officials and one another. Everything we need to know to put on the façade of flawlessness. Ellen slips through the doors of the Circle Room halfway through. She watches us sit up straight, listening to our ear chips and watching a hologram. She disappears again within a couple minutes.
After Etiquette, we head to Music Teaching. Normally, we stand in rows and sing flat tunes about the greatness of the Windsors. After half an hour of singing, we sit in front of a holographic piano, and play the same bland tunes.
I file in and find my spot along the lines marked into the floor. I stand in perfect posture, waiting for the Official who will lead us in the first song. One arrives, but instead of starting the music, she says, “Today’s going to be a little bit different. We are going to sing the entire time. We need to get a lot of practice because tomorrow you are going to sing all your songs for Ellen Windsor.”
I struggle to keep my face flat. We are going to sing for Ellen? Why didn’t we know this until now? It must be the next part of the Gratitude Ceremony. Am I ready? It can’t be too hard. We just all sing in a group of almost two hundred girls. Ellen wouldn’t even be able to tell if I was singing.
The Official seems to almost hear my thoughts, “We will give each of you a microphone. It automatically records your voice separately from all the other girls. There will be an Official for each of you, listening to you individually. Make sure you know the words and are on tune.”
The Official pauses, allowing her silence to imply the threat.
“The Singing Ceremony will take place tomorrow morning, in the place of History Teaching. Everything else will be the same. Let us now practice.”
She raises her hands and directs us through the music. The first song is about the glory due to Ellen. The second tells of Derek’s amazing compassion. The third goes on to say the respect due to both of the Windsors.
Will I pass the test of the Singing Ceremony? What if I forget the words? We’ve known the songs since we were six years, but what if I forget them in my panic? What if I just mess up one tiny word? How strict are they going to be? Will any girl act out there, like Mia did at the Opening Speeches?
I stand through the agonizing hour and a half of Music Teaching. Teaching Bell finally rings to signal the start of my least favorite Teaching.
Inspection. It’s not really a Teaching. It’s only half an hour. We stand in straight rows. Our backs straight. Knees locked. Hands glued to sides. Eyes forward. Not a whisper, cough, or shuffle. Officials walk up and down the rows. I don’t know exactly what they look for. Maybe they make sure we appear flawless. Maybe they just want to intimidate us. Other Officials search through our Sleeping Rooms, to make sure we aren’t hiding anything. I’m not sure whether they expect to find anything, but the threat is still there.
After they’ve completed their search, we all join in the Anthem.
“Oh great and wondrous Windsors,
Our hopes and faith lie in thee.
You saved us from the outside world,
And from the horrid Disease.
“When the world started to fall,
When the earth was in despair,
The loving Windsors saved our lives,
The Windsors they truly care.
“Oh, great and wondrous Windsors,
Our hopes and faith lie in thee.
You saved us from the outside world,
And from the horrid Disease.
After the slow tune ends, we chant out the robotic Pledge.
“I pledge my allegiance to Ellen and Derek Windsor. I owe them my perfect obedience and respect. They saved my life, therefore I owe them mine. Without them, I know I would be in the hands of the horrors of the Disease and the outside world. May the greatness of the Windsors be praised forevermore.”
They release us from our strict stance to our next Teaching. Spelling. It’s in another Circle Room. We tap up our holograms and slide in our ear chips. Recorded words play into our ears and we spell them out on our light keyboard. Tediously dull.
We read biographies about the Windsors off our holograms for an hour and a half in Literature Teaching. Every biography is nearly an exact copy of the previous one, but we still obediently read each one. At the end of the Teaching, questions appear on our holograms, quizzing us on what we read.
The final Teaching of the day is Technology. An hour long. Technology turns into a different Teaching, Gratitude Preparation Teaching, when the Gratitude Ceremony nears. Now that the Opening Speeches have passed, it’s back to Technology. We spend half the Teaching practicing our typing. The other half is lessons. Engineering. Design. Architecture.
Late Meal arrives. Brown bread swamped in brown sauce. Water. Vita. Dana’s careful stare forces me to eat the Vita. Near the end of Late Meal, Dana struggles to keep a smile off her face. What is she so happy about? Is it because she’ll get answers in Free Hour? Is there something more?
After Late Meal ends, we go to Free Hour. Dana has probably been waiting for this all day. I step on to the escalator that pulls me up to the track. Dana stands directly behind me, ready to talk the second we reach the track. We reach the top and I begin to walk.
Dana says, “You have to tell me everything. I couldn’t sleep last night. I couldn’t focus on any of my Teachings. I’m not going through that tomorrow. Speak right now or I will walk up to Kate and tell her everything.”
YOU ARE READING
986 (Complex Series, #1)
Science Fiction-first book in Complex series- In the Complex, where everyone is emotionless perfection, a young girl discovers through forbidden friendships the frightening truth behind her seemingly flawless world. (the lovely cover was created by @clarkethevirus)
Chapter Five
Start from the beginning
