Chromatic

Scene I

Scene I - Cammy

"I can't believe this is finally happening!" Rim exclaims in joy. Her coal black eyes are shining with excitement as she tells me the same thing over and over again. "I can't believe it! Do you know how long I've waited for this?"

I nod my head, but my eyes are focused on the paper clutched in my hands. If I fail this essay, I'll be knocked down two positions in the Chromatic System, and I can't afford that. "A year, two months and fifteen days."

"I heard they're introducing a new character," she tells me. "A hot guy with more powers than all the other guys in the show."

"I still don't understand how you can find those characters attractive. They're drawings, unrealistic ones at that." My eyes scan the paper one last time before noticing a mistake. Dammit. A typo.

Rim rolls her eyes. "They're not just drawings, Cammy. It's anime!"

As I'm covering the mistake with White-Out, I say to her, "You should stop being obsessed with these TV shows. It's unhealthy." There. Typo exterminated. "I mean, you even coloured your hair so you can match one of the characters." I point to her vibrant cardinal red locks.

She flashes me a toothy smile. "I totally nailed it, didn't I?" She says while running a hand through her hair.

I grin. "Yeah, you really did."

The door to the classroom opens and in walks the teacher. I take a deep breath, the nerves getting the best of me. "I have to pass," I tell my best friend. "It's the only way I can reach the Honours position in the System."

"I know you will, Cammy. That essay's amazing," Rim answers. "Quit worrying and brighten up."

I swallow nervously. "Okay."

The students are called to the front of the classroom one by one to give in their project, and soon enough it's my turn. "Camarie, #128," the man announces, and the class gasps in awe at my rank. #128 in the System is pretty awesome for a fifteen-year-old. I'm almost at the Honours position, which is 100 and under.

I hand in my essay, my hands trembling.

"Thank you, Camarie," the teacher says in a flat voice, and this time I don't even bother reminding him that people call me Cammy. I cast my eyes downward and scurry back to my seat.

There are still sixty or more students to go. With nothing left to do, I open my new Fantasy book and bury myself into the magical world of the protagonist.

All I have to do is wait, and then it'll be decided if I'm worthy of an Honours position.

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