Begin (COMPLETED)

Chapter 10- Big Brother

Jordan sits down, lost in thought.

"I can't help but wonder... why would Riley stick her neck out for me by holding the door open? Everyone knows that if you're late, that's your problem. You just don't do that."

The clock ticks slowly, each second seeming to drag its feet.

"Was it because I caught her on the stairs? Does she feel like she owes me something?"

Voices drone on in the background like locusts, constantly buzzing.

"But even so, the consequences of what she's done... did she know what was going to happen? Surely she knew that this could throw a "savage" like her back into reconditioning. I knew something was off about her, having dark skin like that."

The heater kicks on, its monotone groan filling the classroom.

"No, you shouldn't think about someone like that. I swear... this place... it gets into your head."

Chairs shuffle slightly as people twitch nervously in their seats.

"She's still different though, not like everyone else. In fact, half of the people here barely know their own name. They speak whatever words are fed to them like bittersweet candy, but not her. No, she stands there and says whatever she wants, and wherever her mind leads her, she follows. I wish I could be like that."

"It's almost like she's been untouched by... this... all of this. Somehow, throughout everything they've pushed into her head, she managed to keep a piece of herself. Maybe she will always have that."

"But something, something is different about her. Maybe she can be her own person and not a shell of herself, a reflection of what everyone else wants her to be. Maybe she thinks for herself and not from books out of trash cans like me. Perhaps she is brave enough, or possibly even stupid enough, to dare to dream about something more. Either way, she's not like me, and is nothing more than a mirror image of who I used to be."

The bell rings and Jordan flinches, losing her train of thought. Wordlessly, she picks up her bag and gets ready to head to her next class.

"It's sad really, not remembering who you were. That key part of you, where you've been, is supposed to guide you. It's supposed to tell you where to go next, who you're supposed to be, right? That's what my dad always said... my dad..."

"Where are you going?" A voice behind her asks, Jordan turning to see Riley staring back at her.

"To my next class. Duh."

Riley looks confused for a moment before answering, "But it's the end of the day. Aren't we supposed to go to detention or something?"

"Really?"

Jordan looks down at the old watch on her wrist, its face cracked and its band well worn. On it, in between the numbers, it says, "WINGS." She had found it in the trash years ago with her mother, who let her keep it instead of selling it.

"She always used to say that we could've gotten something nice for that watch, like maybe even a trip to the movies and everything." Jordan thought, spacing out for what must've been the fiftieth time today.

"Um, hello?" Riley says, waving her hand in front of Jordan's face.

"Yeah, yeah, detention somethin' somethin'... I know." She mumbles in reply, not wanting to go through another detention.

"So... where do we go?" Riley asks as she looks down at the floor, nervously moving her sneaker back and forth across the dirty tiled floor.

"You've never been before?" Jordan asks, mildly surprised. "Well, just follow me. This isn't my first rodeo."