Rebel

Chapter One

"CLOVER BRIAR!!"

Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap

I skid to a stop almost falling over in the process

"That's me!" I chirp, smiling like I did nothing wrong.

I mean I obviously did right? That's why they're yelling my name right? Well, let me tell you a story.

See I live on the Islands of Amaryllis, which has a stupid system of rating. When you're born you are given an injection that messes up your DNA. When you turn 12 a number between 0-10 appears on your wrist. Then you're shoved into one of the 3 categories. If you are a 5-7 lucky you! You're a regular and you get to have a normal life with a family and a nice small house and you get to work for the Golden! The Goldens are the rich, fancy people who think they're better than everyone else. They live in fancy mansions and never work and get wonderful meals and beautiful clothes. Now if you lose this rigged lottery you become a Lesser. The ones with 2s,3s, and 4s as their numbers. They're shipped off to the island of Gladiolus to work in the factories and farms. They live in tiny houses and wear donated clothing. Most of them die from factory work but they won't tell you that. No one knows what happens to the 0s and 1s. That's just for the Perfect to know. Anyway back to my life. As you heard, my name is Clover, and I'm on the run from the law.

My law-breaking career started at birth. My parents were Lessers who wanted to keep their children. So they gave my twin brother to the doctors instead of me and then they shoved me in the baby bag and took me home. One of the rules on our islands is that Lessers have to give their children up to be raised on the regular island and so they don't die till their 12. No idea how my parents got away with taking me home. So there I was, the youngest on the island of Gladiolus, being taken care of by the many moms who never got to see their children grow up. There was a party for when I took my first steps. My best friend was a 15-year-old by the name of Juniper. She's the one that gave me the picture. I grew up a happy child, but all that ended when I was 4. It was a nightmare. People were screaming and yelling when I was taken away. I still remember what happened. They came to the door and asked for my parents. My mom tried to hide me. It didn't work. They found me and told me that I was going home. I yelled. I think I punched one of them. In the end, they got me and I was dressed in my too-big white dress with a bag of my things with me. In the bag were my favorite book, a four-leaf clover necklace, and a picture of the lesser island on my 3rd birthday. Those were the only things I owned.

The people who had taken me from my family gave me to a woman in a green dress. I didn't say anything when she introduced herself as Mrs. Ginger. I didn't say anything when she took me to the big building with the iron gates. I didn't say anything as we climbed the stairs to my new room, and I definitely didn't say anything when she introduced my new roommates to me.

I took the last bed available in that small room. Over the years some of the girls moved out because they got adopted, normally by a young Regular couple whose child had gotten a bad number. But once you reach a certain age you're stuck. No one wants to adopt an 11-year-old. That's where the story starts. On the 23rd of April, when everyone is asleep. Everyone except the girl from the Lesser island.

Of course, I was awake. It was the day before my birthday or as I thought, the day before I got to go home. Unlike lots of little girls and boys in the orphanage, I didn't want to be regular. I wanted to go home. So with that in mind, I stayed awake, staring out the window. Waiting till I get my number. But of course, the universe hates me.

"Clove!" My bunkmate Lavender yelled jumping on me.

"Go away Lav!" I stuck my hand out, flailing till I found my mark. Lavenders face. See Lavender was also 12. She had gotten her number last week and we threw a party between us and our other 2 friends. She had gotten a high number of course but not high enough to be a Golden. She had these honey-brown eyes that looked like they had flecks of gold in them and long blonde hair that she always tied into two loose braids. She never thought of herself as pretty but I knew plenty of people who disagreed, me included.