The examiner stared into my eyes as he talked, and it was a little intimidating. He seemed a little too nonchalant to be speaking of the Rejection Test. Of course, most adults were that way.
"Have you had any sort of caffeinated drink in the last forty-eight hours?" He asked. I shook my head. "No sir."
"And I assume that you will be careful not to until fifteen to seventeen hours after your test?"
"Yes sir." Simple answers were my go to. "Then lets get this over with." The man got up, reaching into his drawer and slipping gloves on. I flinched slightly at the sight of the shot-I've never been a fan of needles. He came over to me, rolling my sleeve up. "Deep breaths." He said, his voice monotone and not in slightest bit soothing. My breath hitched slightly as the needle sunk into my arm.                                           

Once as he was done, I rubbed the bandage lightly with a sigh. This was the fifth, and luckily the last one before the test. "Well done, Mr. Marshall. You may go. If you have any uncommon reaction, not including dizziness, numbness, or famine, please call the nearest bus to bring you here." I nodded. "Yeah, sure."
I left, going straight to bed.

The next morning, I awoke to the feeling of ice crumbling against my skull. Ah, the joys of having a roommate. I groaned and kicked at the air, trying to get my attacker. After many failed attempts, I stopped kicking and wiped the ice out of my eyes. I sat up and glanced around the room. No one was there. I rolled my eyes, shuffled towards my closet, and flung the door open. I heard the satisfying sound of Devan's freckled face against my hard wood floor. "Ow.." He muttered. I couldn't help but snicker. He pushed himself up from the floor. "That was not cool."   "No kidding." I spat. Devan narrowed his eyes at me, and I grinned. "You started it." I mocked. "I did not." I scoffed. "Tell it to the judge." He walked to my door, glaring at me. "Your getting it tomorrow, maybe I'll use boiling water instead of frozen." He gave me one last sinister smile before slamming my door shut.

I sat on the cold bench next to Jack, her golden hair barely touched the tips of her shoulders. "What's up?" She asked as I grabbed my spork. "Well my arm aches like heck from those stupid pre-test follow ups.. plus I have my rejection test tomorrow." I muttered.   "Hey, don't sweat it, you'll be fine." She said with a smile. "The odds are well in your favor, you know. There's like a hundred in every thousand."
"That's like, a one in ten chance, you know that, right?" I said. She sighed. "You're such a pessimist."
"You're such an optimist!" I countered. It didn't take too long to realize it wasn't much of an insult. Then came the awkward silence.

"So, oatmeal." I said after I couldn't stand it anymore. "Oatmeal." She responded. I looked over at her. "Say, Jack, where's your spork?" She rolled her eyes and held up a spoon. "I'm pretty sure your the only person who uses a spork to eat oatmeal." I shrugged. "Makes it taste better."

               * * *

I shoved my way through the crowd at the 'Fight the Rebellion' ceremony. Unfortunately, we have to attend. It's really a quite depressing place. This is the time where they cube the rebels, then they give a speech-That's the sad part, I've never really been one for standing still for a long time. It's such a long speech, the only thing they don't tell us is why they're rebelling against Storm.
If I didn't have Jack here to make jokes about the fancy-pants overweight speaker with, I'd probably die of boredom.

I pushed towards the edge of the boy section, hoping to see Jack doing the same in the girls' part. Once as I reached the end I saw Jack only a few rows down. A grin lit her face when she saw me wave her over.

"Finally you're here! I'd rather be deaf then listen to this speech everyday." She said with a moan although her smile was still there, somehow it worked. Everything was like that with Jack.

"So, you running in the race, Dex?" She asked. "No. You know I would lose sooo bad."
"You'd be fine." Jack pleaded. I made a face. "Don't you remember last month?"
"Are you still going on about that?"
"Are you still not used to it?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm running it." I laughed. "You know Wilson is running it, right?"
"Yea. So what?"
"So you're going to beat him?" She simply shrugged. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, good luck with that." Jack scrunched up her face, as if feigning sadness. "You don't believe in me." She said in a tone that sounded like she was plugging her nose. I snickered. A small smile cracked on her lips, but it soon grew into a grin, "Wanna know a secret?"

I tilted my head. Kind of a weird thing to ask when we're in the middle of a crowd..

She grabbed the collar of my shirt, yanking me forward and a rather embarrassing yelp came out of my mouth from the surprise.

She pulled me close until she could speak into my ear, and her warm breath sent chills down my spine-I didn't like the feeling at all.

"I know how to get out of this place," she began in a whisper, "Follow me. And don't look suspicious-or like a boy."

"What?"

She didn't respond, pulling me down until I was hunched over and she dragged me right into the girls' section.

I'll admit, I have never stepped foot over the line that separated us before, and I was surprised by how... normal it felt. I mean, you always hear people talking about cooties and what not, but I mean, besides the looks by the girls around me I was earning, it wasn't much different from the boys' side.

Who am I kidding? I get weird looks no matter what side I'm on.

I was curious how she was planning to get through the guards by the doors.... Here on Storm you can't exactly say, 'Family emergency'.

When we got to the edge of the crowd, I realized we weren't near the main doors. We were by the emergency exit-but the alarms would sound.

I looked over at her, head tilted, "And how-?"

"Like I said, follow my lead." She was on the move again, dragging me behind her.

I glanced around as she quickly pulled us out of the crowd. It seemed most everyone either had their eyes on the stage, or having a hushed conversation with those around them.

When I looked back at Jack, she was cracking the door open just slightly. I didn't understand why she didn't open it the whole way until she placed a sort of magnet against a spot on the inside of the door frame. She then quietly opened it the rest of the way.

"Come on!" She said in a whisper.

I didn't hesitate, quickly following her out. I heard the door shut behind us, and I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding.

She pulled me into the bare streets, and I looked around. I'd never seen it so empty..

"I didn't know that stadium was big enough to clear all the traffic." Jack remarked. "Maybe we just have to accept that people might actually like Mr. Jell-O's speeches." She shuddered.

"Never." I replied instantly. "I'd be disgusted at anyone who'd admit that." I added, which made Jack laugh. I smiled.

We turned a corner and saw a couple of people, dressed in dark clothing. "I thought everyone was at the ceremony?" Jack whispered to me. I nodded. "And they're not guards. What're they up to?" I replied, crouching so they couldn't see me. Jack must've gotten the idea because she followed my lead. I could hear their voices, but they were too muffled to make out. "We need to get closer." Jack muttered. I looked at her as if she were crazy. She shrugged. "Call me a daredevil, but I think we may be onto something." I rolled my eyes, and before I knew it, she was on the move. I shuffled along behind her, being careful not to make a sound. The voices became more clear with every step we took. Once as we could hear them almost perfectly, we dropped behind a garbage bin.
"-don't know what we do with them." I heard one of the women say, her voice seemed to be laced with anger. "And what happens when they find out? We need to finalize the procedure." Another said, this time a raspy male voice. I had to fight the urge not to peek out. "Not enough. We need more.." The woman hesitated. "Someone's here." She said, her voice seemed to have lost all emotion. Her words sent chills down my back. They couldn't have known we were there.. right?

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I jumped. I turned quickly and realized it was just Jack. "We need to go, now!" She whispered as she quickly moved away. I nodded and followed after, not far behind. I snuck a glance towards the mysterious people, but they were gone. They just... vanished. "Jack..?" I said, turning my head back towards her, but she was gone, too. "Shoot." I muttered and began sprinting in the direction she was headed. Maybe I should run the races.. just to keep up.

After a few minutes, I gave up. I'd lost her, and I'm not even familiar with this part of town. I started walking back to the stadium. I wouldn't go inside, but at least I knew the way back to my dorm from there... that is if I can find the stadium. I was completely lost. I stepped towards an alleyway. Not the smartest place to go when you're lost, but the fastest way to get to places if you can't hail a cab. And since all the taxi drivers-unless those couple of people were some-are all at the stadium, I'm out of luck. The stadium. Where I should be. But no, I had to follow Jack. Or did she follow me? I can't remember. It's not like it matters now.
"There!" I heard someone yell. They could've just spotted a bird, but my instincts took over and I ran. I ran faster and harder then I ever had before. And I ran straight into Jack. She let out a yelp as we tumbled to the floor.
"Dex!" She exclaimed, crawling out from under me. "Sorry.." I muttered, regaining myself. "There's more people out here." Jack whispered. I raised an eyebrow. "You heard them too?" She nodded, standing up and wiping her jeans off, she thrust her hand out towards me, helping me up. "Thanks. You know the way back, right?" I asked with a cheesy smile. "I think so." Was her reply.
"That wasn't very convincing."
"Shut up and follow me." I did as I was told. For once.