Glowy POV

I wake up at 5:30am, nearly before the sun even starts to rise. The volunteers are still sleeping peacefully, but we, the slaves, have to do work. I should be used to this, it's been a week, but I still want to protest, knowing I'll get screamed at by that girl Layla. I think that's her name. She's totally the farmers daughter, we all see how she has her own room at the farm. And it's no secret she thinks the exact same as the farmer about us.

Clove, especially is very mad at her. Even if she just got saved by her, there isn't much to like still.  Especially if you couldn't be left alone by her, which was currently Clove's main issue.

The sun rose low in the sky. We were up in the horse pen. They gave us 10 minutes max to get ready. That's not a lot of time, but we had to manage. I quickly get into the only other outfit I had, and try desperately to pin my wild hair out of my face.

I'm lucky I have shoes, I realize, because none of the other redheads had shoes like me. Meanwhile, I had shoes that were very sturdy. I'd just gotten them, and even if they were off-brand, they were better than nothing. 

We go outside, take roll. The air feels less smoky here.. maybe the war wasn't here yet? As I blissfully wonder, I'm snapped awake by the whistle. All of us begin to do our chores. Juli starts to sweep up all the leftover hay, and I'm apparently stuck with poop duty. Wow. Terrible luck. My luck couldn't possibly get worse, I think, unless Daniel sprays me with that hose.

As I think that, I immediately get sprayed. He says, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean t-"

"Forget it," I say, cutting him off, "It's fine."

I want to go home so bad. There could not possibly be worse than this.

Clove POV

I'm woken up by a girl. A new girl, I can tell. She's curious, maybe a bit too caffeinated, but clearly nervous. She says, "Uh.. where's my room? I'm a volunteer and they only told me to go here.."

I ask, deciding to be nice, "What's your name? They're on the doors."

She sighs, then says, "I'm an idiot. Rikari. Rikari Thompson."

I nod and reply, "Follow me."

A she in volunteering is rare. I myself believe this is unfair. I'm hoping Rikari is as nice as she seems, because I just might ask her to help me to rebel. And, having a volunteer friend would be nice here too, wouldn't it? It couldn't hurt.

The rebel thought pops out of my head as quickly as it arrived there. I lead her there. It was easy, nobody else's name starts with R.

I say, "There you go. Rikari's a pretty name, by the way."

She says, "Thank you. What's your name?"

I hesitate, but decide not to lie, "Clove. Clove Hardich."

She nods, and replies, "Rikari Thompson, as you already know. I'm extremely bad at conversations, sorry! Well, I'm heading to bed. Sorry to wake you!"

I nod. I knew it was okay, though. I soon head back to sleep, hoping to catch a few more hours before I deal with everyone's bullshit tomorrow.

Rikari POV

I told Clove I was heading to bed, but in reality, I can't. This is too exciting! I can't believe I'm finally fulfilling my dream of helping the redheads. Plus.. I kinda have a thing where I don't sleep at night, so there's that. It also does not help that I've drank 3 RedBulls before they ran out. Even if we can't afford food, we can afford energy drinks.

And now I think about random stuff. Clove is the first person to pronounce my name right. In the history of all my friends, everyone pulls the "Ri-car-ee?"

No, it's pronounced ri-CARE-ee, but when I corrected them 99% of time they just called me Rik and said my name was too hard.

I'm up, browsing around the barn. I'm trying to see who's around me. On either side of me is Cameron, and Luca. Across from me is Clove, and next to her is Jason and Chase.

Suddenly, a girl, and I can tell she's the main volunteer, and I say, "Hello," defiantly.

"Hello," the girl says, "What's your name?"

I reply, "Rikari Thompson."

She says, "Middle too."

I say, "Which one? I have 2."

She says, "Both."

I reply, "Crista, Ally."

My 2 middle names are Crista and Ally, in that order, which were both what I was almost named. So now I'm Rikari Crista Ally Thompson. When my parents say both my middle names, I'm running for my life. I know I'm in trouble.

Those names were actually my dead sisters' original names. They debated on whether to make my name one of theirs. They were both redheads that died in camps long before I was born. Miraculously, I was born blonde-headed. My parents were horrified when I had red in my hair, but it was washed out.

The alarm goes off all at once and everyone is awake. I hear talking, chatter, and murmurs. Clove is one of those murmurs. She's not exactly content with her staying here. Especially because she's way too close to That In-Charge Girl, which rumors around the camp have told me her name was Layla, and even if she'd saved her from drowning (more rumors—this place even fills you in with juicy gossip at 1am, damn!), there still wasn't much to like.

I already don't like it here. And I'm a blind, way too hopeful optimist. This has a chance of being really miserable..

Layla POV

Ugh. Even if I'd saved Clove, she wasn't much help around here. Chase hated her, but Chase hated everyone, except for me. Of course he didn't hate me. Bad things would happen if he hated me.

I know it's cruel, but I actually really like my privilege around here. How all the boys treat me like I'm their queen. And all the girls would, too, eventually.

We just got a new girl here. What's her name? Ricardo? Something weird that started with an R. That was all I remembered. I saw her and said, "Ey, Ricardo."

She looked clearly offended and said, "It's Rikari, you dumb twit."

I reply back, dumbfounded, because nobody ever spoke to me like that, "Oh, okay, sorry."

She says, "You did that on purpose. Apology denied."

Geez. She's Clove-level fiesty. God, why were all these girls so hard to mess around with? Must be their time of the month, the way they act like that. That's my dad's favorite catchphrase.. and though I think it's stupid, maybe if I put it into my head he'll like me more?

She then catches up with Clove. Of course they met. How could I be so stupid? Stupid, stupid Layla. Even if it was little, that Clove enraged me. She made friends with people she shouldn't befriend so easily! And I didn't like her friendship with that girl Glowy. I needed to break it, and fast.

I catch up with them so I can insult them. I wanted to make them mad.

"Ey, twits," I say, "That's a bad word, right Rikari?"

"The word I so badly wanted to call you is worse," she says, and then adds a cocky "Right, Layla?"

Clove says, "Yeah. There's a million things that are worse than 'twit.' You're just offended someone's finally treating you how you deserve it, you nasty pig."

I say, "Wow, but I saved your life."

Clove says, "I. Do not. Care."

Those girls were going to have it. So annoying.

Glowy POV

Chores couldn't possibly get worse, so was I grateful when they were over for a little to go the breakfast table? Yes. Did I want to admit it? No. I go over to the breakfast table, and Clove almost knocks me over, she practically sashays to the table. With the same amount of sass, too. And she'd brought a friend.

Friends so early? My anger burned, even though she did need volunteer friends. What did this girl have that I didn't? Well... She had safety, but still. Clove was one of those people that didn't care about it that, or so I thought.

"Hey, Glowy," Clove says, "This is Rikari, she's new to the camp. She'll be nice to the you and the others, just like me. Rikari, this is Glowy. She's the first friend I've made here."

"Nice to meet you," says Rikari, sticking her hand out, "I'm sorry you're here."

I instantly felt bad for being mad. This girl was so friendly. Glowy, what is with you? I guess I couldn't control how mad and jealous I was, but still. She was so nice, and here I was being mean. I regretted that now. Maybe I was an awful person.

"Hello," I say, "It's nice to meet you too. Okay, enough with the formalities, I'm starving!"

We all laugh and dig into our food. Rikari actually dug in like I did, like she hadn't eaten in days. I wondered about that. The big yellow school bus probably came to her house. She was from my city, I could tell. Or at least near us.

She saw me looking at her and said, "I'm sorry, where are my manners? My parents never fed me, so when I do get food I chomp on it. I'm sorry."

Makes sense. I look at her shirt, a shirt that's faded but says RIVER RACES FINALIST: 2008. I can tell it's hers because 2008 was four years ago and she looks about fifteen, but she still fit that shirt. Now that I think about it, though, she does look abnormally small.

I say, "No, it's fine. I was just wondering why you ate similar to me. Now I know. Thanks."

We all talk, and it's going pretty well. Until Daniel shows up, ruining everyone's parade with his mere existence. Unlike Rikari, I do not feel bad for being mean to him. If he has a problem with that, he can stop breathing.

"Hey," he says, "I wanted to apologize to you for spraying y-"

"Didn't I say to forget it?"

"Well, y-"

"So then leave it."

Clove says, "Dang, girl. You hate him, don't you?"

I nod my head honestly. It was hard to lie when my anger issues were high just by the sight of him.

Then we turn around and see someone. To that someone, Clove spits out her water, Rikari just flat out growls, and I am amazed.

It was Layla, wearing a formal dress.

And we could tell something was off. What the hell was about to happen? Were we safe? Were we in danger?

"Sorry.. what the hell? We've hardly been here a week, why is the formal dress coming out," Clove says.

"I haven't even been here for a day. I'm so confused," ponders Rikari.

"Why does she get to wear a fancy dress and we get to wear our old clothes," I ask, to nobody in particular. We could all tell the dress was brand new.

What a slap in the face. Most of us were poor. Really poor. We were lucky to even get mailed our other clothes—I got some yesterday, and Clove got hers on the 4th day from her sister Rae, who even got her extra shoes and other things she'd left at home.

The buzz was still around, though. Why was Layla wearing a fancy dress? What was happening? Were we supposed to just bow down to her because of it? Were the fronts here? My mind is racing with questions and I seriously do not know if I can settle them down.

Layla takes a step forward to the microphone, and everyone's attention goes to her even further. You could hear a pin drop in the sudden silence.

"May I have your attention, please?"