"You will now have a brief, five minute meeting with the leaders of each of our four divisions so that you can make an informed decision. Of course, there is no guarantee that your division placement will be your division of choice, but your preference will be an important factor. Don't worry, though, 95% of Glitches get their division of choice, and with your Glitching level, well, there's no need to say any more," Eva explained as she led me off the stage and into a small, dimly lit room behind it. 

"The first one will be here shortly, good luck." And with that, she left the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Seconds after I took my seat in one of the two chairs, it creaked open again. 

"Well hello again, Claire!" Came Ellie's cheerful Cookie voice. 

"You already know me, but for formality's sake, I'm Ellie Ross, Cookie leader." 

"Hi Ellie," I smiled politely as she took a deep breath and began.

"We Cookies are mostly responsible for brightening the mood around here. Our job is to make the Glitches feel more like normal kids, and we do it by organizing the annual WGO dance, the Glitchketball games, and all the other entertainment. The biggest part of being a Cookie, though, are our cash missions which are the source of WGO's funding. Basically, we Code people to give us free cars and money, but it's really not as simple or as devious as I make it sound."

"So you're happy Glitch thieves?" 

"Happy Glitches, yes, but we are definitely not thieves! It's more like shopping than stealing really. Every week, the Government people draw out a list of specific things we need to get from specific places and they give it to me. I divide up the work, collect all the items from all the other Cookies, and deliver them to Amanda." 

"What if you don't?" I asked. 

"What do you mean?" 

"What if someone forgets to bring something in, or something goes wrong and Amanda somehow doesn't get everything she asked for. What happens then?" 

"It rarely ever happens, we Cookies are really good at what we do," Ellie started to get a bit nervous and began trying to steer me away from the topic, but it only made me more curious.

"It rarely happens, that doesn't mean never," I continued. "What if it does? Tell me or I won't have enough information about Cookies to chose you guys." I didn't really want to have to threaten pretty, sweet Ellie, but it looked like that was the only I was going to get anything out of her. 

"Amanda knows everyone's darkest secret, and she's not going to hesitate to use yours against you if you don't follow her instructions to the letter." 

"So she's a blackmailer, huh?" I tried to remain confident even though my fears of the mysterious Amanda were deepening every minute. 

"One day, a few years ago, we Cookies forgot to get Amanda the tube of toothpaste she asked for. We thought she wouldn't care. We got her two luxury cars, why would she give toothpaste a second glance? I didn't know how wrong we were until I walked into her office. Oh boy, after what happened that day... I kind of wish she was a blackmailer." 

"What could possibly be worse than blackmail?" I asked, my stomach flipping. Maybe Dad was right and Amanda was planning to start World War III or something. She certainly seemed like the right person to do it. 

"Ask Megan," Ellie lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. "She knows, she knows all too well." Before I could respond, I heard a quick knock on the door. 

"Time's up, Ellie," Eva yelled. 

"Coming!" Ellie stood up and walked out the door. "Bye Claire! Good luck!" 

"You don't need me to tell you that being a Codie is the next best thing to Government for you to know it," she began. 

"That's it? No hello? Nothing?" 

"We Codies frown upon unnecessary greetings. You greet a person once every day, and then you're done. It wastes a lot of time, you see. As it is, we're very busy people." I nodded, I was just going to listen to this to be polite. I had no intention of being a Codie even though my level would allow it.

"The Codie complex is the most modern and efficient one in WGO, our offices are made of pure glass, our gardens are lush with Coded plants, and the complex runs completely on solar power! Not a bit of space is wasted, not in our schedules or our residences. 

Unlike the other divisions, we don't waste our time with recreation in order to achieve optimal usage of time. You might say we'd get too tired too quickly without down time and as a result have a reduced work capacity, but it's actually quite the opposite. Our extremely regulated food and sleep cycles give us extra energy to get through our long days. 

We spend our time inventing and developing revolutionary Code technology, combining our intelligence and Glitching abilities to produce results ordinary humans have never dreamed of. Our works include the invisibility shield that protects WGO, long distance Coding, our Code based emergency response system, and many more. After this, I know that we'll be your first choice. See you in the complex!" Eva strutted out of the room confidently and I seized the opportunity to roll my eyes at her back. 

What a snob. 

"Hey Claire, I'm Blake, a.k.a. The Blade, leader of the Speedie division." A relaxed looking blonde guy in a t-shirt and basketball shorts walked into the room. 

"The Speedies are basically WGO's protectors. We're like the police, the firefighters, and the lawyers all in one. As our name suggests, we're all about speed. You'll probably find us on our complex's track when we're not on the job. We Speedies don't really care about your Glitching level because our strength is more our bodies than our Code, so if you have a high level but aren't really a physical person, Codies or Government might be better for you." 

Yeah, I was definitely considering this.

"So what do Speedies do for fun besides running?" 

"Oh, we're major Glitchketball geeks," Blake laughed. "You probably don't know what that is yet, but it's the official sport of WGO. There's usually a lot of playing and watching it down at the Speedie complex." 

"Okay, fair enough," I smiled. Blake didn't. 

"Bye, and good luck," he said lazily. "I'm not going to say that I hope you choose us, though, because it's your decision and my hope's probably not going to make a dent in it." I laughed, Blake seemed like a funny guy if distant at times. I kept the Speedie option open.

A minute or so after Blake left, a guy with stringy hair and ripped clothes who looked and smelled like a garbage can walked into the room. I instantly moved my chair away. 

This might even be worse than Eva. 

"Hey, I'm Tim, leader of the Sloppie leader," he said in a soft, wheezing voice. "You having to meet with me is just a formality, nobody ever sets out to be a Sloppie." You got that right.

"Basically, we Sloppies are the clean up crew. We serve food, pick up trash, sweep the floors, clean the toilets. Stuff like that. I know what you're thinking. 'why in the world would anyone want to be a Sloppie?' The answer is, no one does. 

We're just the ones nobody wanted, the ones who didn't make it. We're the aspiring Codies with Glitching levels too low and the wannabe Speedies who were too slow. We're the would-be Cookies who just didn't have that smile and the ones Amanda didn't pick for Government. Hope you don't end up one of us losers," Tim smiled softly before he left the room, and I kind of felt sorry for him.

I regretted my initial disgust toward the Sloppies, they were people too and they deserved respect, if anything more respect than most of us. After all, they were stuck cleaning up after everyone else for the rest of their lives. 

"It's time to come announce your choice on stage and receive your official placement," came Eva's muffled voice from outside the door. I stood up, stepped outside, and smiled. I was ready.