Chapter 3

WHEN LEO IS DONE, we pass. We go through the gate into a prison. Not literally, but that's what if feels like. I huge open building should not feel as tight and restricting as this one now does.
The sound of chattering and talking fills the arena but I want nothing more than to shrink back into my small life with no one but a few people around. I bump into people and they bump into me. I don't have enough space to even move. Leo pulls me to a more secluded area and calms me down. I pull my dress down again and lean against the wall. He holds both of my hands. I look into his perfect emerald eyes. I wish my eyes looked like that. He smooths over the side of my hair.

The sound of a microphone sounding makes my eardrums hurt and I drop Leo's grip to cover my ears. "Excuse me. All participants in the Protocol Listing are to go to their designated seats or they will be removed from the event," in other words executed. I look back at Leo and he peels my sweaty hands from my ears and wraps his own hands around them. He whispers, "I'm selfish, Jay." I shake my head in confusion: Leo isn't selfish; I don't know if he could do anything to make himself be considered as selfish. He nods, "I'm sorry, Jay. I'm sorry because I'm selfish, and I'm selfish because I can't stand the idea of someone taking this from you, so... I will."

His eyes flicker to my lips and suddenly I'm locked in a haze with his own. I still don't understand what he wants, though. What could he take that could suddenly make him selfish?

Before I can ask another question, his lips are on mine. I've never kissed a boy before. I've never had a boy's lips on my own before. I don't have time to process one more think because he's gone. He just stole my first kiss and now he's gone. I might never get to kiss those lips again.

I touch my index finger to my lips. In a way, he is selfish. Not because he kissed me, but because he did it now. Because he stole my last words to him right out of my mouth. I wanted to tell him something. I still had unspoken words that I wanted to voice and he silenced me.

I look around and only a few people are still scattering to their seats so I hurry to where I see Cal sitting. When I plop down on the seat with my name flashing in white on, it stops flashing and turns a dark grey. Cal turns to me with red eyes and a puffy face, "Where were you, Jay?"

I shake my head slowly, still in a gaze. I bring my hand to my lips again and Cal gasps. I snap my head up to meet her intense stare, something I dread to see. Her wide eyes stare straight at my lips as if she will be able to break them with a look. She looks back up at me. I think some part of her sees the part in me breaking.

The one longing to stay with her and dad and Leo. I want life to stay the way it is. But for some reason people say that they hate change, yet they still ignite it.

A beautiful looking lady steps on the stage, the sound of her stilettos clicking on the floor bring me back to reality. She has dark brown hair and a cocky smile etched on her lips. I have a strong urge to slap her. She smiles widely, folding her hands in front of her grey slip dress. She begins to speak, her eyes light up, "Today, we are celebrating our Generation Alpha XXY with the GS here in Everland. Everyone with sixteen years between their birth date, no more, no less, will be allowed a chance to show their skills. After they are chosen, they will be put into the test, regardless of the situation. As you may know, we will start the ceremony by introducing this year's course designer and then we will begin the drawings as to who will be representing Alpha XXY. We will line up the winners at the end of the ceremony and announce you to the world tomorrow," after she finishes she precedes to say this in ten million more languages.

Teens who are 16 years old, all over the world have traveled to the state capital to be here for this. Thanks to Gem's invention of the Air Portal, or what we still call a train, people can be transported from a place 20 hours away and it only takes ten minutes. We live only about 2 hours away so it only took a minute. It takes the air from in front, behind, and beside the train and pushes it behind the train, making its speed double and then double that.

I'm not nervous. The chances of one us being chosen are slim already. Over thousands of us are packed in here without room to move or squirm, yet Gem stands on stage with all the room in the world. This place is most likely miles long but we still squeeze in this place. She watches as we struggle to breath and she smiles. It astounds me that she has the audacity to smile.

I smile back.

Someone is breathing on my neck. Cal is holding hands with me. The girl on my left for some reason is inching closer. I hold my breath. I let it out. It's almost over. It's almost over. Although I try telling my mind this, my conscious is yelling at me, because I know it's not. A fat man walks on stage, he has a little stubble and a fancy black suit. When he stands on the stage, Gem has a weird glimmer in her eyes when she looks at him. It makes the hairs on my arms stand up and I sit on the edge of the seat. I want to see her more. I want to figure this impossible puzzle out.

He flashes a white pearl smile at us, oblivious to the fact we won't like him no matter what he does or says. He speaks, "Hi, everyone! My name is Jona 99902. I just want to say that this is going to be a very challenging course for you all."

I groan inwardly. I pull once more on the scarf covering my hair so it covers my face. I haven't thought much about this, I didn't want to. But now I have to. Right here, right now, I pray for my sister; the sister I don't want to lose. I already lost one, I can't lose another one. I squeeze Cal's hand tighter and she responds by giving mine another squeeze. I take a deep breath.

The shakiness in my voice is clear evidence of the emotions swirling through my body. I shaking my head subconsciously, I move the grey scarf from it's place in front of my face.
I watch as the man walks off stage. A young girl walks on stage. Her dark brown hair is curled and sits behind her ears. Her eyes look devious. She has an extravagant grey dress on. Her mocha skin complements the dress against it. Her cheekbones are high and accentuated. She walks and stands next to Gem.

Gem smiles sadly, but her eyes tell another story. For one, it's a strange mix. No wonder she's hard to figure out. She places a hand on the younger girl's shoulder, "It's only fair to my people that because your children go through this, that my should too." The girl shares a look with her mother before practically prancing off stage in her high heels. This can't be a good thing. Cal turns to me with a bloodthirsty look. It doesn't suit her.

Her soft blonde waves, stop before her shoulders and they swing back and forth when she turns her head, "We might actually have a chance. This may be her weakness." I nod my head weakly. She grimaces, "What's wrong with you? This is supposed to make you excited! You're not making that thoughtful face you make when your trying to either figure out how to get revenge or blow up the basement."
I make a face, "Gem is a genius. She wouldn't have set it up with a loophole so obvious. It was like after one of Lizzy's experiments. You always think that's end of it until something two years later pops up from it." She nods her head thoughtfully at my words although somewhere in me, I know it hasn't registered. She doesn't need to know anyway.

As she stands there on the stage, your can almost hear as the audience gathers up the courage to continue looking at her. We paint hope; we paint on a bland white canvas, hope, so we can carry on for our young but when we get to the Protocol, it's like they bleach it. And we have to paint it again, no matter how many times they bleach it. I have yet to figure out when we will run out of paint.

Gem's crisp brown lips are set in a fine line. Even from yards away, you can see the fire burning behind her eyes. She rules by fear and by fear we cower. We watch tentatively with shallow breaths as she walks swiftly to the panel. The huge screen covers most of the wall behind her. It's a ivory color as it awaits being used. I hold Cal's hand tighter. I feel her breath's heat on my ear as she whispers, "If you get chosen, "Please just don't do anything to jeopardize your chance."

Gem says clearly into the speak, "This year," she grins, "we are going to have a treat for you! Isn't that grand?" I can feel as the confusion seeps into my features and take hold of others' along with mine. I turn to Cal and she turns to me, "Oh, no." Her green eyes are wide and I'm quite sure mine are too. Gem watches as confusion and panic overtakes the crowd.

She moves her mouth closer to the microphone, her slicked back brown hair staying perfectly in line as she does so, "We are granting the person, girl or boy, with the highest total points a wish." Murmurs fill the huge space and it quickly becomes very loud. Gem grimaces and taps the panel, "Let's begin!"

She taps it again and then turns around, facing the back screen, with her hands folded in front of her slip dress. Quiet spreads like a wild fire everywhere in the area. People focus on the screen that instead of an ivory color has a grayscale wheel. This must be a joke. Not only is she going to send us to hell but she is going to mock it with a wheel; a wheel that carries our fate.

The wheel begins to spin. I look around us. Everyone around me is mesmerized by the spinning ball. The names spin around. Team One-Girl is sitting upon it. You can't even tell whose name is whose because of how many names are on the wheel. It's just like a pattern of colors drained of color.

When it lands on a thin slice of the pie, a name appears on the top of the screen. Lynn 654431. A scream is ripped from the throat of a lady. The piercing scream causes every single person in the soundproof mile-long room to turn their head towards the awful sound.