I can finally start over. This is amazing. For a normal person, being kidnapped and taken to another county isn't exactly their idea of a good time. But I've been dreaming of this moment for a while. I can leave behind my mistakes and the consequences that come with them. I can leave behind the shame and sorrow I caused for my family (not that I really care how they feel). I can start new.

The cargo ship I'm on hits a large wave, jostling all of us below. The few people who were able to fall asleep, wake up suddenly. I have no idea what time of day it is, or how long I've been on this ship. A few people have gotten sea sick, but we're not allowed above deck more than twice a day, and even that is just long enough for us to go to the bathroom and shower off quick. We eat, sleep, and talk below deck. It is really uncomfortable and gross, as there are probably at least three hundred people down here and obviously no windows or breathing holes. At night I miss my home in Brazil when I can't fall asleep because I have a kink in my neck and a foot in my face. But I think of the new life I can start wherever we are going, and it gives me hope.

I wake up to the loud voice of one of the crew. "Get up, we're here," he says in a gruff voice. Everyone groans and stretches, annoyed at being woken up so early. Well, technically it could be any time of day, but it feels early. He watches us with narrowed eyes, tapping his foot impatiently. "I said get up!" he yells. Everyone jolts awake and stands up quickly, lining up as best we can. "Follow me," he says gruffly, motioning up deck.

We all march upstairs, squinting in the light of the sun. It is a bright, cloudless day, and the sky is bluer than ever. I stand next to my friend Adriana who is fidgeting with her bracelets. She does that when she's nervous. I was nervous too, but I was more excited. The crew ushers us off of the large ship, and we are led into a truck that drives for about three hours. I'm sore, tired, and very uncomfortable, but the view that I see when we drive up to my new home is amazing.

We have pulled up into the driveway of a mansion that is larger than the ship that we came on. You can see the tip of the Eiffel Tower poking behind the turrets of the home. The grand double doors are pearly whilte, but everything else is a light gold color. The windows sparkle like the sun, the murals in stained glass looking like diamonds. All of the kids gasp as we get out of the vehicle, oohing and ahhing at everything we see. The front doors open suddenly, and a woman walks out. She is wearing black heels that are a few inches high, a tight red skirt, and white blouse. Her brown hair is up in a tight bun, and her makeup is put on perfectly. She smiles at us, stopping a few feet away from where my classmates and I stand.

"Hello, my name is Alice Étourdissante. Welcome to La Perle D'or," she says in perfect Portuguese, opening her arms. "I trust you had a safe journey." Most of the kids glare at her, and her smile momentarily falters, but then she beams brighter than before. "I know you probably don't understand why you're here-" she starts. "Yes we do," someone yells, "it's because you're a rich person who thinks we are servants instead of high school seniors." This makes all of the kids angry, and everyone starts yelling. I stand in the middle of all of my classmates, staring at the lady. I can see where they are coming from, as if I had a home like they do, I would have never wanted to leave. One moment they're in Disneyland, enjoying orchestra and choir tour, and the next they are forced onto a ship hours away from the life they know and love. But while none of them mind the change in the way we were supposed to act, I despise it. My parents hate that I won't act like the proper young lady that they expect, and I am constantly punished for disobeying. My siblings are the definition of perfection, so I am expected to be just like them. But I don't want to, so I never do what they asked. I never practice good manners or poise, and I never stay in my place, silently watching a horrible future unfold. You'd think that by 2069 people would have learned to treat everyone equally, but we've reverted back to the old ways of women being lessers in Brazil. The boys have to act more proper as well. I've always fought the rules and standards, and my parents hate it. The man who brought us off the ship and into the truck yells, "Quiet!" The students stop yelling immediately, as we've learned not to cross this man. We all settle down and the lady smiles again.

"I know this will take some getting used to, but I'm sure you will learn to love your new home," she says. Most of the kids in the crowd roll their eyes, but I smile. I know I'll love it here.

Alice talks to the man briefly and hands him some money. He walks away, counting out the cash. The lady then leads us into her house and gives us all a tour. No matter how mad all of the students are, they can't help but stare in awe at the grand house and decorations that line the walls. She shows us the living room that is bigger than my whole house, the dining area, the kitchen, the music and art room, the entertainment room, the laundry room, the garage, the smaller dining room, and finally our bedroom. We were all expecting sleeping bags at best, but this room looks like it could have belonged to a king. Everyone has their own queen bed and a small dresser next to it that is full of different sized clothes that we can choose from. The boys' room is painted grey and the bedding is blue and red. The girls' room is a minty green, and the bedding is a light coral color. There are large windows that have pearly colored curtains that are drawn back to let in the light. A few people run into the room and flop down on their beds, sighing as they sink into the soft mattress. Alice laughs. "I hope this will do," she says. "It was kind of on short notice, so hopefully this is acceptable. "It's perfect," I tell her, and people around me agree. Everyone is smiling, even the ones who protested against her at first, and we're all thinking that maybe this won't be so bad after all.

                                                                                          * * *

"Psst," Adriana says, "Wake up Maria." I groan and turn over on my bed. "I said wake up! Alice needs to talk to us." This wakes me up. I sit up and look around, all of the other girls rubbing the sleep out of their eyes as well. At the front of the room stands Alice, her day clothes on even though it is just past midnight. The smile that has been on her face all day is gone, replaced by a look that is pure determination. "Is everybody up?" she asks. When we all nod our heads, she nods back, taking a deep breath before speaking. "I know you don't understand why we took you from Brazil," she says slowly, as if unsure how to go on. "But tonight, I will explain everything. Get your clothes on, and get on some good shoes. I'll go wake the boys, and I'll explain everything when we are all together. Meet us outside at the gardens." She flashes us a smile and then leaves. The room erupts into whispers as soon as she's gone.

"Where are we going?"

"What do you think she'll tell us?"

"Do you think she's letting us go back home?"

"Has anyone seen my black leggings?"

I quickly get dressed in a red t-shirt and jeans, putting on my Vans and walking out the door as quietly as I can. I slip on night-vision goggles that I found in my drawer and turn them on. Adriana follows me, and soon all the girls are heading outside. We get there before the boys do (like always), so we sit on the stone benches and wait for them to come. After a while, Alice and the guys come out and join us. We all stand in a circle with Alice in the middle. After she makes sure everyone is outside, she whispers, "Follow me." She opens a gate that was hidden behind some ivy that had grown up and over the walls. Everyone exchanges looks, as pretty much the only rule she told us we had to follow to live at La Perle D'or was to not leave. Everyone looks at Juliana and Nicholas, who were both part of the student presidency at our high school before we were taken. We've unofficially named them the representatives of our group's opinion. They look at each other and shrug, so we all follow her.

We quietly creep through the gate, none of us talking. We follow her through the darkness, each of us trying not to make any noise. Alice's property is silent, but I can hear the buzz of the city in the distance. We creep around the edge of her fence, and then cross the road. She makes sure that everyone is there, then lifts up a hidden panel that has a handprint scanner on it. She scans her hand, and a door opens where a solid cement wall was. Everyone just stands there for a moment, but then we enter the secret room when Alice ushers us in.

I look around the huge cave-like space that is embedded in this tunnel. It's filled with shelves of gadgets and weapons that look like they're from a sci-fi movie. There is a huge virtual reality space that has a screen all around so the simulation is even more real. There is a platform that can open up to the road beneath us, and a large hangout space in the corner. Everyone walks in in shock, even more impressed with this than Alice's mansion. Speaking of Alice, she waves us all over to the space filled with couches and tables, and a stocked pantry with all of the good snacks. We all sit down and listen to her.

"This, my students, is the reason you are here," she says, smiling wide. Students? I think. "Brazil has taken a turn for the worse, and I need you, Brazil needs you, to fix that. I will be teaching you how to spy on the government, and eventually overthrow them when the time is right. You will be able to train with me, and learn how to take back the freedoms that you have lost. No one has to do it if they don't want, but we need all the help that we can get. Who's with me?" All of the students erupt in cheers, me louder than everyone else. After a minute, she settles us back down.

"Alright, I'm glad you're excited. But in case you forgot, it's about one a.m., so we should get some sleep. We will train here at night, when no one will be able to see or hear us. We'll start tomorrow. Alright, let's get you to bed!"

                                                                                       * * *

The next few weeks are hard and tiring. We work during part of the day, then sleep for the rest of it. And every night at twelve thirty, we all get ready to train with Alice. She teaches us how to listen in on peoples' conversations without being spotted, we learn hand-to-hand combat, and we test out how we would do in a situation with the VR area. She introduces us to different gadgets and weapons that we might need when we go back to Brazil. One night we try on costumes that we found for fun, and I put on Cinderella's ball gown. All of the girls have a fashion show, but then we get back to work. We learn more about our government and where the weak spots are so we can take advantage of them. And finally after weeks of work, Alice tells us we are ready to go back home.

"I'm so proud of all of you," she says. This is our last night at La Perle D'or, and we're celebrating our time together. "I know we've only known each other for a short time, and our first meeting didn't go quite as planned-"

"You can say that again," Adriana mutters. I roll my eyes but smile.

"-but I hope you've learned to love here just as much as I've loved having you," she finishes. Her eyes well up. "I'm going to miss you all, so very much." A few people sniffle and wipe away a tear. She shakes her head, as if to clear away the liquid in her eyes. "Enough sad stuff. We're here to celebrate! So I'd like to make a toast. To my band of warriors, may you make Brazil and I proud!" She raises her glass of sparkling cider (no wine for us kids) and we all follow.

"To making Brazil and Alice proud!" we all shout. We clink glasses and drink our sparkling apple-cranberry juice. After we've talked a bit more, it's time to say goodbye. Alice has arranged a ship just for us to take us back home, where we will stay all throughout Brasilia. I will stay in an apartment with Adriana and Dangelo, another one of my friends. After almost everyone has said goodbye to Alice, it's my turn. I give her a big hug. "Thank you," I whisper. She hugs me back.

"No, thank you," she says. "I see something special in you. Something that will change history forever." I look up at her and see her grinning like...like a proud parent, a look I've never known before. "Now go save a country!"

                                                                                      * * *

It'three weeks after we left France, and we are all together, planning our takeover tonight. We are gathered in a small room, going over our plan and finishing last minute details. I get ready in dark clothing and running shoes so I won't be seen easily. Everyone else is dressed in similar attire. We've been spying and researching on the government for a while, and we are ready. We all exit the room that we've been using as a base, and we say goodbye. We have been trained well, but there is three hundred of us, and thousands of them. The odds aren't great, even though we've rallied up other students in similar situations, and they will be helping tonight. This could be the last time I ever see my friends.

After we've all said farewell, our plan goes into action. I lead a group of me and four others around the borders of the government building and to a spot where there are no security cameras. We climb over the wall and inch towards the building. Everyone is depending on my group to make this work. We are the ones who will broadcast the message throughout all of Brazil.

Thankfully, the other group has done their job, and we find the door that they have unlocked. We go in and put on the uniforms that some of my classmates sewed for us, and we look perfect. We walk out and use the IDs we stole a few days earlier to enter into the main part of the building. Some other guards pass us in a hallway, and I tense up. But they just nod at us, and we nod back.

We finally make it to the main room where the elite guards are standing. They try to attack us, but we are prepared. I take out one of the guards, then move onto another. The guards knock out one of our people, but we've knocked out at least fifteen of them. Soon it's just the four of us who are still standing, and I head for the control panel while Adriana checks on my friend who is on the ground. I plug in my phone with the recorded message on it. I look at the other three of them who are conscious, and they nod. I take a deep breath and am about to click play when another group of guards comes rushing into the room. There are at least three times as many as before, and they quickly surround us.

I look at my friends, and they all look as panicked as I feel. If I can't finish what we came here to do, then everything we've done for the past eight weeks has all been for nothing. I can't think of a way out of this. There are too many guards to fight, as we only have five people and one of them is unconscious. None of our gadgets will work super well unless we can break away from the guards, which doesn't seem possible. As I try to think of a plan, I hear something that makes me jump.

"Attention citizens of Brazil, this is Maria speaking," my voice says over the loudspeaker in the building. I know that the message is also being said all over Brazilia, thanks to the speakers that have been installed in the streets. I look around, trying to see who pressed play. And then I see Marcia, the one who had been knocked out, standing up by my phone that I had plugged in. She doesn't look too good, but she is smiling wide, as are the rest of us in the group. All of the guards turn their attention to her and a few rush over, giving me the opportunity to break out of the circle surrounding me. "I have a very important message to share with all of you," my voice continues as I yell at my group to put on their masks. They do so, and I release a ball filled with a knock-out gas. It works, and the room is silent except for our heavy breathing and the sound of the broadcasting message. "Our future was looking so promising, but our once wonderful county has taken a turn for the worse. We are limiting our children's freedoms and treating them like they need to be perfect. We are being unfair, and we need to change this. I'm just one person, but I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. If we join together, we can change this. So who's with me?"

I watch the footage of the city that is displayed on the many screens surrounding the room. There are people who are jumping up and down and cheering in the streets, mostly my fellow classmates. Slowly but surely, others come out of their houses who heard the message and join in.

The guards start to wake up, and I motion for the four of us to quietly exit the room. When we exit, the building is chaos. Everyone is trying to figure out where the message came from. People are running around, and no one even notices us. We slip out of the building undetected and quickly go back to our meeting place. Everyone there is waiting for us, and we are greeted by a loud cheer. People hug us until we can't breathe, and we laugh until we cry. Everyone is so happy, and I am too. Even though this is only a small step to making a better country, it's a good start.