I set my alarm to wake me up earlier today. When the beeping starts, I rollover and throw my legs over the side of my bed. It's getting cold in here, so I turn down the AC so Carrie will stay asleep. After changing into a blue and white chevron tunic top and black leggings I head out to the cafeteria. Only a few have gotten up as early as me this morning, and the usually chaotic room feels peaceful and quiet. I walk to the back of the room, where the long counters in front of the huge kitchen are.

"What's for breakfast, Theresa?" I ask the short, smiley chef.

Theresa works the early morning breakfast shift, so whenever I'm up this early I talk to her.

"I was thinking pancakes or waffles, bacon, toast, sausages?" She says from under the puffy white hat.

"I'll have a pancake, some bacon and maybe an orange juice?"

"Sure thing."

"Thanks."

"Not a problem. Hey, did you know any of the newbies?" She asks curiously.

"I did actually," I reply. "Anna Hayashi, one of my best friends."

"Oh that's cool!"

"Yeah, everything's been so crazy and new around here, I had almost forgotten how much I missed her until I saw her yesterday!"

"Yes, I know. Even just being here to work is very exciting! So many new things for me too. Can I let you in on a secret?" She grins.

"Sure, what is it?" I try to hide my excitement. I love secrets, I'm always the one to keep a secret the longest, and therefore the one who people tell their secrets to. I guess that makes me a tiny bit nosey at times, always wanting to know things.

"Well, the chefs, and even the guards and maids have polls on our favourite chosen, on lunch breaks fifty percent of the time we're debating who's gonna win, or whose favourite is better!"

"Interesting," I laugh. "Have you put any of the newbies in there?" I ask, but what I really want to ask is, am I in there?

"Not really, but I'm sure some will be there soon. Probably by next week."

"Cool."

"Yeah, maybe your friend -Anna you said?- will be in there with you!"

Yes! Question answered!

"I'm in there?" I ask.

"Oh yes, you and your friends have all been very sweet to us all working here," She smiles at me and hands me my juice.

"Thanks," I smile and pull a chair over to the counter.

"You know, they say that we'll be able to watch some of your training. Actually a few have sat in on your simulations, mostly guards but I have a friend, June, who got to view one the other day."

"They uh, they see your sims?" I ask. How could they see inside our minds?

"Yes, kinda. It's quite blurry though, mostly they watch your reactions in the real world."

"Wow, that's... That's very interesting."

"Yes," Theresa replies excitedly while flipping a pancake. "Isn't science amazing?"

I nod and take a sip of my orange juice. My mouth waters just looking at the frying bacon and pancakes. I'm starving.

By the time Theresa has handed me my plate of food, people have already started to make their way to the cafeteria. I thank her again and head to my usual table to wait for my friends. A few minutes later, Anna arrives.

"Where's da squad?" She grins.

"Sleeping," I laugh. "You gonna get your food?"

"Yeah, I'll be back," She heads over to the line up, which has grown immensely since I sat down.

"Hey."

I look up to see Nate standing beside me with his tray.

"Hey," I scoot over for him to sit beside me.

"Thanks."

"Yep. Um, Nate are you mad at me or...?"

"Nope, I'm not."

"You sure? Because you've been acting weird and I don't know, It just seems like you're mad at me."

"No. It's fine, I'm not mad at you."

"Okay," I look down at my wrist and trace the blue line with my finger.

"Okay."

We sit in silence for a while before the conversation starts up again.

"So, Anna. She's seems nice," Nate looks over at me.

"Yeah, she is. We've been friends since I was ten," I look up again.

"That's nice."

"Yeah. How long have you known Jason?"

"Since I was like, seven."

"That's a long time."

"Yeah," he smiles a bit.

"We haven't talked much lately, huh?" I say awkwardly.

"Yeah. We should. Well, we are now and, yeah, but we should hang out more. Like before. Watch a movie again some night."

"That would be good," I let out a sigh of relief. "Things have been really busy lately."

"Yeah, I've missed you, Aria."

I blush and smile wider. "I've mis-"

"Geez that line is long!" Anna exclaims upon tossing her tray on the table.

"I know, right? I'm glad I got here earlier," I take a bite of my pancakes. I've already finished my bacon.

Everyone else arrives soon after, including Shaun and Erik.

"Do, do you mind if I sit here with you?" Erik smiles hopefully.

"Not at all! Take a seat!" Jason pats the spot beside him.

"Thank you very much."

"Not a problem."

I look out at the bustling cafeteria, and the table where all my smiling, laughing friends sit, and I smile. This is home to me now. What an odd thought.

* * * * * * * * * * *

There was an announcement during breakfast. That before we start another simulation, we need to come and choose at least two defence and offence methods to learn. I don't know why. What does it have to do with abilities? Especially since they put so much effort into making sure we don't rebel against guards or start fights with our fellow chosen. Maybe it helps us know how to use the abilities. Seems like it'll be fun to pick though. I walk with other Sixteens to the office we were told to go to. They separated the groups this time. It'll make it easier for everyone to have a chance to choose.

Looking over the group, I see that of course there are no longer fifty of us, but our group has more than any other. We have forty-six left, which means only four Sixteens are gone. I feel bad for the twelves, only six of them remain. Most were eliminated because their brains and their memory weren't compatible to the lighting memory.
I access mine so I can remember the forty-four Twelves that are gone. It still hurts to use, but not so bad anymore.

I see Nate two places behind me and I fall back beside him.

"Hey, how many are you picking?"

"Depends on what they are," he answers. "When I was little my grandpa used to show me how to use his old bow, so that'd be really cool if archery was an option."

"Ooo, that sounds fun! I heard a rumour that we're graded on how well we do with whatever we pick. Do you think we will be?"

"Maybe. I think a bit of competition, seeing who's going to be best at whichever thing, will make us try harder. So yeah, they might grade us."

"Did you notice Sixteens seem to be doing best?" I ask.

"Yeah, Seventeens are doing pretty well too."

"Not so much Twelves and Nineteens."

"Nope."

"That sucks," I look over the room. The walls are chocolate brown, all the furniture is mahogany, two lamps sit on either side of the desk and the faded glow illuminates the room just enough for everything to be clearly seen without the room being bright. It looks so different from the sleek, bright modern interior of the rest of Glaxe.

Finally we're at the desk where a smiling woman with blond hair and big round glasses sits. She points at a sign up sheet and the options, then offers to explain them if we don't know what they are. Nate writes one of the required two down right away. I scan the list. Knifes, interesting. Sword, woah, sounds ninja-y. Archery, awesome. That must be one of the ones that Nate wrote down. Hand to hand, cool, cool. Guns, okay shooting practice, hmm. The last one is nunchucks. More ninja stuff, eh?

I write down Archery and Hand to hand then decide to add guns. Paintball is fun, maybe that'll be a training thing. Plus, extra course, extra credit. Maybe it'll be included in the evaluation for who gets the abilities.

I smile and leave for the next person to write down their choices. On the way out I pass Melody, who's still in the line, I stop to say hi then continue on my way out. I check the time my phone on the way down the hall, 10:30. Enough time for a sim if they choose to give us one today. I text Carrie to meet me at the aquarium, and grab us a box of candies to share from the vending machine.

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Hey guys! How'd you like chapter 21? I'm on vacation right now, so I don't have quite as much time to write. Also, wow I'm almost at 4.5k reads?! Last time I updated I had just reached 4k! You guys are awesome! :D thanks so much! I love reading your comments, so if you had any thoughts, please comment! And don't forget to vote :)
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