Independent Study (The Testing 2)

A dozen students are in the fireplace room. Only a few of them are first years. The rest must still be cleaning up from lunch. Those first years present are holding class schedules in their hands, which makes me think they’ve yet to return to their rooms. I wonder if it is the desire for company or the fear of containment that has them seated here now. Looking around, I spot a solitary figure seated on a faded yellow sofa in the back corner and walk over.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” I ask.

Enzo’s dark eyes rise up to meet mine. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

Not exactly a warm reception, but I sit anyway and notice a bandage on his left thumb. “I’m Cia Vale.”

“I know.” Enzo glances around the room and looks down at his class schedule.

A quick scan of the room tells me why. All the Tosu City first years are watching with narrowed eyes. Maybe making friends isn’t going to be as easy as I’d hoped. Still, the fact that Enzo is sitting here in the corner by himself leads me to believe he is not close with his Tosu compatriots. If I can get him alone, he might be willing to chat.

Standing, I lift my bag onto my shoulder and look at the paper in his hand. “The rain has stopped. I’m going to go out for some fresh air.” Lowering my voice, I add, “They left notes in everyone’s room. The message doesn’t give much of a clue as to what they plan on doing with us for the next week, but you might want to check it out.”

Without waiting for a response, I head for the exit, feeling everyone’s eyes on me as I walk out. While I have only been at the Government Studies residence for a few hours, escaping the pressure-filled building makes me sag with relief. The sky is tinged with gray and yellow—signs the storms are not over quite yet. I close my eyes, breathe in the damp air, and smile. The smell of the wet earth and trees helps me imagine that I am home in Five Lakes. In our backyard, sitting on my mother’s wooden bench, listening to the sound of the wind through the trees.

Longing and hopelessness snake through me. Tears prick the backs of my eyes. The desire to be with my family, to return to a time before I was selected for The Testing and still believed that our leaders were kind and fair, is overwhelming.

I walk across the wet grass to a small grove of weeping willows. The trees are tall. Old. The bark under my fingers, rough and brittle. The branches more twisted than those on the trees my father and brothers have planted back home. By their size, I would guess several of these are at least fifty years old, which means they were planted before the new strain of willow was created. The most recent version bettered the tree’s absorption of nutrients from the blighted soil. But eve

n before that improvement, the willows thrived. Of all the trees, they were the most resilient after the Seven Stages of War. Even where the soil was most corrupt, the willow found a way to survive.

After taking the knife out of my bag, I strip part of the bark away from the tree and shove it into the side pocket of my bag. The salicylic acid in the bark can be used to help reduce headaches. After seeing my class list, I have a feeling I am going to need it.

“Why did you tell me about the note?”

I jump and spin around to face a belligerent-looking Enzo. So immersed was I in the memories of home, I missed the sounds of his approach. Or maybe he is just that light on his feet.

“I thought you might want to know it was there.” The suspicion narrowing his eyes makes me add, “It’s not like you weren’t going to find it at some point.” Enzo concedes the idea with a shrug, and I notice the bag hanging from his shoulder. Giving him a smile, I ask, “How did you get out of your locked room so fast today? My guide said you beat me by seven minutes.”

This makes Enzo smile. “I detached the hinges with this.” He reaches into his bag and pulls out a thin, sharp knife. Dr. Flint is the only person I’ve ever witnessed using one. A scalpel. Clearly, Government wasn’t Enzo’s first choice either.

“Is that how you cut yourself?”

He looks down at his hand and frowns. “Yeah. I was reaching up to detach the top hinge. I figured moving a chair would take too much time.”

Time I had to take because of my short stature. While Enzo isn’t tall, he stands five inches above me. “Were your friends upset with you for getting through the locked door first? They didn’t seem all that social.”

Enzo stiffens. “Just because we all come from Tosu City doesn’t make us friends. Are you friends with everyone in your colony?”

I laugh. “We might not all be best friends in Five Lakes Colony, but we are cordial. When you only have a thousand people, it’s easier if you all at least act like you get along.” I wait for the surprise I normally see when someone hears what colony I’m from, but it doesn’t come. “You already knew I was from Five Lakes.”

“Part of our Early Studies was to study not only the colonies but the students they sent to Tosu who would be attending the University with us.” His smile is grim. “We may not have set foot onto campus until today, but our instructors have made sure we know about you.”

“Why? And where were you studying?” Were they kept away from campus because we would have wondered why they weren’t part of The Testing? Or did the University officials want us separated for as long as possible to keep us off balance when we finally met?

“We met for test preparation and our entrance exam at a school near the Central Government Building. And we studied you because our instructors wanted us to know our competition.”

“I thought the point of being here was to learn for ourselves, and to learn how best to work together to help our country. Where a person comes from doesn’t matter.”

“If you believe that, you’re not as smart as our instructor thought.” I see anger flash in Enzo’s eyes before he looks off toward the clouds that are darkening once again. And I find myself wondering what part of Tosu City Enzo is from. The clean, repaired section United Commonwealth officials helped us explore during the weeks immediately after The Testing or the side streets filled with shadows that I caught glimpses of. Is he one of the students Michal said is more dangerous because he had to fight harder to get here?

Rain continues throughout the day and evening, which keeps all but those who have to attend class inside where it is dry. While I make attempts to converse with several other Tosu City first years, no one gives me more than monosyllabic answers before turning away. The older students aren’t much friendlier, claiming they don’t have time to talk. Michal’s directives to make friends and identify potential upper-year rebels aren’t going to be as easy to follow as he made them seem.

During dinner, Ian asks Raffe, Kaleigh, and me about our class schedules. Raffe has six classes. Kaleigh five. When I say nine, the conversation at our table stops. The upper-level students give me speculative looks before resuming their dinners. Ian just smiles and tells us all to let him know if we have problems with our class load, but I catch the concern on his face in the glances he casts me throughout dinner. No longer hungry, I push my plate away.

Will finds me in my room after dinner. He too has found conversation difficult among the other first years, but it doesn’t appear to bother him.

“If they want to be jerks about it, so much the better.” He laughs and settles into one of the chairs in my sitting room. “It’ll make it more satisfying when we get better jobs after graduation.”