The Chosen

Chapter 2

      8am. It was time to get up. I woke up feeling like I had just fallen asleep. "I am not prepared for today whatsoever" I thought. The butterflies punched my stomach more than ever, making me tense. Luckily, breakfast is the first thing that happens in the morning. A little food will help calm me down, I hope. After getting dressed in a grey shirt and black pants, I make my way to Mere and wait for her. Her and all the other girls were wearing black pants, along with either a red, blue, or yellow shirt, to match their group colors. The butterflies came back.
      I ate with Mere once again and my eyes fell on Haydn, more than once of course. I'm pretty sure he caught me looking because he waved at me. I blushed and awkwardly waved back. I also caught Clara and her friends staring and laughing at me. I didn't have time to think about that, and did my best to forget about them.
      After the voice announced that it was time for classes to begin, everyone got up and made their way to their first station. Mere walked me to where I was supposed to go, which I was thankful for, and wished me good luck. I am grateful to have found someone like her so quickly here.
      I enter a room filled with weapons. Of course. It was just my luck. A young woman, probably in her early 30s comes up to me and introduces herself
"You must be Amethyst" she says.
I nod.
"My name is Cassie. I will be taking you through a series of tests and determine which group you will fit in with the most. You ready?"
"I think so." I try saying in my most confident tone.
She leads me towards the weapons. "That's just great." I think. "I'm going to make a fool of myself." And this is exactly what I did.
      Cassie brought me to the knives, pointed to a few targets on the wall, and told me the throw the knives at them. As soon as I picked up the knife, I knew this was not going to go well. It was truly embarrassed as I attempted to throw the knife at the target. I completely missed. I had absolutely no aim, and the sweat on my hands really wasn't helping my situation. I threw about 5 knives before Cassie tells me I can stop. She leads me to the next station, a bow and arrow, with yet another target that I have to try and hit. I had never been up close with a bow and arrow, let alone use one. This attempt went just as bad, and honestly worse than my knife attempts. I got in position, not knowing if my form was correct or not, released pressure of the bow, and was hoping that the arrow would launch. It didn't. Another failed attempt. I was giving up hope, and my confidence kept falling as she brought me to more stations containing weapons.
      At this point, I am on the verge of crying. Cassie told me I have one more station to try. When we reached it, there were no weapons, just a large screen with colored bottoms in front of it.
"Take a seat here and in a few seconds a numerous amount of questions will show up on the screen" Cassie says. "You will read each question and based on the color of each answer, you will press a certain bottom you believe best correlates with the question."
A sign of relief floods over me. Using weapons and being athletic may not be my "thing", but regular type tests are. I am smart, and I'm proud to admit it, seeing as I'm not athletic at all. The questions on the screen mainly asked what I would do in a certain situation. I tap each color based on which answer I believe is correct. My confidence begins to build up in me again. I get done abnormally quickly because Cassie tells me I am one of the fastest to finish the test. I feel a sense of pride, but I quickly swallow it down as I can be jinxing myself.
      Cassie tells me I will find out which group I am in by the end of today. I thank her politely and make my way towards the dining hall, where most of the kids are having lunch. My eyes search for Mere, and I spot her and instantly run over.
"How did you do?" Is the first thing she asks me.
"Well, weapons is definitely not my thing, but the test was alright." I say.
"Did you find out what group you're in?"
"I find out today... I'm so nervous." I say
"I'm sure you did great." she says. "And if not, there's always next year.
     Esmeray and I ate our stale pizza for the remainder of lunch, then it was time for her next class. She waved before leaving me by myself. I have no idea what I was supposed to be doing at this moment. Out of curiosity and boredom I decide to walk around and explore the large academy. I walk down hallways and pass different classes working on different things. One class had been dedicated to knives and learning to use them, another had the kids paired up to work on fighting, and the last one I passed had kids answering a series of questions, just as I had.
      I must've been completely focused on what was going on to the side of me, that I ran straight into someone. The headmaster.
"I- I am s-so sorry" I quickly stutter.
"Did I scare you?" He laughs.
"I just didn't see you" I say.
"How did your testing go?"
"I struggled with some parts and felt like I did fairly okay with the others" I say.
"Don't worry about it" he reassures me calmly. Here, there are always second chances if you did not do as best as you could've."
      After a few more minutes of talking, I say goodbye and make my way towards my dorm. I enter and walk to my bed where a bunch of clothes lay. Nervously, I take a couple steps forward. I pause and feel like screaming. I run over and pick up the shirts in front of me. I couldn't believe it. In my hands are 3 red shirts. I had been placed into the red group.