Remade

Chapter 4

Braap! Braap! Braap! Braap!

I groan as Alison aggressively throws her pillow in the direction of our alarm clock and then gets out of bed to shut the ridiculous device off.

"Why, why do we have to keep that thing so far away from our beds?" I mutter as I stretch my arms and motion over to the perfectly good bedside tables, not inches from my twin bed.

"It gives us a reason to get up. See, I'm up and you're in the process already," she says grinning, as she energetically starts looking for something to wear as if to prove a point.

"Hmph," I sigh as I get to my feet, reach my arms high over my head and then down to my toes to crack the permanent knot in my back I have from sleeping on concrete, refrigerator boxes, and park benches.

"Ugh that's disgusting," Alison groans and scrunches her nose.

"It helps me get up," I mock.

Half an hour later, Alison and I are walking down the commons to go to work. She has to go show some newbie around the place and I have to go check out my schedule.

"I swear, they're always so timid and puny, I could probably get their life story after a cup of coffee," she complains.

"Ah, give them a break, don't you remember when you were one of them?"

"Yeah but... I was different. I was awesome, not addicted to some stupid reality show and Starbucks.

"Says the one who drinks coffee like it was water."

"Hey. If I didn't drink my caffeine then I would be very, very scary. I'd probably be able to take you."

I roll my eyes and snicker as we get to the part of the part of the quad where we split up.

I turn down the brick pathway to get to my building and meet Mason, who's sitting on a stone bench, waiting to walk together as he does every day.

"Good morning sunshine."

"Or at least it was anyway," he says smiling, as he makes a big deal of picking up his long legs and gets up and plucks the dark floral patterned sunglasses off my head and puts them on. "Nice glasses," he adds, playfully tossing his head back as if he had a mane of hair.

"Thanks. Hey be careful, Jo gave those to me," I say, taking them back from him and settle them on the front of my v- neck tee.

"Well you were fast to break them in."

"Yeah and I have James's journal in my bag and put out Alison's stuff around my room," I tell him, adjusting the strap of my messenger bag on my shoulder.

"And my necklace?"

I smile and slip the small pendant from underneath my shirt and show it to him. "Right here."

"Good," he smiles. "It looks better than I thought it would," he says as I let go and let it settle near my collarbone.

"Maybe because I'm wearing it now," I tease.

"Mhhmmm, that's it," he replies and he pulls open the door to the building.

We walk into the enormous lobby of the three story building of Crimes Against Humanity. Part of the reason I love my job so much is because of the beautiful white and glass architecture of the infrastructure and the amazing view of the gardens and the beach. The room has a large entrance with wide staircases on either sides of the room near the hallways leading to the offices and conference rooms and intricate mosaic designs on the floor. It's just so breath taking and a true symbol of what humanity is capable of, like the rest of the I.