Dancing In The Thunder

3-A Little Better..

Glowy POV

I wake up at 5:30am, nearly before the sun even starts to rise. The volunteers are still sleeping peacefully, but we, the slaves, have to do work. I should be used to this, it's been a week, but I still want to protest, knowing I'll get screamed at by that girl Layla. I think that's her name. She's totally the farmers daughter, we all see how she has her own room at the farm. And it's no secret she thinks the exact same as the farmer about us.

Clove, especially is very mad at her. Even if she just got saved by her, there isn't much to like still.  Especially if you couldn't be left alone by her, which was currently Clove's main issue.

The sun rose low in the sky. We were up in the horse pen. They gave us 10 minutes max to get ready. That's not a lot of time, but we had to manage. I quickly get into the only other outfit I had, and try desperately to pin my wild hair out of my face.

I'm lucky I have shoes, I realize, because none of the other redheads had shoes like me. Meanwhile, I had shoes that were very sturdy. I'd just gotten them, and even if they were off-brand, they were better than nothing. 

We go outside, take roll. The air feels less smoky here.. maybe the war wasn't here yet? As I blissfully wonder, I'm snapped awake by the whistle. All of us begin to do our chores. Juli starts to sweep up all the leftover hay, and I'm apparently stuck with poop duty. Wow. Terrible luck. My luck couldn't possibly get worse, I think, unless Daniel sprays me with that hose.

As I think that, I immediately get sprayed. He says, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean t-"

"Forget it," I say, cutting him off, "It's fine."

I want to go home so bad. There could not possibly be worse than this.

Clove POV

I'm woken up by a girl. A new girl, I can tell. She's curious, maybe a bit too caffeinated, but clearly nervous. She says, "Uh.. where's my room? I'm a volunteer and they only told me to go here.."

I ask, deciding to be nice, "What's your name? They're on the doors."

She sighs, then says, "I'm an idiot. Rikari. Rikari Thompson."

I nod and reply, "Follow me."

A she in volunteering is rare. I myself believe this is unfair. I'm hoping Rikari is as nice as she seems, because I just might ask her to help me to rebel. And, having a volunteer friend would be nice here too, wouldn't it? It couldn't hurt.

The rebel thought pops out of my head as quickly as it arrived there. I lead her there. It was easy, nobody else's name starts with R.

I say, "There you go. Rikari's a pretty name, by the way."

She says, "Thank you. What's your name?"

I hesitate, but decide not to lie, "Clove. Clove Hardich."

She nods, and replies, "Rikari Thompson, as you already know. I'm extremely bad at conversations, sorry! Well, I'm heading to bed. Sorry to wake you!"

I nod. I knew it was okay, though. I soon head back to sleep, hoping to catch a few more hours before I deal with everyone's bullshit tomorrow.

Rikari POV

I told Clove I was heading to bed, but in reality, I can't. This is too exciting! I can't believe I'm finally fulfilling my dream of helping the redheads. Plus.. I kinda have a thing where I don't sleep at night, so there's that. It also does not help that I've drank 3 RedBulls before they ran out. Even if we can't afford food, we can afford energy drinks.

And now I think about random stuff. Clove is the first person to pronounce my name right. In the history of all my friends, everyone pulls the "Ri-car-ee?"