Emaria

chapter three.

Wc: 2030

March rolls by silently and before we knew it, it was the end of April. Instead of Earth giving us harsh snowstorms and life-threatening thunderstorms, we moved to the part where it just rains all the time, floods rule the streets, and the winds keep us gripping to anything in sight.

Jordan and I were silent on allotment day, while the other two kept their usual passive aggressive banter. Clowie tried to keep our spirits up, but we could tell she was struggling. Madison knew something had happened with Jordan that we weren't telling her. She tried to pry it out of me each day until the allotment, but I stayed silent. It's hard not to tell her everything knowing she could've changed Jordan's mind. And it seemed selfish, like I only cared about Jordan leaving and not Clowie's inevitability. But I didn't know how to help Clowie. We became so close in such a little amount of time, not thinking about it is better.

Half-way through lunch, someone decided to poke at the elephant.

"Okay," Clowie starts, "Can we get over that I'm probably gonna die?" Okay, more like stab the elephant in the throat with a broadsword, but close enough.

"Besides there's no telling that I was chosen anyways, I'm not the only kid with bad grades. There's no telling what the Dean or any of the other teachers are thinking." She pushed her half-eaten plate of food to the middle of the table. It seemed like the thought of her possibly being chosen made her lose her appetite. The group hesitated on the statement. She may not be the only kid with bad grades, but unfortunately, she developed a disruptive and uncaring attitude toward the teachers.

"You're right, Clowie." Jordan exclaimed. "The odds of it being you is pretty low if you think about it."

"Yeah, she'll be fine." Madison added. I smiled and nodded. It seemed like we were just trying to make ourselves feel better, though none of us were very convincing. For the most part, we didn't have to worry about the allotment until this year, our junior year, since they only select upperclassmen. I wasn't very lucky last year with Alice, and I had a feeling my luck had worsened.

"And just in case this is my last day," Clowie looked down at the table solemnly, "Can we make these next four hours the best four hours on Earth?" I let out a small laugh as I shared a look with Madison and Jordan.

"Of course we can."

We were determined to make this the best last day of school. Clowie and I took our shoes off and slid through the halls during passing periods, singing our own versions of songs. Jordan threw papers with crazy and horrendous drawings on them at us during our sixth hour, making it almost impossible to not break out laughing. Madison took the time to steal multiple dry erase markers from various classes before our eighth hour where we made swords and had mini sword fights. And anytime a teacher or guard were in our presence, we would quickly stop our antics, but none of the students said a thing. If anything, they looked at us in wonder.

Finally, the bell rang for passing period right before the allotment was scheduled to happen. The four of us end up in the bathroom with different shades of Clowie's lipstick. We wrote all over the stalls and on the mirror knowing that no one else will be in here until after the allotment happens. I wrote 'FREE EARTH' on the mirror in bold red letters. To my left, Jordan drew a butterfly, and used one of the dry erase markers to color its wings blue. Next to her, Madison scribbled something illegible in chicken scratch while Clowie, taking up as much space as she can and not caring, wrote 'GOODBYE!'. I didn't say anything. No one did. For a long few moments, it's silent once again.

The entire student body and staff is required to attend the allotment. The soldiers silently but firmly ushered us into our seats. Madison, Jordan, and Clowie sat on my right in that order, and on my left sat a boy I've never seen before.