Just Wait...

Part 1

Part 1

Chapter 1

Today is the day. Today is the day of the Choosing. My hands are shaking and my journal is empty. It only includes this:

January 1, 3256: Choosing day. 13th birthday of all children born 3243.

I am now thirteen. I go to Greater School. It is for those who are extremely smart. Today, I must leave my family forever. I cannot think of another day like this. Goodbye, Father and Mother, Brother and Sister, I hope thee will still be happy and will not miss me. And with that note, I left.

Chapter 2

"Hey Andrew!"

From the crowd, I hear a voice calling my name.

"Hey James!" I reply. He is one of my friends from Greater School. I hope he makes it into the Ingenious. My own desire is to also enter the Ingenious Clan. The Society in which I live in is split into seven sectors. The four main sectors are the Wise, the Daring, the Ingenious, and the Honest. Another sector is our central government, the Wise Wealth. The other two sectors are residential and educational sectors.

The auditorium is huge. Five hundred rows of seats, and three balcony floors as if the seats aren't enough! We are organized in order of our last name. My last name is Zahn. Andrew Zahn. I am at the end of everything. I was last to be born on January 1st 3243. 23:59. The minute before midnight.

"Please take your seats everyone!" the loudspeaker announces. "Settle down now everyone!" We take our seats as I sit in the 500th seat. There are exactly 500 children at the Choosing Ceremony.

"Are you nervous?" someone asks me. I don't answer. I just sit quietly and wait.

"Today is the day when many of our child citizens will become men and women." The Eldest Wiser appears before our eyes, projected on the large 360° dome screen.

"Today is our 100th annual Choosing Ceremony!" The crowd erupted into thunderous applause.

"We are proud to announce that we have something new for this year!" he continued. "Today, we have brought to you the truest choice of entering a clan. You will take a standardized test, which you will determine of which sector, and if you pass it, you will enter the clan. Also, due to too many people, and too little workers, all failures will become of the Common People, for as you may know, they are our laborers, our maids, our slaves, and our property. They live under the crack of humanity's whip and deserve to be punished."

A series of gasps and murmurs emerged from the crowd.

"We will call you up by rows and you will select your destiny... or failure." The Eldest Wiser disappeared from the screen and a stage appeared with a portals to who knows where.

"Row A, please come up to the stage and enter your desired sector." The loudspeaker announced. "Row B"... "Row H"... "Row Y"... and finally, "Row Z, please come up to the stage and enter your desired sector." I READ THE OPTIONS ON THE PORTALS.

"Wise, Honest, Daring, ah! Ingenious." Yellow with swirling lines of blue and red. What a beautiful sight. I held my breath and everything went blank.

Chapter 3

A blank room now faced me. A single chair. A pencil and what? And a paper? Is this what the Ingenious Clan looks like? And then I remembered, we had to take a test. I sat down. A desk appeared in front of me and the pencil sharpened and the paper...grew words on it!

A screen shone in front of me. Two buttons, one to the right, one to the left.

"Are you ready to take the test?" A speaker announced. The two buttons flashed. One was green and said "I'm ready" and the other was red and said "I'm not ready." I pushed the green one. The screen sizzled away and I was left with the test, a light, and a pencil.

"Part 1 is Science.This is a timed test with 30 questions. You have 60 minutes. Begin... now." I set to work on the test.

The first part was a breeze. So was Geography, History, Languages, Writing, Reading Comprehension, and Technology. But the last part struck me like a rock.

"Part 8 is Mathematics. This is a timed test with one question. You have fifteen minutes to finish. Begin... now."

One question! I thought. This should be pretty easy. The paper appeared before my eyes and... what's this?

Question 1: Albert and Bernard have just become friends with Cheryl. They would like to know her birthday. Cheryl gives them a list of ten possible dates.

May 15 May 16 May 19

June 17 June 18

July 14 July 16

August 14 August 15 August 17

Cheryl then tells Albert and Bernard separately the month and the day of her birthday respectively.

Albert:I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know that Bernard does not know too.

Bernard:At first, I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know now.

Albert:Then I also know what Cheryl's birthday is.

So when is Cheryl's birthday?

I was stumped. I started to sweat. I knew that if I did not get this question correct, I would become a Common Person. I did not want this, but yet, the words bit at me like a monster. How can I solve this. I thought and thought.

"5 minutes."

Oh no. I'm running out of time. I thought and... oh! July 16th!

I wrote it down.

"1 minute."

I quickly collected all of the papers and filed them neatly in the correct folder. I pressed the "Send" button and they disappeared into thin air. I hope I did well. I bit my nails and sighed. I WOULD PROBABLY BE A GREAT COMMONER.I would be a great Common Person. He-he.

"Too late now..."

Chapter 4

As I sat back down, something bright appeared in front of me. I noticed that it was a portal. I took a deep breath and... I reappeared in the auditorium.

"We have collected the results." The Eldest Wiser announced as he appeared live to us on the stage. He was a old man, long beard, white hair, and a long cane with a snake on the top.

"We will announce you by sector and please come up as we call you. The Daring Sector: Jean Anders, Jenna Anne... The Honest Sector: Enrique Akle, Klife Azor... The Wise Sector... and lastly the Ingenious Sector: Fukle Ahner, Inge Ben..." The Eldest Wiser droned on... but where am I? "... and we are proud to announce this year's Ingenious Leader: Andrew Zahn!" I stood up and walked to the podium. The other Ingenious were cheering and clapping for me! "Andrew, we have chosen you as Ingenious Leader. What are your feelings?"

"It's a great honor to be Ingenious Leader. I am very proud of my success." I exclaimed.

"The current clan leaders will now be: Connor Aguyen, of the Daring, Andrew Zahn, of the Ingenious, Jamie Henna, of the Honest, and McKayla Lepo, of the Wise." The Eldest Wiser

End of Part 1