Prisoner 617

"Are you ready?"

Brie Anne Calloway looked to her left and saw her best friend Addison Holiday.  She nodded with a smile as she looked around the large room, concrete room, spotting a table with uniforms.  She let her hazel eyes scan over to the other cadets and felt a shiver of excitement.

Today was the day they were graduating the Academy.

She looked around at the other five young adults that stood in the room.  They were looking around the large space, their eyes filled with excitement and slight fear.  It's not every day that you get assigned to the largest prison in your city, especially when they were so young.   Brie Anne was the youngest, and just celebrated her twenty-first birthday. 

A door to their right slammed open and all five sets of eyes landed on a burly man who was stalking into the room, his ice blue eyes cold and calculating.  "Cadets," he greeted, a smile trying to soften his features, and failing miserably.  "Today you graduate, how do you feel?"

"Good, sir!" The five chorused together.

The man paced in front of them, staring them down in turn.  When he came to Brie Anne, his eyes flickered with interest when she refused to look down.  "What's your name, Cadet?"

"Brie Anne Calloway," she replied, her chin held high.  She could see the lithe blond named Grayson looking at her as though she had gone crazy.   Her curly brown hair had fallen loose from it's ponytail and was hanging loosely around her shoulders, and her hazel eyes were defiant.

The officer nodded, making a note of it.  "Here you'll be Calloway," he said tersely.  "And I suggest you drop the attitude, girl, or  you'll be doing a lot more than what I'm assigning you."

"Which is?"

"The cells on floor six could use a good cleaning," he said before walking down the line. "Now, all of you have graduated and I expect that the Academy has taught you well.  Go get change and meet me at the Canteen after you're done."  He walked to the door.

Brie Anne walked over to the table and quickly plucked up a uniform in her size before walking to the unisex changing rooms.  She caught Grayson looking and shot him a glare before saying, "Why don't you just take a picture?  It's not like I broke a law by speaking my mind."  She yanked her sweater over her head and quickly replaced it with the starched navy shirt.

"But before you even got your uniform?" He replied, graciously giving her respect by looking away. "That's bold, Brie."

Addison rolled her blue eyes and looked over at the other two boys, Matt and Joseph.  She smiled when they shrugged and continued to get dressed.  "You know," she said quietly. "He does have a point.  You're lucky that you didn't get stuck on food duty or something."

"Because cleaning cells is such a perfect way to start my job," she replied bitterly as she buckled her belt.  She looked in the mirror and pulled her hair into a tight bun before placing her hat on, frowning.  "I don't get why rookies have to stick out in this stuff.  I don't recall officer Strict having a hat."

"Shh," Joseph said, his innocent blue eyes wide. "He might be listening."

"He won't listen in on our conversations in the locker room, Jo," Matt said quietly, looking at his little brother as though he had gone crazy.   "Relax, the worst we'll be doing is following the older officers around to the cells."

"Great," Grayson said, finishing getting dressed. "Are y'all ready to get started?"

Brie Anne paused, thinking.  "Why don't you four go on ahead, I'll meet you at the Canteen after I'm done cleaning."