Conbellia

Chapter 2

The woman in the uniform smiles at me.
"Now, you'll have to run for 30 minutes on this treadmill. Good luck." She presses the "go" button and leaves. I can feel the exhaustion from the day creeping in. I've done so many tasks already. There were math tests, other mental tests and even musical tests.
Ten minutes pass. There's a terrible burning in my chest and stomach. After 15 minutes I find myself dreaming of a tiny little bit of water. 20 minutes are over.
Why is my throat that dry?
25 minutes. I'm dying.
30 minutes. My guide enters. I wis I could just break down.
This is a test!
I force myself to breath. In and out. In and out. In and out.
"OK Jeanine you're done for now."
She offers me a bottle of water which I can barely hold. With last effort I manage to drink a mouthful.
"You can take an hour-long nap now" she says. Then she leads me to a room with a beautiful bed.

I can't remember falling asleep.
Just as I open my still sleepy eyes. My guide comes in again. She escorts me down the hall into a waiting room. There are hundreds of other kids my age sitting at small round tables. Some are drinking smoothies, others are having a little snack and few just talk.
I join a group of girls from my class. In my country, you go to school from the age of 7 to the age of 16. Then comes the study of your job in your new rank.
"I really hope I'll get to be an Office-Worker" Lia says. Her parents are Office-Workers like mine. "I wish I could be an Entertainer" Sue comments. She's got an incredible talent for dancing.
A couple of others throw their comments in. I just sit quietly and listen.
Lia is called into Room 1 after a few minutes. Sue follows into Room 2. Jen disappears in Room 3 and Kayla goes to Room 4.
"Jeanine Alison Room 5 please" a beautiful girl, maybe 18 calls. I stand up and go over to her.
"I'm Lucy" she says. "Please sit."
She motions to a chair in front of a big desk. I do as asked and she settles into a chair on the other side of the table.
"Jeanine, your results are quite interesting" she begins "your tests show a potentiality for Hunter, Entertainer, Fighter and Leader. So does the scan of your brain. Your parents are Office-Workers so their rank does not influence your future one. We call people like you Conbellias. A Conbellia is a person with the potential to do many different jobs. It's the same name as our country's since humans are often too lazy to think of new terms." She let's out a small laugh. "Canbellias are highly admired. It's nothing bad or worth hiding. You can be proud of it. But you should still be careful. There's a lot of jealousy. However, you have a very wide variety to offer here. Sometimes, when it's just two jobs, we look at the parents' rank and also ask the Conbellia. But you have four options. This is very very rare. You will be trained for all these things. You will have to work very hard. I can't tell you your rank today.
The Damers will take you in for now" I gasp. The Damers are the best fighters we have in our state. They are a whole family. A mother, a father and a 17-year-old son. It's a huge honor to even get a look from them because they're often even at leaders meetings and almost considered full leaders.
"You'll live at theirs for the duration of your education. They will train you in fighting and leading and youll have other teachers for the other things. I advise you to work really hard. You have a high potential to be leader. Don't let that slip.
I wish you luck." She gives me one last smile before I leave the room.