The 6

Chapter 4

Hiiiiiiiii my duuuuudddeeeesss!!!! I am so sorry but I just can't update regularly or quickly, if I force myself to write it turns out as crap not worth reading 😕😕. Any way now to the storyyyyyy!!!

Chapter 4:
Summary:
After meeting up with all of their friends, Ezra and Portia anticipate the start of the ceremony.
Ezra's P.O.V.
The trumpets, after a short fanfare, blared out the Elca Monopoly's anthem, a slow dirge suitable for a funeral. Weren't these things supposed to be grand and joyful? Oh well, guess Elca didn't want to mess up their aesthetic. I thought as the depressing song limped on and on, verse after verse.

At long last, the anthem ended, and a brainwashed-looking Elca representative stepped up to a lone microphone in the center of a platform located at the front of the Awards Plaza. He cleared his throat and attempted to start his speech. Note the attempted, as soon as he tried to start, a sudden ear-splitting screech of microphone interference cut through the air.  You could see the crowd's simultaneous cringe. Said screech surprised the representative, who leaped back with a small squeak, effectively dropping his many, many notecards. I sighed, rubbing my temples. This was going to be a long ceremony.

After a small scramble on the stage to reorganize his note cards, the Elca representative finally cleared his throat once more, and started his speech. And when I say the speech was boring, I mean that it was like that one teacher who just kept on rambling on and on and on, in that voice that just seemed to be able to put you right on the brink of sleep, but not to the point where you actually fall asleep, just on the border. In the case that you did fall asleep, they did SOMETHING to wake you up, be it clearing their throat, coughing fit, wheezing, a nice sprinkling of spittle, or even all of the above. In this case it was indeed all of the above. While we happened to be sitting far enough back to avoid the mist, I could, and I'm guessing Portia could, based on her sympathetic cringe every time the representative popped a 'p', see the light shower occurring in the front of the plaza. Anyway, back on topic, this was like that one teacher, but multiplied by the amount of (still out of order) note cards the representative had, plus the number of times the annoying kid behind me kicked my seat, squared. To put it simply, I was done with the world at this point.

Just get on with it!  I thought as the Elca representative, once more, deemed it important to reiterate on how marvelous and prestigious getting this scholarship was. What I say to that and what everybody else thinks is, "If this was so prestigious then why can you literally volunteer to receive this award?" Note the everybody else thinks, after the years we've just learned to not question Elca's logic.

What felt like hours later, the representative finally entered into the point in the speech where you actually had to pay attention. It was always the same for every year. And after years of listening to the same words over and over, I had involuntarily memorized it, along with just about everybody else my age, and we all never thought it would apply to us.

And so, we now enter into the last part of my presentation into the next part of the ceremony, the choosing of a male and female scholarship recipient and any others who would like to attend the prestigious Elcademy. They will attend for the next school year at Elcademy, being taught by the best of the best this wonderful nation has to offer, and will receive the option to attend for the following three years of schooling, an opportunity we at Elca sincerely hope the recipients don't wish to pass up. The choosing of the recipients will go as follows:

First, an Awards ceremony official will bring up to me a tablet that is hooked up to the screens behind me. Next, I will run the program which will randomly sort through the eligible male students until only one student remains. When this occurs, their name, face, and age will appear on the screens. This student will then make their way up to the stage, and after saying the initiation pledge, they will sit in the chairs located behind me. This process will repeat with female eligible students.

After both recipients are chosen, I will call for any other volunteers and up to four more will be chosen, with no specifications towards their gender. After the volunteers are chosen, they too will make their way up to the stage and say the initiation pledge. They will then join the recipients in the chairs behind me. Finally we will all close in the Elca pledge and the recipients and volunteers will be escorted to a prep room. At this point, all people spectating awards day may leave and return to normal activities. Ezra thought along with the representative.

"And now to chose the male recipient." The representative motioned for an intimidating-looking guard to bring up the tablet. The representative pressed a few buttons on the tablet and the screens flickered to life behind him. Once more he pressed a button on the tablet and pictures of all of the male eligible students passed across the screen. I saw briefly the faces of Donny, Asher, and Mason pass across the screen. Strangely, I didn't see Niko's face, but I shrugged it off as nothing. Probably just missed it during the beginning.

After about a minute, the screen went dark, signifying that the male recipient had been chosen. The representative stepped closer to the mic, "And the male recipient of the Elca scholarship is..."
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"Asher Kruminto!" The representative announced after what felt like ages. Asher's face and information popped up on the screen.

I saw a pale-faced Asher make his was up to the stage, accompanied by two Awards ceremony officials.

The representative turned to face Asher and put his right hand over his heart. Asher copied what he did.

"I, you say your name"

"I, Asher Kruminto"

"Pledge to do my best"

"Pledge to do my best"

"To follow all rules"

"To follow all rules"

"And to learn as much as possible"

"And to learn as much as possible"

After this, the representative took his hand off of his chest and turned towards the crowd, signaling Asher to do so also. "I present to you, your first male recipient, ASHER KRUMINTO!" The representative announced.
The crowd gave a meek bout of melancholy applause as Asher sat in the seats behind the representative.

"And now for the female recipient." The representative once more pressed a button on the tablet and all of the faces of the female eligible students whirred past along the screen. I saw Portia and I's faces flash briefly.

Once more the screen turned black and the representative stepped up towards the mic
"And the female recipient is..."
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"Portia Cru!"

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A/N
Mwahahahahaha cliffhangers galore hehehehehehehehehehehe. I feel so evil right now 😈😈😈😈😈😈 Oh and I know right now this book doesn't have much of a plot really but it'll get better don't you worry, I also have some wicked plot twists in mind for yalles. I'm also trying to update more often, but soon so may mean shorter chapters, I hope you understand! They won't be like only 100 words each but just probably not 1,000-some+ words.
Anyway, expect another update soon! (Though I make no promises)

Tschüs!
-Rachel (thatfaustlygirl)