Fight With Fire

33

"Oh my god, are you serious?" Finn asks smiling down to me. His green eyes are bright as the sun, dancing with the energy of the sky. I bite my bottom lip sheepishly and Finn launches forward at me. He wraps his strong arms around my waist, hoists me up, and spins me around. My legs go flailing behind me until he places me gently on the ground. He moves the stray strands of hair out of my face and cups my face in his large palms. "That is amazing Ella."

"You too! Not everyone can get placed at a hospital." I laugh punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"I didn't get placed. It's a trial. We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves." Finn replies in mock seriousness.

"Of course." I say nodding, copying his expression. We stare at each other for a few more moments before we both burst into laughter again. Everyone is in a very good mood because being an elite, they got good jobs for the trial. Some, especially in my class, were not so lucky. Many got stuck working maintenance jobs or some dangerous factory work or some sort of hard labour.

"I'll be right back." I take in his happy expression one more time before I move to the middle of the clearing. It is a nice night and the first time we're meeting up at the circle in a while. There hasn't really been a reason to until now.

"Hey everyone! I just wanted to congratulate everyone because although it's not placement, it's pretty damn close." I smile as some cheers erupt from the crowd. "So I hate to be a little bit of a buzz kill but someone had to say it. We talked a lot about testing and how the rankings worked and everything. As much as I am a fan of the testing this year, we all know that John Louis didn't leave much for the council to use for placement. So this is what the trials are for. I know everyone is excited because this is the first time that we leave the school in 19 years. So have fun but also work hard, prove what you can do. Good luck everyone and see you in 3 weeks."

I scann the crowd watching them turn to each other. Everyone is asking about where they got temporarily placed. Finn is talking to his roommate Rory who also got placed at the hospital. The satisfied smile dies on my lips when I see Olivia sitting by herself on our year's rock. I walk towards her watching as she picks the grass around her feet.

"Hey." I say sitting down next to her.

"Oh!" Olivia snaps up clutching her chest with one hand. "You scared me!" Olivia sounds accusatory but one side of her mouth turns up.

"Sorry about that." I say following her gaze to Charlie's iae that I carved into the rock.

"That's Charlie's isn't it?" She asks meeting my gaze.

"Yeah." I breathe, the smile dying on my lips. "I can't believe you remember that."

"Of course I remember him. He made that box that made the most beautiful sounds. I know he didn't impress you but I'm not sure anyone can meet your standards." She traces the marking with her fingers lightly.

"He more than impressed me." I choke out telling myself not to cry. "I guess I need to work on showing my emotions." I laugh bitterly.

"I'm sorry about him." She looks up at me before I can contradict her. I can see in her face that she isn't implying anything, she is simply apologizing. We sit in comfortable silence before she breaks it again. "Congratulations. I heard, I mean everyone heard, about you going to headquarters. That's crazy."

"I know." I smile softly letting the words slowly sink in. "Where are you going in your group?"

"It's complicated." She sighs. "I'm in a group with the twins and Ivy. It seems that we are doing a bunch if things. One job I know for sure is we're going to try being reinforcers."

"That's so good. Aren't you happy?" I know a lot of people would be more than happy to get that job. They have one of the highest statuses because they get their orders directly from the council.

"Not really." She sighs again. "I guess I was just hoping to help people. I will be searching through houses and tearing families apart. I don't know if I could stomach that."

She looks up to the stars above us. I can sympathize with her because I couldn't imagine making sure that people are up to the strict living standards. I know it's different for her though because I know that she likes girls. If she became an enforcer than she would have to pull apart homosexual couples. It is one of the many things that is unfair in society. One of the many things that I need to try to change with what temporary power I will have.