Republican Phenoms

Home Again

Daniel

History class ends and I gather my books. I glance back at Cadet Iparis before I leave the room. She's talking to Josh, one of the other guys in our platoon. She glares at me, then looks back at Josh.

I really don't get her. I say one thing to her the first time I meet her and she practically bites my head off. Oh well. She is beautiful though.

As soon as I can get back to my dorm room, change my clothes, and pack a duffel bag for the weekend, I'll be back on my way to Lake sector. I'll be able to see my baby brother Eden, and later on tonight, when he gets back from work, my older brother John. Even though the last three days have been full of studying and finding my way around campus, I've missed them.

I run into Caroline on my way to the dorms. "Hi!"

"How are you doing, Daniel?" She gives me a quick hug.

"I'm fine. I get to go home to see my family for the weekend, so that's good."

"That must be nice," she says, adjusting the books in her arms. "My family lives in Denver, so I won't be able to see them until winter break. That's the downside to choosing Drake. It's the best school in the country though, so it'll be worth it after graduation."

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fortunate that Drake is right here, especially since the Republic pretty much told me that I had to come here. Well, I'll see you around!"

It feels weird wearing civilian clothes as I stand at the train station in front of the university. My clothes, which would be nice in Lake sector, look old and worn out next to the rich people who live in Batalla that are waiting for the train. Then of course, my haircut will make me stand out in Lake, where long hair is fashionable. For a moment, I'm stuck between worlds.

As soon as I step into my old home on the corner of Watson and Figueroa, all of that feeling of not belonging anywhere melts away. My older brother John greets me at the door with a hug.

"John!" I exclaim. "I thought you'd still be at work!" John usually doesn't come home from the steam plant until about nine or ten.

"They let me out early today so I could celebrate," he says, releasing me from our embrace. "Everybody is so proud of you. It's not very often that someone from Lake sector gets to go to Drake, you know."

I had never really thought of that before. I was unique in that I was going to Drake at age 12, but I hadn't stopped to think that there really weren't too many people there from Lake at all. There were quite a few people in my classes from the gem sectors around here, a lot from other cities around the Republic, but not too many from the poor sectors in Los Angeles.

I guess they'd need to get a scholarship to attend, and those scholarships really only go to the people that get the highest scores on the trials. Which almost never happens with the people that live in the slum sectors.

My baby brother Eden is right next to me, giving me a hug. "I missed you, kid," I say, ruffling his hair. "How have you been?"

"Great!" his face beams with pride. "My teacher put me in the advanced reading group. She said that if I finished reading all of the assigned work before the end of the week, I could go get some other books out of the library or do a science experiment while I waited for the other kids to catch up!" Eden has always been smart. He's probably going to be smarter than I am. If he was stronger, I might even think he could also get a perfect trial score; unfortunately, he's always been a little sickly. "I don't know if they would have let me do that if you weren't my brother."