Project Life

Chapter 1

Skyview College is an excellence of the area, one of the most renowned universities in the State. Students from all over the country come to further their education as well as find new opportunities for their future through a four-year student plan.

After that, students usually graduate and then their lives as adults can start. However, since this year, there is an important change. The government, since they realized that many young adults are struggling with moving on with their lives after college, have decided to include a year-long extra project.

It does not involve any academical purposes, but it's just a way to teach students how to deal with work and family life. In other words, the so-called Project Life - that is its name - aims to shape up young adults so that they grow as conscious citizens and have success in life.

While the government themselves are enthusiastic for this intervention, which, according to them, should improve significantly the importance of young adults in society, the same couldn't be said about the students all around the country.

In particular, things threatened to go insane in the capital, Drachurst: thirty youngsters, led by the anarchist Tai Uthman, protested in front of the Government Palace, demanding that the Project Life were cancelled. However, the protest ended in failure as Uthman and several other students were arrested and imprisoned.

In spite of being victim of repression, Uthman is still considered to be a hero both in Olvia and the confining Daliatova. Almost every person in college age looks up to him because of his charisma and his determination to stop a system that still encourages combined marriages and unwanted pregnancies.

Naturally, the same goes for Camilla Taylor, an optimist, bright-minded twenty-three-year-old college senior from Methlure, a town distant about thirty kilometres north from Drachurst. Unlike the capital, Methlure has always been a nice, quiet place where nothing serious involving the government ever happened.

The calm demeanor of its inhabitants is pretty famous in Olvia as a whole, but it's not something Camilla inherited: her rebellious attitude and her desire to discover anything beyond boundaries are the most determining traits of her explosive personality.

However, she's not alone while embarking into her daily adventures. In fact, she's always joined by her two friends, Layla Jacobs and Emily Wilds. Layla is a tall and slender girl whose long hair is dyed purple. She, like Camilla, is a troublemaker and loves enjoying life to its fullest extent.

Emily, on the other hand, is far quieter and less adventurous; though, this doesn't preclude her from joining her friends in their discoveries. She's also quite tall and has long, messy red curls; also, unlike Layla, she isn't exactly the most athletic person.

The two of them are Camilla's only confidants, as well as the ones she relies on and trusts the most. No-one else has ever joined their close-knit group, which contributed to preserve the peace and balance in their growing friendship.

Even though they were schooled at Methlure, they've never found fitting in at Skyview particularly hard, mostly because of their skills at adapting quickly to new situations, even under pressure. Exams have never been a problem for them, since the three of them all have quite good grades.

They, under the belief that Project Life is just one among thousands of unkept promises by the government, don't think it's going to be a serious thing, considering that small protests are ongoing and they are still focusing on their graduation and the submission of their final thesis, a hard, time-consuming process.

Nonetheless, this is just the first step of a more intricate plan, which may even become effective starting from now.

***

Sitting at the back row in one of the largest rooms of Skyview College, Camilla is waiting impatiently for the Creative Writing class to start. She's always dreamt of becoming a writer, especially after since she took part in a meet-and-greet with best-seller, award-winning author Jamie Noble, an alumnus of Skyview and also known for his vast collection of cars.

Her friends are sitting at her right, with Layla occupying the seat closely next to hers, and Emily sitting at the latter's right as well. At Camilla's left, however, there's a young girl about her age, with long straight black hair and a frown on her face. She doesn't look friendly, given the countless number of glares she's shot.

Every single time she attempts to ignore her deadly looks, Camilla always fails. She knows that girl is holding a grudge of her; yet, either ignoring her or talking to her seems a bad idea, considering that she believes that bright-looking girls like Camilla are bound to fail in life.

This is a quality of hers that makes her dislikeable, spiteful and, most certainly, unfriendly. In a world where friendship and solidarity are regarded as two remarkable values in humanity, a behavior like that should not be accepted; Camilla knows perfectly the meaning of these values, given she grew up in the pacific and solidal town Methlure is.

She then lets go of her fears and the unusual shyness that's preventing her from talking to that girl, smiles at her and introduces herself. "Hello. I guess we've never talked to each other. My name is Camilla. What's yours?"

The other girl curls her lips; then, as her eyes meet Camilla's, her hard glare softens a little bit. Then, she replies, "Camilla... definitely an interesting name. Mine is Prestyn." She looks away, turning her attention back to the book she was attempting to read before.

Camilla would like to ask her another questions, but then she realizes it might be a bad idea for two reasons. First, the fact that Prestyn has just introduced herself doesn't mean that hostilities are over; on second hand, the lesson is about to start. The Creative Writing teacher has just passed the threshold and entered the classroom.

The man, perhaps in his middle fifties, adjusts his round glasses and, as he's standing in front of his desk, he clears his throat. The bustling noises coming to and fro stop abruptly, replaced by a creepy silence. He declares, "Welcome to this lecture. I have an important announcement for you all. I hope you all listen carefully to what I have to tell you."

Camilla looks around for a while, trying to catch her friends' glimpses, but has to return her attention to the professor's announcement as her attempt to look away ends in failure.

Though, she can't get one particular thought off her mind. Something is about to change, and she fears this means trouble.