Breakout

Chapter 2

The mood as we walked to the plaza seemed tense. Elana, my best friend, walked outside of her house with her family and joined us on our walk. Her parents, Nicolai and Mariah, had a grim look on their faces. Elana's baby brother, Thomas, cried the whole way to the plaza.Nora showed up with her husband, Landon, and they're two kids, Victoria and Jason. Nora had announced a week ago they're expecting baby number three. They don't know yet if it is a boy or girl, but they want it to be a surprise. Nora appeared sad, but a hint of a smile appeared on her face. Probably because Elana gets to leave this life for a better one, hopefully. Elana tried to hide her happiness from her father. Like Christian, Nicolai was one of the worst to leave the Academy. He was abusive to Mariah, and eventually became abusive to Nora and Elana, but treated Thomas as if he was the best thing in the world for him. Mariah is a beautiful lady. That is, until you see the left side of her face. According to Elana, her father had actually burned her mother's face when they were still in the Academy. He "didn't want the other guys to lust over her." With Nora and Elana, he left bruises and scars on them, but wasn't cruel enough to cause other harm. I remember Nora being excited to leave for the Academy. To leave behind the trauma Nicolai caused upon her. Elana looked up to Nora. Nora was strong-willed and brave. She'd often stand up to Nicolai, causing harsher punishments. But that never stopped her from putting her foot down. And to be perfectly honest, I admired her, too.

As we neared the plaza, a large crowd had formed. From a break in the crowd, I was able to see that boy was trying to run, but the guards caught him. "I won't kneel! Can't any of you see how barbaric this is? I will not go to the Academy! And you can't make me," the guy yelled. One guard smacked the back of the guy with the end of his rifle, causing the guy to fall. An older couple were standing close by, hugging each other and sobbing. "Please don't do this son! They're going to kill you if you resist," the lady said. The guard shoved his rifle in the guy's face, saying, "Will you continue to resist or will you peacefully go to the Academy?" "I will never go," the guy yelled. I heard the click of the gun being prepped to shoot.

I turned away. I couldn't bear to watch. I heard the bang of the gun as it shot at the guy. Yeah, I really need to find a way out of this. I looked over at Elana, and she had this look of horror on her face. "Now you know why we can't escape this right now. We have to wait for the right time to make our move," I whispered to Elana. She nodded her head and replied, "Yeah, I totally agree. Let's just hope we get a nice guy at least." I chuckled and hugged my best friend.

"Let's also hope that we can spend time together. I don't think I can last a day without seeing my best friend. You mean the world to me Elana. You were there when my grandparents passed away. You were there when Chase picked on me to the ends of the earth. And I seriously hope that you'll get to be there in the future," I said.

"Aww, you know I'll always be here. What are best friends for?"

"Now, let's go rock this Academy straight to its core!"

We then said our goodbyes to our parents. All around us, families were crying and hugging each other. "Just like we told Stella, keep your head down, don't talk back, and mind your manners. We love you, don't ever forget that," my mom said. She hugged me tightly for a few minutes before letting me go so my dad could wish me goodbye.

"You'll get someone who will cherish you. Don't do anything crazy while there. I don't want to get an email saying you died while there. I love you so much. We're very proud of you," he said.

"I love you, too, dad."

"Promise me you wont try anything that resembles an escape."

"I can't promise you that. But I will be safe."

I hugged my dad goodbye and grabbed my suitcase and book bag. I turned to see if Elana was ready to go wait in line, and she was hugging Thomas. Poor baby, he had tears and snot streaming down his face. Nora came up to me and gave me a hug. "You'll be fine. If anything, it'll probably be Chase you will get paired with. I have a feeling the two of you will get along really well," she said. "Ha, yeah right. Like I'm going to let that guy be near me. I don't need him to make my life better," I replied, laughing at the idea of me and my school bully, Chase, being partners for life.

"Attention citizens: the shuttle to the academy has arrived. Please say your last goodbyes and allow your children to stand in line to board." The shuttle arrived, and this time, it was me boarding to go to the Academy. "Elana, we gotta go. We can't miss this shuttle," I said to her. She kissed her brother on the head and gave one last goodbye to her mom. She grabbed her suitcases and we walked to the line that was already forming in front of the shuttle doors.

As we waited to board, I gave one last look behind me to see my parents before I boarded, and to also see if Korina did show up. She didn't, of course. She couldn't come. All because of Christian. And I will make sure he never sees her again. I took a deep breath and entered the shuttle. The shuttle that will take me to a place that will be heaven or hell for me.

Elana boarded after me. I looked around the shuttle and found a bench at the back of the shuttle car on the right. "Let's go sit there," I asked Elana. "Sure," she replied. We made our way to the bench and loaded our bags into the compartment above the seats. We sat down and waited for everyone else to board. There were about 30 teens boarding today. And right when I thought my dad couldn't get any worse, Chase Sutherland sits in front of me and Elana.

"You ready for this, Reyes," he asked me.

"Am I ready to kick yours and everyone else's butts? Heck yeah I am," I replied.

"You do that, and I'll just stand by and watch you get killed. And I'll be laughing."

"Not if you die first."

"Try me."

"Okay lovebirds, you can go make out later. Or maybe not. Oh, you guys can totally have a secret relationship hidden from the person you're assigned to and from the superiors," Elana said.

"That is SO not happening. I'd die if I get assigned to him," I said, my face becoming hot from embarrassment.

"Students, please remain seated, as we are beginning to leave the station." Elana and I both began to look out the window and waved to our families, one last time. Soon, the train started moving and I knew that my life was about to get a whole lot more interesting.