Republic of Omisha

Chapter 10: Eliza

   Eliza can't believe how amazing this facility is, with its agricultural wing, and music wing. It must have cost a fortune to build. She hears an automated bell ring and she watches a nearly dozen kids file into the cafeteria. She and Valerie got here early and were already sitting at a table.

Eliza spys Hendrix. It's hard not to stare when he's so attractive and has such kind eyes. Something about him seems oddly familiar.

She hadn't even realized that she had been staring at him until he returned her gaze and smiled just like before. Eliza quickly darts her eyes to her meal and finds herself blushing.

She turned toward Valerie, who was watching her. Valerie raised her eyebrows and nudged Eliza's shoulder with a grin on her face. Eliza felt like she had just been caught doing something bad and felt anxious to change the subject of their unspoken conversation. "What did you do?" She blurts out.

"What?" Valerie replies.

"You said that there are three ways that you can win the trials. How did you win?"

Valerie chuckles as if the answer is obvious. "I hid."

Now things are clicking into place. Why Valerie isn't respected by the other students. Why she seems quite timid when she speaks at least when they first met. Now Valerie seems more relaxed and natural around Eliza. She doesn't struggle with vanity or being cocky like the runners or deceivers seem, but she is strong willed.

Eliza realizes why it matters "how" you won the game. It's because it says a lot about your character. There are three groups of students with varying ages. Each group won a different way.

Hendrix is the first "deceiver" to get food. He looks around for a place to sit and settles next to Eliza. She feels her cheeks turning beet red.

He has a relaxed, but confident look about him. "Hi, I'm Hendrix." He says in his dazzling way.

Eliza struggles to form words, "I-I know." She bites her bottom lip. As soon as it left her mouth, she realizes her mistake so she quickly counters with. "Valerie told me about you- you, as in all of the students so..." She lets her voice trail off and her eyes wonder to the plate in front of her.

To her surprise he doesn't react. "You're Eliza, right?"

"Yes," she replies, surprised he knows her name.

"Whenever the trials come around, we write essays on them... for class. You were amazing in there."

Music to Eliza's ears. The way he says things is exhilarating to Eliza. She has a pit in her stomach from the mention of the trials, but she is so absorbed by her words that it doesn't affect her.

Eliza finds herself leaning towards him until a squeaky voice interrupts him. "Um... I'm Karma."

"Karma?" Did I hear her wrong.

"Yeah, it's short for Karmalita." She seems annoyed by my response. Whoops. She has grey eyes, freckles that define her nose, and dark hair that is pulled back into a ponytail so that her hair lays at shoulder level.

Eliza want to apologize, but I don't know how to and I don't get a chance. "And this is Ekon." Hendrix says gesturing to the other boy that sits by him.

Eliza absently starts to talk to the three of them instead of Valerie, who never speaks up. She learns that Hendrix is sixteen and he won two years ago. Karma is also sixteen, but she won three years ago. Ekon is eighteen and he was the first student of this generation at this school five years ago because there are eight schools and each school takes the winners for five years and then the next school takes the kids for the next five years.