The Children of New Brooklyn

Chapter 2

The food is inexplicable. The tanginess of the orange juice complements the spicy sausages. The fluffy eggs make the sweet pancakes taste that much better.

"This is amazing," I say.

"Yeah, I bet they're trying to make us forget about the send-off by distracting us with all this," Amalie remarks motioning towards the platter of food.

Nicholas and I let out a slight chuckle. Then, not a peep escapes anyone's mouth for what feels like hours. My best friends are leaving, possibly forever, and the universe seems to think that this was the perfect time to put me at a loss of words.

As Amalie, Nicholas, and I continue enjoying our breakfast, Gillard stalks up to us with a boy about my age towering over her.

His athletic build offsets his intelligent green eyes. And his brown hair is half-covered by the hood of his sweatshirt. The way he walks with long strides and his back straight radiate confidence.

"Taylor, Amalie, Nicholas. This is Cedar McCarthy. He recently moved to the boys' prime building and he'll be eating with the three of you from now on," she says in a bored tone.

Cedar's eyes study us all and his serious countenance relaxes. Gillard urges him to sit down and then walks away to eat with the other monitors.

"Hi, Cedar," Nicholas says while patting the seat next to him. "I'm Nicholas."

"Hey," he replies as he sits down.

"I'm Amalie and this is Taylor," Amalie explains as she points to me.

He nods in my direction and gives me the slightest smile. So small I'm sure I imagined it.

"Is your send-off today?" I ask him hoping he'll say no.

"I'm fifteen, still got another year," he replies.

"Oh, me too."

"Cool. What about you guys?" he asks Nicholas and Amalie.

"Yeah, we'll be sent today," they say in unison, looking down at the floor. That's a topic we've been avoiding. I wanted to talk to them about it, but I couldn't find a way to ease into that conversation. Cedar looks at me realizing that Amalie and Nicholas didn't want to talk about that. I decide that we have to have that conversation sometime and now was as good as any.

"I'm really gonna miss you guys," I say looking back and forth between Amalie and Nicholas. "A lot."

Amalie looks up with her eyes glistening. "I'll miss you more. I love you, Taylor." She reaches over and hugs me.

"I love you, too. Promise me you'll take care of Nicholas, that boy needs all the help he can get."

Amalie chuckles, "I know, of course, I will.

"Hey!" Nicholas exclaims with a look of mock embarrassment.

"Don't worry Mister Nicholas," I say in a wacky accent, "I will miss you too."

"Thank you,"

"I hope it works out for you guys, Good luck," Cedar says. Then, he turns and looks at me. "But you two are leaving me alone with this one. I don't know if I can handle it."

They let out a light laugh, but our amusement was short-lived.

"All sixteen-year-olds of New Brooklyn. Please come to the lecture hall to go over the information for today's send-off. You are excused from all of your classes today," a voice says over the PA system.

Amalie and Nicholas look at each other with big eyes and then turn to look at Cedar and me.

"I guess I'll see you in the evening... before the send-off," I say.

"Alright, bye," Amalie says, waving at Cedar and I. As she and Nicholas leave the cafeteria with the large group of sixteen-year-olds, Cedar and I look at each other and let out a short sigh.

"So, how long have you known them?" Cedar asks me.

"Ever since I left the nursery when I was six."

"Which nursery?"

"The nursery. Do you not know what that is?"

"I guess not."

"The place we stay in... until we're allowed to move out to the buildings. You've gotta know what that is."

"Oh yeah, right. I probably just forgot." Cedar whisked his wavy, brown bangs out of his eves, revealing a crooked scar of the side of his forehead. I couldn't help but look up at it. It wasn't too noticeable and it seemed years old, but it was there. Cedar caught me looking and covered it up.

"It's from a pillar I ran into in my building. It's really not a big deal." I shrugged my shoulders. It's a scar, we all have scars. But from running into a pillar?

"It must've been a pretty bad collision to leave a scar like that."

"Yeah."

"Well, congrats on moving to the primes," I say with a hint of caution.

"Well, it's not like I did anything, right."

He looks straight at me and then down to his plate.

"It feels like I'm getting rewarded for something other people did. People I barely even know," He looks back up to me. "32ewq2What's the point of this all anyway if we'll just be taken away? What's the point if officials can mess with our lives because they find it amusing? It just doesn't make sense to me."

He's right. It doesn't make sense. But there's one thing that I do know. And that is to pick your battles.

"Shhhh!" I hiss. "If any of the speakers pick up what you said, you'll be dead." The officials don't tolerate even the slightest bit of questioning. The slightest bit of doubt in their ways.

Cedar opens his mouth to say something, right as the bell rings.

Ringggg!

Ringggg!

That's for the first class of the day: history.

"Alright, well we got to get to class," I say.

"Yeah, sure."

I gather my things before nodding to say goodbye and turn to follow the myriad of kids heading out of the main door.