Freedom Fighters

Chapter 1 - Carolina

"Carolina, Grade 11, Blue?" Ms. Canterbury called.

"Here!" I called. Ms. Canterbury was taking attendance as it was the first day of school, September 2, 2156. Ugh. Summer break was fine. Unfortunately, the Greens had the Wolfe Canton pool this summer. At least next year, it would be our turn. It was the only way to keep things organized. In history class we learned that in 2019 all across the world, the coronavirus started spreading. It spread to lots of people but not the entire population. People started rebelling against the government because the people felt that the government wasn't doing enough to help them. There were rebellions that turned into all out war. Eventually Civil War II ended and the government struggled to recreate the country. Then one citizen, Rose Quartz Bishop, recreated the country. That's why our country is named Bishopton. It was named after her for it was her greatness which rebuilt our country. Rose Quartz Bishop fixed the country by deciding that since there was still no cure, everyone had to wear masks. They were the first group of citizens to be divided. People were separated based on eye color because scientists discovered that the worst cases of the coronavirus were caused when people with different eye colors spread it to each other. Everyone also had to change their names based on the color of their eyes to distinguish one eye color from another. This was especially important in those days because there used to be Abnormalities who had multiple eye colors or the eye colors changed, so the names told everyone what eye color was most dominant. Eventually, those Abnormalities stopped happening and now everyone just has one distinct eye color. Can you imagine the chaos and confusion multiple or changing eye colors could cause? The Greens, the Blues, the Browns, and the Ambers are the eye color groups now. Every summer, we switch off using the Canton pool. The Greens had the pool this summer because it was their year and only one group of eye colors could use it at a time. We haven't had use of the pool in three years now, but (thank goodness) next summer is our turn. Of course, the most important eye color group is the Grays. In 2025 (the war lasted four years), when Rose Quartz Bishop put the country back together, she was offered the position of Queen. She accepted and now the Royal family controls Bishopton. Queen Bishop had gray eyes and she married someone else with gray eyes because she (and the rest of the country) believed that was a sign he would help finish putting the country back together. Now all the members of the royal family have gray eyes and they live in Wolfe Canton which is my home too. I see the royal family on TV sometimes and I see some of the speeches they make in person. People can only meet in big groups if they have the same eye color because the coronavirus is worse if it's spread between people with different eye colors. And another reason I only get to see some of the speeches is because the royal family has to give speeches to all of the Cantons because citizens can't travel on planes to see the speech, but they all need to hear the speeches. The royal family and delivery people are the only people who can travel on planes with someone else. Right now, King Charcoal is married to his third cousin twice removed. My pen pal from another country thinks it's crazy that the Royal family is marrying within their family, but how else could it work? Anyone without gray eyes is not strong enough to rule a country. At least, that's what my history teacher said. Anyways, King Charcoal and Queen Marengo have three kids, Prince Jet (age 17), Princess Nickel (age 16), and Princess Slate (age 14). From what my history teachers have told me, I've learned that we've always had a monarchy for rulers of our country. The King and Queen who came before Queen Bishop died in the war. I can't imagine any other way of government. Could you imagine switching out the leader every few years? No one would be able to get anything done. Anyways, the coronavirus is still an active virus so we need to take precautions such as wearing masks and only a certain amount of people can go into a store at a time. And the obvious, staying six feet apart from other people who have different eye colors than you.

The rest of the day passes by rather quickly. We had history (where we learned things we already know), math (I kind of zoned out and can't tell someone what we learned if someone asked), English (we went over the syllabus and discussed the summer reading, Lord of the Flies), and science. In science, we went over the syllabus and started learning. We learned that no new virus can be cured because the viruses have grown more complex starting in 2019, which is why there is no cure for the coronavirus. It's not the scientists fault that they couldn't find the cure, but in 2021 people didn't know that so that's why they rebelled.

After school, I walk to my section of Wolfe Canton. Basically, all of the Cantons are divided into four sections so that the Blues, Greens, Browns, and Ambers can avoid each other. In Wolfe Canton, the Northwest houses the Greens, the Blues live in the Northeast, the Ambers reside in the Southwest, and the Browns stay in the Southeast. Unfortunately, we, the Blues, have to use the same grocery stores as the Greens because the grocery store is on the boundary line between us. The Browns and the Ambers also have to share a grocery store. Speaking of the grocery store, I have to go there later today. When Queen Rose Quartz Bishop took the throne, her advisors told her that only a few people can be in a confined space at the same time, especially if they have separate eye colors. So Queen Rose Quartz and her advisors worked on a solution to allow Blues and Greens, and Browns and Ambers to get their groceries. They decided that they would work out a grocery schedule where every family would go at the same time every week with one family that had another eye color. Our time was Thursday at 5:30. Each family had half an hour in the grocery store. Normally, my dad went, but today he was busy, as was my mom. My twin brother, Navy, was volunteering at the retirement center. He always volunteered at least three times a week. Usually on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but on Friday Navy and I had our monthly checkup for the coronavirus, so he moved his volunteer time to Thursday. So, I had to do the grocery shopping. We were running quite low on groceries, because last week we didn't get much food. I made a mental list of what to get in History class because we were just going over the syllabus and discussing things we already knew. I knew we were running low on fresh fruits and vegetables, toilet paper, and bread. I remember in 8th grade history, we learned that in 2020 there was a toilet paper shortage, but once Rose Quartz Bishop took the throne, she sent people back to work and they were able to stop the shortage. We also needed cleaning spray, some microwave meals for later this week, pancake mix, potatoes, pizza for tonight, milk, and eggs.

Finally, the school day ended. Luckily the school was close to my house, so I walked home with my next door neighbor, Capri. She and I have known each other since we were born. We have been best friends forever and I know everything there is to know about her. She is sort of quiet and shy, average height, very smart, and very kind. She volunteers at the retirement center every day. Navy talks on and on about how nice she is to all the seniors there. He clearly likes her and I think she likes him too. She's never said it because I mean, ewww. My best friend dating my brother? No thank you. But I wouldn't mind them dating. I just don't want her talking about how much she likes him. The only thing I worry about is if they date, they might break up, and then I would be stuck in the middle.

We walked home together and once we got home, we parted ways so that she could head over to the retirement center. I have no idea how Capri manages to do her homework and volunteer at the center. I entered my house and brought the mail inside. I set my bag down on the table and tried to focus on my homework. I was supposed to read a chapter in my history and science textbooks, do a set of math problems, and then start to work on the english project. We were supposed to write a short story. There were no guidelines. It just needed to be 5 pages minimum. I was considering writing a journal from Queen Rose Quartz' perspective from when she was first restoring our country.

I finally finished my homework. By then it was already 5:20 and I had just enough time to get to the grocery store by 5:30. My parents and I had agreed earlier this morning that I would go to the grocery store so they knew where I would be if they got home before I did. I walked to the grocery store because the bus didn't have a direct route there. It was less than a mile away and so I was able to get there in 10 minutes. I showed the security guard my family's pass. The pass showed all of our pictures (we had to have the pictures retaken every year) and the date and time we were supposed to be at the grocery store.

Had I known the trouble going into the grocery store that day would have caused me, I might have run away and never stepped in there again. But then again, if I hadn't gone to the grocery store, I wouldn't have fallen in love. I wouldn't miss out on that for the world. No matter the danger that came with it.

Hi everyone! Let me know what you think so far. I'll try to post a chapter everyday. Please comment. I'd love to hear your feedback. Also, sorry for any grammatical errors or typos.