“This is the rotunda.” A woman said, motioning to the large, high ceilinged room they were standing in. The walls were made of marble with several columns for decoration, the floor was covered in a plush red carpet. Along the walls there were several large hallways branching out.

“This is the very heart of the lab.” The woman continued. “You will pass through here every day while walking to your classes seeing as it connects all of the hallways.”

Rita stared in amazement at all of the hallways, there were so many, she began to count the hallways but got cut off at six.

“Some will be used more than others, the infirmary is the first one, this is where you go if you are sick or injured during battle practice or combat. To the left of that is the study hall, it leads to a cozy library with an abundance of books, you will go there to study, read, or do projects. To the left of the library is the combat hall, this is where you can practice fighting in your spare time, it is equipped with survival weapons and weapons, you can practice sword fighting, hand to hand combat, gun combat, with fake guns of course, and other practices. To the left of the combat hall is your class’s hall, on the left and right there are classrooms, each one serving a different purpose, this is where you will attend to your daily classes. To the left of that is the computer lab, it is where you can practice computer skills and such, but it is not made for Alphas so I recommend against going there. To the left of the computer lab is the lunch room, where your meals are served. To the left of that is the Gym, exercise is mandatory, your animals more likely than not, need exercise, and lots of it. To the left of that is the spare room, where a guest speaker will stay if they visit. To the left of the spare room is the theater, you will attend for documentaries, but after school hours it features movies for entertainment. To the left of that is the ‘mall’ where you will go for clothes, school supplies, furniture items, and other odds and ends. To the left of the mall is the auditorium, where you will receive announcements and speeches. To the left of the auditorium is the room where you may spend spare time, a ‘hang out’ area if you will. To the left of that is the living complex, it is where you will sleep and live. It branches off into three parts for the three groups to live in, the large room that belongs to each group has doors that lead to your personal rooms. That is the tour, I will show you to your rooms now.”

Rita’s brain was fried from all of the information and so was everyone else’s because their eyes had glazed over halfway through. They all followed the woman to the living complex, she led them to one of the three large doors; theirs was at the end of the hallway while the other two were on the sides. The woman pushed the door open after scanning a card and led them to their common room. The floor was polished wood, on one wall there was a large yellow banner with a silver stripe around the perimeter, in the center there was a black flowing “A”. On the left side of the room there was a stone fireplace with some chairs around it, the chairs were sitting on a yellow and silver circular rug. The walls of the large circular room had been painted white, across from the fireplace there was a door with a sign beside it. The sign read “Rooms” The woman motioned to several things, spouting out facts like a tour guide, but Rita wasn’t paying attention. She stared at the elaborate design of the chairs, the discreet carvings in the fireplace’s stone. It all added up to form the picture of elegance.

“Now gather up, it’s time to get your cards.” The woman said, opening her bag and pulling out a stack of cards bound together with a rubber band.

“These’ll get you into this room when you’re returning from your classes, they have your information on them. One swipe brings up everything about you here, your grades, your behavior, your friends, your classes, it’ll get you into this room and your room. It also acts as a credit card.”

She called names and handed them to their assigned owner.

“Rita Young.” She said, waving the card in the air, Rita took it and thanked the woman before she went to the door where everyone was crowding. The woman looked at her watch and said:

“Your cards are now activated, you may enter your rooms.”

There was a beep and the door swung open to reveal a hallway lined with evenly spaced doors on either sides. The group poured into the hallway and began to locate their new rooms, Rita looked at her card.

Room 4

Rita found the door with a four on it was located on the right side, Rita swiped her card on the scanner by the handle; there was a soft click. Rita pushed the door open and walked into her new room and shut the door behind her, the floor was a polished wood, and the walls were white, in one corner there was a bed on a wooden frame. There was a plain desk in another corner, beside the desk there was a dresser. At the foot of the bed there was a plain white door which, upon inspection, led to a restroom. Rita put her suitcase on the floor and opened it, and one by one she removed her items and the wooden box. She gently picked up the pictures of her parents and placed them on the floor, she grabbed her bag with a necklace chain and interchangeable pendants. Rita took her yearbooks and journals and set the wooden desk, she grabbed her pencils and put them in the corner. She grabbed her blankets and put them on the foot of her new bed and then her stuffed elephant by the pillow. She put her posters and the tape on the ground to put up later, she grabbed her laptop and her camera along with their chargers and set them on the center of her desk, ready to be used. Rita looked at the last item, a photo album, and put it on her plain nightstand. Rita stood back and surveyed her new room, it didn’t look like a place someone would live; there was no personality. There were no memories in the generic room. Rita found it hard to believe that this would be where she was living, when she thought of home her room came to mind, her house along with her parents, to Rita, home was where her friends and family were, where Panther was, and now she didn’t have any of that. Rita looked at her newly unpacked bag, it was empty except for an item wrapped up in brown paper; it had been folded carefully and tied off with an elaborate homemade ribbon. Rita fell to her knees and unwrapped the present carefully, inside was a textbook. Anyone would have overlooked this but Rita knew where it was from, it came from science class, where their teacher would pace the room and explain in elaborate detail the laws of motion and forces. Rita opened up the thick cover to where their first secret conversation was scrawled.

I’m bored a note said in Robin’s handwriting on the inside of the cover.

We’re going to get in trouble, Rita’s handwriting warned right beneath Robin’s, Mr. Bates will flip out if he catches us off topic.

I know :p that’s why we’re writing and not talking, I’ve met bats that can see better than him! He won’t see us, we’re in the back of the classroom!

This is true, I mean- HE’S COMING ABORT ABORT!!!

You really flipped out XD

Whatever, class will be over soon….. bye :)

Rita smiled at the memory, her eyes lingering on their words before turning to the next few page to see their other conversations on the first chapter.

Why do we have to learn this every single year? We’ve been learning about lab safety since grade school D: Robin’s written complain stood out in comparison next to the uniform text.

Lol, don’t know, well at least we aren’t the only ones slacking off this time, I mean, look at Tina, she’s on her phone and he doesn’t care. Who plays Tetris in class and gets away with it?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Tina does

Rita flipped through the pages filled with conversations that they had squeezed in in all of the free spaces of the book. Each and every carelessly scrawled word brought back a memory, each conversation made her smile sadly. Rita flipped to the last page, and near the end of the book there was a flash of gold, she frowned, none of the books had ever had anything golden in them. Rita flipped through the pages until she saw it again, by the last page, right next to the back cover. Rita lifted up the page to see a note from Robin, this one had been written carefully, not his usual careless scrawl.

Just in case we lose contact, here’s my email, and my number, and my skype, and here’s a present… It’s for your charm bracelet, my mom has one just like it so I kind of borrowed hers… but don’t tell her. I’m going to miss you a lot. Bye

Rita lifted up the tiny heart charm and held it in her hand, it was so small; Rita took off her charm bracelet and put on the new charm. She put the bracelet back on and admired the new charm that rest right beside the “R”. Rita was broken from her trancelike stage at the sound of knocking at her door, she jumped in surprise and quickly shut the textbook. She stood up and walked over to the door, Rita opened it to see Seth standing at the door, waiting for her.

“Hi, what’re you doing? It hasn’t been two hours yet? Has it?” Rita asked quickly.

Seth laughed and shook his head.

“No, it’s been about twenty minutes, I was just wondering if you wanted to walk around the place with Zoe and I.”

Rita cocked her head to the side, curiously studying the girl that had been previously hidden by the door. She had pale blond hair with colorful highlights, it had all been chopped off until she only had several inches left giving her a definite tomboyish look. The girl, Zoe, was short, she wore jeans and a faded t-shirt, around her neck was an expensive looking pair of headphones that were plugged into an I-pod in her jean pockets. A faint music was emitting from the headphones, a rock band, but that was all that Rita could hear.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Zoe said, sticking out her hand, Rita took it and they shook before dropping them back to their sides.  Zoe had a slight accent that sounded vaguely British, Rita looked at the two of them before nodding.

“Nice to meet you too”, Rita said politely, “where are we going?”

Zoe shrugged along with Seth. Rita smiled and told them that she would come. They all stepped out into the hallway together and walked towards their common room. Several people were already there, but it was only a small gathering. They took a seat in the chairs facing the fireplace, Rita sat in the center, Seth to her left and Zoe to her right. They sat and chatted, Rita learned about them, where they were from, and all of the places they had been. Zoe had been all over like Rita, Seth had been lucky enough to live in one place his whole life. Seth had met Zoe the day before while they had been waiting to enter the lab and they had stuck together, it had been pure luck that they had been put in the same group. The three of them chatted until an hour and a half had passed. Zoe looked at the beat-up watch on her wrist.

“We should get going.” She explained, standing up “We came here two hours ago.”

Seth stood up and followed Zoe out the door with Rita walking closely behind. They entered the main hall and then the rotunda where there was already a small gathering of teenagers waiting to enter the auditorium. Rita and Zoe followed Seth who was pushing past others to get to the front, he made a path for them and they followed him closely, behind them the path was being replaced by more people. There were protests from several people as they were pushed aside but no one did anything, they just continued talking. The farther they went the denser the small crowd grew, making it harder to walk but they persisted, navigating through everyone until they were right by the doors. Zoe looked at her watch nonchalantly and began to count down in a thoroughly bored voice.

“Noon in 3… 2… 1… now.”

There was a pause filled with only the dull background noise of endless chatter where Zoe looked at her watch, with an unimpressed look on her face.

“Zoe”, Seth said with a chuckle, “I think that your watch may be a bit off.”

 The doors swung open and Zoe sent him a smug look before walking into the auditorium and getting three seats in the first row for them. Rita and Seth fell into step and took their seats, Seth sat in the center with Rita on his right and Zoe on his left. There was a soft pattering of countless feet and everyone took a seat. Soon the small auditorium was filled, all eyes were on the stage where a podium on wheels was being brought out. A man walked out, he was the same one from the office from before, the one that had talked to her and Amber. He tapped the microphone and the sound carried through the speakers, everyone fell silent and watched him.

“The assembly will now begin.”