Rita felt warm, all around her was darkness, her eyes were heavy and she felt refreshed. There was a sound, it was distant, like listening through a tunnel each sound echoed and bounced off of the invisible walls of the endless void. The voices were getting clearer, Rita could only begin to make out what was being said.

"Shhhh! If we're loud then she'll wake up." One echoing voice warned, becoming clearer with every second.

"I wish I had my video camera." Another stated, the echo beginning to fade away.

There was a chorus of contained giggles and then a whoosh, Rita groaned and curled up slightly to fight off the sudden cold. There was a small fit of laughter. Rita shivered and tried to curl up and become warm again, she desperately wanted to fall back into her dream world.

"Time to get up." One playful voice said cheerfully, tugging her out of the sleeping bag.

"C'mon Rita, please get up."

Rita grumbled and turned over, she squeezed her eyes shut, but already she was waking up. Rita opened her eyes and squinted at the light.

"Why?" She asked Alyssa crabbily.

"Because if you don't then I'll tickle you."

Rita felt a little more of her wake up at this, she lifted up her head slightly to see Amber and Alyssa staring at her expectantly.

"You wouldn't." Rita said slowly.

"Try me." Alyssa said, fighting to keep a straight face.

Alyssa raised her hands up, preparing to tickle her half asleep friend if needed.

"Okay, okay." Rita grumbled, sitting up slowly, shivering at the lack of her blanket.

Rita looked all around her, there were definitely more kids today than there had been before. All of them were bustling around, getting ready to enter the lab, their new home. Rita became acutely aware of her messy hair and pajamas, she grabbed an outfit and her toiletries from her bag and went to the restrooms to change.
There was already a small line of girls leading in, waiting to get dressed and ready for the day. Rita groaned at the slow pace at which it was moving, but was grateful that there were only seven people waiting. Rita almost gasped at the pace the line was moving in the boy's bathroom, it was almost nonexistent, the line disappearing before her eyes.

"This is going to take forever," Rita groaned, she silently wished she had her phone to go on. Maybe she would have texted Robin to say hi, or her parents to let them know how she was doing, but she couldn't, at least, not for the next three years. Rita wondered what the tour of the lab would be, how everything would look.
It would probably be the latest technology, the government would only give them the best; they were the future after all. Rita could only imagine all of the friends she would make, friends that she could actually be herself around, but then again, Rita wasn't the best at making friends. Rita looked up to see that the line was actually getting shorter, she waited until the girl in front of her went in, and then it was Rita's turn to shuffle in.
The restroom had ten sinks and mirrors, they were each occupied by girls. Some of them were brushing their hair, while others were applying several layers of makeup, some were waiting for a changing room to become unoccupied; Rita stood by one of the changing room's doors and waited. She was still gradually rubbing the sleep out of her eyes by the time the curtain was drawn to the side to reveal a short girl with black braided wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans. She stepped aside to let Rita in, Rita transferred her belongings to one hand and stepped inside, closing the curtain behind her.
She began to change, switching her blue worn shirt for a newer, red one. She exchanged her yoga pants for a pair of jean shorts. She pulled aside the curtain and let the waiting girl take her place as she went to the mirror. Rita took out her brush and pulled it through her tangled hair until it knot free, then she pulled it up into a messy bun and brushed her teeth.
The girl on her left was applying eyeliner while the girl on her right was smelling her breath and debating whether or not to brush her teeth. Rita took her pajamas and toiletries and left, almost immediately she saw Amber and Alyssa laughing together. Rita began to head over, passing a group of rowdy boys.
Rita grimaced in distaste at the noise, there was a laugh and then a yelp, and there was a force that shoved Rita to the ground. She let out a yelp of surprise as she crashed into the floor, there was a thud that came from right beside her.

"Ow." Was the only thing that Rita could think of saying, she lifted up her head to see a black head of hair.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to my friends shoved me." A boy lifted up his head and his green apologetic eyes locked with Rita's surprised brown ones. Rita fumbled for her belongings, glancing at him occasionally. He was staring at her, his expression unreadable. Rita saw a watch laying on the floor, she scooped it up and held it with her belongings while she stood.

"Is this yours?" she asked when she stood up.

A panicked expression covered his face, he snatched away the expensive looking watch.

"That's personal." He hissed, shoving the watch in his hoodie pocket. Rita would have gotten offended normally, but she understood that people could get mad if something important had been close to being damaged.

"Sorry." Rita said quietly, not wanting to provoke a fight. "What was so important about it?"

"You wouldn't understand, you could never understand."

Rita didn't want to lose her temper over something so small but she wasn't good at staying calm, no matter how hard she tried she always got mad over the tiniest things.

"Fine." Rita snapped, she whipped around and stalked off to her friends. They were giggling loudly in the corner.

"What happened?" Alyssa asked between giggles.

"Nothing, I'm fine, what's so funny?"

Alyssa just laughed harder, unable to speak between the giggles. Amber rolled her eyes and answered for her friend.

"She thought that you had a romantic moment and you ruined it and she finds it funny for some strange reason."

"He ruined it." Rita defended.

Alyssa made an attempt at a serious face.

"So you admit that it was a romantic moment?"

"No! He bumped into me!" Rita protested.

"Just like in the movies." Alyssa swooned.

Rita bit her lip, a question on her mind, but she was hesitant to ask it. Alyssa would mock her for showing interest in the boy, but Amber would comfort her so how bad could it be?

"So, erm, what was his name?"

Alyssa raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"You do like him." She breathed out slowly.

"No she doesn't, she just wants to know the boy's name." Amber defended. Rita sent her a thankful glance before nodding defiantly at Alyssa. Alyssa rolled her eyes instead of admitting defeat and changed the subject without hesitation.

"Well his name is Cole and we're evacuating this place now so let's get in the line."

Rita looked over to see that there was indeed a line starting at a very large pair of doors that she hadn't noticed before. She passed all of the now abandoned entertainment areas with her suitcase rolling behind her and found a place at the back of the line to stand. Amber and Alyssa stood next to her and they all waited together, they attempted small talk but, in the end, everyone was too anxious to talk.
Rita peeked over the heads of the group, craning her neck to see what was on the other side of the door. The doors opened without a sound, the crowd pushed forwards to enter their new home. Rita found the line moving quickly, leaving her and her friends in the lab in no time.
There were three tables, made of polished wood, each one had six chairs on each side, leaving twelve seats to a table. No one took any of the seats though, they were all watching nervously as a scientist paced back and forth, a clipboard in his hand. He cleared his throat loudly and a silence filled the room, all eyes were on him, but the man was unfazed.

"You will now be split into tour groups, these groups are not randomly chosen and they will be important later on so remember your group name. There are three groups, Alpha, Bravo, and Delta, they're derived from the military alphabet. It should also be mentioned that no group is more important that any of the others."

The man paused, scanning their faces for any reactions, then he motioned to the tables behind him.

"You will each sit at your assigned table, when all is orderly, the tour will begin."

He cleared his throat and looked at the clipboard.

"Group Alpha, please sit at table 1." He motioned at the first table for a moment before continuing.

"Girls- Zoe A., Thea C., Summer E., Skyler K., Eve L., and Rita Y. Boys- Caleb B., Finn G., Gale H., Cole R., Seth R., and Neil T. Please step forwards and sit at the table."

Rita looked around, the twelve kids stepped forwards, each taking whichever seat was convenient for them. Rita chose a seat as far away from Cole as possible; two boys sat on either side of her.
The one on her left had chocolate colored hair and ocean blue eyes, he looked only several inches taller than Rita, the one on her right had pale blond hair and hazel eyes, he looked about Rita's height. Her gaze went from one to the next, deciding who to say hi to. Rita closed her eyes and mentally flipped a coin, heads I'll talk to the right, tails I talk to the left.
The mental coin seemed to be suspended in midair for a second and then it landed, tails side up. Rita mentally prepared herself to speak and then smiled, she turned to the left and greeted the boy.

"Hi, I'm Rita!" She said cheerfully.

The brown haired boy turned to look at her before responding.

"I'm Seth, future fox boy." He said, motioning to the marking of a fox on his collarbone.

"I'm the future's bird girl." Rita said with a smile, tugging at the collar of her shirt to reveal her marking.

"Bird? Sweet, so you'll be able to fly?"

"Or have feathers all over me." Rita countered playfully.

Seth nodded in agreement, he opened his mouth to say something but was quickly cut off by the scientist.

"Enough chitchat! Group Alpha, get moving! We have a tour to complete!"

Seth stood up along with Rita and everyone else, they walked through the now silent room through a single door to begin their tour. Rita cast a glance over her shoulder, she immediately spotted Amber and Alyssa who were waving goodbye to her. Rita waved a final farewell before facing forwards and entering her new home.