After having tidied the classroom to, which I swear was, a better state than the one we arrived at, we said a few quick farewells although it wasn't necessary. Due to a small population size, everyone practically knows everybody else on a personal level within their own sector or through a friend of a friend within the remaining three. By having a small population size we are all mutually interdependent and have closer connections to develop our trust, or so they say.

For us graduates, we only had a half day for the last day of Education allowing us time to prepare. Normally this time allotment gives us time for final preparations as tomorrow morning we begin our careers and we don't have enough time to do final checks. What we pack today is what we keep from our childhood and what we leave behind eventually finds itself in the bottom bonanza.

Having already thoroughly decided what to take, or rather what to leave behind, yesterday I feel torn between all the things I should do on my last day at an Upbringing. Tomorrow I will begin my new life at the police station which will not only provide my career but also my living quarters. Most people never return to their Upbringing unless they become carers as almost all employees either live on site or nearby.

Although I have the freedom to do what I want now, the most difficult choice isn't between committing every nook and cranny of my Upbringing to memory or even a last scavenge through the bottom bonanza. Ironically, the most difficult decision right now is deciding what to wear tonight.

Previously everyone's lives were cluttered with an unnecessary amount of choices. This made society inefficient so our ancestors decided on things such as 'newspeak' and 'plainclothes', however, due to the nature of humanity these ideas didn't last. Nonetheless, applying filters to our lives wasn't the root of the problem, it was the conduct of how these ideas were enforced which led to their downfall. The Worm decided filters were effective and that's why we still have them today but instead of a human body enforcing the idea we have an omnipotent being instead. As an omnipotent being, The Worm makes no mistakes and only discards useless information from our lives. A good example is our Education.

Although everyone in Mytopia is required to be in Education until 16, the 100 days of each subject provides relevance in everything. There is no need to go into depth into complicated mathematical formulas or understanding how to master a specific instrument or even understand how a plant gets energy. Our aptitude tests recognize our potential and then whilst in our careers, if deemed appropriate, we will specialize in certain fields.

Getting back to the ironic situation at hand, in order to optimize and filter our lives The Worm has modified our modern wardrobes so that we don't waste hours on deciding what to wear. We each have 8 sets of clothing which can be adjusted depending on the weather and season. Everybody has a set of red clothes for Monday's, an orange set for Tuesday's, a yellow set for Wednesday's, a green set for Thursday's, a blue set for Friday's, an indigo set for Saturday's and a violet set for Sunday's in addition to a black and white set for sports. Having a very concrete dress code set out for us not only inhibits bad human emotions but is also time effective, however, it means for special celebrations the choices are very difficult.

As each of us only has one graduation, it would be a waste of resources to create personalized clothes but many people spend time adorning their plainclothes with different arts and crafts. The problem is, as I said earlier, I have no talent or useful talent and that applies to arts and crafts as well. That leaves me with the difficult decision of what combination to wear because without any modifications the only thing I can do is create a different pattern. I have a total of... a number that's way too difficult to work out of options and basically not enough time to compare them all. I know contrasting colours would look better and that narrows my options down but as a human, I'm not that good at manual filtration. So I guess I won't.

​
——————————

Quicker than I expected, the clock chimes six times and is followed by the after-school chatter that crowds the streets. Smoothing down my plainclothes combination I see Keanu walk into our dorm and flash me a smile before snatching up his usual sports clothes. I resist the urge to facepalm but that's Keanu I suppose - always leaving things to the last minute.

"'Sup," Keanu says, tilting his head upward slightly into his signature move.

I shrug. "Not much. Just deciding what to wear."

"Cool." Keanu jumps onto his lower bunk causing the springs to squeak. "I was just playing by the riverside, you know, like the old days."

I nod instinctively but Keanu is too focused on changing to notice.

"Well," Keanu says, snapping the elastic shorts around his waist. "Let's go."

"Yeah," I agree casting one last backward glance at the clock. "Let's go."

I follow Keanu down the stairs to where everybody else is making final preparations. I wave to a few of them as I pass and touch my temple as I exit my Upbringing. Although I've only had my microchip accessory for a short time and the police microchip for an even shorter time I've already developed a habit of checking it's there every so often. For some reason, it fills me with confidence and embarrassingly I almost catch myself skipping my way towards Mytopia square.

——————————