Page 42 of The Commons

I am all alone now.

I get to my dorm a few minutes late, but Beatrice is not around to penalize me. I wonder if Zia covered for me? I have to sleep. Soon, I’ll have to take the test of death—the Chemistry Test.

But I can’t sleep. All I can think is, why did he freak out when I asked him about The Seventh Zone?

CHAPTER 10

Solving The Unsolvable

Hands trembling, scribbling on a scrunched piece of paper, I outline my game plan in my mind. I hold my breath and pray that no one comes into my station and sees what I am doing. I barely touch the paper with my hands.

To avoid creating a trail of evidence to the detriment of my mission and my life, I cannot write down any words with a real pen. I simply envision it in my mind.

I have many thoughts running around my brain and on this scrunched piece of paper, but the ones crowding me the most are these:

Survive the remaining Tests.

Pass the 10 by 10 Test.

Read The Tragedy of The Commons book.

Find Levon.

On the wall, “Saturday” and “6 a.m.” appear in bright golden neon lights on the virtual educational chart. The artificial brightness instantly causes my eyes to twitch. I turn my face away to take a quick peek out the wall-like windows and for the first time, it is not dark. I look to the educational chart on the other side of the wall, and it reads, “Math and Science Week.”

A loud snake-like voice comes through the intercom, jarring my head forward. “You’re welcome for the extra sleep, Commoners. Enjoy it while it lasts, for death awaits in Math and Science Week. Cheerio, Patron Suzandrick.”

The students instantly jump out of their beds, eyes widened, faces stoic. Zia is shaking, her face red, her eyes drained. I instinctively reach out to hold her hands, but she runs to the restroom. A pungent smell emanates from the door as I walk through a traffic of girls. I stop, resting on the windows. My body touches the glass, and my skin tingles in attraction to the warm reflection of the tuscan-colored sky.

I close my eyes and imagine Levon. Her golden waves spinning in the caramel sunlight, her goddess-green eyes glowing in the pink sunrise. My heart can hardly hold itself. It leaps up against my chest and a chuckle escapes my lips, happiness exuding through my soul at seeing my beautiful sister dancing in delight. She is my motivation. She is my vision. She is my light. She is my love. I’m not sure how these girls around me stay happy, or if they even do, but for me, the hunger of finding my sister keeps my soul alive.

I exhale and drive my feet backward to snap back into reality. I splash some soap and water on my skin in less than six minutes. That’s what we call a shower here. I hurry to my dressing station and find my perfectly placed uniform. I raise my hands to my drawer and find my Commons brown sweater. I slip it inside my backpack. I never know when I’ll need to keep warm with these cold tests. I am about to put on my white polo, then slip into the sleeveless navy-blue dress with golden highlights. This is our first option for uniform as girls in The Commons.

Zia comes out of the restroom wearing a perfectly straight, crisp white shirt tucked into blue pants. This is our second option as girls in The Commons.

“Zia! I thought you prefer wearing skirts on Saturdays,” I say, noticing her dragging her feet.

“I’m not in the mood. What I really want to wear is the dress, but I can’t because you’re about to wear it, aren’t you?” she says as her head tilts toward the dress I laid out.

“Why not? Wear it with me. Come on, it’ll brighten up your day. You love dressing up, plus you wore that yesterday.” I pull her chin up, giving her a motivational grin to cheer her up.

“Wear something else then. You’re gonna take all the attention away from me with that dress if we were the same thing.”

“No way, it’s not a big deal.”

“Yes, it is! Everyone notices you. Even Zavish. I can’t exactly compete with you when you have a body like that.”

“Zia stop, you have a great body, but you don’t want someone who sees you just for that⁠—”

“I don’t want your lectures, Shantavia. Just try not to be selfish.”

“Okayy…” I don’t even bother. I really don’t want to argue with her this morning. She already seems like she’s in a bad mood. “Whatever, I’ll wear something else. I don’t care. It’s really not a big deal. I just want to see you cheer up.” I put away my dress and change into the pants.

“How do you even stay so fit? Your waist is way too snatched. Not fair!”

“What are you talking about? We weigh the same.”

“Yeah, but I starve myself!”