nanowrimo chapter 1

*I put some of this up a while ago. Sorry for not posting yesterday, this is what I was working on! I don't know the title yet*

“Any new information on our subject?”

“Nothing at the moment, sir. The girl is still attempting to pursue her silly motives.”

“Ha! Look at her, so confident in her frivolous passion. She doesn’t want to know what we have in store for her future.”

“She’ll know soon enough, won’t she, sir?”

“Of course. You’re darn right she will. If all goes according to plan, that is.”

“Sir, are you implying that it won’t?”

“Definitely not!"

The morning was perfect and silent and just felt good in general. As usual, Kathica Perlman woke up in her plain white living compartment. She hated the blandness of her surroundings. If she had a choice in the matter, she would’ve painted the walls and put up posters and drawings. Neon green polka dots would look nice. Sadly, though, the Authorities would consider them “frivolous” and send her on some dangerous suicide mission into a war zone, and Kathica treasured her life too much to risk death in exchange for polka-dotted walls.

The Authorities were so strict because everyone was fighting. World War III was taking place, and one of the powerful nuclear bombs had killed Kathica’s little brother, Walter, a few years ago. She still missed him and would’ve left flowers at his grave, except every garden in her city Etherios had been destroyed in the war. Flowers would probably also be considered a frivolity. And in addition to fighting each other, the countries of Earth were being assaulted by alien armies, unlike any of the friendly and intelligent microbes the astronauts had encountered earlier.

Kathica changed from her sleeping clothes into her Uniform, a tight gray jumpsuit that was made of the most cost-effective material. She hated the Uniform because it choked her, suppressing the pores on her golden-brown skin. And gray just wasn’t her color. It was the color everyone had to wear, because it was apparently the most efficient to make the Uniforms in, so she tried not to mind too much.

After picking up her small computer, she opened her compartment’s door and stepped out, surveying the war-torn city. It was a good thing that the compartments were bulletproof and bomb-proof and had extremely strong padlocks on their doors. If they didn’t, she’d be dead by now. However, if the Authorities were to ever come to her door, she had to unlock it and politely let them in. And Kathica Perlman didn’t do many things politely, but she also didn’t want to die like Walter and so many others.

The shuttle to school stopped in front of her house. She got on, sitting next to a timid and blonde girl named Evangeline. They rode in silence, which was fine. Kathica didn’t have anything worth talking about to this girl whose father was actually one of the Authorities. Evangeline didn’t brag about it, unlike many of the other Authorities’ children did, so that was why Kathica liked her more than the others. Her own parents were military tacticians and engineers, not as brag-worthy. Everyone’s family was somehow associated with the military.

Her teachers droned on and on about ancient history, her first class. Kathica found herself wishing that her parents signed her up for the virtual school, but they were huge proponents of face-to-face interaction. She preferred taking classes in the safety of her compartment, away from the war that took her brother.

That wasn’t the only reason Kathica hated school. Her section of the compartment was soundproofed. She had done it about two years ago, at the tender age of thirteen, but had deleted all records of it in case the Authorities might find out. She knew that none of her information was ever private, and that the Authorities probably found out about her little project, but she couldn’t care less. It was all that mattered to her.

Her computer beeped softly, so only she could hear it. Evangeline was trying to send her a message: “kat how can u actually pay atenshun?! class is sooo boring!!1 im jealous.” She ignored the message, written in the slang that was common among her classmates, and shut her computer off.  

Kathica was the only one in her history class who actually cared about learning, and the message proved it. She loved the class. Learning about how people lived before the war was actually interesting. The pictures and videos that her teacher showed her weren’t even in 3D! This was probably what got the other students tuned out. They loved having the latest and greatest in technology, no matter what the cost was to them or their struggling-to-get-by parents. Kathica called them spoiled. Her own computer was an ancient model, close to three years old. It worked well enough.

She slept through the rest of her classes. Math and science came naturally to her, so those two were extremely slow-paced. She could ace tests without even studying while her peers struggled over something as elementary as quadratic equations.

Class was dismissed for the day, sooner than Kathica expected. She picked up her computer and headed out the door and towards the shuttle, attempting to sit next to Evangeline again. Before she could even get onboard, though, two muscular boys grabbed her tight Uniform and shoved her backwards.

“Like to live in the past, don’tcha, squirt?” asked the taller of the two, slicking his blond hair back. “Kathica Perlman, the history nerd who thinks she’s better than us all. Well, face it, you’re not.” She recognized him as Marc DeSilva, who, at eighteen years old, was the oldest boy in Year Ten. He thought he was the most popular boy as well.

“Hey, is that even a computer?” the other, stockier boy cut in, eyeing the gadget in Kathica’s hands. “I think it’s called… I don’t know… a dinosaur!” Kathica had never seen him before. If she did, she would have remembered a face that mean.

Her green eyes flashed with anger. She hated it when people insulted her way of life. There was no one in the entire school that she couldn’t beat up. In one fell sweep of her fist, she knocked the blond-headed boy unconscious, then punched the short and stout one right in the stomach. When both boys were lying on the floor and Evangeline congratulated her for humiliating Marc, she finally realized what she had unknowingly done and felt infinitely guilty.

In the silence of the shuttle ride, Kathica began to wish she could travel back in time. She didn't care that technology wasn't as advanced. If she was from the past, she wouldn't have had to soundproof her section of the compartment the way she did two years ago. She'd be able to enjoy music and pretty dresses and all those other "frivolities." Including green polka-dotted walls.