I fidgeted around in my seat and sighed a little too loudly. My father shot me a disapproving look from his seat beside me. I quickly folded my hands back on the table and focused my eyes on the ceremony taking place before me. It was the last and supposedly most important ceremony of Inside Initiation Week. Insider Initiation Week takes place once a year. All the eighteen year olds have to be interviewed, and tell why they want to be known as an honorary member of the Inside. Of course, there are always those few who have some sense and choose to transfer. They either go to the Outside or the Inbetween. It depends on what level of lunacy you want to be thrown into.
I was being forced to attend the ceremony. As princess of the Inside it is supposedly my duty. I didn't want to be there at all, though. There were about eight people who were being officially named as Insiders that year. I only knew one of them, and I didn't even know him very well. His name was Micah, and he stood at the very end of the line. Well, the end that was opposite of me. He used to tutor me in math when I was in middle school, but other than that I didn't have any association with him.
My father slowly stood up from his chair behind the table and both my mother and I looked up instinctively. Dashiell Fein was a big man. I mean, he wasn't fat or anything but he was very tall and strong looking. No matter what anyone said you could tell that people were intimidated by him.
"Would everyone please take a seat in the chairs provided for you?" My father's deep voice instructed. Even though there weren't any microphones being used, his loud voice echoed around the amphitheater.
Each of the initiates obeyed, and sat down in the white chairs that were placed behind them. I watched with just the tiniest bit of interest. I wanted to tell them to run, not to sit down. Run as fast as you can, and never look back.
"We are gathered here today to welcome each of you lovely people into the loving atmosphere of the Inside. I know most of you have lived here all your lives, but trust me when I say that it will be like living in a new world once you are an official Insider. You'll have many more privledges, and will don the respectable Insider uniform. I hope you all have cherished your youth here in the Inside, and are ready to live the rest of your lives in the most admirable of all the factions. If you are ready to dedicate your lives to helping the Inside prosper then please answer with a vigourous 'yes.'"
I chewed on my lip and glanced between the young people who sat before me. It was a shame they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. I was only seventeen at the time of this particular ceremony, but I knew that I would make sure that something would happen in that next year so that I would never be in their shoes. Their oblivious little shoes.
"Yes!"
I jumped a little at the sudden answer, hitting my hand on the cloth covered table. "Ow," I yelped. My mother gave me a sharp look from where she was seated on the other side of my father. I wasn't even that loud, geez.
"Wonderful. Now we'll give each of you your uniforms, and then you will be dismissed. Would everyone in the audience please rise?" My father scanned the small crowd of the initiate's familes as they stood up from the bleachers. Heads of blonde hair craning around each other to get a better view of their loved ones.
After everyone had stood up, my father motioned for my mother and I to stand also. I tried not to look to unpleasant as I struggled to stand up in the dress I had been forced to wear. It was big, puffy, itchy, and of course it was white. I stumbed a little as I tried to stand up, and the dress almost got caught on my chair. I snatched it away before it could rip.
Once I finally was able to stand still I looked up to find everyone giving me weird looks. Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I'm graceful. I cleared my throat awkwardly and clasped my hands together in front of myself.
My father motioned for one of the other officials to begin handing out the uniforms. For the boys there were crisp white polos with the Insider emblem stitched on the pocket. The Insider emblem was of a dove and it had the original leader's initials on it's wing. AC for Alistair Crain. The pants were a white corduroy and cuffed at the bottom. They also gave the boys a white blazer.The girls were pretty much the same. Except they had a knee length skirt instead of pants.
Once they started calling out names I kind of zoned out. My mind wandered to what Anastasia and Matthias wanted me to do after this. They had said they would be waiting for me right outside the theater once I was done, but they never mentioned what they wanted to do. Probably just hang out, I assumed.
Anastasia and Matthias were my best friends in case you were wondering. I'd known them all my life, and had always clicked with them better than the other kids. They both knew of all the shady things that the Inside was because I told them. Just like I told them everything else.
Anastasia was a smart girl who always had something reasonable and wise to say. I counted on her a lot since she seemed to always know what to do in whatever situation I got myself into. I seemed to get myself into quite a few. Most of the time they involved my father and his hypocritical ways. She of course had blonde hair and blue eyes like everyone else, but I always thought she stood out. She had the perfect amount of curliness to her hair, opposed to my pin straight hair. Her eyes seemed a brighter blue than anyone else's I had seen, and she had the perfect fair complexion.
Matthias was the goofiest guy I knew. Kind of like the class clown of the Inside, I guess. He always knew how to make me laugh, and could easily turn anything into a joke. I'm not even sure how I met him. He just always seemed to be there in almost all of my memories. He was skinny and shorter than most of the other Insider boys. That wasn't hard, though, most of them looked like giants. Some people said he followed Anastasia and I around like a lost puppy, but I never saw it that way. He was a part of us, not someone who tried to be. I was just as close to him as I was with Anastasia, and I never found it weird that he was a guy and hung out with us. It was just that way.
"You are dismissed," my father announced with a nod, and the new members of the Inside took no time scurrying off to their families.
"Finally, I muttered underneath my breath, not really caring if either of my parents heard me. If they did, they said nothing about it.
My father went out first, and I followed in behind him. I hiked up my dress a little and tried to hurry but was quickly stopped by my mother whose graceful footsteps pattered behind me.
"Slower, Nyxitalia, slower," she instructed in her soft spoken voice that I could barely hear over the loud conversations of the people who still stood in the theatre.
I hated when she called me Nyxitalia. I'd been trying for seventeen years to get her to call me Nyx like everyone else, but she refused. She said it wasn't proper enough for a princess. Heck, I wasn't proper enough for a princess.
Begrudgingly, I slowly let my dress fall back down, and I slowed my walking pace. I couldn't get across that room fast enough. I kept my sights set on the doors where I knew Anastasia and Matthias would be waiting for me. I was never so excited to see them as I was when I finally got out that door.
They hurried over to me, and I waited for my parents to walk down the hall before I wrapped my arms around both of their shoulders.
"That was torture," I announced with a groan as I let my hair down from the tight bun my mother had put it in. "Did you bring my clothes?"
Anastasia dangled a pair of jeans and a pink t-shirt in front of my face. You see, until you're an official Insider you can wear whatever color you want.
I grinned and snatched them from her, already tossing off my heels. "Wait, did you bring me some flats?" I asked, my eyes widening a bit. I could not walk around in these heels, and there was no way I was going back to our apartment. My parents would find some reason for me to not hang out with them.
"Don't get your panties in a wad, Nyx. I have them," Matthias teased, tossing some black ballet flats my way.
I caught one easily, but the other almost hit me in the face before I could catch it. "Idiot," I snapped at Matthias. The grin on my face showed I was just playing.
Matthias laughed, throwing his head back a little, as Anastasia shoved me into the girls' bathroom to change.
"Change fast. We want to go on the roof before it gets dark," Anastasia called from where she was propped up on the sinks.
"I'm going as fast as I can." I draped the dress over the top of the stall, and Anastasia grabbed it. I could hear her grunting as she tried to shove it into a trashbag.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Finally! What took you guys so long?" Matthias exclaimed, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on once we came out of the bathroom.
"Do you know how long it takes to get that thing off?" I pointed at the bag that Anastasia was pulling behind her. It was bulging from the dress and looked like it might burst.
"What are we going to do with this?" Anastasia questioned, blowing some stray pieces of hair out of her face.
I shrugged. "Eh, just leave it here. I only wear dresses once. It's not like I'll need it again."'
"Won't your parents be mad?"
"When aren't they mad?" I scoffed. Anastasia and Matthias nodded in agreement, and we started towards the elevators, leaving the bag in the hallway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stepping out into the hot air of the New York afternoon could almost knock the breath out of you. The roof of the Inside gave a good view of New York City. Atleast the right side of New York City. The left side was blocked by none other than the Outsider Headquarters. The loudest and most obnoxious buildings in the whole city.
"Oh, nice. Our friends are out," Anastasia deadpanned, gesturing to four teenagers who were sitting on one of the ledges of the Outsider building.
We knew them by name since they seemed to find calling out insults to us a great way to pass the time. The long-running hostility that was held between the Inside and the Outside had been passed down from generation to generation. We didn't like each other. Simple as that.
I groaned as the four kids snickered and sneered at us as we plopped down on some plastic chairs that we lugged up here a few years back.
"Just ignore them. They're stupid. One day they're going to fall off their little ledge, and I'm going to laugh," Matthias said.
I grinned, but Anastasia gave him a hard look. "I bet you won't be laughing when they hear you say something like that, and beat your skinny butt up," she hissed, smacking his arm.
Matthias rolled his eyes and rubbed his arm where there was now a very red handprint. Aaah, my crazy friends.
"So, how did everything go today?" Matthias asked, propping his legs up on my lap, and scowling when I shoved them off.
I ran a hand through my hair, and I sighed. "Same as it usually does. My dad acts like he's the noble little leader, and makes speeches using words that he doesn't even understand. My mom smiled and nods, and shoots me disapproving looks because I'm not the graceful and dainty daughter she wants me to be. Poor eighteen year old kids get sucked into this place like a black hole. Once you go in, you aren't coming back out."
Matthias and Anastasia shake their heads, and I know they are thinking the same thing I am.
"What are we going to do guys? I refuse to be sucked in. We don't have many options. I don't want to transfer to the Outside. I doubt that the rest of the members are any more pleasant than those morons, " I said, gesturing over my shoulder to the teenagers who sounded like they were having a wrestling match,"I don't know much about the Inbetween, but from what I've heard it isn't very good. We've got to make something happen. We've got to do something so we don't have to live in this hypocritical faction for the rest of our lives."
Matthias perked up a little at my words. He was always up for a challenge. "That will be our mission then. To come up with a plan so that we don't have to stay here."
I smiled and nodded. Looking over at Anastasia I saw that she had on her nervous look. She was the reasonable one. She knew where she was safe, and she didn't like to break out of that bubble. Even though she hated the Inside just as much as we did, it was her safety bubble.
"I don't know you guys. I know that this place is a complete fraud, but atleast were safe here. We don't know anything about the world outside of the Inside. It could be dangerous," she said, biting at her nails.
"I would rather live somewhere dangerously real, than safely fake," I replied, sitting up in my chair. I was getting out of there one way or another.
"Nyx is right, Anastasia. This place is a joke. We deserve to be free of it. You deserve to be free of it." Matthias leaned forward and we exchanged glances. I mentally told him that that was the smartest thing he'd ever said.
"So, what do you say, Ana? Are you in?"
She scrunched up her face and looked back and forth between us before finally nodding her head.
"Great! Now we just have to figure out what it is were planning on doing."
prev chapter
![[send message]](https://www.writerscafe.org/images/mail.png){kind=small}
![[befriend]](https://www.writerscafe.org/images/friend.png){kind=small}
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Flag Writing
