The Color of Knowledge

Chapter Two (pt. 1)

Back at the house, Ivy sat at the kitchen table folding and refolding her new green clothes. The sun was starting to set, which made the inside of the white kitchen glow a somber orange. She kept replaying the ceremony over again in her head—how she was so sure she was going to get the assignment she wanted.

The doorbell rang, making Ivy jump; they almost never had visitors over. She heard Spencer fly down the stairs to answer it.

"I got it!" she yelled to everyone else.

Five feet from where Ivy sat, their mother was cooking, and Mr. Stone was in his office, no doubt filling out paperwork he had brought home from work. They both had the rest of the day off because of the ceremony—that ever-so disappointing ceremony.

"That must be Spencer's friend," said Mrs. Stone.

"No... Best friend," Spencer corrected, walking into the kitchen. Behind her trailed her best friend, smiling. He looked just like Spencer; they had the same eye and skin color—a very light, pale brown—and they were even the same height. The only other difference between the two, besides gender, was the scar on Spencer's forehead, which was lacking on his.

"And what is your name, young man?" Mrs. Stone asked as she wiped her hands on her apron.

"K.J. Cozart." The boy extended his hand. They shook hands a little longer than normal people would upon first meeting each other.

"Wait a minute," Ivy interrupted. "Cozart? You're the President's son?"

"Yes," he replied, avoiding the bewildered eye contact Ivy was giving him.

"No more questions!" Spencer interjected. "Follow me, K.J., I have a new game." He followed her out of the kitchen without a backward glance.

Ivy looked over at her mother, eyes wide. "Did you know her friend was the President's son?"

"No, I had no idea." She did not seem to care about the revelation Ivy was having. "He seems like a nice boy."

"Aren't they the only family in the whole Society that only has one child? How is that fair?"

"The Cozarts couldn't have children, so they adopted one."

"I thought after The End, there were only enough children for each family to have two."

"Well, they are pretty high up there within The Society. I'm pretty sure they were able to bend a few rules," she replied, continuing to chop onions.

"Mom."

Ivy's tone of voice caught her mother's attention. She looked up.

"Does K.J. look like he could be Spencer's twin?"

Color drained from Mrs. Stone's face for the second time that day, as her daughter's words sank in. "That's not possible," she replied with force. "They said he wouldn't be allowed to live. They killed him." Tears threatened to stream down her face. Ivy moved to comfort her, but backed away as her father walked into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner, Lauren?" he asked, stretching his arms over his head, oblivious to the fact his wife was crying. "I heard the doorbell ring. Was that Spencer's friend?"

Ivy did not want to be present when her father realized his wife was upset. She grabbed her green clothes from the table and headed upstairs to her room. Behind her, she heard her mother's sobs and her father's surprise as he finally noticed something was wrong.

She reached her room, wishing she had told her mother she was sorry she had brought it up. She closed the door, not wanting to hear Spencer and K.J.'s laughter coming from the other room. Ivy laid on her back in the middle of the floor. She had not known her mother still had such strong feelings about the subject; it had been seven years ago.