Circles

Chapter Three

I wake up, and just for a moment it feels like any other day.

            Then it hits me.

            I glance at the clock. “Nine-fifteen,” I say to myself. “Two hours.”

            I’m alone in my family’s room; my parent’s bed is made, my dress laid out on top of it. I throw it on, run a brush through my hair, and apply the slightest bit of makeup –I was never a fan of the stuff- and go downstairs.

            “Surprise!”

            My mom, my dad, and everyone from their Circle, plus their kids, are sitting around the table, which has bacon, eggs, toast, waffles, and a cake that reads “We’ll miss you Alex!”

            I want to cry. “Oh, you guys didn’t have to do this!” I say with a smile.

            “We wanted to,” says mom, her eyes watery.

            “You deserve it,” adds my dad.

            “I helped make the cake!” Jodi shouts gleefully, and everyone laughs.

            I make sure to thank everyone, and I take my seat.

            We all take our time eating and talking, and again it feels like everything’s normal. But when I look at the clock and it reads 10:30, I excuse myself to go get my things together.

            I’m double checking what I packed when my mom comes in, dad at her side. They’re both smiling.

            “Hey,” I say.

            “Look at you,” my dad beams. “You’re all grown up.”

            “It seems like just yesterday we ordered a crib for our room,” says mom.

            I don’t really know what to say, so I just smile and give them each a hug.

            “So,” my mom says, then sniffs. “Are you ready?”

            “As ready as I’m going to get.”

            “Okay,” says my dad. “Let’s go, then."

            The bus drops us off in front of the city’s meeting place, where the ceremony will be held. With my mom on one side of me and my dad on the other, I pick up my suitcase and walk into the building, very aware of the fact that I won’t walk out with my parents, but with nine new roommates. My Circle.

            “Are you nervous?” dad asks.

            I laugh. “Wouldn’t you be?"

            My mom gives me a squeeze as we walk to our seats in silence.

            “Quiet, please!”

        Erin Winters, head of the Circles, has no problem silencing the room. Erin, along with some others, created the Circles thirty years ago. They believed that limiting interaction with others would cause less conflict and they were, for the most part, right. But it also limited out ability to make our own choices, to live our lives to the fullest. We had two options; join a Circle, or get a job.

        After a short speech from Erin, names begin being called, and the first Circles are formed. I mostly zone out; I don’t know these people, anyway.

            “Christopher Smith! Kimberly Denny! Matthew Roberts! Nicole Camisa!” calls Erin Winters, along with some other names I didn’t hear. She’s standing closer to us now, and her voice snaps me out of my daze.

            “Excuse me,” a boy says, and I turn in my chair to let him pass.

            He smiles a little. “Thanks,” he says.

            I tune out the ceremony again, only coming back to reality when I hear my name.

            “Alexandra Carters! Elizabeth Young! Patrick Clements! Maxwell Shepard! April Mercury! Jessica Pipe! Michael Bush! Luke Samin! Isabella Rogers! Over here, please!

            I hug each of my parents for what I’m sure will be the last time, and go sit with my Circle. None of us speak. I look back to where I was sitting, and my mom is crying, my dad hugging her.

            Shortly after my Circle is formed, the ceremony ends, and it’s time to go to my new home.