The rest of the afternoon passed slowly. The one thing I learned was that I wasn’t coded to be a Monitor. The man beside me never seemed to bore or tire of his duty, but before long, I was staring around the cubicle’s opening and trying to see if any of my classmates were close enough to talk to instead. They weren’t. Brin and Lyra had gone upstairs to the residential stations, and I didn’t know what cubicle Kyer was in. I felt abandoned, all alone, despite the Monitor whose cubicle I shared. I couldn’t imagine the rest of my life stretching out on the screens in front of me.
Hours passed. Finally I heard footsteps outside our cubicle and glanced up to see my Teacher peering in. “Time’s about up, Aine. We’re finishing early because you all have rec time tonight.”
A little too eagerly, I
