Katie Smith

Registration

Katie knocked on the door of dorm 6. She shouted "You ready yet?  There are other kids arriving now and a queue is beginning to form".

Sarah opened the door, she was dressed in the school uniform that Katie had dropped around for her and her long blonde hair was pulled back in a pony tail.

"Lets go then"

They walked through the hall and down the stairs.  The entry hall was now a hub of activity. There were loads of teenagers mostly on their own, some with parents.  There were three queues forming at the registration desk and there was a tall woman with black hair and a clip board greeting the new arrivals.

Sarah could hear her asking the arrivals questions about their parents before gesturing to a queue.

"Why is she asking them that?" she asked Katie.

Katie hadn't really been paying attention to the woman, she turned her head slightly and listened.  

"Mother born, Father born? Line three..." the woman was cut off before she had finished by a confident, if not arrogant, boy with short shiny black hair "There should only be born here! My family has more than 10 generations without a single newly turned needing to be introduced!". The woman just pointed to line three.

Katie took a deep breath before explaining, "Ok, there are three lines.  There is an assumption that family background would mean that the students with two born parents will have a better knowledge of some of our history, politics and laws. It isn't always true, but it's the way it has been done for years. So line three is what is both parents born, line two is one born parent and one newly turned and line one is two parents newly turned."

"So what about me."

"You will go in line one, basically it means you need to attend an extra class 'Induction to Turned Society'. Those in line 2 will sit a test today and depending on how they do, your class might grow and line three....well they just assume that their parents have managed to teach them the basics. Often they don't!"

Sarah took up a place in line one and quickly got to the front.

"Mother's name?"

"Elizabeth Morrison".

"Father's name?

"Robert Morrison"

"Turn age of Mother."

"Em- my Mum isn't turned"

The woman at the desk looked up for the first time with a look of concern.

"Oh, my dear, I will pop a red dot on your file that will help the teachers to identify that you will require more support."

"Em- Ok"

"Right, take this folder, here is your map.  The route to lecture room three is highlighted. Do you already have a dorm room assigned?".

Sarah took the map and replied, "Yes, I arrived yesterday."

"Very good, off you go" the woman said, notably flustered as she prepared to move on.

Sarah looked at the map and started to make her way to lecture room three.