1 Chapter 1

Yessy POV

For the past 100 years my state has been closed off from the world. Apparently, there was a huge explosion that killed off millions of people, but only our state survived, so our Government decided to close everything off by surrounding the state with a wall. They're very strict here. We're not allowed to have mental illnesses, women are supposed to wear clothes that cover their whole body, we are required to wear a collar in which our heart rates and emotions are shown, they choose our partners when we turn 16, and we could only be good at one thing or else the society would be corrupt. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to live outside the wall? Why do we have to kill the mentally ill when we have doctors? Why do they have to choose our partners? Why do we only have to be good with one thing? All my questions kept running through my head non stop until Ms. Roses slammed her book on my table, which startled me.

"Zoning out again Ms. Carrillo?" she asked with a frown on her face.

"No ma'am.. Just thinking about the answer"

She looks at me and rolls her eyes. I never liked her nor she never liked me. Her classes are always boring, but I care way too much about my grades to let them slip, and because of that, my teachers and the government assigned me as a scholar. As a scholar, I'm constantly studying, making sure my grades don't slip, and always doing class work. I'm not allowed to be good at anything else since it's against society's norms.

"Everyone is equal. No one is greater or below. We work hard to ensure that everything is balance" That's their motto. I'm not really sure why we have to be good at one thing..Are they afraid that someone who's different will become a danger? I kept taking note before Ms. Roses ended yelling at me again. She seems to be more calm now since her collar is back to normal heart rate and the color of her emotion is blue.

"Ms. Carrillo"

"Yes?"

"Why don't you come up and show us how to solve this problem" she said with a sour smile.

I just stared at her and looked around. There's shit ton of people here.. I don't want to go up because I get really anxious, and I need to hide the fact that I suffer from anxiety or else I'll be killed.

"Alright" I said as I stood up and walked toward the board.

In order for me to keep my heart rate at a normal state, I have to pretend that they're all invisible, and show no emotion. I grabbed the marker off her hand and began to solve the equation on the board.

"You would have to plug is 2 for x and solve it from there, which ends up giving you 14"

I gave back the marker and walked back to my seat, but while I was walking back to my seat, a guy caught my attention. He was looking at me and we both made eye contact. I just gave a slight smile and looked away. The guy that was staring at me was known for always being alone and silent no matter what. Never have I ever heard his voice. Not even once. He doesn't seem to have friends either, but every time someone tries to talk to him, he just looks at them and shrugs.

After a while of doing work, Hector came next to my desk and placed his notebook on my table.

"Aye, it's time for lunch," He said.

Hector wasn't a tall guy at all. 5'2ft, black hair, fit, dimples, and acne. Him and I have been friends since the beginning of the year.

"Not hungry. Go without me" I said as I was getting out my homework to work on. I usually skip lunch just to do my work, but sometimes to also spend time with the silent kid. He always stays here to do work, so I stay here out of curiosity.

"GIRL, YOU KEEP SKIPPING LUNCH!! THIS IS WHY YOU'RE SKINNY" he said.

I looked at him and then looked at the guy across from me, and he was silently looking at us.

"I want to do work," I said as I began to write.

He suddenly grabs my arm and starts to drag me out of the classroom.

"DUDE, WHAT THE HELL!?!? LET GO OF ME" I yelled angrily. My collar started to turn red and my heart beat started to increase to the point that it was beeping. The school authorities quickly came and pulled both of us away. Hector and I stayed silent and my collar went back to normal.