Chapter One
Not Cut Out
My eyes shot open as I heard the sound of my room mates getting ready. "Shit!" I screamed as I rolled off the top bunk and fell to the floor. I twisted in mid air to land on my feet in a crouched position. I look up to find my two roommates staring down at me. I turned around to look at the clock and saw that it read "6:50". "Shit,Shit,Shit" I muttered as I ran to the closet and grabbed the closest suit coat and dress shirt. I almost forgot to grab pants and socks as I ran into the bathroom. As I was getting dressed in a whirlwind of clothes I heard my roommates talking outside. "He's been late every single day" one said "I thought this place was for people aspiring to be government officials". A word about my roommates. They're stuck up, bratty rich kids who only got here because their parents have deep pockets. I on the other hand got here purely on my test grades and my charm with all the teachers. Just kidding, I got here because I was the only person in my class that was interested. So yeah, I'm not really cut out to be here but I don't travel much and I couldn't just pass this us. You are probably wondering where here is exactly. I'm in Washington D.C (or I guess the town over where our complex was), on a National Youth Leadership Forum. We hear from all sorts of fancy government people and soldiers telling us how great it is to work for the country. I personally was not interested. I was more interested in going to the monuments and learning some history. But alas, I only get to sit and take notes on what it's like working in the Senate.
I finally finished getting dressed in a record 2 and a half minutes. I booked it out of the bathroom to be greeted with smiles and pats on the back for how good I look and how I was technically on time today. (That was sarcasm by the way if you couldn't tell) "You look horrible" said Jacob. I looked over at Jacob. Jacob was about 6 feet 2 inches with around 180 pounds of Big Macs and Mountain Dew. He was wearing a white shirt with a red tie and a black suit coat with two gold cufflinks on each sleeve. His hair was gelled and combed to the side. "What a loser" I mutter under my breath as I grab my bag and begin to walk out the door. My other roommate steps in my way. This ones name is Robert. He's dressed in his blue ROTC uniform with his little cap on his neatly combed hair. Rob thinks he the top shit. He's a skinny kid who probably couldn't even hit a fly hard enough to kill it. He's about 5 feet 6 inches with zero muscle. "Apologize" Robert said with his squeaky. I can see he's nervous because of the way he won't meet my eyes. I stepped real close and looked him dead in the eyes. "Sorry, no can do captain boys scout" I said as I began to walk around him. They followed me out the door as we made our way into the halls of the student housing area. The building was about 4 stories tall and made out of brick. It connected to the girls dorm through the walk way and in back it connected with the group rooms. Each room was named after each state to show that all the kids from across the country had equal representation. Ironically my home state of Massachusetts was never found on a room.
We made our way to the first floor that had been recently stripped of all its contents for renovations. Once we walked over to the rooms we split off to each find our group. Each group was named after a different US General. I was in the Patton group with about 25 other kids. Throughout the day we did activities to strengthen our teamwork and knowledge of our country. I hated it. I reached the room to find everyone there, including my teacher. Uh-oh. "Hey th-" . " Sit down Daniel" she said with a glare. I took the only remaining seat in the circle and opened my book. The teacher started talking but I zoned out and thought about the other kids in the room. I knew almost none of there names, even though we have done millions of ice breakers and name games. Mostly rich kids and future Einstein's except for one who caught my eye. He was about my height but more bone than muscle. He was wearing a stained shirt that was untucked around his waist. He wore thin wiry glasses, which he obviously needed as I could see him straining his eyes whenever he took them off. He obviously wasn't a rich kid. He looked nervous. His eyes darted all around the room like he was trying to find something. He almost had a heart attack when the voice came over the intercom. "All student activities will be suspended for the day" the voice boomed, "due to a health hazard we ask all students to go back to their dorms for the day." Woah what? The three days I've been here it's been strict as hell. Seven am to ten pm with no breaks besides meals. Something really big must have gone down. I looked back at the kid but he was gone. I looked over to the door just in time to see him sprint away. All the kids stampeded out the door like a group of elephants. I got up and walked back to my room. On my walk over to my room I couldn't help but questioning how strange it was. Had something happened in D.C.? I didn't know. I would've never imagined how much of a hell my life was about to be turned into.