The walk from my employers house to mine is simple enough. It's only a two mile walk and, if I take some newly found shortcuts, I can cut it down to a mile and a half. How do I know this useless information? Well, Odelia is walking by my side today and, at the old age of seven, has found an interest in math. Currently she is counting every step we take and is up to 2,321, thankfully we are almost home. I watch as her blond curls bounce up and down as she accents each step like its the most important thing in the world. Her bright blue eyes are watching in concentration as she attempts to match her strides with mine as we walk past the houses that continue to get worse. It's actually quite funny how different the houses get the further up the cast you go. Our world starts out with the eights, the people that practically live in cardboard boxes. The eights are the outcasts of society, the drunks, the mentally unwell and the rebels. Odelia and I live too close to them for comfort because we are sevens, we live in a tiny apartment that leaks and smells of mold, though I'm not complaining. The worse the smell the cheaper the apartment is and we make our money by gardening, landscaping and pretty much any outdoor manual labor we can give without collapsing, so we try to save as much money as we can.

Then you walk a little further and you come into six territory. They live in the nicer apartments, these rooms may be small, but they are cozy and homey and always smell of something cooking. Sixes are the indoor workers of society, they sew, cook, clean and drive so their lights are always on. Whenever you pass it's as if a halo of light surrounds everything. Even though these people are so close to the bottom their lifestyle is beautiful.

Then, walk a little further, and you travel to the territory of the fives. The fives are our musicians, they can afford little houses, and the air around the neighborhood is always a lively and joyful one. Many times, when I was young, I would watch the fives give music lessons and then, when no one was looking I would play my air piano or guitar and pretend to be a five. Giving performances and hearing the deafening applause as people scream my name. I loved that scene so much it made up most of my journal for about a year. In my opinion fives have it the best, even better than the fours, who are business men and women. These fours may be rich and live in big homes, but there lives are so bland. They always seem to be at work, therefore they only have white, plain houses. Fours are where I get the most work because they want someone else to keep their house clean while they are away. They are under the crazy impression that a beautiful outside makes your inside beautiful and trust me, the inside is as empty as can be. The Threes, though, are anything but empty on the inside. The threes are smart, intuitive and come up with the best ideas. Three's houses are always stuffed to the brim with bookshelves, whiteboards, desks, chairs and crazy gadgets. Threes are where I always go to get my journal supplies. You can always count on a three to throw away a partially used pencil, or throw away a perfectly good journal when a couple pages were used. I love scoping through three territory, it's always a jungle and it seems to be full of new surprises every day.

Go a little more up cast and you come to my normal customers, the twos. They are our celebrities, our models and our superstars. The mansions are always gorgeous and the people even more so. The houses are so huge that I sometimes wonder how many people could be secretly hiding in there. It would seem to get pretty lonely after a while, but if I was a two I wouldn't care about that. I would be in their gardens all day. They have everything from sculpted hedges to tulips, from weeping willows to chrysanthemums. I could spend my entire life in those gardens, sketching out every flower and then redrawing every single one a month later when they have grown. Two gardens are perfect in any weather, whether under a fresh coat of fallen snow, or when the old oaks turn colors bit by bit. Yes, I would definitely be very happy with the life of a two. Then you have the ones, our sovereign emperor and empress with their son, Alexius. The only things I know about the Royal family is from gossip I overhear from the twos, and something tells me not all of it is true. I highly doubt Prince Alexius dyed his hair purple for a praFall oOut Girl *cough cough*ctical joke, or becomes a wolf whenever there is a full moon. Though I do know he is 18 years old, so he's old enough for The Selection.

The Selection, oh that gloriously public event where every naive 16-18 year old girl puts her name onto a slip in hopes to be manipulated by royalty. Personally I don't see myself as a princess, much less an empress. I will probably put my name in anyways because anyone chosen receives a new cast, a lifetime as a two. I would love to live in those lush gardens everyday without a care in the world, it would be breathtakingly beautiful and Odelia would always have food to eat, she would even have snacks! And she would get an education where she could learn all aspects of math instead of the basic counting. And she could...

"2,543... 2,544... 2,545... 2,546! Nadia that's a new record! Yesterday we took 2,892 steps, this shortcut really was faster!" Odelia exclaims shaking me out of my thought.

"That's Amazing" I tell her in awe "I don't see how you can remember all those numbers, you really are smart."

Odelia just smiles and runs inside. She really is good with numbers and she loves school, even though I can only teach her the little I know or overhear from the upper casts. Unlike me, and me dream of becoming a five, her dream is to become a three. I wish I could teach her more but I only know so much, I know that arts, not the schools. Odelia though, is oblivious to her own wisdom and just wishes for food, and at the moment she is already inside. She knows that right after we work we always eat dinner and, being a growing kid, savors every scrap of food she can get. I smile at how much the little things excite her as I follow her in and giggle as I see her struggling to open the peas. We don't have the money for a can opener, seeing as how you can only buy those in three territory, where they are invented. Therefore, we open all of our cans the old fashion way, using a hammer and some well placed plates underneath. This may not be that big of a deal for me, as I am grown and have fully developed muscles, but for Odelia it's a whole other concept. Seeing her try and open the peas is almost comical as she taps the hammer against the top and nearly hits her finger every time. Her beautiful, blue eyes are full of concentration as she attempts to use her brute strength to fulfill her ever growing hunger. I decide to step in before she loses her finger.

"Hey Odelia, why don't I try?" I announce. She gives me the hammer with a concerned expression and I take it with ease. I put it up to the peas and pretend to struggle against the lid for a couple seconds, when in reality, I made it just about ready to be popped, now all it needed is a little tap.

"I don't know O, I just can't get it" I tell her, "Why don't you try again?" She looked at me with suspicion but sure enough when she 'hits' the can again it opens up all over our plates. Seeing her look of pure joy in that moment is what makes everything worth it, and I know that this is going to become a journal entry so I start memorizing it. I memorize the way Odelia's curly blond hair comes about to her shoulders and how a strand or two covers her face. I memorize her expression of wonder and amazement. I memorize the way she still holds the hammer in a striking position, like she's ready to hit it again, and how the peas ooze all over our plates. When I reach out to distribute the plates I immediately give Odelia the larger portion, I would never tell her this of course, but she always gets more, she deserves it. While we eat I tell her about the selection and how I will be applying this year, Odelia is ecstatic, no surprise there. She immediately starts talking about what I should wear and how I should do my hair and what I should write on the form. We talk like that until O gives a long yawn and I know that, no matter how much she protests, it's time for bed. In the morning I'll enter myself in the selection and maybe, if I'm lucky, I can get in. Odelia would love that.

Okay so I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH! I just got this new account and wasn't even expecting anyone to read it yet, much less review *cough cough* The Fall Out Girl *cough cough*. So, because of The One review I have (get it, The One, hehe, hehe, hehe. Yea, you're right that was cringeworthy) I will post my update sooner than expected. Also, I just wanted to say that I'm going to make Nadia an optimist, though don't worry, I'll add some more angst stuff in future chapters ?.