Hello! See I told you I'd write a better chapter! Here it is! Thanks for all the reviews! Keep on writing them! AND you should really check out whalefairyfandom12's Flowers Flourish When the Ice is Gone! (it's AMAZING!)
After weeks of bloody noses, pain, and dust they had finally granted us with one day off. 24 hours of pure freedom! Ble, Well, and I strolled down the streets of Downtown Dustless. We were laughing and joking like we had been best friends forever, it almost seemed like we belong here, 3 Dustless chillin' out on their break, but this would only ever happen again if we all were ranked in the top 10. Which, unfortunately, in my case was highly unlikely.
"Hey! A soapttoo parlor!" Ble exclaimed. One run down building on the corner had a sign hanging sideways that read "Soapttoo International!". International, what a weird word. I had never heard it before so I assumed it was the name of the owner. Soapttoos are pretty much markings made on your skin. They stab you over and over again with vials filled with colored soap that dyes your skin. Soap is used because you can get lots of nasty infections with dye. We walked into the parlor. I hesitated, it reeked strongly of cheap squeeze soap and moldy bananas, but eventually gave in to the ghastly smell. I might of gotten a nasty infection just by breathing the air that was in there.
Ble and Well found open booths and disappeared, leaving me in the sitting room. I sat nervously shifting in my seat, which could've broken any minute. I looked strangely out of place in the room filled with hairy Dustless men. Every one of them probably had a shirt size of XXXXXL, and not because they were fat, because their muscles bulged out, abnormally large.
"Beatide?" I heard my name and whipped around. Squeaky was standing next to a booth with her arms crossed.
"Here for a Soapttoo?" she asked. I nodded and followed her into an open space.
"What do you want?" she asked. I realized that I hadn't actually though about that, I was too busy thinking of all the infectious diseases that could come out of this place. I looked around for inspiration and found a poster with lots of bubbles advertising the company.
"3 bubbles!" I said confidently "Right here." I motioned towards my collar bone. The three bubbles would represent my family, close to my heart. She agreed and started to fill vials.
"You don't have to pretend, Squeaky," I said.
"Pretend what?"
"Oh stop it! You know what I'm talking about! Detergent... ringing a bell?" She almost dropped a vial as she turned to face me.
"Shshshsh! You must never say that out loud again! J'clean Matthews could have spies looking for people like you in this parlor this very minute! I am risking my own life even talking to you about this! J'clean Matthews is smart, smarter than smart! And you best be acting smart too with a secret like that!" I frowned and slumped down in the chair.
•••
A day later, my new soapttoo still stung. Having 50 needles in your shoulder is not an easy task. Floor looked impressed at my new soapttoo when he saw me at training.
"Cool, Tide." he said. I smiled to myself, but then plastered a frown in it's place. Floor, didn't deserve me and I didn't want him! There was no future there at all! Maybe... no.
"Anyway," he said "Today your families have come to visit you. You have 5 minutes, remember, acceptance test is tomorrow. Alright, go find you families!" A small smile curled it's way onto his face, probably thinking of his own family. He looked pretty attractive when he smiled like that. The doors slid open and the non-Dusttless trainees joined them. I stood on my tiptoes trying to spot my Mom, which wasn't very hard. She stuck out like a soar thumb in plain Bathnegation outfit. I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about my skin tight t-shirt. My Soapttoo! The thought struck me hard. What would Mother say?
"Beatide, we've missed you!" I embraced her in a tight hug.
"You know, Mother, I actually go by Tide now." She nodded approvingly.
"Tide, I like it! Has a very modern ring to it," she said.
"A Soapttoo!" she said it in a very stern voice, but I could tell she was joking.
"Yeah, about that..."
"I love it!" she said. I was a little surprised, but I smiled and hugged her again.
"You've grown so tall!" she said. I knew she was just being Bathnegation kind. I was still at least 2 inches shorter than her and everybody else for that matter. A bell sounded out, warning the parents that it was time to leave.
"Well goodbye," she said.
"I'll show you the way out!" I cried, hoping to buy more time with her.
"No, it's fine, I know the way. Tide, I'll miss you. Oh, and try to lavender soap. It's really quite lovely here." She handed me a package and left. I impatiently tore open the package. Inside was my very own Dust-o-Matic X-98! Small letters were engraved in the handle. N. Prior. I gasped as I realized what this meant. My mother, Bathnegation the to core, was a Dustless transfer.
•••
On my way back to my sleeping quarters, I met Floor on the balcony and stopped short.
"Hi" I said.
"I noticed you new soapttoo and I like it," he said. As if his approval of my soapttoo mattered!
"Do you have one?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said.
"Can I see it?" I asked. He nodded and lifted the back of his shirt revealing his back covered in black markings. 5 circles in line ran down his back, each was the symbol of the different factions.
"Wow," I said.
"I don't want to be just a duster," he said and turned around "I want to make laundry soap, I want to mold bar soap, I want to make deodorant, and I want to scrub clothing!" We were incredibly close as he was saying this. He reached for my hand and stepped forward. There was a moment of silence, followed by the worst/best moment ever. He leaned forward lightly getting closer, too close, but I didn't back away. Our lips met and for second, I had my first kiss, and my last. I pulled back suddenly and slapped his cheek with the palm of my hand.
"No," I said "No" And with that, I turned and ran. I hated Floor. Hated him more that I hated Grubby and Greaser. Floor had just made himself my newest enemy.