The Other Earth (21 page)

Chapter Twenty One

I walked into Vanessa's office and saw that Andrew was already sitting there in front of Vanessa.

"Good Morning Randi. Can you please shut the door?" Vanessa said as I walked in.

I looked over at her and Andr
ew and nodded, shutting the door behind me as I walked around the desk and took an empty chair and pulled it closer and sat down.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Vanessa looked over at me, "Well, we have a slight problem here Randi" she said.

I looked over at
Andrew and saw that he had been crying, "Oh, what is it?" I asked, looking at Vanessa, worried about what had happened.

"Well Andrew here just got the news that he has been approved for matching" she said.

I looked back at Andrew, "Why are you crying Andrew? Isn't that good news?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "No. I don't want to be matched. I have two older sisters and I have watched both of them get matched, and they are both miserable, and I just don't
want that life" he said.

"Do you want to have children?" I asked him.

He looked at me oddly, "I don't know. I don't want to have kids if they are going to have to go through all of this too. It's just not right" he said.

I sat back and sighed, "So what ar
e you going to do?" I asked, looking at Vanessa.

Vanessa looked at Andrew for a minute before speaking, "I was thinking about tweaking his results to show that he is infertile" she said.

I nodded, "That could actually work. Brandon went to sector six and he said that it's different there. People are happier and live the lives that they want" I said.

Vanessa sighed, "Don't I wish I could go there for good too. I go twice a year, and each time I wish I didn't have to come back
" she said.

"Do you think someon
e would catch you if you were to do this?" I asked her.

She shook her head, "They don't usually come here and check my records, but I would be sure to cover my tracks anyway."

"I just have one question. Even if you did work it out for him, wouldn't he still go back with his parents to finish school since he is still so young?" I asked.

Andrew's head snapped up, "No, I can't go back with them" he said forcefully.

Vanessa leaned toward him, "Why not Andrew? Is something wrong at home?" she asked him.

Fresh t
ears started to run down his face, "I can't talk about it, I just don't want to go back there. Can't I finish school in sector six?" he asked.

I looked over at Vanessa and waited for her answer. She smiled, "It will always be your choice. Even though they
frown on giving someone so young a choice, they will not deny the request if it is what you have chosen." She said.

I sighed and sat back again, "Well that's good news" I said.

She nodded, "Yes, it seems as though something crazy is happening lately though."

I frowned, "What do you mean?" I asked.

She shrugged, "There is just something going on. It seems like everyone is trying to get away rather than being matched. I can just feel like something big is coming" she said, looking back over to Andrew.

Andrew
shrugged, "I don't know. There have just been a lot of talk about sector six and how much better things are there" he said.

Vanessa sighed, "That in itself is odd to me too. Five years ago, nobody talked about sector six. It was almost as though people wou
ld pretend that their family member had died if they were sent there. People were more prone to take jobs in another sector that just forbid matching, made it look like they chose not to be matched for the job's sake" she said.

Andrew looked away, "I think
it's the telephones" he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, hoping to learn a good tidbit about sector six.

He looked around as though to make sure nobody was listening, though I had just shut the door earlier when I came in, "They have started to let people in sector six have their own phones, so they are calling people to say hello and seem so happy. Everyone in sector two is talking about it. I think it's almost like everyone would rather go there than have to go, underground" he said, whispering the last part.

Vanessa looked over to me quickly, and I hoped she wouldn't mention to him the lie that I was from the underground, I couldn't take giving more fake descriptions of a place that I had never been to.

"Well, I can see the appeal. In sector six you are free to do pretty much what you want and don't have to hide out from anyone and be scared that you will eventually be caught" Vanessa said.

I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "I can't wait to see sector six myself" I said.

Vanessa looked over at me, "We are going today" she said.

I gasped, "What do you mean? I thought we were leaving tomorrow?" I asked, confused.

She gave a little laugh as she looked over at Andrew, "I have a reason to leave early. It's all a part of my plan that I can quite talk about yet" she said in a way that told me we would talk about it once we were alone.

I smiled, "Well, I guess we will make it work then. Brandon is one of the code enforcers that are going with us. I wonder if he already knows that w
e are leaving today too" I said, thinking of spending the entire day with him.

"Oh your brother is going?" Vanessa said, bursting my little bubble as I remembered that everyone thought he was my brother on this planet.

I nodded, "Yes, he told me he was going to be here today." I said, sitting back in my chair.

We all jumped as someone knocked on the door, and then all laughed together and we realized that a simple knock had scared the living crap out of all of us. Vanessa jumped up and went to open the door
. I looked around her and my heart flipped when I saw that Brandon was standing there in his uniform, looking completely perfect, like he had when he had walked away just a few minutes ago.

"Hello, are you Vanessa?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Vanessa shook his hand and smiled at him, "Yes, you must be Brandon?" she asked, looking back at me.

I nodded and she smiled, turning back to him as he smiled at her, "It's nice to meet you. Randi has told me a lot about you" he said, his eyes darting over to wher
e I was sitting behind the desk.

"I hope it's all good" Vanessa said, and I realized at that moment that she was flirting.

I watched as she flipped her hair, that she had worn halfway down that day behind her and smiled at him, slightly sticking out her ample chest toward him. A part of me wanted to jump over and push her to the side, and yell at her to never touch my man, but I knew that I couldn't do that as she was under the impression that he was my brother.

"Of course" he said, not taking his eyes off
of me.

"Hey Brandon" I said, trying to make my smile look normal after the jealous monster that had erupted in my chest had almost taken control.

He nodded at me and then finally looked over at Vanessa, "So, we are leaving in about thirty minutes. There is just enough time left to get anything to drink or eat for the ride" he said, staying professional.

Vanessa nodded, "Okay, thanks. We will meet you outside" she said, turning back toward me to head behind the desk again.

Brandon looked at me at the moment that nobody was looking at him and winked at me, blowing a quick kiss before disappearing down the hallway.

I smiled to myself, wishing I could run after him and kiss him right there in front of everyone, but managed to keep myself sitting down in this da
mn chair.

"Okay, so Andrew, can you do me a favor and go and tell everyone that we are leaving and to meet us in the front lobby in five minutes? We are going to hit up a little deli down the street for some breakfast to take with us on the road" she said,
looking over at Andrew and smiling.

Andrew nodded and stepped out of the room quickly, obviously happy that he was going to be able to go at all.

"So is he the only one?" I asked Vanessa, looking over at her as she touched up her lipstick in a small mirror she kept in her desk.

"No, there are a couple of other kids going, you know that" she said, not looking up from the mirror.

I shook my head, "No, I mean is he the only one that has fake results?" I asked.

She sighed and looked over at me, "Yes. I have ha
d one other girl ask, last year, but I told her no" she said.

"Why? Why now?" I asked.

She shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe it's because I was always terrified of somehow getting caught and bringing too much attention to myself." She said.

I
nodded, "I understand that, but why are you saying yes now?" I asked her.

She stood up, "Honestly. Because of you" she said.

I stood up next to her, "What do you mean?" I asked, surprised at that answer.

"You make me want a better life for myself, and that
makes me understand when someone else wants a better life too" she said.

I felt my mouth drop open, "I make you want a better life?" I asked.

She nodded and grabbed my hand, "You make me feel things that I didn't know I was capable of before" she said.

Sh
e leaned in and kissed me quickly, pulling away so fast I thought for a split second that maybe she hadn't even touched me. She let go of my hand and walked away from me before I could answer her. I sighed and put my hands over my eyes, wondering what the rest of the day would bring, stuck in a vehicle with both Brandon and Vanessa.

***

I stepped onto the small bus and looked inside and seeing that Brandon was in one of the back seats, I quickly walked to the back and sat with him. He looked over at me and
smiled, making me heart do a flip as he stared at me.

"This thing is huge huh? It's almost like a bus" he said.

I nodded, "Yeah, but it looks different. It's like there is no place for a motor, what do you think that's about?" I asked.

He looked around, "
I asked about that and it seems as though all of the vehicles here are run by electricity, they never even invented a motor like we have. I think this has a lot to do with why they have so little pollution" he said.

I nodded, "That would also explain why e
veryone mostly walks everywhere too"  I observed.

He leaned, "They made them too expensive for most people to own them. Those one person car things that we saw are mostly used by people very high up in the
government, they are the only people that can get them."

I shook my head, "But they don't pay you any money, you just show your identification and can get whatever you want" I said.

Brandon shook his head, "No, that is how it is for most people, but they do have money. Regular people don't even realize it because only certain people can get it. It's weird right, that they will put so many restrictions on people but live high on the hog themselves?" he said.

I nodded, "Yes, it does seem very odd. It's almost like the entire planet is communistic and yet peo
ple are given some freedoms. I still don't really get it" I said.

Brandon looked up as a few of the kids started to load the bus, "We can talk about this later."

I nodded as Andrew came onto the bud and sat in the seat in front of us, "Hey Randi" he said, smiling at me, with a goofy grin.

I gave him a quick smile as I look over at Brandon, who is looking down at his hands, trying to hide the fact that he is laughing. I nudged him in the ribs and jumped, laughing a quick laugh out loud that sounds like a se
al dying.

Another teen-aged boy with short black hair and a long face walked up and sat down next to Andrew. I hadn't really met many of the people who had come in to be tested and I didn't recognize this one, as I could have been stuck in the filing room
when he had come around.

"Hey Andrew" he said.

My eyes widened as a large booming voice came out of his small frame. He looked like he was only a couple of inches above five feet at the most and probably ninety five pounds soaking wet, but his voice was smooth and loud and already had the quality of a large man.

"Hey Kidd, this is Randi, she works with Vanessa" he said, pointing to me.

Kidd turned around and smiled at me, his brown eyes sparkling. "Nice to meet you" he said, in his smooth voice.

I nodded and looked up as Vanessa stepped onto the bus and looked around. Spotting us she waved and walked to the back, taking the seat right next to us. She stood up and watched as the rest of the kids entered the bus before she looked over at Kidd and An
drew.