Life Designed (Life Plan Series Book 1), Eliza Taye [great novels .TXT] 📗

give us advice on our Plans instead of hiding away like a stuck up elite. What makes her better than us anyway?”

One of the guards clopped him on the head. “She reports directly to The Council and that’s what makes her better than you. Now shut your mouth. We’re taking you directly to holding where we will find out what your name is, who your parents are, and you will be punished for this act of infiltrating a government building.”

The guards dragged Garrett to a personal transporter outside City Hall where one man sat waiting in the driver’s seat. They took him to what was called the Holding Hall. Very few citizens broke the law on the Decided part of the city, so there was no official jail for them like for the Undecided. Instead, there was a one-room building called the Holding Hall, aptly named since it was nothing but a long building with open cells on the interior of it.

Instead of placing Garrett in a cell right away, they took his interwave from him and opened his contacts list.

“Hey, that’s my personal property!” objected Garrett, unable to do anything else with his bound hands.

Ignoring him, the guard who’d taken it began to smirk. “Ah, so your name is Garrett Gibbons, huh?”

Garrett just snarled at him.

“Well, looks like all I have to do is call the contact, Mom and Dad, and we’ll have them here in no time.” The guard’s blue eyes intently watched Garrett’s reaction. “Depending on your confession, this could go better or worse for you.”

Garrett merely stared the man down.

Kneeling by Garrett, the guard’s gaze softened. “Look, I am trying to help you. Attacking a member of the council representatives is a serious offense. If you would just tell me why you did it, then maybe I can help you. If you don’t, we can only assume the worst.”

Sighing in defeat, Garrett admitted, “All I wanted to know was how to become a council representative. I went to City Hall to speak with the council representative about it. I’ve been trying to research what I need to do to become one, but there is nothing out there.”

The guard’s brow furrowed. “Why would you want to be a council representative when there are so many other jobs you could be?”

Annoyed, Garrett responded, “Why be something else when a council representative is what I want? It is my life and my Plan, right?”

“Look, kid. I’m trying to help, but the information you’ve given me just isn’t enough. I’m calling your parents and hopefully, they’ll be here to pick you up soon.” Standing, the guard used Garrett’s interwave to call his parents.

As the guard spoke, Garrett couldn’t help but consider how it had all gone wrong. He should have realized when there weren’t any guards outside the doorway of the council representative’s chambers that something was amiss. He was a fool to think he could just waltz inside and have a conversation with…well with her. That was something else that shocked him. He wasn’t expecting the council representative to be female. He didn’t know why; it just hadn’t occurred to him.

Less than thirty minutes passed before Garrett’s parents burst through the entrance to the Holding Hall. Garrett looked up from his seated position and grimaced at their worried expressions.

“Garrett, what happened?” demanded his mother, coming over to hug him, brushing her fingers over his bound hands in concern. “Garrett?”

The same guard who’d asked him to tell the truth explained, “I thought it would be best if they heard it from you, Garrett.”

Mrs. Gibbons’ brown-eyed gaze went from the guard to Garrett. “Tell us what?”

Garrett looked to his father who hadn’t spoken a word yet. “Dad?”

“Tell us, son.”

With a heavy sigh, Garrett looked down at the floor as he admitted, “I broke into City Hall tonight.”

“You what?” exclaimed his mother, letting him go and folding her arms in annoyance. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“Do you have any idea how serious that is?” chastised his father. “Just when we thought you were taking your Life Plan seriously and were making changes in your life, you do this?”

“I agree with your father, Garrett. You’ve never done something as bad as this before. What on Taeopia were you thinking?”

“As I already told the guard,” Garrett kept his gaze trained to the floor, “I wanted to know more about what it takes to become a council representative. I couldn’t find anything in the library on it nor from any of my teachers. There were no shadowing opportunities, so I wanted to speak directly with a council representative about it.”

Garrett’s parents went dumbstruck, unable to say anything. When their silence continued, Garrett further explained, “Opal and I went to City Hall to see if I could talk to the council representative earlier today and the woman at the reception desk in the pre-approval room simply laughed at us. She wasn’t helpful and I didn’t know what else to do.”

Mrs. Gibbons opened her mouth to speak, but only fragments of words stammered out.

Finding his voice, Mr. Gibbons declared, “That is not a viable excuse, Garrett. There are other legal avenues to get what you want. Choosing to do something like this is beyond not okay.”

Furrowing her brow, Mrs. Gibbons asked, “How did you even break into City Hall anyway?”

The guard from before answered her, “With this ma’am. We found it attached outside the door to the apartments for the representative.” The guard held up the lockaway device.

“What is that?” wondered Garrett’s mother.

“It’s an entry device used to hack into secure electronic locks. It’s something you only find in the Undecided sector. I’m guessing your son paid a lot of money for it.”

“Garrett!” Mrs. Gibbons yanked him to his feet. “You are beyond in trouble for this. Everyone has been patient with