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

“Oh, of course. I can’t imagine the stress of waiting until the last minute to complete one’s Plan. I finished mine four days ago.”

Opal’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Really, Miranda? You finished yours that long ago? Did you submit it for pre-approval?”

Miranda shook her head. “No, I’m not worried about it being approved. I left it pretty simple. There really isn’t anything that can’t be approved on it. I mean, I know the way I want my life to pan out.” Miranda dreamily looked at Garrett and tried to loop her arm through his, but he kept his arms clamped tight to his sides.

Garrett gave Opal a pleading, help me gaze and Opal had to hold in a laugh.

Feeling bad for her friend, she said, “Oh, sorry, Miranda, this is our stop, we’ve gotta go.”

Before Miranda could retort, Garrett yanked Opal to her feet and they left the transporter just before the doors closed.

“Thanks for the save, Opal. I don’t know how she keeps finding me.” Garrett grabbed his chest as if he were having a heart attack, then glanced at their surroundings. “Uh, Opal? Where are we?”

“Two stops from our neighborhood. The downside to saving your butt is that we now have to walk home.”

“Or we could just wait for another transporter,” suggested Garrett with a grin.

“Yeah, and do you have any money to pay the fare? It’s only free if we ride it straight home from our academy.” Opal furrowed her brow.

Recalling that he’d spent almost all his savings on the lockaway device, Garrett shook his head.

Opal started walking and Garrett followed.

For a while, they walked in silence until Opal whispered, “What will do you if you can’t be a council representative?”

“What? Well, um…I don’t know.”

Opal turned her melancholy eyes to her friend even though he remained staring ahead. “Garrett, we’re so close to Submission Day. If you submit your incomplete Plan to become a council representative, then it will be denied. Maybe you’ll have to put something else in there.”

Garrett met her gaze and was about to say something snarky until he saw the fear and worry in Opal’s eyes. Reconsidering his words, he instead responded, “I don’t know, Opal. If I choose something I really don’t want to be, I’ll be miserable for the rest of my life. Think about it. Is it any different to be stuck doing something you hate for the rest of your life or to be one of the Undecided?”

Opal hung her head, considering his words. He did have a good point. If you hated your job and your lot in life as a Decided, how were you any different than an Undecided? “Have you tried researching on the dataweb about being one?”

“Yes, that was the first thing I did.”

More to herself than Garrett, Opal mumbled, “and we’ve already tried the library.”

For the next agonizing twenty minutes it took for them to walk home, Garrett listened to endless suggestions by Opal on how he could finish the rest of his Life Plan. At last, when he saw the door to his house, he spun towards her, “Thank you for trying to help me, Opal. You’re a great friend.”

Opal gave another self-satisfied smile, stepping towards Garrett’s front door. “You’re welcome, Garrett.”

Garrett blocked her from entering. “I really do appreciate your help, but I’ll spend the rest of the night figuring out what else I might want to be and adding it to my Plan.”

Opal’s smile faded as she tried to sidestep Garrett to get into his house, “Are you sure you don’t want any help with it?”

Garrett shook his head quickly. “Nope, I’m good with it. I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”

“You’ll see me tomorrow morning when I pick you up for academy. Your mom made me your keeper, remember?”

Garrett rolled his eyes, exhaling. “Yes, you’re right. How could I forget it? I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Bright and early.” Opal spun on her heels and with a last wave at Garrett, began walking down the street to her house.

Garrett watched her for a few seconds until he was sure she wouldn’t turn back, then he shut the front door and raced up the stairs. Once in the safety of his own room, he upturned his backpack, spilling out all the crumbled papers with his burglary plans.

Kneeling on the floor, he smoothed out the plans, gathering the scattered sheets and placing them in a chronological order on the floor. Everything was laid out before him, he just had to figure out how to actually break into the library. He’d only have one shot at this. It would be tonight or never. Miranda had been right about one thing. It was stressful waiting until the last minute, but not because he hadn’t finished his Life Plan. If only he knew how the lockaway device worked, he could try it himself.

Thinking back to the structure of the Anaxia Library, he considered whether the front would be secured. It was solid glass, so there had to be a lock somewhere. The easiest thing to do would have been to break the glass, but that would obviously alert someone. But maybe there was a secret door in the back for librarians or maybe for deliveries. There had to be another entrance.

A thought coming to him, Garrett dashed over to his desk, the papers on the floor whipping across the room in the breeze created by his sudden movement. Grabbing the sciorb off his desk, he went to his academy website and logged in. Navigating to his Life Plan preparation courses, he went through his class list, scanning the names of the students. Towards the end, he found the name he’d been looking for: Simon Smunkle or as most of his classmates called him, Shady Simon. Garrett may have been the class clown, but Shady Simon was the