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

Just as she reached the doors to exit the building, Garrett opened them and walked in.

“Garrett!” Opal said in surprise, a little louder than she intended to.

Garrett looked up, his eyes taking a few moments to focus on her. “Hey, Opal.”

Opal glanced down at the document protector in his hands and then back to him. “You wrote your Life Plan?”

Garrett nodded, studying the tiles on the floor instead of looking at her.

Perplexed, Opal stared at Garrett. In all their years of friendship, she’d rarely seen him this downhearted. It was like someone had sucked the fight right out of him. With dread, she wondered if that someone was her. She’d been the one who’d chewed him out outside the library last Second Moon and then he hadn’t shown up for the last day of academy yesterday.

Without a second thought, Opal wrapped Garrett in a hug. “I’m so happy for you, Garrett. I knew that took a lot of work and now I understand why you missed class yesterday. It must have taken you the entire day to write your Plan. I knew you could do it.”

Releasing Garrett and stepping back, Opal gave him a small smile, which Garrett considered returning, but instead, he allowed his gaze to meet hers for a split second, then he followed the signs to join the other pre-submitters.

Opal watched Garrett leave feeling slightly hurt and a little empty. Perhaps she’d gone too far in pushing Garrett to write his Plan. However, it had gotten him to do what was necessary. Sometimes, he was so stubborn he was nearly impossible to sway. It’d been hard work, but with dedication, she’d saved her best friend and that gave her the biggest satisfaction of all. He just had to wait until Declaration Day tomorrow, then he’d see all his hard work yesterday would pay off as he stood proudly in front of the city as his Life Plan was approved.

Chapter 18

Declaration Day arrived. The whole city gathered to celebrate the day where an entire group of Submitters would walk away as Declarers. Thousands of chairs had been placed on the lawn in Declaration Park, awaiting the honorary ceremony of the day to begin right at midday when Eris and Maytenar opposed each other in the sky, the reflected light from the faraway blue dwarf star shining into the park.

The city of Galaxion radiated with excitement as people from both the Decided and Undecided sector gathered together, excited to see their relatives presented before the city and discover whether or not their Life Plans would be approved. It was rare for a student who submitted their Life Plan to have it denied. A denial hadn’t occurred in over five years, adding to the thrill of excitement amongst the citizens of Galaxion as they were sure it’d be the same again this year.

Amongst the crowd of people gathered in the park, the Carneth family weaved through the long rows of chairs to find themselves a good seat.

“I’m glad we got here early or we wouldn’t have found good enough seats,” observed Mrs. Carneth. Turning to Gabrielle, she instructed, “Keep two seats between you and your father so we can save seats for the Gibbons. I don’t see them here yet.”

“All right, Mom.” Gabrielle held back, allowing the span of two seats to grow between her and her dad. “I wonder what Opal is up to right now.”

Opal paced behind the raised stage in the park with the other Submitters, soon-to-be Declarers. She was so nervous she didn’t know what else to do other than pace back and forth.

“Opal!” Crystal shouted, running over to Opal.

“Nice outfit,” commented Crystal smiling and giving Opal a quick hug.

Opal looked down at the pale blue dress she’d saved three months of allowance to buy. The shade of blue complemented her hair and skin tone perfectly. As the faint blue light from the distant sun cast the perfect glow on it, she realized the radiant effect had been better than she’d envisioned inside the store.

“Thanks, Crystal, you look nice too.”

Crystal spun in a circle, the flowing ends of her cherry red dress twirling around her, wrapping around her knees once she stopped. “Thank you, my aunt made it for me just for this occasion. It’s a pretty big day, isn’t it?”

Opal tried to laugh, but it came out as an exhalation of air. “It is.” She began wringing her hands together.

Crystal noticed and broke Opal’s hands apart by taking one in her own. “Don’t worry about today, Opal. We’ve got this. Very few students submit their Plans for pre-approval. We already know it’s going to work outright.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about the approval of my Plan. I’m just nervous about getting in front of the entire city and having highlights of my Plan read aloud in front of everyone. I mean, there are thousands of people out there, Crystal. Have you looked?”

Crystal nodded, not a crease of worry on her face. “Yep, I’ve looked out there and I’ve seen how many people there are, but I’m not worried. If you get nervous up there, just look to your family in the audience and pretend they’re the only ones there.”

Opal started nodding nervously, bobbing her head up and down more than necessary. “Yeah, yeah, that’s what I’ll do.”

“Where’s your friend Garrett? I rarely see one of you without the other.”

That was the other issue causing Opal’s nervousness. Garrett hadn’t arrived yet. Most of their classmates were already there. Only thirty minutes remained before the Declaration Ceremony was scheduled to begin, he should have been here already.

Raising her gaze and scanning the crowd of other 17-year-olds, Opal searched for Garrett. She found several of her other classmates scattered around chatting excitedly to one another, each one of them dressed in their best formalwear. She even