Marigold by Heather Manheim (best books for 8th graders .TXT) 📕

she could remember, she didn’t think she had cried more than two times in her life before this. During her time in the bunker, it felt like she was always crying.

Davis stepped back from the group for a second and steadied herself. Knowing she had to speak quickly or she wouldn’t get the words out, she rushed to talk. “I just want to thank you all for the food, conversations, help, information”—here she paused and gave a slight laugh—“and of course, the wine. I appreciate your friendship, and I will not fail you. I also know you pick your names here. It’s moot at this point because I’m leaving, and I know I’ll be known as Davis in the city until Everett gives me my new name. But, as far as I’m concerned, my name is Amelia.”

~

Davis couldn’t believe it when she found herself sitting next to Brookshire in the transport vehicle. She was nervous and sweating like crazy, even though it was cool that day. Brookshire leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Remember when we held hands that one time? I’m going to hold your hand the whole way there, so you know you’re not alone.” And with that, Ringo asked permission to put the black hoods on, and they were underway. Brookshire, lightly enfolding her hand into his, leaned over to whisper in her ear, “You can trust me.”

It felt like hours to Davis, riding around in a car with a hood on her head. There were some big bumps in the road; from what Ringo said, they had to take back roads and rarely used passages. But Ringo said the whole ride should only take about forty-five minutes. Davis knew they couldn’t have been in the car more than ten already, but anxiety and worry prevailed. That made the ride feel so drawn out, and she kept expecting something to go wrong, like a Security Patrol stopping them. Davis felt slightly comforted with Brookshire next to her, but she knew he had a hood on his head, too.

Eventually, they did stop. The first thing Davis saw was how bright the sun was when Ringo leaned back and pulled the hood off. Brookshire was already outside of the van, his hood off, and he was helping Davis out. He leaned into the transport to grab their knapsacks, and as he did, he said quickly, “We have to go, Amelia, now. Ringo can’t get out and repeat his goodbye. He needs to go.”

~

There was terror in Davis’s eyes and urgency in Brookshire’s as they set off. It had also startled her that Brookshire called her Amelia. She realized that even if she couldn’t use that name, she wanted to start thinking of herself as Amelia. Feeling apprehension, nervousness, and anxiety, Amelia tried to focus on Brookshire’s hand around hers and the kindness in his eyes to help her go forward. Just one foot in front of the other, Amelia, she thought to herself. And they set off into the chilly day, albeit the sun still blared brightly in the blue sky above them.

They were only walking for a few minutes, but Amelia was ready to be back inside. She was worried about the Drone Scanners. Although she could quickly explain any negative thoughts were only because of being kidnapped and the attempted brainwashing, she was terrified about being held motionless in the red beam until a Security Patrol picked her up. It then dawned on Amelia how absurd that was. That she wasn’t even allowed to have a negative thought about the President or the government, she could see now how detrimental that could be to a society’s populace.

It was hard to keep track of time for Amelia. It didn’t help pass when Brookshire was quiet and just kept a determined look on his face. She guessed it was about fifteen minutes before a Security Patrol approached them. Brookshire quickly jumped into his role, waving his arms wildly and yelling, “Help! Help! I found Davis. The missing lady! She was wandering around out here, confused.”

The Security Patrol came over and asked Davis about her ID Card. “Um, I gave it to him?” she replied, shrugging and putting her answer in the form of a question in the hopes it would help her seem confused. She added a few squints of the eye and simultaneously hoped it worked and thanked God she didn’t have to act as a career. She felt like she was pretty terrible at it. “I don’t know,” she added inexplicably. Amelia then decided that maybe the less she spoke, the better. She blinked her eyes a few more times for good measure, then realized that she probably looked at worst, guilty, and, at best, like an oddball. Luckily for her, Amelia could look confused and crazy in this interaction because the role she was playing was that of someone muddled and perplexed.

The Security Patrol nodded and took her by the arm. Amelia was a little surprised, but he was not rough with her, so she decided the best thing to do would be to go with it and not put up any kind of resistance. Brookshire reached into his pocket, and at first, Amelia felt terrified. For a second, in her mind, she saw Brookshire pulling out a gun and getting into a shootout with the Security Patrol Guard. Of course, what actually happened was he pulled out her ID Card, giving it to the guard who looked it over quickly and scanned it; Amelia could see that her name—well, the name Davis—and a picture came up, along with her ID number and that she was missing and overdue for all medical exams. “Let’s take you to the Palace Infirmary, then,” he said. “That’s what President Everett said to do when someone found you.”

Amelia felt weak in the knees and tired. She was happy when they approached the Security Patrol Guard’s vehicle. The guard set her down in the back and asked Amelia to put