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through the mess hall and several kids at my table turned to look at me, Colin included. “Now I know where you get your spunk from, Georgie.”
    Mr. Baker held his face, and my father grabbed my mother by the shoulders. “Come on Marcy, I’ll take you back to the room.”
    My mother dug her elbow into my father’s stomach and pushed him away. “Don’t touch me, Doug!” she shrieked.
    My father remained hunched over, exhaling slowly.“Marcy.”He grimaced.
    She spun around, pointing her finger in his face. “This is all your fault!” That was the last thing she said before she stormed out of the mess hall.
    Grace glanced at me, her eyes worried. “I think your mom has seriously lost her mind.” I was beginning to think that too.
    In my room, I took some time to myself to think. Pulling my knees to my chest, I wrapped my arms around them, hugging them. I looked up to see my father lingering in the door way. “What’s up dad?”
    One tear drizzled down his cheek. He wiped it away in a hurry, hoping that I wouldn’t catch him crying. “Can you ever forgive me, Georgina?”
    I smiled, half-heartedly. Technically, this wasn’t all his fault. There were fourteen other members of the council who had just as big of a part in this as he did. And seeing that solitary tear on his cheek made me realize that he was sorry he voted in favor of the lottery in the first place. “It’s okay, Daddy. You’re forgiven.”
    “I just hope your mother can forgive me too,” he sighed.
    “Give her time. You know Mom, she’ll come around eventually.” The only problem was I didn’t know when that would be.
    When my father left the room, I got up from my cot and walked over to a small table in the corner of my room. The round, unsteady wooden table had a half-folded over white piece of paper resting on top of it. Georgina, was scrawled across the top of the paper in messy handwriting.
    Picking the paper up, I flipped it open as I brought it closer to my face.   I scanned my message. It was short, simple and to the point.
    Meet me in the rec at midnight.
    Colin.
    Even though I knew meeting him like this was risky, I went anyway. The first to arrive, I sat in the back of the dark classroom. The silence cut through the room like a sharp knife cutting through a block of cheese. Suddenly, I felt something move behind me.
    Squinting, I tried to make out the presence as my eyes adjusted to the blackness that engulfed me. “Hello,” I whispered.
    Arms slipped around my waist from behind as a warm chin nuzzled my neck. “I knew you would come,” Colin whispered into my ear.
    I removed his arms from my waist and turned to face him. “Is this what you wanted me to come for? A midnight fling?” I still couldn’t see him clearly. It was way too dark. Reaching out, I brushed my fingers along his face. When I finally realized he was about six inches away from me, I dropped my hands at my sides.
    He scooted closer to me. “That’s not why I asked you to come,” he said.
    “Then why did you?” The heat from his body poured out of him and radiated onto to me. I enjoyed basking in the warmth of him. Sometimes, when you lived this far beneath the earth’s surface it got a little chilly.
    “I wanted to talk.”
    “Talk?”
    “Yeah. To see how you were holding up.”
    “What do you   think,   genius?”
    “I think you’re scared.”
    “Of course I’m scared, aren’t you?”
    “Not at all. I would have volunteered for this if they would have let me. I happen to think it’s kind of ironic that I got selected in the first round.”
    “I happen to think it’s kind of ironic that I got paired with you.” If I would have known better one would think he actually planted the idea in the council’s head so I would be paired with him.
    He let out a restrained laugh. “I think it’s fate.”
    “I don’t believe in fate anymore.” The Great Famine took away every ounce of fate I had left. How could we be destined for something