Read The Choosing for Free Online Page B

She was hardly hungry, but the idea of standing around in this loft for another moment made her nauseous.
    After double-checking her preparedness, Carrington quietly slipped out alone.

    The dining hall was nearly identical to the front lobby except for the long white tables that filled the room, and the noise. Women of varying ages occupied the tables and stood in line for food, most of them chattering, some actually laughing. Carrington wondered how long it would take her to reach a point where she could laugh again.
    She followed the women forming a line. A large cylinder, three feet in diameter, stretched from the floor to the ceiling. In its center an open section held a thin blue beam that scanned the chips inside the girls’ suits. Each girl placed her arm under the scanner and, after a moment, a panel in the wall slid open and a tray of food appeared.
    Carrington followed their cue and placed her arm in the cylinder when it was her turn. It beeped softly, signaled for her to retract her hand, and then presented her food. She grabbed her tray and turned to face a room of strangers. It was a sea of gray, all their faces blending into their uniforms. Not one girl stood out from the rest   —a herd of Lints, and she now belonged among them.
    “Hey,” a voice said.
    Carrington started and turned to see a girl standing beside her. She looked oddly familiar, but Carrington couldn’t place her.
    “You just gonna stand and eat?” the girl asked.
    “Oh, umm, no, sorry. I’m just not sure . . .”
    “Where to sit? First day?”
    Carrington nodded.
    “Follow me, newbie.” The girl edged past her, and after a moment Carrington followed. What else was she supposed to do? The girl found a seat at a half-empty table and immediately took a swig of the milk she had on her tray. Carrington walked around to the opposite side and sat slowly.
    “First days are rough for everyone. You’re disoriented, disillusioned, disliked. Don’t worry; it gets easier. You just have to let the truth sink in and move on.”
    “Right,” Carrington said. She stared down at her tray and saw a steaming bowl of oatmeal, a banana, and a glass of milk. Nothing looked appetizing, not that it would have held any appeal regardless of what it was. She glanced back up at the girl across from her. Her face was so familiar   —small, round features, dark-chocolate eyes, naturally pink cheeks. A mound of thick brown hair hung past the girl’s shoulders in tight curls that were starting to frizz a bit as they dried. Petite shoulders, petite hands. She couldn’t have stood any taller than five feet.
    “Name’s Larkin, by the way. Larkin Caulmen.”
    A bulb went off in Carrington’s head. Larkin Caulmen had been in the practicing class across from her own. Other girls had whispered about her, rumored she was a troublemaker, said she spoke out against the Authority and its laws. Carrington had always kept her distance to avoid being associated with her. Now here she was eating at the same table as the girl people had said wouldn’t even make it to her Choosing Ceremony before ending up arrested.
    Larkin must have noticed the switch in Carrington’s expression because she nodded as if she agreed with the thoughts swirling through Carrington’s mind. “Most girls from our year give me that same look.”
    “Sorry,” Carrington said.
    “Nothing to apologize for. I know my reputation precedes me . . . even if it’s painted darker than it actually is.” Larkin shoved a chunk of banana in her mouth. “That’s the one beautiful thing about this place: no one cares who you were. You’re just another gray suit. It’s kind of freeing, really.”
    Carrington looked down at the dull color covering her skin. “Not the word I would use.”
    “Yeah, well, in the beginning it feels like chains, like eternal damnation for the sin of not catching the attention of the right man   —some absurd law that a group of egotistical men ruled on . . .