fandomhigh | BWI Portalocity Terminal [Saturday Morning]

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!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Portalocity Terminal [Saturday Morning]

Rather than fly from Philadelphia to Baltimore, Eric's parents had given him a lift. They had offered to drive him directly to the school, but he told them he would rather meet the group at the airport and take the shuttle. That way he'd get an early glimpse at all the hot girls he was sure would be going to his new school.

So now he was relaxing in the lounge, drinking a soda and waiting. It wasn't going to college, but it would do.

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Upon seeing the girl who was very...colorfully dressed speaking into something he wasn't familiar with, Jonas found himself examining both the phone and the girl at the same time.

It almost seemed like a smaller version of the Speaker yet she was talking to it, it wasn't talking to her. And she was talking a lot.

"What's that?" Jonas asked, pointing to the phone once she'd closed it. Interruptions were something he rarely did.

"Oh my god, haven't you ever seen a cell phone before?" Kelly asked, tilting her head at the boy. And then she realized he might be, like, super-poor or foreign. She was pretty sure they didn't have cell phones in places like Japan or Canada.

"Um, it's like, a phone that I can talk on, but I keep it, like, here in my purse?" She pointed to her purse. "And so, like, I can talk whenever I want! Except when I have no bars. Omigod, it is the worst when there are no bars. It is totally the worst thing that could happen to anyone."

"I've never seen a cell phone before," he said, practicing the two words carefully and making the association between image and words in his head. There were a lot of other words there, some of them inane and some of them...totally unrecognizable. "Who do you talk to? Did you not live with your family before this?"

"That was my mom," Kelly said, making a face. "She is like, so ridiculous, it's not even funny. Like, it's ridiculous how ridiculous she is. And I totally live with my parents, except not now because I have to go to boarding school, and it'll probably be like, super-gross and I'll have to shower with other people, and what if I get a foot fungus? That is like the grossest thing ever, and then I'll never get married."

"You've been to this school before?" Jonas wondered, grabbing at the bit of information she offered and trying to match them with things he already knew. Nothing was fitting.

Still, she sounded somewhat experienced with the place they were going. And she wasn't painting a very nice picture.

"Ew, no!" Kelly looked horrified by the prospect. "No, like, that's just what I think 'cause of movies and stuff, because it's probably like that. That's how it is in movies. That and like, women's prisons."

"Movies aren't always right," he said, having a vague idea what movies even were. Pictures moving on a television screen used primarily for entertainment. "This place could be different. Your...feet could be fine."

"Yeah, but what if it's true?" she asked. "I mean, movies aren't always right or anything but they are totally sometimes accurate, you know?"

There has never been anyone in the Community or the Village like her. And, if there had been, he was sure she'd been Released immediately. No Sameness, no staying.

Jonas winced.

"What movies are accurate?" he wondered, trying to steer the conversation away from less glamorous thoughts of the school they were attending.

"Oh my god, so like, that movie with the girls and the fashion and it's like, matchmaking and she's blonde and pretty and oh my god it's my favorite because it's sooooo romantic and it has that cute guy in it?" Kelly said happily.

Jonas was so completely out of his league especially with this girl. He'd never heard words used like she did and in such quick succession. Jonas almost found himself focusing more on if she was breathing than her talking.

"Cute guy?" he asked, catching that last part. "That's important?"

"Oh, totally! Cuteness is like the most important thing. 'Cause like, if you're not cute, then like, don't even bother. No one likes ugly people, because they're ugly." She paused, and added, "Don't worry. You're totally adorable and not ugly."

"Thank you for the compliment," he said, polite as ever. "Isn't the definition of ugly a subjective thing, though? Not everyone sees the same things as ugly."

Except in the Community, of course. Sameness constituted everyone and anyone thinking the same way about the same things. Jonas wondered if the Giver was still alive just then.

"No, some people are ugly," she informed him. "Like, there's no way around it. U-G-L-Y. They ain't got no alibi."

"Alibi." A word he'd heard once in reference to a mystery novel he'd found on a bookshelf. "I didn't realize being ugly was a crime?"

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BWI Portalocity Terminal [Saturday Morning]

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