Qualify by Vera Nazarian Page A

main double doors and down the stairs.
    The first floor Common Area is a zoo. There are teens everywhere, looking worried, making noise, lazing around on the sofas, and heading to get breakfast. I follow them toward the Cafeteria noise and smell of food that comes from the back, and into the huge room that has a food bar stretching along one wall, together with stacked trays, plates and servers. Meanwhile long tables and benches fill the middle.
    “Hey, wait up!” Laronda Aimes is right behind me, and we enter together.
    “What happened in there?” she asks. “I saw you and the pierced chick talking. Is she being a bruja with you?”
    “Nothing, I have no idea. Don’t worry about it.” I shrug, and pick up a tray, while a server in a hairnet gives me a plate with something on it that looks like hash browns.
    “This is free food, I guess they’re feeding us.” I change the subject.
    “Yeah, don’t see a cash register, thank you Lord. Cause I am all out of money. So, load up, girlfriend, while you can.” Laronda picks up her plate and also a glass of milk and another one of orange juice.
    We plop down on one of the long tables and eat as quickly as possible, watching the room. There are a few people from my own school that I recognize, but only a handful.
    “You know, I tried calling my Auntie Janice,” Laronda says, chewing hash browns. “But I couldn’t get a signal. Really annoying.”
    “Weird,” I mumble, looking around to note the time on the wall clock. It’s seven minutes before eight. “We’d better hurry up, it’s almost time.”
    We’re done eating, empty our trays, and hurry out into the Common Area which is now completely packed.
    All the sofa and lounge chair seats are taken, and it’s pretty much standing room only. We jostle toward the back, and find a spot with a view of the middle of the room. The noise level is significant.
    I see that Dorm Leader Gina Curtis is standing in the middle, in her grey uniform and yellow armband. Next to her are two older boys with equally confident postures of authority, also in uniform, with similar yellow armbands.
    When the clock shows eight on the dot, the boy in the middle, between Gina and the other, raises both his hands. “Attention, everyone!”
    At the same time Gina blows a whistle.
    That makes the room go silent.
    “Good morning, Dorm Eight!” the boy says. He is medium height, with light brown hair and regular features, nothing out of the ordinary. “I am John Nicolard, and I am one of the three Dorm Leaders of Dorm Eight, Yellow Quadrant. To the right of me is Gina Curtis. To my left is Mark Foster. After this Orientation, we are here to answer your questions and to help you in any way we can. But first, let’s get through this quickly, okay?” He turns to the other boy, who takes over.
    “Hi, everyone,” Mark Foster says in a loud ringing voice that carries well throughout the room. “Welcome to Orientation. You have all passed the Preliminary Qualification tests yesterday, which means that you are the official Candidates for Qualification. Your ID tokens are lit up yellow, which means your test results have indicated that your personality and talents best fit in the Yellow Quadrant. The Yellow Quadrant is one of the four color Quadrants or Cornerstones of Atlantis society. More on this will be explained later in your Atlantis Culture class in the coming weeks. But for now, all you need to know is that you are a proud part of Yellow which represents four admirable traits—Creativity, Originality, Curiosity, and Inspiration.”
    A few whispers are heard around the room.
    Mark ignores the whispering and continues. “Now, I am sure you are all wondering why you are here in this Regional Qualification Center, or RQC, and what happens next. What will happen is, for the next four weeks you will undergo basic training and education to prepare you for the Semi-Final Qualification test. Those of you who pass the Semi-Finals will advance