My chance to see Ladia rides on this exam. The last four years of my life have come down to the next three hours. I breathe out to calm my nerves. It shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve worked too hard and lost too much sleep to fail now. Ladia is counting on me. It’s the only way we can be together again.

“Start now.”

Victoria taps the icon, and my panel lights up with a list of questions. I touch my finger to one and stare at it.

Where did the Embassy Program originate, and in which Standard year?

Too easy. I type Earth and Standard 3092.

My eyes flick down the page: In the absence of a city’s ambassador, who is designated to oversee all duties held in his domestic office?

I write City Exchange Secretary.

On to the next.

A buzzer sounds off at the end of the three hours and Victoria touches her screen to lock all the submissions. I finished my essays twenty minutes ago and have been sitting here, counting the seconds.

“The Recruits will be announced publicly, and I will personally notify you of your scores.” Victoria sits back in her seat and motions at the door. “Have a nice day, people.”

Everyone stands and files into the hall. As soon as they clear the room, people start muttering about how disorganized and unreliable Victoria was, and that it’s a mystery how she got chosen to proctor such an important exam.

As the crowd disperses, I find myself a few steps behind Glacia. Her dark-blonde hair swishes down her back. She has a sort of swagger to her step, thumbs jammed in her pockets. It’s annoying. She’s always been like this, ever since the first time I met her at that stupid food dis—

“Hey.”

I realize Glacia’s holding the outer door open for me. I grab it and look past her, searching the parking lot for my car.

“How’d you do?” she asks.

I shrug.

“You probably did fine,” she goes on, walking right beside me now. “That one guy in front of me kept shaking his leg. It was so distracting.”

I force myself to laugh.

Glacia sees her brother, Jaston, who’s standing near his car with his fiancé. She veers toward them, then spins around and shakes her fingers at me.

“Wanna get ice cream? Celebrate finishing, you know? A solid four years we’ll never get back.”

“Can’t.”

I spot my car and start toward it. Glacia stays where she is, looking expectantly at me.

“Come on,” she insists. “I’ll even pay.”

“Don’t have time, sorry.”

That’s a lie. I have more than enough time, and I’ll probably spend it doing nothing.

As usual.

My neighborhood is quiet except for the rush of hot wind and the distant noises of maglev cars gliding along the Main Throughway toward Cornell.