The Declaration Read Online Free PDF Page B

silently, and she stared at him fearfully. Fights between Surpluses were tolerated in dormitories, but in Central Feeding Surpluses weren’t encouraged to even talk to each other; Peter could have all three of them beaten if any of the Instructors saw what had just happened. What made it worse was that he had pushed Charlie down to defend her, and it made Anna feel vulnerable, the one thing that she’d worked so hard to avoid.
    ‘I don’t need a protector, Surplus Peter,’ she said angrily. ‘And if you don’t let Surplus Charlie go right this minute, we’ll all end up in Solitary. You might be comfortable down there, but I’m not, thank you very much.’
    Peter frowned slightly, then shrugged and moved his foot.
    Charlie scrambled to his feet and looked at Peter menacingly. ‘You’ll regret that, you Outside scum,’ he said bitterly.
    Charlie walked away to join the food queue, and Peter sat back down next to Anna, making her shift along the bench self-consciously. Everyone was staring at them, and she could feel her heart quickening as she felt Peter’s eyes looking towards her.
    ‘I was only trying to help,’ he muttered, putting his elbows on the table and hunching over them.
    ‘Surpluses don’t help each other; we’re here to help Legals,’ Anna said tightly. ‘And I can handle things on my own, thank you very much.’
    ‘Fine,’ Peter said irritably. ‘Then I’m sorry I even bothered. I just thought . . .’
    ‘Well, don’t!’ Anna said. Her eyes flickered over to Peter and met his, and they stared at each other for a few seconds, before Anna managed to pull her eyes away.

Chapter Four
    11 February, 2140
    The new Surplus is ‘difficult’. He thinks he’s better than a Surplus, thinks he’s better than me. And he’s not. He’s quite stupid, actually, and he lies all the time. He’s already been in Solitary twice, and frankly I think he should be kept down there.
    He doesn’t Know His Place and he thinks it’s OK to whisper things during training sessions when it isn’t at all. He said he wasn’t Surplus Peter; that he was called Peter Tomlinson, like he was Legal or something. And he told me my name was Anna Covey and that he knows my parents. I mean, how stupid is that? Everyone knows that Surpluses don’t have more than one name, and that my parents are in prison where they belong. What – so he grew up in prison with them? Yeah, right. He’s a troublemaker, just like I thought he’d be. And he’s lying, just to get some attention. Like Sheila did when she first arrived.
    It shows what happens when they don’t catch Surpluses early enough. Shows how lucky I am to have come to Grange Hall when I did. The way he walks, you’d really think he was Legal. You’d think the world belongs to him, when the truth is he’s got no right to be here, like the rest of us.
    There was another boy here once before who didn’t fit in either. His name was Patrick and when he arrived he cried all the time, even though he was virtually a Middle and should have been more grown-up than that. He was always in Solitary or getting beaten, because when he wasn’t crying he was arguing with the Instructors, telling them that he wanted to go home, that his parents were going to find him and that then Mrs Pincent would be sorry. I tried to talk some sense into him, but he refused to listen. Mrs Pincent says that sometimes Surpluses find it hard to adjust and don’t like to ‘face facts’. He thought he was better than the rest of us, Mrs Pincent said. He only stayed a few weeks and then they took him away. Mrs Pincent said that he was going to a detention centre, where they could deal with people like Patrick better, where he wouldn’t interfere with our training. If Peter isn’t careful, he’ll end up going there too. Mrs Pincent said that they have to do hard labour all the time in a detention centre. And that the boys don’t even get one blanket, even when it’s really cold. It was for