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I kissed hier into it The seasn’t exactly romantic, but with Benjy there, I didn’t care He understood He always understood, and in that overn, but I orth so to Benjy, and that should’ve been all that mattered

At last I pulled away and cleared one "You won’t have any probleet a VI"

"If you couldn’t get a IV, then there’s no hope for me," said Benjy I snorted

"Please So you Minister" If anyone frohest rank a citizen could receive, it was Benjy The test wasn’t designed for ence, but it was tailor-made for his

He slipped his arh the sewer, but he didn’t disagree Even he kne se maintenance"

"That’s not so bad We’re down here all the ti his hand under the hem of my shirt I pushed it away

"In Denver"

Benjy said nothing Denver was so far away that neither of us knehere it was To the west,east of DC was the ocean, but I’d never seen a er than the city

The only bright side was that Denver couldn’t possibly be as crowded as it was here

"I’ to talk to Tabs," I said, and Benjy stopped cold in his tracks

"Don’t Wait until I take roup honment fraud for me, and I won’t let you do it, either," I said "If they find out you’re hiding me, they’ll send me Elsewhere and kill you in front of the entire country It’s not happening"

"Then Nina can give et married," he said, and my mouth dropped open

"Are you crazy? "

"No," he said "I love you, and I won’t let the married earlier than I’d planned, then so be it" He paused "Do you not want to marry me?"

"Of course I want to marry you, but you haven’t even taken the test yet, and what if being married to a III affects your rank? I can’t do that to you, Benjy You deserve better than that"

"What do I deserve, Kitty? To lose you? I don’t care about the consequences"

At least he hadn’t fooled hi there wouldn’t be any "You’d never let me risk myself like that for you, so I can’t let you, either," I said, fighting to keep my voice even "I’ve already made my decision"

"Kitty" He held his arm up to stop me, and when I started to ain and pulledto let you do this to yourself"

I tried to push hihtened "I’, not you

You don’t get a say"

"We can run away," he said "We can go sorow our own food--"

"Neither of us knows anything about far Besides, if a place like that exists, the Harts would have claimed it by now"

"You don’t know that for sure There’s hope, Kitty

There’s always hope Please," he said quietly "Foreaould ood as a I

I’d failed, but he still had his chance, and I couldn’t let him throw his life away for me

"I’m sorry," I said His face cru his arm The cold seeped in where he’d touched me onlytoto hurt him no matter what I did At least this way I would be the one risking everything, not him

Every bone in et as far from DC as we could, but as we climbed the ladder to the roup hos for certain: Benjy would spend the entire afternoon trying to talkwith Tabs, and I would do it anyway

Nina aiting for us in the kitchen of our group hoh that everyone was at school--everyone except me, now that I was seventeen, and Benjy, ouldn’t haveNina to ourselves was a rare treat, but all I wanted to do was clio?" she chirped, but her smile fell the moment she saw Benjy She looked toeven worse now than I had when I’d received my results Nina was the only h her attention was split between forty of us, she always see I’d wanted was to disappoint her

"They didn’t givea word, she handed her spatula to Benjy and embraced me All I could do was bury my face in her hair and s the sob that had been threatening to escape since the needle had first touched my skin

"It’s okay," she murmured "It wasn’t what you wanted, but you still have your whole life ahead of you, and good things will coainst the back of hed and held : at least it wasn’t a II At least h food not to starve

But I’d been stupid enough to hope for happiness and so around in the sewers for the rest of my life, and now the ache in my chest was the price I had to pay

Before today, I had never questioned the ranking systeive us e deserved so we could make the most of our natural abilities The smartest members of society could help people in ways that IIs and IIIs couldn’t, so they earned rown up in a disadvantaged fa- nized This way, no one would fall through the cracks

No one who deserved a VI would have to live the grim existence of a II, and the people eren’t happy with their ranks only had theh; I wasn’t stupid I could do complicated math problems in my head, recite stories and poems and talk about what they meant--I just couldn’t make sense of written words If the tester had bothered to talk to me, she would’ve seen that Maybe I didn’t deserve a VI, but I didn’t want a VI anyway All I wanted was to prove I wasn’t a waste

A long ned to Denver"

Nina released me "That’s halfway across the country," she said, stunned

In other words, I would never see Benjy again if I got on that train My resolve hardened

"Tabs is stopping by this afternoon," I said, clearingto talk to her"