April 3rd was a cold day. I only remember that because that also happened to be the day Mr. McShane came through with the engagement.

I'd opened my locker to the little note. Ted had been at my shoulder.

"Isn't she already engaged?" He said, not seeming like he particularly cared.

"I have connections."

Ted tutted and split down the hall.

I didn't see Sonnet until we were on the train. She passed her note to me.

"I'm going to have a collection of these at this rate."

"Are you disappointed?"

She leaned against a window. "I don't know, Rob."

"Oh." I didn't put my arm around her. Somehow, it just didn't seem right.

"Penny for your thoughts?"
She looked at me. "Is that some old expression?"

"Oh, yeah. It's basically just a way to ask someone what they're thinking."

"Oh. I was just thinking about a gift I got a couple days ago."

"From who?"

"Just an old friend."

"Who's the old friend?"

"No one you care about."

"Shouldn't I decide if I care for myself?"

Sonnet just shrugged and didn't say anything more.

The train steadily cleared. I kept waiting for her to say something, but she just stared out the window. Even when we got off the train, she seemed like she was anywhere but where she was physically.

It wasn't until we'd been sitting in the parlor for about a half hour any conversation started.

"Do you ever miss it, Rob?" She whispered softly.

"Miss what?"

"Your home. Your family. The 2000s."

I shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't really have anything there. I guess I do a little bit."

"I read up on your file. You had a little sister, right?"

"I did. She was more of a pain than anything though. She was always my mom's little girl."

I looked at Sonnet. She didn't seem to know where this was going. Neither did I.

"So, you don't miss home?"

"Not a lot, no."

"I miss home." She whispered, picking at the edge of her skirt.

"Aren't you home right now?"

"What's the old phrase? Home is where what you love is?"

"Home is where the heart is," I corrected.

"Right. What I love isn't really here right now. Everyone I grew up with is either gone or not the same person they were. I don't know. The whole world is moving by without me."

"I wouldn't move on without you."

"I don't know. Aren't we both kind of lost? Just in different ways? You might not miss where you came from, but I don't think you're at home. At least not yet."

I stared at her. She was right in a sort of irritating way. I did miss my little sister and the one night a month when my family tried to be a family. But I was starting to feel at home here. Like I could build a new family.

"No, maybe I am just destined to wander. Or maybe I just hadn't found my people yet."

"Yeah? And who would your people be?" She challenged.

"I don't know. Maybe the people here. Ted and the guys. You."

Sonnet took a deep breath. "This is a dangerous place if that's true."

"What do you mean?"

"I think you know what I mean. Everyone has to move on. You're either legally attached to someone or you're not. There's not much choice or control."

"You sound like Tyena."

She took several deep breaths. When she answered, her voice was slow and careful.

"I wouldn't know who I sound like."

"You were friends, right?"

"We weren't legally supposed to be anything." She stood up.

"We can talk about something else."

"No, I'm going to see if Mr. Luarenz has any snacks. You want anything?"

"Whatever he has is good."

She nodded and left the room. It had been going well. We'd never talked about anything that big or pressing before. I just had to ruin it.

I sat in silence until she came back. She handed me a small cookie.

"What is this?"

"It's called a Nelumbo Cake. Me and Chase practically grew up on these."

I took a bite.

"This is really good."

Sonnet nodded. "I know. It's also really cheap and easy to make, which is why there were always so many around."

I stared down at the dense green wafer. It wasn't exactly a wafer. It was like a ton of wafers stuck together.

"What's even in here?"

Sonnet broke her cookie in half and stared down at it.

"There's this flour that's made in a lab. It's basically all the nutrients you're supposed to get from one well balanced meal, but crammed into this one powder. Most of the poorer districts can't afford vegetables or fruit, so they get Nelumbo Flour and mix it with whatever they can find. This specific cake has more in it to make it more filling, but the ones I used to get were just the flour and water."

"What else is in this one?"

"I don't know. Probably eggs, maybe milk. It's moister than the true cakes."

"Why's it called Nelumbo Flour?"

Sonnet laughed. "That's the brand. They make all kinds of things like that. That goop they serve at school? That's a Nelumbo lunch. The schools are all government funded, so if they don't have to pay for fruits and expensive food, they don't."

"I wish we had something like that sooner."

"You had welfare programs." Sonnet took another bite of her cookie. "These replaced those. The government basically pays for Nelumbo to stay open, and then the profits go to them to make richer versions of their products."

"So, you do still have to pay for the flour?"

Sonnet nodded. "Unless you're an orphanage or something, you have to pay for the flour. And even if you are a special program like and orphanage, you can only get so much."

"Well, welfare and all that aside, this is delicious."

Sonnet nodded. "I thought you'd like it."

I ate the last of my cookie.

"Are there any more of those?"

Sonnet still had the remaining half of her wafer-not-a-wafer.

"Yeah, but I like to save them. It's hard to get Nelumbo Flour here because... well... this district is all rich people. They don't need the government funded food. So, we only have so much at a time."

"Do rich people not have any taste buds?"

"They have just fine tastes. Even with rarer ingredients, Nemlumbo Cake isn't high end. I just like it because it tastes like my childhood."

"That's a pretty good way to have your childhood taste."

"Yeah, and how would yours taste?"

"Like potato chips."

"Well, that's a more expensive taste than my childhood."

"More expensive? Since when are potatoes expensive?"

"Anything that grows is expensive."

"Wow."

Sonnet nodded.

"You know, I kind of wish I could go back in time. Sure, you guys didn't have great stuff going on, but you could do what you want, you know?"

"Can't you do that here?"

"Only if you're a chosen one."

Sonnet finished her cake and licked her fingers. She got up, muttered about homework and left before I could respond. Even if I wasn't allowed to say it, she sounded a lot like Tyena.