Crystal frowned a bit when the other women put a finger to her lips. 'Does she think I'm stupid enough to get in trouble like that?' Crystal complained to herself. 'I'm not a child!' Seconds later she rebuked herself for her harsh thoughts. 'She was probably just trying to keep us both out of trouble.'

Crystal leaned back against the tree with a sigh. Her bun had come loose so she redid quickly. 'Now what? What do I do while I wait for more instructions?' She thought looking around.

More women had finished eating and they were all heading off to their various duties. It appeared that only her and Charmayne had been reassigned and it interested her. What kind of job was this? At last she saw the lady that the supervisor had referred to, leave the hall but she waited for her new partner to make a move.

Charmayne allowed herself to close her eyes and just let herself take a breath of fresh air. It had been such a long time since she had been able to let herself breathe and not worry about things. Although, deep down inside she was still drastically worrying about the same old same old.

Most of the time she was worrying about the supervisors and what they wanted of her. Sometimes, she would worry about finding a way to prove she wasn't guilty for murder. Other times she would worry about those that tried to escape the organization. She wondered where they went, what happened to them and if they were happy.

She heard footsteps walk by her and opened her eyes. It was the last woman from the hall. That meant it was time to go. She pushed herself to her feet, dusting off the mud from the back of her pants. She then stepped where Crystal could see her and gave her a little gesture to follow.

Crystal waited impatiently for what seemed to be forever until Charmayne gestured her to follow. Quickly, Crystal got up and trotted after her. She had no idea where they were going or what their job was but it couldnt be that bad if they were allowed to talk.

The grounds were almost bare of women. They had all left to do their various tasks and it seemed that only her Charmayne were different. It concerned her a little but she pushed it aside and kept walking.

'There's no need to worry unless something happens.' She thought, trying to calm herself. She pushed all thought out of her mind and focused on the soumd of her footsteps on the hard packed path.

One advantage of being in the organization for so long: you start to memorize each advisor and where they were located.

She knew this place better than anyone. She could recite it, tell somebody which supervisors are nicer than others, tell the time just by the shift of the sun in the sky...she knew everything but that also made her worry more about being reassigned. Nobody ever got reassigned, not even those that had "proved" themselves. This new job worried her deeply.

It was more worrisome that she was sharing the job with Crystal. That meant it wasn't an ordinary job. Ordinary jobs didn't have others working with them.

She sighed, probably loud enough for Crystal to hear but nobody else. She spotted the supervisor talking to the one that issued patdowns. Well more like "talking". They were screaming at eachother.

Er, let's not get into that, Charmayne, She reached back and lightly tapped Crystal's arm with her index finger before leading them away from the scene. They would wait until the supervisors were not arguing.

Crystal almost ran into Charmayne because she was watching the ground too intensely. She followed the lady away from the supervisors, looking back over her shoulder in confusion. Is that where they were supposed to be heading? Crystal didn't care if they were arguing. She didmt want to be late on the first day!

Leaning forwards, she tapped the woman's shoulder and signed, "Why are you leaving?" She didmt want to seem rude but she didn't want to do pushups for beimg late.

Charmayne didn't want to get involved in whatever that was. She also didn't want to hear what they were arguing about. The supervisor that did her daily patdowns was mean and she didn't want that anger to be used against her or Crystal.

She also didn't want Crystal to hear what they were arguing about. It could be something involving the secrets of the organization just as easily as it could be about her getting free of pushup duty. She knew some of the secrets about this place that the newer girls didn't. She didn't want Crystal to find them out.

So she moved just a little far off, close enough that the supervisors could see them both but not close enough to hear what was going on. She stopped and was turning around when she felt her back be tapped. She looked at Crystal and saw she was signing something.

"Fighting," She signed back and added,"Wait here."

The supervisors would find them once they were done.

Crystal nodded not with understanding but that acknowledgment. She still didnt understand why they couldn't just report for their job. As much as she hated conflict, she hated pushups more.

She stood there, shiftimg her weight from one foot to another impatiently. At last one of the supervisors stomped off in an obvious fit and Crystal quickly turned to Charmayne.

Crystal had no idea what they had been fighting about but the supervisor still standing there look quite pleased with themself. She hoped it didmt have anything to do with her but she couldn't push their recent adventure out of her mind. She knew how against the rules it was to hide, let alome talk to another member.