Free Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

categories altogether, and Alice had them memorized for as long as she could count.
    Score 5 || Green =
Spectacularly Done
    Score 4 || Blue =
A Very Fine Job
    Score 3 || Red =
Perfectly Adequate
    Score 2 || Yellow =
Good Enough
    Score 1 || White =
Rather Unfortunate
    Children were tearing their envelopes open—some with great confidence, others with great trepidation—while Alice was still straining to see if anything had arrived for her at Mother’s table.
    It had, indeed.
    Alice’s heart would not sit still.
    She couldn’t read Mother’s face from here, but she could see Mother holding the envelope in her hand like she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it; and though she looked around the square just once, Mother didn’t seem to mind that Alice wasn’t around to pick it up. Mother often said that she could never be bothered to understand why Alice did the things she did, andnow, more than ever, Alice thought never being bothered was a very lazy way to love someone.
    Oliver’s back was to her, so Alice couldn’t see his face, but Mother was smiling at him, so he must have been speaking. He was likely using his gift of persuasion to ruin her life. Sure enough, after only a few seconds, Mother handed him her envelope. Just handed it over. Her entire life folded into a piece of paper and Mother just gave it away to a boy Alice wanted to kick in the teeth.
    Alice nearly stomped over there and did just that.
    But the truth was, Alice was still scared. She wanted to walk back into a crowd of Ferenwood folk knowing she was one of them. It was bad enough she’d been born with hardly any color, that her skin was the color of snow and her hair the color of sugar and her eyelashes the color of milk. She never liked to admit it, but the truth was true enough: By Ferenwood standards she really
was
the ugliest. Her world thrived on color, and she had none.
    But a task did not care about color. It did not depend on anything but magical talent, and talent was something Alice thought she had; Ferenwood hearts were born with it. She, Alice Alexis Queensmeadow, had been born with a Ferenwood heart, and her talent needed a task.
    She could not walk into that crowd without it.
    Alice didn’t want to look at Oliver as he headed her way. Shedidn’t care for his pompousness and she certainly didn’t want to hear him tell her how terrible her talent was. She didn’t know what Oliver had surrendered, but Alice felt certain it was something stupid.
    Oliver cleared his throat. She noticed he’d slung a well-worn bag across his body. He must’ve been on his way somewhere, and Alice hoped that meant he’d finally leave her alone.
    â€œHello Oliver,” Alice said curtly, plucking the envelope from his outstretched hand.
    â€œAlice.” He nodded.
    â€œYou may go now.” She narrowed her eyes at him.
    Oliver crossed his arms and leaned against the tree trunk. “Open it,” he said.
    â€œI do not wish to open it in front of you,” she sniffed.
    He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so stiff. Just because you won’t be getting the best task doesn’t mean—”
    â€œAnd how do you know I won’t?” Alice snapped, petulant in an instant. “There’s no saying I can’t still—”
    â€œBecause Kate Zuhair already did,” he said with a sigh. “Really, Alice, calm yourself. No one is judging you.”
    â€œOh,” she said, blinking fast. It was a small consolation, but Alice was relieved to hear that at least Danyal Rubin hadn’t been the one to best her. Still, her pride would not let her be calm. Certainly not in front of Oliver.
    â€œI got a three, you know.”
    Alice looked up. “You got a three?”
    Oliver nodded. “And it’s still the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I’m not sure you’d want a five even if you’d earned it.”
    Alice swallowed hard.