The path flattened upon reaching the brow of the hill that had grown into a short plateau declining softly further inland. Providing a gracious view over the sea, from high up, there was the same town. But the markets and ships were no more the protagonists. It appeared as if there was only a coastline of an unending pebble beach with its famed wooden piers stretching beyond the dirty gold into the dark blue waves. The summit was a receiver of seaside winds, as it stood as the merger of land and water. There sat an esteemed school, mounted on the throne of the lands which it commanded, with the emblem of an ancient noble house displayed for all those who passed the brick wall to see. A golden martlet, a bird without legs, that would only soar until its fall and death, was worked on a plaque in silver that bore a motto in an ancient language and its name in modern verse. King Aelle College.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoABMNo948
The last students rushed through the metal gates before they were shut behind by two gatekeepers and entered a grand campus that was neither too small nor overwhelming. They furthered down the gravel road, between more greenery that was well-kept, with its grass mowed weekly. The flat colors of flowers received no admiration by the two who hurried indoors through a pair of twin doors welcoming them with a reception mostly empty. The receptionist alone hounded the entrance and gave a stern look at the boys who picked up their pace. But they found, in the corridor that provided three ways, straight, to the left, and to the right, the hallways were still packed with students despite the ringing of the day’s first bell.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡov5HebAwpd
“Hey, by the way, have you seen the new telephone?” Onwards, Colt hurried with double steps and asked as if his mouth could never dry.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEGztXVepg
“I’ve only heard about it.” Arminius gave a detached reply, rather concentrated on reaching his destination.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGWtbeeaSb
In no apparent rhythm, they took continuous double paces that Colt struggled to keep up. Their footsteps had merged with the others, as groups of students passed by in two directions and entered their respective classes. Those closest to the entrance were the youngest and as they progressed down the corridor, so too did the years.
“It’s gonna have a digital display.” Colt retold the details that Arminius already knew, but did so anyways with a voice attempting to sail him into purchase. “Only for five hundred crowns as well!” He tried to sweeten his words.
Turning into a second corridor where there were less students then, some classrooms had started their registration, and they could only hope that their own had not.
“What are you? A salesman?” Arminius glanced over with an expression weirded out by his classmate. “Besides, that’s too expensive.” Quick to dismiss any possibility of purchasing new technology after his past experiences, the offer explained was excused.
That was the any odd or common conversation between the two that would often run into the ground. No words that did not strike his friend could ever break through that first barricade and sometimes, he understood, that brute force must be used.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hsOkMpQ03
Colt punched Arminius’s arm and knocked him in his walk that slowed before he tripped. But otherwise, he remained undisturbed for the most part. “Oh c’mon, don’t tell me your family has shallower pockets than we do.” He seemed to boast about him in his place.
Embarrassed for it to have been said aloud in the corridors awkwardly quiet, Arminius gave an even sharper expression to his friend who froze, as he rubbed his arm from the pain of the strength used against him. There was not one time, he thought, that Colt had held back and his arm would surely be bruised again on that very same spot. Trying to clear his thoughts, he shook his head, on the entrance of the classroom that was marked only by two numbers. 6-1. The door was wide open, and the classmates within were a rowdy lot. It seemed that the teacher had yet to arrive when their table was clear of any papers and their eraser was clean of chalk. Saved by luck, they were suddenly hit by a cry of victory over the quieter pained groan of defeat.
“Aw shit, there goes my allowance for the week.” A student complained, holding his head as he drowned in utter shame.
Holding up a coin that was plucked from his fingers by another boy who had seemingly won a bet, their act was stupid, however friendly at least.
Leaping off the table, his friend thanked. “Much obliged.” The victor had an accent of the upper class, though it was not surprising given his white gold wristwatch and pure silver ring.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbKnHxCETb
“That’s what you get for bettin’ it down to the second.” A third chimed in, harassing him with a dump of acid in his words.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5UpYLh1io
Bunched in a corner of the classroom at the rear where they hoped to keep the tutor’s notice away, they sat themselves before a board of pins and notices on the far wall of societies and clubs, all advertising, lamely, to join. As the two late comers took their separate paths to their same destination, one by the forth of the class, and another by the long way around the end, they approached their own group of friends, like everyone else had gathered.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXrrJuAi0M
Nicely, Arminius greeted each by name, “Ed, Albert, Edmund.”105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DUGr9lSoE
“We’re gonna see you a hobo on the side of a street one day, Ed.” Colt added to the flames that turned blue as he slapped Ed.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdhCOWSYET
Once more, his strike was not held back in power, and it chocked the boy who ducked too late.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSxpOkOOp7
Slouched over, and rubbing the back of his concussed head, a day would come where an attack such as that would finally fell him. “Geez, thanks Colt, shower me in salt.” The youngest of the lot had little enthusiasm left.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2e9i5QSJLp
Settled down, the friends were inattentive of their surroundings, and as often as day would come, were the loudest lot in their class. Setting his cap by the window seat, Arminius gazed out of the long panes of glass with blinds half-drawn. The sun was still piercing as the day turned completely blue over the castle ruins on a far hill over the shallow gorge beneath. The town ran inland and upstream where the roads began to narrow as they turned into the suburbs. Appreciating his vantage point that he had chosen, Arminius pulled out his chair and was about to sit. Edmund flipped his rewarded coin that gave a ring from the nickel struck by his finger nails as it was tossed high. Its face of a king, dirtied with memories of gambling, landed in his open palm and his fingers were brought inward to close when the march of a teacher walked in expectedly.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9ECrHnPYz
To who Arminius spotted, he tucked in his chair and braced himself tight. “All rise.” As the head of his class, he commanded.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHtMhkUobh
The legs of chairs scraped unevenly as students leapt off the windows and tables and rose from their seats.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlQKSrYTYk
Into their respective positions, the class shuffled in orderly. “Good morning, Herr Rust!” Together, the twenty attended to their tutor, with a need for false passion.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBcwY4nMXz
He was a stern man of his fifties with graying hair, albeit abundant like his mustache thick enough that it covered his upper lip. His spectacles were tipped down and his walk was hunched, stepping in synchronization in the beat of an army’s march. It was easily told from that, he was a veteran. The way of his being, effortlessly carrying a mountainous pad of notes, a textbook with the heft of a babe, and the annual registration clamped between, all in one hand. As he came by his destination, the tutor placed his stack, softly, on his desk at the front of the class and neatly organized his files in his sight to the right before taking a seat. Separating the documents that had already been laid out by the order of their sessions, he gave one look along the ranks and files where the students were still and stood. Counting and nodding his head on each, he ticked in the boxes beside the column of names in his attendance book. Faced down, there was no need for him to ask, knowing that the class was a full house.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSjUqg1yEG
Rust waved his hand, telling for all to sit, “At ease.”105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEDy0HcIRi
So his students did as authorized and their chairs screeched away. Through the rustling of clothes and bags, some were studious enough to take out their pencils and books, as others adhered to their conversations. The cap on the pen clicked shut in the tutor’s hands and was placed down beside a pile of papers which he grabbed. Evening the stack with its tap on the table, he stood, and began with the first row by name and the order of their seats. Returning the results of their baseline exams that the students must have taken at the start of the year, when Rust came by, the groups of friends silenced their laughter gradually. There were only two who remained fixated on their grades, determined to score better than the other. When his own was handed out, placed topside on the table covering the grade, Arminius flipped his’ over. There, his grade was revealed, written in a red-dyed ink. Although soon, he became unconcerned and his heart which raced slowed. As he read over his pages, his friends told each other of their own, bragging over who had scored the highest or lowest. When one dared to ask, whistling for Arminius’s attention, the boy held up his hand and curled up a finger into a symbol of nine before changing it into a second sign of a seven. From behind and his front, Colt was shoved by pushes and pride-damaging laughter to which he did a distasteful gesture across the aisle before showing his paper to his rival.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbfScHiPiS
Ninety-six.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBY4wlPEv5
He was scored a point just under and was harassed by foolish behavior all around that made Arminius chuckle in the short-lived fun of seeing their marks.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCukTNpE36
Rust returned to the bow of the classroom and commenced his first morning session. “Turn to page thirty-six.” The tutor referred to the textbook as he selected his chalk from a tray.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnfbpbbgM0
Scribbling on the blackboard a series of numbers and equations, it quickly came to the students that their first lesson was mathematics. The bane of schoolchildren. As Rust wrote his instructions for an exercise that would cripple their minds before break, few had other plans that they could reap enjoyment out of. From their bags, a set of stationary and books were taken out of, and as if they all shared the same mind, their electronics were secretly brought out too. Of the same model, each machine had their own colors, that was a bulky, unassuming cuboid of a shrunken computer. They flicked awide a black screen which was guided by a panel of controls beneath and switching on its power, like magic, the piece of technology summoned a display of a video. But what was more was that the screen evolved into a controlled and moveable image.
“Dang, I forgot about yesterday.” Albert realized and smacked his forehead. “Trade me four-kay marks will ya? I’ll pay ya back.” He tapped Arminius’s shoulder from behind and asked for a loan.
Although he sounded unsure, whatever words he said in quick succession, Arminius reached for the depths of his bag and searched for his own console, “Uh…yeah, sure.”
The wires had been tangled, like the shape of a blanket at night, how he was unable to find his own machine easily frustrated him. He gave a firm yank of the bundle of cords and found that his game computer had been strapped to a thousand cables. Or at least, it appeared so. When they were finally freed of each others’ knots, Arminius stretched a length of cable and plugged it into his device. Glancing around, to every other student who was busying with questions that needed an answer, whether they were working along or asking around for help, his own page was barely marked by a half-written title, a date and nothing more. Upon flicking open his screen, the power switched on and the logo danced. However unfortunately, he had forgotten to mute his audio and it had spawned an electronic chime. In the quiet classroom of weak whispers and ruffling paper, it was as loud as echoes at night. His classmates turned as he quickly retreated his console into his bag, hiding the evidence of his clumsiness, but it did not escape the hawk-like ears of the tutor who revolved around on his heel.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMpOmqSr2K
From what was a stern face turned into a deep frown, he looked straight at the trouble-making bunch. “Who was that?” Rust calmly asked of the culprit.
In an effort to save his companions and gather not more suspicion on them, Arminius stood without thinking and honestly declared himself, “I, Herr Rust…”
Obediently still, he had addressed his fault. But an eraser came, flying across the room, where its wooden handle struck his head. Arminius flinched from the catapulted missile that dropped onto the ground and he was left with a reddish mark and a scratch on his head. Dazed, the boy had suffered worse, for the pain was nothing compared to Colt swinging his fists at full force. As his friends slipped their devices into their pockets for safekeeping for the time being, they guarded their own selves firstly and kept, smartly, quiet. Except for one.
“Arminius Reichner, you’ve earned yourself another detention.” Rust informed the head student, who in awkwardness, had his head dipped. “If it weren’t for your grades, then we’d have tossed you out already.” Lobbing a piece of his chalk, it accurately struck his student again, with the rage of a soul annoyed yet his voice remained pacified.
Put into a standstill, the class was suddenly voiceless. None even dared to whisper as the captain of the class sat down. It was a miracle for him to have even retained his title for this long, but after all, in a school groveling for prestige and results, not the principal would dare lay a finger on him. Opening up a textbook, Arminius was silent, noting on the margin the number of questions with his lead scratching on paper.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMVmpI8o1U
Though another, not as bright as to grasp the atmosphere, believing that the class had restarted, he turned back at another. “Ed, you owe me ten—” Colt smirked and reminded him to his ire.
“You too, Colt, if you’re so insistent.” Rust added, trapping his prey with a common teacher’s tactic.
Spun forward, Colt addressed with a face of surprise, realizing that everyone was still silent and mostly unmoving. The tutor had been watching him yet.
Making matters worse, Colt argued, sealing himself in his fated coffin, “What? I didn’t say anything—”105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZbDXZEuLx
“There, you just did.” His tutor sprung a second trap that ambushed the student who could have seen it from leagues away if he was less flustered.
The classroom bursted into bountiful sniggers as the tension was released from the class’s jester. The gates of a reservoir of collected stress opened and flowed into its natural course. Returning to their work, they were no doubt whispering about the two best of the class, and even in the year. Calmed, shaking his head, the teacher returned to his blackboard and continued jotting down his work as if nothing had happened. Filling the bleak stretch of the canvas with chalk that eroded onto his hands, the solid matter turned into numbers and words of explanations annotated as the snowfall of powder collected on a ledge. Arminius would never speak again until lunch when the last autumn sun was highest. From noon, Colt sat thinking, with a pencil clamped in his mouth, swinging on his chair. Both laid in defeat and utter embarrassment too, but that in itself was a short feeling compared to other instances that had rusted away.
105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSH4lUquk1
