Michael spent the rest of lunch skimming through the book and reviewing the preface, table of contents, and back cover. He then began superficially reading from the beginning, and got through the first couple of chapters. He had an understanding of the overall plot of the first few chapters, and was introduced to some of the core concepts. He also gave a cursory examination to the other books Mr. Maddox had provided, which gave him a rough idea of how he would frame his approach.
All three seemed to provide different approaches to a dystopian society and had different things to say about the potential perils of government overreach and modernization. Armed with this information, Michael made his way to his English classroom. Valeria was already there, and she smiled at Michael as he slid into his usual spot. Jeremy arrived shortly after, and mentioned to Valeria that Michael would be joining them that evening. She seemed mildly annoyed by this, but Jeremy assured her that it wouldn't change their plans. Michael didn't know what they were talking about at this point, but before he could dig into it, the bell rang.
This class was split into two sections - the first consisted of a review of certain grammar rules, and the second was a class-wide discussion of the beginning of the novel. Michael was glad he'd spent his lunch on English instead of Algebra, as it allowed him to contribute to the conversation in a couple of meaningful ways. At the end of the class, he waved off Jeremy and Valeria and went to talk to Ms. Aldrich, who was packing up her books at the desk in the front.
"Ah, Mr. Prout, wasn't it? What can I do for you?" she asked, looking up briefly and then returning to packing up her desk as she waited for a response.
Michael took a deep breath. Initially, he hadn't thought much of his proposal, but after Mr. Maddox's caution, he started to second guess himself. Was he biting off more than he could chew? However, considering the potential benefits - in regards to rewards from the system and his own edification - he decided to proceed.
"Syntopic? The Colonial School?" she paused in her packing and looked up at Michael, her eyes narrowing. "Who put you up to this?"
"No one, Ms. Aldrich. It's just, I recently finished 'The Fundamentals of Reading' and thought the approach would be beneficial to my reading of our novel... is it not a good idea?" Michael trailed off as Ms. Aldrich continued to stare at him. As she continued what felt like minutes, he began to lose his nerve.
"...Alright, I'll let you attempt this. However, you won't get any extra time for the assignment, and you must construct your final submission in such a way that the contents concerning the assigned novel can be assessed separately from any additional content. Do you understand?"
Michael nodded fervently, his eyes blazing as he accepted the conditions she'd listed.
"Good," she continued, "if you're looking for options, I can recommend some. You should be able to find them in the library here at the schoo-"
"Not to worry! Mr. Maddox has already recommended a couple, and I've already signed them out." Michael interjected excitedly.
"He did, did he? Well, if Mr. Maddox is supporting you, you must have made a good impression. Not bad for the third day of school. Well, I wish you luck, then, Mr. Prout, and I look forward to seeing your results. Now hurry along - you wouldn't want to be late for your next class."
Remembering that he still had to get changed and onto the field for the upcoming period, Michael blanched a bit, nodded and thanked her before rushing out of class and down the hall.
Ms. Aldrich watched him leave and continued to look off for a while after he was gone from sight. "What are you up to, Jim...", she muttered, before collecting the rest of her things.
---
Michael made it onto the field with moments to spare before the bell. He was still breathing rather heavily as he stood in line. Luckily, almost late was not the same as late, and while Tesserarius Lakeshead glanced at him as he walked by, he didn't say anything.
"Alright, let's get started. You know the drill... LAPS! And the last 5 will have to run MORE LAPS, so let's see some hustle!" the Tesserarius shouted and blew his whistle to signal the group to begin.
Michael found that, despite being a bit sore, he comfortably managed to maintain a pace that was near the front of the middle of the back. There was a very clear divide between most of the class and the five he'd noticed previously - those he'd guessed were from military families. After the initial rush, they had about a three metre lead, and that increased to four by the end of the laps. Michael once again grouped up with Jeremy and Valeria, and the three were leading the pack behind those five. Michael still felt like he could push, but considering this was the beginning of class and there'd still be quite a bit of work to do afterwards, he opted to refrain from sprinting ahead for now.
The final five were consistent with last class, and once they'd begun their supplementary laps, Tesserarius Lakeshead brought the rest of the group into the center of the track, where there were outlines of various sizes laid out in chalk, and racks of equipment lined up on one end.
"Today, we're going to go over the finer points of the javelin," the Tesserarius began, "Discipulus Girentio, come forward."
One of the five, a tall, sturdy blonde-haired boy walked over and stood at attention in front of the Tesserarius. "Yes, Tesserarius!" he responded.
Michael recognized him from a couple of his classes, but they hadn't interacted at all. He seemed rather quiet, and kept to himself.
"Please demonstrate the correct way to throw for the group," the Tesserarius instructed. Girentio (whose first name Michael didn't know) saluted and made his way over to the rack. After inspecting them for a few moments, he selected one and made his way over to the designated area. Lining up, he readied until the Tesserarius told him to throw. Once he heard the signal, he ran up to the arc, building momentum, and loosed the spear which formed a graceful arc through the air until it landed in the distance.
"Very good," Lakeshead commented approvingly, "back in line." Girentio saluted again and returned to the group. "Now, let's practice. Begin!"
With that final call, the students made their way to the racks and selected javelins to line up and begin.
Soon, everyone had had a chance to throw a couple of times, and the folks who had been running their extra laps had joined. The practice continued for the rest of the class, with folks taking a break as needed. Michael's results were... quite poor.
<
"Thanks, anything I don't need to work on?" Michael grumbled internally as he changed out of his training gear.
<
"..."
---
Michael met Jeremy and Valeria outside of the changing rooms, and they all made their way down the hall and out the eastern exit of the school building. Soon after they started walking, Jeremy started complaining. "My shoulder is killing me! So are my feet. Gym is the worst," he whined. "Mine too," Michael admitted. "You'd both better get used to it - things are only going to get more difficult. Especially when you get into mandatory service in a few years," Valeria commented.
"No way am I going to do that - I'm just going to go work for my dad." Jeremy snickered. "He'll find me an 'essential position' somewhere. And you-"
"I'm definitely going," Valeria stated firmly. "What about you, Michael?"
"I don't have any plans otherwise. Still, I've got enough to worry about now - like class, and the regional games. It's going to be hard to place in the top half of our own class, let alone in the whole region. There's those five who're always at the head of the class when we're running, including that Girentio guy."
"Yeah, those military brats are super unfair. It's like a cheat. They've all been training forever. Plus, they don't talk to anyone else - they've already got their lives planned out for them, thanks to their families," Jeremy grumbled.
"You're one to talk. Weren't you just saying you were going to work for your dad after school?" Valeria teased.
"Still, having everything decided for you doesn't sound great. I kinda feel sorry for them," Michael mused. He didn't notice the look on Valeria's face softening when he said this, and shortly thereafter Jeremy announced they had arrived. As they walked inside, Michael's mouth hung open.
Jeremy was right. This was something awesome.