I stepped into the van, greeted by the woman who usually drove me to school.
"Ma'am." I cleared my throat.
"Yes?" She answered coldly.
"What's your name? Your real name? The one you were born with?" I asked, for some reason, I felt really bad for her… she chose to work for the government… so why did I feel bad?
"Quiet. You have no reason to have that information at all." She said, not even turning to look at me. I sighed and looked out the window.
The rest of the drive was silent until we arrived. That's when she spoke up. "Clarissa." She said, locking the van's doors and slowly pulling away from the Academy.
"Clarissa…" I said, the name slipping into my memory and off my tongue lightly, just like a snowflake falling from the winter-glazed sky.
Chel seemed to be waiting in the seat next to mine, her head lay lightly on her desk. She had her hair covering her eyes, and she seemed to be breathing so lightly. I approached her, and sat at my desk. I turned to face Chel, and her head rose, she smiled, and began speaking.
"Graduation. It's next week." She said, looking a little sad now. At the moment, I had forgotten that the graduates only have about half of month in their last year, while the rest of us went a full two semesters.
"Oh… aren't you excited to move forward in life?" I asked, to which she smiled once again. I felt a pain in my chest, something about seeing her feeling bad made my heart hurt. This was a new concept and I didn't know what to say to help her now.
She stood up and left the room for a moment, and Mae approached me slowly, taking Chel's spot. "Don't get too close to the graduates. You'll regret it." She said, avoiding eye contact before standing up and going back to her seat.
"What?" I asked, with no response to my question, I just turned back around and prepared for class once more.
"He's more than likely the one." A male voice announces.
"So, what do we do with the others?" A female asks, facing a computer screen with cameras all around the Academy.
"They won't matter. We can still use them, but we will need him to graduate sooner rather than later if we want this all to end." He explained, holding his pointer finger to his chin. "Before they begin their fight... we need to stop a fight from even starting."
"Yet that is impossible sir, to stop a fight before it happens, I mean." She replied, looking toward the monitor. "There he is now." She stated, pointing to a monitor with Rocco walking with Chel down the hall.
"One of our graduates. It seems that he is making friends really quickly. Mae and Axel have been... avoiding the cameras recently." He stated, looking for the monitor which showed Mae sitting in a classroom. Mae looked up at the camera directly, the man scooted back in his chair anxiously....
I entered the classroom and could see the desks were re-arranged. Mae was staring up at the corner of the room. I stood still for a moment as she stared, and then turned her attention to me.
"What are... you doing?" I asked, feeling like she had already lost it.
"The corner. Look." She whispered, pointing toward the corner. I followed her finger and looked to the top corner of where the two walls met. I couldn't see anything at all.
"Mae... there's nothing there." I stated, I felt like I was in danger with how crazy she was.
"Sit where I am." She commanded, standing up and stepping away. I did as she commanded and, in the corner, I could see a small hole with a little red laser peeking out.
I couldn't move. I knew we were being monitored... but in here too? This is a classroom... maybe it was just a coincidence.
"It's a camera. Not a coincidence." Mae told me as if she had just read my mind once again. "Be aware of who is watching and when. I'm assuming they're keeping a keen eye on someone. I just don't know who." She said, looking back at the little corner.
I could only just assume for now... but maybe it was to observe Mae.
"Are you done messing around with the camera?" She asked, her head askew as she stared at me with her almost colorless eyes.
"Yeah. Let's go... you said you needed help with question thirty-two on the homework, right?" I asked, trying to hint for us to leave the room to talk.
"I never asked-"
"Yeah, you did. Last night you messaged me because you got stuck, I mean sure it was surprising you messaged me, but I'm glad to help in any way possible Mae!" I said maybe a bit too loudly.
"Oh, that's right. I did need help. Let's go... do that then." She said, leaving the classroom first.
Once we were in the hallway, we checked for another camera nearby. We pretended just to be searching for the homework, acting as if we had left it on a nearby table or on the ground. We instead headed to a storage closet and closed the door.
"I hope you realize I really hate being this close to you." Mae said, the little amount of space in the room starting to affect us both.
"Right, let's hurry and talk about that then." I said, trying to make some more space between us. I lightly stepped back, knocking over a mop.
"Idiot..." she said under her breath, sighing right after and getting ready to just leave.
"Mae!" I said, gripping her wrist. She was the first one... she showed me something last night. It changed me. "I... want to learn... how to Manifest." I said, my words becoming a little jumbled.
"Good for you. You'll need some time, keep listening to the music, and come back to me next week." She said, finally exiting after pulling her wrist away from me.
All I could see was her long brown hair vanishing into the hallway.
"Hey! Chel graduates next week though!" I yelled after to her, which she stopped.
"Then save her." Mae said, her head barely turning to face me. She continued walking away down the hallway, quietly at that.
What did she mean... save her? She wasn't in any danger. Save her from graduation, but for what reason? Chel finally gets to move on in life and pursue her future. Everyone acted like graduation was so bad, but with what they gave us on information, it seemed that we would really enjoy doing it.
"Once you graduate, you'll be a stepping stone to saving humanity." Mr. Trok would always say after the topic of graduation was brought up. He always had a positive attitude toward graduation, but never toward his students. He hated us. It was obvious. Either that... or he hated himself.
Class with Mr. Trok was as boring as ever. He played a video; we took notes and were left with almost twenty minutes to ourselves as he surfed the web. I could see Chel with her head down, and right when I began reaching over to her, she lifted her head and stared at me. Her eyes were darker, circles under her eyes... it looked like she hadn't slept for so long.
"Chel?" I asked wearily, feeling a little worried for her in her current state.
"I'm fine... if I don't sleep... I don't dream... I don't graduate." She said, her eyes widening at the thought of graduation in four days.
"You have this weekend to rest if you end up needing it Chel." I stated, sounding more and more caring each day I saw her.
"Y'know... you started out all quiet and stuff... you didn't talk to anyone, and your grades were the highest the school has ever seen. I'm surprised you haven't graduated early." She briefly paused, her eyes moving from me to the window. "I'm really proud of you Rocco."
"Chel..." I said, feeling more concerned. "Why are you afraid of... graduating?"
"That's enough." Mr. Trok interrupted. "Graduation is a privilege for the fifth year, and they must enjoy their time here while they have it. Right, Ms. Lockheart?" Mr. Trok asked Chel.
"Yes sir." She said, her eyes moving back to her page of notes, Mr. Trok returning to his desk.
I wanted to talk to Chel badly, but at this point, it seemed as if she were a walking zombie from the movies. She stumbled her way out of class and into the hallway after class, vanishing somewhere down the hallway.
I never knew where she went exactly, but over the weekend, she didn't respond to my messages. I felt sick to my stomach. Was she home? Or was she getting ready for graduation? What was she doing exactly?
I ended up deciding to visit her house, which wasn't too far from mine, and I had seen her outside a couple of times in the past.
I knocked on the door. The house was still, and silent for a moment before the front door crept open. It was an older lady, must have been Chel's mother. Her face... wasn't buried in a tablet... why not?
"Do you need something?" She asked, maybe a bit rudely.
"Is Chel home?" I asked, looking past the lady into her house, where a black cat lay sleepily on the red carpet.
"No, she's getting ready for graduation at the school. She's been there since yesterday." She said, pushing the door closed. That didn't really answer my question, since I can't go into the academy on a non-school day.
I ended up going home somberly, feeling like Chel might be passed out in some classroom, or maybe she was just eating the academy's lunches? I tried everything to convince myself she'd be okay, yet one part of me didn't really feel right about this whole graduation thing. Why were the students so emotionally upset around graduation?
"Rocco?" A voice questioned from behind me on the street. I turned slowly to meet Mae's eyes. I felt an instant urge to look away and covered my eyes.
"Hey! I didn't mean to!" I yelled back to her, still covering my eyes.
She let out a small chuckle and approached me. "Go home. Don't worry about graduation... we are too late to stop it this year. It's already begun." She confirmed.
Graduation really has... started.