"H-Headmaster, at least give us another chance. It was just a stupid mistake on Madison's part" Tempest tried to explain out of anger.
"Okay wait" I said, standing up from the couch and trying to think of something to say. "I understand that I made a mistake but headmaster, it's not like we had a choice. I don't care if the schools reputation gets abolished if it means having a couple of criminals take innocent lives. There were children inside that mall, all who would've died if not for Tempest stopping the runaway truck" I carefully explained with my arms crossed.
"That's right. I saved all of those children while Madison and Erin focused on finding and disarming those bombs so kick us out if you want but we're not apologising for saving those people" Tempest agreed with me, staying on my side.
Headmaster Faringray kept her arms crossed and soon turned her attention to Erin who was still quietly watching everyone. She didn't look as confused as Sarah but she was too quiet.
"Erin? Do you have anything to add?" The headmaster asked her, clearly expecting her, above all to have said something impulsively.
Erin quietly stood up but it looked like she was thinking furiously. "Why are we in trouble for having saved those people? Isn't the vigilante's being connected to the school a good thing?"
"No, it's not. You're still too naïve to understand that actions have repercussions. When the three of you decided to take on the threat, it made you partly liable for all of the property damage. I don't care that you saved those people, as long as I'm concerned, you did good but you made the mistake of linking yourselves to the crime scene" The headmaster explained but despite that, Erin still seemed very confused by it all.
I then gently pulled her away so that she could watch rather instead of speaking. "So what is this about? Are you going to expel us now?" I asked her.
"No, I'm not going to expel you" Headmaster reassured us when she slowly sat down while calming her nerves and exhaling quietly. "I'm just here to warn you that next time you leave campus and replace yourselves with clones, you won't be expelled but you will face a series of punishments that I've set up just for the three of you. Do you know how it feels to be tortured for ten days straight, non-stop?" she asked us with a neat smile on her face.
…
…
…
"uhh … No?" Erin answered, somewhat unsure of the real answer.
The three of us glanced at each other, panicked by the soothing tone of her threat. "Soooo … are we free to go now?" Tempest wondered.
"Oh of course. Please leave"
Tempest and I then slowly turned around and left the room only to notice that Erin didn't leave for some reason. We then glanced at each other, knowing immediately that whatever she was going to do would be stupid.
"Are we still getting punished for skipping out on.." before she could finish, Tempest and I immediately ran up to her and tried to stop her from speaking any further, yelling "Woah woah woah woah woah" and "Hey! Stop stop stop stop!"
"Oh yes. I completely forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me Erin" The headmaster thanked her with the kindest smile on her face but we already knew that it was all bullshit. She was probably waiting for us to leave together before reminding us of our next detention or something. "The three of you are not allowed to leave school grounds under no circumstances and if you do, well, I pretty much just warned you of the consequences"
I then sighed while Tempest smacked Erin over the head. "Owww! What was that for?"
"Next time, keep your freaking mouth shut" Tempest warned her.
"But I was just.."
"Come on, let's just go" I said, turning around and leaving while thinking about that punishment. Thankfully, I had no reason to leave campus right now but I think this punishment benefits the school more than it does us except Tempest will really hate this.
After closing the headmaster's office door behind us, I kept on walking down the main empty hall alongside the two. Tempest groaned out loud in disgruntlement. "Uuuurg! This sucks! Why do we have be stuck in this freaking place!"
"I don't know. Maybe she just wanted us to stay in and play inside" Erin suggested.
"Yeah, highly doubt that. Why are you so pissed?" I asked, turning to Tempest who was still pretty displeased by it all.
"Because I had a date this afternoon! With Alexus Carlyle" She answered, leaning up against the wall and slowly falling down onto her butt.
"Alexus?!" Erin exclaimed in pure shock. Tempest just nodded her head.
"Its not like it matters now. She's not gonna reschedule"
"Who's Alexus Carlyle?" I wondered.
"It's one of our seniors and dude, she is freaking gorgeous. I went to the bathhouse this one time, out of curiosity obviously, nothing else and there she was. And she was naked .. butt .. naked. Before I even knew it, my lady boner was up and running" Erin explained in a hopeful tone, remembering the events of that memory.
"Gross, keep your lady boners to yourself" I said in disgust.
"How am I going to go out with her if I can't leave the school?" Tempest asked us.
"Just use the clone technique. They wouldn't even know you were gone" Erin explained confidently.
"We did that last time and we were caught. Clearly the clone technique won't work this time" I reminded her.
"Oh yeah…"
"I guess I have no choice but to call off the date" Tempest decided, taking out her phone to send the text.
"I guess I can take this time to look for that stupid tag. I'll see you guys later" I said, waving them off while walking off down the quiet corridor.
"Bye!!" Erin greeted before Tempest slowly stood up and sent the text.
"Well, there we go. Hey, do you wanna walk roam the halls?" She asked, watching me walk away before turning back to Erin.
"But we still have a few more minutes for biology" Erin reminded her, looking at the time on her phone.
"So? I don't feel like listening to Mrs.Ranch ramble on about vagina's and stuff. You can go back to class but I'm gonna see if I can find any more inside dates" Tempest casually joked while walking off. Erin looked back at the headmasters office before eventually running after Tempest to join her.
"Hey, wait up!"
MEANWHILE…
INSIDE BUILDING BETA, THIRD FLOOR
"Now, lets answer the main question. What are hormones? Hormones are naturally occurring chemicals that are created by the body. They aid in the transmission of messages between cells and organs and have an impact on a variety of body activities. Everyone has sex hormones that are classified as "Demife" and "female." The two main female sex hormones are oestrogen and progesterone. Although demiosterone is considered a demife hormone, females also produce and need a small amount of this, too." Mrs.Ranch explained while focusing on the summaries she wrote down on the board.
One of the students then raised their hand out of curiosity. "Are there any differences between the demife and female students?"
"In terms of genitalia.." before she could finish, some of the students spoke out in disgust since they were all still children. "Now now, this is biology, we need to feel comfortable speaking about this. In terms of genitalia, there are no differences. Both demife and females are born with a vagina but this is where hormones come into play. Oestrogen is the major female hormone. The lion's share comes from the ovaries, but small amounts are produced in the adrenal glands and fat cells. During pregnancy, the placenta also makes oestrogen. Oestrogen plays a big role in reproductive and sexual development, including: puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause and .. the demife produce oestrogen too but they also produce demiosterone, the hormone that allows them to reproduce"
"Do you really think they're the vigilantes?" One of the classmates in front of us wondered out of curiosity but kept her voice low.
"No, I don't think so. Weren't they stuck in detention at the time"
"Yeah but what if they just created clones of themselves?"
"What?"
"You're kidding right?"
"No, just hear me out. My older sister's a senior and later this year, we're going to learn the clone technique as well"
"But you're saying that the three of them already know this technique. Didn't you hear them when they introduced themselves? They're so behind on the curriculum"
"Yeah, Madison hasn't even developed her aether"
"Hey, why do you think the headmaster wanted to speak to those three?" Whisper wondered out of curiosity.
"Maybe she wanted to play pirates with them. Or watch a movie .. I wanna watch a movie. Can we go to the movies after school?" Sarah asked them.
"Why would she want to watch a .. she's not watching a freaking movie. No, I think they did something. Something that's got the headmaster pissed" Whisper quietly explained.
"Once, my mom got really angry at me for breaking a glass vase. I think it had my grandma's ashes" Sarah stated out of nowhere, another one of her useless statements.
"You're not accusing them of being the vigilantes right?" Alyssa asked.
"No, that's not possible. I was in detention at the time and they were very much there"
"Can we just stop talking about this? They're already under enough stress as it is. Avelin isn't making it any easier for them" Alyssa asked, taking off her glasses and turning to her girlfriend.
"Miss Ashton! Miss Hallwell. Do you have anything you'd like to share with the class?" Mrs.Ranch demanded to know after she heard the three of them speaking, all the way in the middle of the class.
"No ma'am. Please continue telling us about your vagina" Whisper insisted, sitting back casually with a proud smirk on her face. She really doesn't care about her reputation with the teachers, does she? Some of her classmates found it funny and chuckled softly in the background but despite that, this doesn't seem to have embarrassed the teacher.
"Whisper!" Alyssa exclaimed in a whisper, calling out to her for her disrespectful response.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I speak of everyone attending this class. Please take a step outside so that I can deal with you after the period ends"
"Fine with me. I was getting bored anyway" Whisper then stood up and started packing her books away since she was probably going to roam the halls again. While she did this, she glanced at Alyssa who didn't seem very happy with her choice before noticing Sarah doodling in class instead of listening. With that, she took her leave and didn't care for all of the students watching her.
"There she goes again. Hey ma'am, don't let her girlfriend save her butt this time" Avelin confidently demanded, letting the entire class in on what everybody already knew.
Mrs.Ranch chuckled quietly before putting her spectacles back on and putting grabbing the textbook.
A FEW MINUTES LATER…
"Not so nice is it?" Whisper asked, sitting down on the floor with her back to the wall. She sat beside the classroom door and smiled at Avelin who was sitting across from her on the other wall.
"Shut up .. I'm only out here because of you" Avelin stated, rolling her eyes at the fact that she was even humouring somebody she disliked. This however only led to Whisper chuckling at her logic.
"How is this my fault? You're the one that couldn't shut your mouth like everyone else"
"And you're the one that made it impossible for me to keep my mouth shut" Avelin argued.
Whisper then stood up from the floor, leaving her bag on the floor before walking up to the wall she was leaning on and had a nice look outside at the gigantic town-level campus which was basically a convoluted map of pathways through the forests of campus. Believe it or not but the campus is quite possibly the best place to reflect on your thoughts because of our deep connection to nature and sometimes, students believe they see forest spirits roaming these parts at night. From here, you could also see the many other school buildings, tall enough to stretch out beyond the trees such as Building Alpha(for third years students), Building Omega(for second year students), the administration building, the tall clock tower on the northern side of campus, the stadium dome in the southern side of campus and much smaller buildings like the library, the gymnasium outside, the large cafeteria near the administration building and the several acres of student dormitories for students of each year.
"You better not try anything" Avelin warned her and moved away from her for her own safety.
"Calm your tits. You'll know when I try and attack you" Whisper explained while keeping her sights on a couple of students walking out in front of building beta. Two however were very familiar, including the redheaded girl who just couldn't stop laughing with all of the other girls. "Wait a second…"
Whisper then opened the window and leaned outside to make sure it was actually her and it definitely was. From the third floor, Whisper could see Erin and Tempest walking amongst a small group of other girls who are quite possibly rebellious students bunking class.
"What are you looking at?" Avelin wondered when she stood up and looked outside the window. It wasn't long before she heard Erin's laughter outside and spotted them, roaming around the building and wasting time. "And here I thought they were in trouble. They were roaming around campus the entire time"
Whisper then turned around and picked up her bag so as to leave and maybe catch up to them. That was when the bell suddenly went off, indicating the changing period which Whisper expected due to the time. Now that the period was over, she was free to leave but Avelin turned around and watched her walk off without saying another word.
"Wow, rude much?" Avelin joked before she turned back to the window and looked outside. It was then that she noticed something strange off into the distance, beyond the convoluted rows upon rows of large green bushes of leaves. A mysterious distortion in light was seen in the middle of the bright blue sky, almost as if a small section of the sky was glitching out. She tilted the side of her head in confusion before shrugging it off and walking back into class to speak with her friends since it was probably nothing.
MEANWHILE…
AT THE CLOCK TOWER, HIGHEST FLOOR
"Nope, not here either. Dammit…" I cursed after searching the large room behind the massive clock at the top of the clock tower. The rotating gears organising each transition of the clock continued to spin, creating a loud metallic noise which could be deafening to those that aren't used to it yet. I on the other hand was quite used to this since I already spent the last two months sitting up here and just basking in the peace. The view was certainly worth climbing up here even though it was restricted but at the end of the day, its what made the silence worth it.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to enjoy the view because I searched the entire room and my tag was absolutely nowhere to be found. I then took out my phone, looking at a digital map of the entire campus on my phone with crimson spheres indicating the places I've visited in the last 24 hours.
"Only two more places left. The cafeteria and .. the eastern lake" I told myself after suddenly receiving a text message out of nowhere.
Erin: Hey Maddy, where r u?
Erin: Tempest and I met these really cute girls and there are three of them! Meet us at our next class but bring some SFC alright? Tem is hungry
How the fuck was I supposed to order any SFC if I can't leave campus? I simply stared at the message before looking around then deciding to leave. There was nothing here and it seems that I may have missed out on an important class all because of this annoying fucking tag. Why do we need identification tags anyway? So that anyone outside of campus knows we're students enrolled at Primrose Academy of Arts? That's stupid. Our uniforms should be enough but whatever .. no use complaining about it.
On my way out, I suddenly received another notification out of nowhere but when I looked at it, it was just the system telling me that I lost any signal. There were zero bars left which now meant that I couldn't communicate with anyone but why would I suddenly lose the signal? Whatever, this stupid phones probably just acting up again.
"I seriously need to buy myself a better phone"
MEANWHILE..
AT THE ACADEMY ENTRANCE GATES
Amelia: Sweetie I'm sorry for being late but I promise that I'll attend the next concert and this time, I'll bring you as much sweets as you wish
Amelia: Sweetie?
Amelia: Sweetie, please answer me
Amelia: Jade? Please talk to me
The headmaster couldn't help but frown in response to the screen of her phone after seeing the lack of responses from her daughter.
"Excuse me ma'am, where are you headed?" Her personal driver asked after lowering the windows separating the front seats from the back. This wasn't a limousine or anything but actually a professional black luxury vehicle, driven by a personal driver hired to take the headmaster to and from any destination she likes.
"The Royal Heirloom Hotel in Dragon city" She answered him before wiping any tears from her eyes and putting her phone aside so that she could focus on work. When she did, she suddenly received another text message from an unknown number but the messages before that one were extremely alarming.
Unknown number: You do not know who I am but I know who you are. Don't bother tracking this number because you'll find nothing.
Unknown number: We have your precious daughter and if you want her, you WILL meet me at the Royal Heirloom Hotel in Dragon City. Come alone or else I'll kill her myself.
Unknown number: And if you don't believe me
Beneath that message was a high-quality image of her precious daughter, still fast asleep from whatever they used or did to leave her unconscious. She couldn't tell what the location was based on the background but her precious Jade didn't look very safe and this absolutely enraged her, enough to make her deal with these criminals alone.
Amelia: Who are you people
Unknown number: I think we both know that's irrelevant to the situation.
Unknown number: Maybe you don't understand the power dynamic here but I'll repeat myself.
Unknown number: IF YOU DON'T COME ALONE, I WILL BURN YOUR DAUGHTER ALOVE
Unknown number: ALOVE*
Unknown number: ALIVER*
Unknown number: ALOVE*
Unknown number: For fucks sake, you know what I mean
Unknown number: You have 10 more minutes(most recent message)
With that, Amelia's luxury car took off after the academy entrance gates opened, allowing them to pass into the massive Rainbow bridge that exists between the academy and the rest of the city. Yes, the academy was situated on an entire island just outside of the Primrose Metropolis, already making it an incredibly beautiful place to explore to those who are actually welcome. While on the bridge, she looked out her window and tried really hard not to act impulsive but she knew that without her here on campus, the students were in danger but there are many safety protocols set in place for any dangerous situation.
7 MINUTES LATER…
INSIDE BUILDING BETA, SECOND FLOOR
Erin quietly waited outside of one of the classrooms and leaned up against the wall beside the door, looking around at all of the students walking by after having gotten their notebooks and textbooks from their lockers. Since there were lockers situated on either side of the hallway, students had every reason to be standing around for the few minutes between each period but this only seemed to annoy Erin because there were too many people passing by for her to accurately find me.
She then stopped one of the girls that looked eerily similar to me from behind but at the end of the day, it wasn't me. "Dammit, you're not Maddy"
"Of course I'm not. My name's Addison" the female student asked.
"Wow, that is eerily similar to Madison. Is your last name Heath?"
"No, it's Keith"
"Wow, that is … reeeeally creepy…" Erin stated, somehow creeped out by the resemblance between this girl and me.
"Hey, what are you still doing out here?" Tempest asked her after walking up to the doorframe alongside Alyssa.
"Class is starting soon, you should come in" Alyssa reminded her.
"But Maddy isn't here yet" Erin said worriedly.
"Then who's that?" Tempest asked, pointing at Addison who still looked incredibly similar to me from behind.
"There she is" Alyssa pointed out.
"Believe it or not but her name's Addison Keith. Weird right?"
"Addison Keith? That is weird ... is she cute?" Tempest asked. "Nevermind, she looks like Madison"
"What's wrong with Madison?" Alyssa asked.
"What's wrong with Madison?" Tempest asked, shocked by such a stupid question. "Did you ever try sleeping with her. She snores like a freaking horse!"
"Whatever, come on. Mrs.Heithcliff is waiting for you" Alyssa demanded by pulling Erin and Tempest inside.
MEANWHILE…
NEAR THE EASTERN LAKE, ACADEMY CAMPUS
"Yes!!! Yes! Finally!" I exclaimed out of genuine happiness after finally finding that stupid identification tag in the middle of the lake. Obviously I was soaking wet and not in a good way, don't take that the wrong way, I was just talking about a really good warm bath. After sluggishly walking out of the lake, I slowly fell to my knees and collapsed onto the grass to catch my breath and finally relax. This honestly felt like a dungeon quest at this point but at least it was finally over and I could leave this the campus.
…
…
"Oh yeah … I'm not allowed to leave campus" I said, still breathing heavily. "Shit…"
Suddenly out of nowhere, I got a few more notifications on my phone and it appears to be from Sarah of all people.
Sarah: Madison! Come look at this. Whisper just got kicked out of class!
"What? She sent this seven minutes ago" I said after taking a look at the text message.
I then picked myself up and decided to return to class since it was finally time. I'm probably going to be in a lot of trouble for ditching an entire class but whatever, I'm already not allowed to leave campus but that shouldn't be a problem either. Unlike most people, I'm actually able to enjoy myself on my own unlike Erin and Tempest that can't do anything by themselves but whatever, I should return now before I end up in detention too.
While walking through many of the perplexing pathways through the dense forestry, I continued typing away at my phone to try and reply to Erin and Sarah's messages but for some reason, my messages were unable to actually reach them. What the hell happened to the signal? Were the cell phone towers destroyed or something?
Eventually, I found my way back to the pristine open fields of the beautiful alpha sector which is where building alpha is situated alongside the third year dormitories. Strangely enough, it was completely empty with no students in sight whatsoever. Not only that but it was dead silent without a single familiar face in sight but that probably just means that everyone's in class.
"The hell? What's going on?" I asked myself when I realised that the sector was empty. Not only that but by now, the students should still be outside because class starts in two minutes. "Urg .. my time must be wrong or something. Stupid phone.."
MEANWHILE…
INSIDE BUILDING BETA, SECOND FLOOR
"Solve x + y = r for y: y = r – x. Substitute in the equation of the circle: x2 + (r - x)2 = 4. Expand: 2 x2 -2 r x + r 2 - 4 = 0. If we solve the above quadratic equation (in x) we will obtain the x coordinates of the points of intersection of the line and the circle. The 2 points of intersection "become one" and therefore the line and the circle become tangent if the discriminant D of the quadratic equation is zero" The teacher carefully explained while solving the equation with ease while the majority of the class took down the notes. Some however were extremely confused but tried really hard not to show it.
"Alyssa .. psst. Pssssssst .. Alyssa, I'm calling you" Erin called Alyssa who was seated in front of her but since Alyssa was paying attention to the math lecture, she heard absolutely nothing.
Erin then looked at her eraser after coming with an idea. Seconds later, a large textbook suddenly struck Alyssa on the back which made a really loud noise that caught the attention of all of our classmates, including the teacher. Tempest however stifled her laughter in the background while Sarah gasped in surprise.
"Ow! What was that for?" Alyssa demanded to know while rubbing the back of her neck.
"Hey, what the hell did you do that for?" Whisper demanded to know out of anger.
"Miss Mercer, do we have a problem?" The teacher demanded to know along with every single student in class.
…
…
Erin stared at everyone else that looked back at her but to ease everything, she awkwardly chuckled. "I uhh … I think I dropped my textbook"
With that everyone, returned to their work and the teacher continued her lecture.
"Pssst .. Alyssa .. I'm still calling you" Erin tried to call out to her again with soft whispers.
"Hey Erin, does something feel weird to you?" Tempest wondered out of curiosity.
"No, what do you mean?"
"It's just … I'm getting a really weird vibe from everything" Tempest tried to explain.
"Maybe you just don't understand what's going on. I certainly don't"
"No, it's not that. Hey Sarah, do you feel weird?" She asked, turning to Sarah who was sitting on the other side of me but unlike everyone else, she was trying to pay attention but was once again, doodling in class instead of doing actual math.
"No? Who's weird and why should I feel her?" Sarah wondered. Erin couldn't help but stifle her laughter.
"….. Nevermind. Hey Alyssa .. pssst, Alyssa" Tempest decided to call Alyssa instead but again, she couldn't hear her.
…
…
…
"ALYSSA!!!!!" Tempest screamed at the top of her lungs which was certainly enough to break the lecture apart and interrupt the teacher.
"Miss Stone! What is the problem!?" The teacher demanded know.
"Nothing ma'am, just wanted to ask Alyssa something .. and maybe Whisper too" Tempest explained.
"Well would you like to share this with the class?"
"No" Tempest answered her with a straight face.
"Sarah, can I see your doodles?" Erin asked out of curiosity after noticing the many doodles in her math notebook.
"Sure. This is one a uni-pony. It's a unicorn mixed with a pony, isn't she adorable?" Sarah asked, laughing at her own creativity.
"Really? Ya know, I think I saw this before" Erin stated which surprised the absolute hell out of Sarah, enough to make her gasp.
"No way! You did!!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Miss Redwald!!" The teacher screamed out of anger.
"Sorry ma'am…" Sarah immediately apologised out of fear and shame.
While the class was dealing with their constant interruptions, Scarlet tried really hard to focus on the lecture but she was getting really pissed at it all. To make matters worse, Tempest was correct in thinking that something about the class' vibe was definitely off but she could feel something else. She looked outside the window and tried to listen closely to anything outside of the building but couldn't hear anything at all except for her classmates. It all appalled her to the point where she couldn't even focus on the lecture properly.
"Why can't I hear anything…" Scarlet muttered to herself.
"What was that Scarlet?" another classmate asked her after she overheard what she said.
"It's nothing"
MEANWHILE…
INSIDE BUILDING BETA, SECOND FLOOR
Empty.
The classrooms were in fact, all empty. I could only wonder why but even when I did that, there was no way of explaining it.
"Hmmmm … I should be really confused by this but this has to be a dream. I'm only ever this isolated in my dreams" I told myself after looking into the circular window of the classroom door at the empty classroom on the other side.
TO BE CONTINUED…