The bell rings, signifying that breakfast is over. Daniel, Oliver, Tristan, Ethyn and Dave jump out of their seats.

"Crap," Dave says, "We're going to be late!"

"Late for what?" Tess huffs, clearly annoyed that we are being kept completely in the dark here. I know how she feels, I feel the same way.

"Class, you dumb nuts!" Daniel says, with a near shouting tone evident in his voice.

"Well we don't know! It's our first day, and you offered to help us!" Tess yells. Sometimes she's a little too outspoken.

"And we will," Tristan says quietly. I'm learning that it's not that he's super shy, he's just a man of few words. He says what needs to be said, and nothing more.

Ethyn, Daniel and Oliver start to leave, putting their trays away as they go. Tess, Paige, Dawn, Sadie and I continue to stand by Dave and Tristan, confused.

"Well," Dave starts.

"I was assuming we'd be able to pair up," Tristan says.

"But, they ditched. So, we'll do it ourselves," Dave says, finishing Tristan's sentence.

Tristan nods.

Dave cracks his knuckles. "Okay. Basically, the 55 boys and the 56 girls have classes together, because we're all fifteen now, so we'd be in the same grade anyway. The 26 of us-"

"-25," Tristan harshly cuts in.

Dave gets a sick look on his face, but nods and continues. "All follow the same schedule. We take some normal classes, and some weird ones," Dave pauses and looks at Tristan. "Anything else I missed?"

Tristan replies, "Nope. But we'd better get to class before we're in even more trouble."

"Yeah," Dave agrees. "Let me explain why we're late. Girls, no matter how crazy what I end up saying is, just agree with me. I don't have to tell you, Tristan, cause you already know."

We dump our trays, and exit the cafeteria. Dave and Tristan lead us down a long hallway, with doors on either sides.

"So last year you guys took classes alone?" I ask.

Dave nods.

"Just 13, uh or 12 of you?" Tess confirms.

Another curt nod from Dave.

"What happened to the 13th kid?" Tess asks, being her nosy self.

If looks could kill, Tess would be dead. The glare Dave gives her is scaring me, and I'm not on the receiving end of it.

"Shut up or leave."

Tess shuts up, and we walk briskly down the hallway to the very last door on the left.

Dave knocks and opens up the door. Inside, there are 18 fifteen year olds staring at us. And Mrs Attary.

"Ah," Mrs Attary starts, "You've decide to grace us with your presence." Her voice is dripping with sarcasm.

"I can explain," Dave says.

He'd better be good at this sweet talking.

"Basically, we ended up getting breakfast for the kids in detention. There were some forgotten trays labeled, and we just wanted to help out and deliver them. The students were very happy to receive their breakfast."

"Tristan?" Mrs Attary asks, wanting to confirm the story.

He nods.

"Mrs Attary," Daniel starts. "I saw them do it. They invited me too, but I decided to come straight to class."

"Very well. Continue class as normal."

Mrs Attary turns on her heel and leaves.

"Whose the teacher?" I whisper to Dave.

"No one. We just follow the instructions on the smart board."

"Okay..." Paige says, sounding unsure.

The seven of us take the seven empty desks that are scattered around the room.

I end up in the one beside Ethyn.

Everyone is looking at the screen.

Year 56. Welcome to your first day of ADCCG classes. The year 55s will always be with you, and you will catch on quickly.

Today, your first class (this one) will be short. 55s, please explain a normal day to the 56s. The bell will go in 20 minutes.

"Okay," a guy stands up. "I'm Zach. Basically a normal day starts like this. We always come to this classroom. It's like our homeroom. The screen will tell us where to go. Sometimes we'll stay here and do something like math, history, science or English. Whatever we need for that class will be in the desks. Other times the screen will tell us to go somewhere else. The other classes are..."

Zach keeps talking, but I tune him out. Someone can tell me all the important stuff. Clearly, this Zach kid is the resident nerd in the group. I look to the screen, where the message from before has faded off. Now, new words are appearing.

55, 56. When the bell rings please head to your next class-in the downstairs gym.

Gym. I can handle gym. All the boys have zoned out, like me. I don't blame them. They know this already, what's the point of listening to nerd boy reexplain it to them? I wonder who explained everything to them.

"So, I hope that makes sense. Any questions?" Nerd boy finally concluded his speech.

"Uhh," Duckface starts.

I zone out again, not caring to hear this. I look around the classroom. All of us girls are wearing some combination of black tights and grey hoodies that were put in our wardrobes. I notice that the boys are all wearing different clothes. How did they get different clothes?

Everyone scrambles out of their seats. I guess that lovely sound is "the bell."

I catch up with the group I ate with this morning.

"Dave, how did all of you guys get different clothes?"

"All of us have an "account," and we earn points by getting good grades, and doing extra jobs. Then you go to one of the ADCCG approved computers in the student tech lab, and order different clothes using your points."

"Okay. See, that's actually useful information, unlike what nerd boy was telling us."

Dave laughs. "Yeah, Zach's a bit of a nerd."

"Just a bit, eh?"

Dave laughs. "Yep. Just a little nerdy."

+++

Gym class at ADCCG is weird. It must be one of the "weird" classes that Dave told us about earlier.

Though I guess it is a bit more like a normal school class, in the way that we actually have a teacher. But this is more like a military boot camp.

"Get down for 50 push-ups! Now!"

We all get down, some struggling more than others.

"If you think this is hard," the boot camp teacher starts, "Then the rest of this class will be torture. This is just warmup!"

Most of the class, save for a select few, groans loudly. I stay silent. I don't love push-ups, nor am I very good at them, but I'm a fairly sporty girl. Then next part of class might be better.

"Okay class!" The gym teacher claps his hands. "Now, give me three laps, and then walk one."

This is easy. I like running. Well, sometimes. But I want to run right now.

I run hard, my feet pounding on the ground. A guy I don't know and I finish first, walking a lap together. I'm sure I've never met the guy, but he looks so familiar.

He matches my stride. "I'm Cody."

"Amber," I say. It's not that I don't want to talk, I'm just still a little winded.

"Nice to meet you Amber. Where are ya from?"

I've caught my breath now. "I'm from Manitoba."

"Oh cool! So am I!" Cody tells me.

I snap my fingers. "I knew you looked familiar!"

"Yeah. Did you live in Winnipeg?" Cody asks me.

"Yeah."

"Okay, that's why I don't recognize you. I grew up in Lac du Bonnet."

"Cool. I don't know where that is, but cool," I say.

"It's a small town, close to the Ontario border, on the Winnipeg River. It's in cottage country."

"Sounds nice."

"Yeah. I loved it there," he says with a small smile on his face.

"Amber!" Sadie calls from across the gym. "Come here!"

"Coming!" I call back. To Cody, I say, "Nice meeting you. See you around."

"See ya, my fellow Manitoban."

I head back to where Sadie and everyone else I've been hanging out with is.

"Was that Cody?" Ethyn asks.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"Sort of," Daniel says.

"He's an arse," Ethyn states.

"He's Manitoban," I add, almost pleading.

"Don't go near him," Dave says sternly.

Tristan adds his thoughts. "Amber, it's for your own good."

"Why?" I ask.

"Do you really just expect her to go along with it when you guys are providing nothing to back up your reasoning?" Tess cuts in, before my question is answered.

"Guys!" Dawn calls out. "Calm down."

"Class!" The gym teacher interrupts our argument. "Now, we're going to go outside, and do some archery."

+++

Finally, it's lunch. The ten of us take a table together, with trays of lasagna.

"Okay. Cut the crap. What's so bad about Cody that means Amber can't hang out with him?" Tess goes straight to the point.

"Well," Oliver starts, looking at the boys.

Tristan, Dave and Ethyn all turn to Daniel.

"Okay. I guess I'll start with Alex. Alex was my originally assigned roommate. He was from Saskatchewan. Alex was a really cool dude, and my best friend here. Oliver and Dave were in the triple dorm at that point, with Jared-"

Dave interrupts Daniel. "He's a di-"

"Dave! Shut it!" Daniel interrupts. "So Cody started bugging Alex. A lot. About anything he could. Cody did anything to bring Alex down. All because of Lee, who is a girl from 54-"

"She's my mentor," I cut in.

"Oh. Wow. Well Cody did this all because Cody had a crush on Lee, but Lee liked Alex, not him. The bullying eventually got to be so bad that Alex killed himself. I lost my bestfriend, and Lee lost her boyfriend. The two of us were devastated, but the ADCCG didn't really care. Lee and I became closer because of what happened. She's a really great person, Amber. So then they took Oliver out of the triple dorm, and put him with me."

"And left me with Jared," Dave adds.

"Yes Dave," Daniel sighs. "So Cody pushed Alex to suicide, which is why we don't want you to hang out with him Amber. He's a crappy person and you're an amazing person. The only thing you have in common with him is your province," Daniel finishes.

The table is silent.

"I understand now. Thanks for trying to protect me guys." I say, breaking the incredibly awkward silence.

"No problem." Oliver says.

+++

😝💚