Ordo Noctis

Chapter 6

We went back to the cafeteria for Lunch. The more time we spent together, the more I enjoyed it. Not only did we have the same favorite movie, but the same favorite place (Venice), animal (panther), and color (black). It was fun being around someone my own age to talk to, especially one who was similar to me and understood what I was going through.

Our next class was Codes, taught by Mr. McDell. He was a strange trainer; I think all the hours he spent pondering over his codes made him a bit loopy.

"Come in, come in," he greeted us. "I'm so happy to finally be teaching you two together."

We sat at our desks and he handed us each a packet of papers and a pencil. Codes was the most generic of our classes: every session, we just sat and decoded message after message in different ciphers. I still marveled at the fact that Mr. McDell never ran out of ideas for new codes.

The only good thing about that class was that we managed to convince Mr. McDell to talk to each other in ASL, since it technically counted as a code. That was the first time I had ever spent a Codes class not just staring at a piece of paper.

Persuasion was also entertaining. It was taught by strict Sir Gregory, who insisted we call him 'Sir' and not 'Mister.' ("I have not gone through thirty-two years of education to simply be called 'Mister'!")

Today we were instructed to find something we disagree on, then we each tried to convince the other of our opinion.

We finally decided on the topic of whether or not alternative energy could effectively replace fossil fuels. And three minutes before the end of class, our debate finally ended.

"...and therefore it stands to reason that alternative energy such as solar power and windmills can seamlessly replace fossil fuels!" I finished.

Mars laughed, shrugging at Sir Gregory. "I don't think I can argue with that."

Our trainer nodded. "I don't know if even I had a counterpoint. Good work, Star."

I smiled. "Thank you, Sir."

Just one more session left, and then I could relax.