Rogues of Avalon

Orientation

After two whole years in Willow Springs Academy, it was time for me to head back to public school. My first day at Avalon High School was in January after my birthday. I got off the school bus and walked into the green doors of the school. Avalon was a public school, so there was no school uniform. This made me feel much freer than I was before, having to wear that stupid blue blazer uniform back at Willow Springs. I headed to the auditorium to get myself oriented. I sat in a chair and waited for the principal to show up. The Principal of Avalon, Arthur Tobias, who was often nicknamed "King Arthur" had arrived. He was a big man in his 40s, mildly overweight, and was wearing sunglasses walking in while some pump-up music played.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, teachers and students." He announced. The music turned off. "I am your principal, Arthur Tobias, here to provide you the opportunity of a meaningful education and a successful school year." Arthur pointed a remote at the projector to play a presentation. It was the scene from Finding Nemo where Nemo finally escapes from the fish tank. He shut it off after the girl was sprayed with toilet water.

"The point of showing you that clip is that many of you get stuck in tanks or echo chambers in your lives." He continued. "Some people will be with you in those echo chambers, whether they be online or at worst in person, but these are just weights and chains holding you from real success." He decided to bring up an example. "Say you go on either 4Leaf or Coastr and you see some people with radical political opinions, and you want to be just like them. Those are just tanks like the one Nemo was stuck in, but he found his way out by going down the toilet to the ocean." The crowd clapped.

"Nemo is real, Cinderella's fairy godmother is not." He continued. "You can't just wish for nice shoes and clothes and for your Halloween Pumpkin to turn into a Rolls Royce, it doesn't work like that." Arthur began to conclude the message before bringing up the rules. "The point is that you just got to get out of these echo chambers or tanks and see the real world and how it truly works." The Vice Principal, Mrs. Woods, came to hand Arthur the handbook. 

"This is your Avalon High School Handbook." Arthur explained. "It is your Bible, it is your Torah, it is your Quran, it is the holy text of this school. There are rules to follow, so let's get into them." Arthur began to go over the rules.

"First off, let's go over the basics, such as items allowed at school. Avalon High School prohibits the use of drones, remote control cars or any RC device whatsoever." Arthur continued to the next rule. "Also, the use of firearms, knives, swords, grenades, martial arts weapons, razors, or any weapon whatsoever is prohibited. The use of school supplies or tools as weapons will result in suspension or worse, expulsion."

"You all know the basic rules about disrupting class and such, they apply here too." Many people nodded. "We don't need to explain that, because you already know it by now. What you don't know is our dress code is a little different from the middle school dress code. First off, hateful or bigoted imagery on T shirts is prohibited. No hate symbols! This includes swastikas, Confederate flags, and KKK Crosses. Leave them at home. Also, nothing featuring guns or explosives. Al Pacino, Tony Soprano and Walter White T shirts? Leave them at home."

"Finally, no swearwords on shirts. Keep it tasteful."

"Lastly, no sharp spiked collars, bracelets, belts or anything. We don't want people getting hurt." He began to wrap up the assembly.

"In conclusion to all this, the most important rule of them all, the grandaddy rule, the one rule to rule them all, is Have fun, and remember, help will always be given at Avalon." Everyone clapped. When the assembly was over, I got up and left the auditorium to go to my first class.

My first class was an English class in the Junior Hall. I took my seat and saw some impressive students sitting around me. One of them was my old friend from middle school, Erik McConnell.