Zoldia: The World Beneath

Part 1 - The new student

Math class was boring, as it had always been. Deborah hated Monday mornings because of it. She was trying to figure out the meaning of the scriptures on the black board, but nothing made sense. She wished she could understand them at first glance, like some of the other students, but she couldn't. She knew she would have to spend hours studying at home to figure it out. Life was so unfair.

Eventually, a loud ringing ended up this long waiting. She packed her stuff in her bag and went out the classroom. The next class was Geography. Not her favorite, but it was still preferable to Math. For this class, they were grouped with the students from another class. Among then was Francesca, one of the people Deborah appreciated the most.

Deborah spotted Francesca in the corridor. She was easy to recognize even from the back, thanks to her purple hair. Deborah admired her for having the guts to dye her hair. Not for asking her parents — Deborah's mother would probably agree to it, if it weren't for the price — but for having the courage to face the look and remarks of people.

"Hey! Had a good weekend?" asked Deborah.

"Yup. You?" replied Francesca as they went it the room and sat down at their usual tables.

"Meh. Nothing special. It was kind of boring."

"But this weekend won't be!" Francesca said with an eyeblink."

"Yeah. For sure..."

"You still down for it, right? I'm so excited!"

"Ye... yes," replied Deborah, trying to sound confident.

"You're not going to chicken out, are you?" asked Francesca in a taunting tone.

"No!" said Deborah hastily, "I will not..." she continued in a voice that became lower and lower.

"Really? Because last time, when we wanted to—"

"Silence over there!"

Deborah had failed to notice Ms. McGregor entering the room.

She banged the blackboard eraser against her desk until the class became quiet. A cloud of white smoke escaped at each bang.

"Before we start the class, I have some news today."

She turned to the door.

"Come in, Lucio."

A tall, blond guy entered the room. He was wearing a black sweater. Wearing a sweater was an unusual thing to do in May in Arizona. He had a long face and his skin had a glimmering tone to it. He was probably using some makeup. This made him almost look like an IA-generated image.

Ms. McGregor showed him to the center of the space in front of the blackboard.

"Lucio is a new student. He will be joining your class from today. Lucio, she said turning to him, I have received very little information about you, so please introduce yourself.

"Hello, hem, everyone," he said in a funny tone, "I am Lucio. Nice to meet you all."

A silence followed.

"That's it?" asked Joshua, a guy sitting two rows behind Deborah.

Ms. McGregor looked at Lucio, waiting for his response. He was looking intensely at everyone in the classroom. Either he had not heard Joshua, or he was too shy to say anything.

"Lucio," called Ms. McGregor, "Joshua is right, this is a bit short. Maybe you could tell us a little bit more about yourself, like where you come from, what made you move here, what you like to do as a hobby...?