Amber & Ice

Chapter 13: She would appreciate Cress more in the summer

“Students have enough stress to cope with, without making them take all of their exams at once,” Cress said to a couple with a young child in a buggy. “How can anyone be expected to perform their best, in a system that is designed to put them under maximum pressure?”

Athena was stood beside her friend with a stack of bright red leaflets between her gloved hands.

They had been in Trafalgar Square for almost an hour now and Athena could no longer feel her toes. Her nose, she guessed, would soon be producing icicles. But Cress was undeterred by the cold; her desire to promote her cause was keeping her warm. She was bouncing with excitement as she convinced more and more passers by to take leaflets.

When Daphne had knocked on their door that morning and asked the girls if they could go out to help campaign for the new vote, Cress had jumped at the chance. Athena yet again found herself slightly frustrated that her flatmate was quite so enthusiastic about campaigning. Most of the time, Athena loved that Cress was getting her right to the centre of the action, but she knew that she would appreciate her more in the summer, when it didn’t mean she would be risking frost bite.

The couple with the child left to hurry back inside, a leaflet clutched in their hands and Cress turned to her next victims.

“Hi there, have you considered your options for the education vote yet? Just because you’re not in school anymore doesn’t mean that the vote won’t affect you.”

Athena turned to smile at the new couple, only to find that she already knew them.

“Ariadne? Orion?” Athena’s cheeks coloured as she stared in shock at the couple. Both Ariadne and Orion were dressed in conventional Pop clothing: Ari was wearing a bubblegum pink coat and fuchsia hat and Orion definitely had a pink scarf over the top of his black coat.

The icy air rushing down Athena’s throat made her realise that her mouth had dropped open and she quickly shut it again. Ariadne grinned and winked at her.

“Since you already know her, I will leave you in Athena’s capable hands. Please excuse me,” Cress smiled and went to stop a family of four. She didn’t seem to recognise Ariadne from their lectures; it was amazing what a change of colour could do to Cress’ mentality.

“Go on then,” Ariadne said, grinning. “Sell it to us - why should we be voting against the proposed changes to our education system?” she asked, reading off of a leaflet.

“Because it puts too much pressure on the students to perform. How can they be expected to do their best with only one chance to take their exams, all of which happen at the same time? And it’s not as though it’s a small number of exams, either; most students take twenty five or more separate examinations. That’s twenty five different topics to revise all at the same time. We’re creating a system which the students are likely to fail and that seems ridiculous.” Athena paused for breath and looked up from the leaflets to meet Orion’s eyes. He was grinning.

“She’s just playing with you, Athena.” We’re already both going to be voting against the proposal. You don’t need to convince us that it’s ludicrous.

“Really?” The shock must have been all to evident on Athena’s face, as Orion laughed.

“We don’t vote against Popular opinion just to prove a point - that would be counterproductive.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the opinions of Pop voters,” Ariadne added, lowering her voice so that she wouldn’t be overheard by Cress. “It’s just their sheep-like mentality that we feel strongly against.”

She wasn’t sure why, but Athena felt immensely pleased that Ariadne has said ‘their’ instead of ‘your’.

“All we want,” Ariadne continued, “is for people to be able to make their own choices, whatever they may be.”

“But what about within the group? Do you all vote the same way?”

“Rarely - I can’t remember the last vote we all agreed on. But that just makes our debates more interesting.”

“And it really helps you to decide how you want to vote - sometimes people will make arguments that make you see the issue in a completely new light,” Ariadne added.

“We had a few in favour of the Health Care vote to start with. But in the end I think most people were swayed to vote against it purely because of what it might lead too. Making smokers pay for their Health Care could act as a precedent for other issues. Where do you draw the line? Obesity? Extreme sports injuries? Allergies - perhaps you should have a duty to avoid things you are allergic to? Pregnancy - it was your choice, after all. Before you know it, there’s no state funded health care at all.”

Athena bit down on her lip. She had never thought about it that way. Not once, in all of the meetings she had gone to, had anyone said anything negative about the campaign. No one had suggested there might be a hidden danger in voting it in.

“I’m not certain that we all voted against in the end, mind,” Orion added with a shrug. “But there was no pressure on members either way.”

Ariadne started to hop from foot to foot. “Look, as lovely as this chat is, I think I’m about to lose a toe, so we had best get moving again. It is great to see you again though, Athena. I hope you consider coming back again at some point.” She smiled warmly and Athena couldn’t help but smile back.

As she watched them walk into a nearby cafe, Athena tilted her head, deep in thought. She had the impression that Dyo hadn’t said anything to them about their meeting a few days ago and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. Did he not care? She had been certain that he had been up to something for the group, but if that was the case, surely he would have explained to them why it had gone wrong…“Hello? Earth to Athy! Those leaflets aren’t going to give themselves out!” Athena was brought back to reality by Cress, calling across to her. She shook her head and turned towards the next group of people walking across the Square. “Hi, have you given much thought to the changes being proposed to our education system?”