The Apprenticeship

Remedial Class

The classroom that holds the science programs remedial classes looks dull. It's cold and lifeless. There's dust everywhere and it looks pathetic. Since I'm here ten minutes early, I decide to clean up a bit.

The desks are wooden and look like 18th century desks. I take some tissues and wipe them down along with the windows, it makes the room brighter. I push the desks into a row, as a classroom would look. The black board is dirty and I try to clean it but it doesn't help much. As I'm trying to clean the board, the teacher walks in.

"Hello?" He asks.

I jump a little bit from the surprise, "Hi." I stop cleaning and face him. I do the thing that seems like a lot of kids my age do, putting one arm behind my back and holding it with my other arm.

"What's your name?"

"Avery."

"Avery, say, are you the janitor?"

"No."

"Are you in this class?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay then, Avery. What are you doing cleaning?"

"I thought, since I'm here early why not-"

"You thought you'd clean up a bit."

"Yeah."

He looks me over, "Well, please have a seat as we wait for your classmates."

I sit in the middle seat without replying.

"I see Daniels has done a lot with you in the few hours you've had together."

"What does that mean?"

"I've looked at your folder, you were always such an outgoing ecentric girl. Now you're quiet and submissive."

"Truth is, I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Failing again. It's stupid I know."

"It's not stupid," he sits in the teachers desk across from me. "Look, it's okay to fail. Do you want to know why I'm teaching the remedial science program?" I silently nod, "It's because they were scared. You see, I went in the teaching program, I loved it. While I was there I failed so many times, they almost put me in remedial too. They didn't though, they kept me. After that, they decided that I couldn't teach a normal class, my behavior was too reckless. Of course I'm only thirty so I still have a chance but, the lesson here is, I didn't give up. I kept going, even after everyone thought I couldn't do it. You're going to fail, you learn from failing. If you never failed, you'd never have anything to learn. And, you'd never be excited about the small victories. Never be afraid to fail, it means you're human."

The rest of class goes by extremely fast. He introduces himself as Mr. Black. And he is by far one of the best people I've met.

I leave the classroom and head towards the lab that Daniels and I agreed to meet in for my testing. I don't want to pass this one but, at the same time I do. My training has been delayed by a day, it would be a lot to try and catch up now, let alone if I miss too many more.

•••

"Avery," Daniels starts, "you improved but, it's still not high enough."

I look down in disappointed, I really tried this time.

"Avery, I'm sure Gen already told you this but, I don't believe in trying, you don't try your hardest, you do your best. I don't believe you did your best."

I look up to him, "You don't?"

"No I don't. I've seen your school test results. I know you've done better."

I look down again, "This seems harder for some reason."

"But it's not, it's the same test you took before the ceremony." I look up to him in shock, "you didn't know that?"

"No, n-." I stop myself from continuing.

"Wow. Here, knowing that information, I'll let you retake it."

•••

An hour and a half pass and I finish the test, again. After another ten minutes, Daniels has it scored.

"You passed Avery, 100%."

"What does that mean now?"

"Now, you go to remedial classes. My hands are tied, you have to complete the week. After the week, the Elders will come and test you. They'll give you this exact test. Pass it."

"Did you steal that test for me to take it now?"

"You shouldn't ask such things Avery."

"But did you?"

"Avery, enough. That part you don't need to know."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I would do something about it but, I'm not allowed. You're not under me at the moment. You're under Gary Black."

I look at him in relief, "I'm thankful for that," I laugh a bit.

He laughs too, "You're dismissed Avery. The evening is yours. I'm sure you have assignments."

"I do."

I leave the room and head towards my dorm. Hopefully Gen is there.

•••

My dorm is, as always, silent. This time is different though. Gen is here and I'm glad for that.

"Gen, I haven't seen you in forever."

"You would've seen me earlier if you didn't get yourself remedialized. You know that's a bad thing, right?"

"I didn't have a choice in the fact."

"It doesn't matter. When do you come back?"

"Hopefully at the end of the week."

"An entire week?"

I sit down on my bed and nod. Gen sits up and faces me.

"Wow Avery. What did Daniels say?"

"Let's just say I'm not excited to come back."

"That bad?"

"It wasn't bad, he was actually nice, for the most part."

"What parts wasn't he nice for?"

"When I started asking questions. Questions about how he got the test for me to take today."

She nods, "yeah, I made the same mistake my first week too."

I look at her and smile. "Really?"

"Yeah, he doesn't like to be questioned.'

"He also got upset because he said I didn't do the test to the best of my ability, that I just tried."

"Yeah...good times. You'll remember this, tell the next kid not to do those things. I warned you about the trying thing."

"I wish I would've listened."

"I felt the same way."

Gen gets up and moves to my bed, she then hugs me.

"Thank you," I say, I'm about to cry, "is it at all possible for me to find my sister?"

Gen shakes her head, "I'm sorry, no one who's not in the program isn't allowed on the floor. You'd have to change your uniform."

"Do we have to wear these things all the time?" I joke.

"Just about yeah," she picks up the joke and plays along, "unfortunately, this thing never matches any accessories."

We both laugh. Maybe the next few years won't be so bad.