The Wasteland That Was Earth

8: Serendipity

"April...I thought we were friends... after everything we've been through together...how could you do this to me?"

"I'm sorry Clay, it has to be done..."

"I'm begging you...please..."

Heartlessly, April lay her final card down.
"...uno."

"April wins again!"
Austin cheered.

"Ugh, I swear you two are cheating..." Clay grumbled, leaning back against the wall, "Fifteen games and I've lost every time? There's some scheming witchcraft going on here..."

"There's nothing wrong with being bad at something. We all have our weaknesses."
April giggled as she packed the cards away, her cheeks glowing a pale pink.
Clay couldn't help but stare when she laughed. Little dimples, rosy cheeks, scrunched up nose and closed eyes with long, feminine eyelashes.
She was far too beautiful for this dust-pit of a school.

The good old wake up bell snapped Clay out of his loving, dreamy gaze, signalling the start of the day.

"Awesome! I can finally find out if I passed last weeks assignment!"
April gleamed, quickly gathering up her things and shoving them into her school bag while Austin's hands panicked their way across the ground, desperately fumbling for his books and equipment.

This being his first day of actual class since he'd arrived, the two of them had been kind enough to shed some light on the whole schoolbag situation.

They weren't technically for school books, since students were generally recommended to keep those in their sleeping quarters, while pencils and other essentials could fit easily into shirt and trouser pockets.
The bags themselves were actually originally given out for students to carry around their respirators, weapons and basic first aid. In order to have them available at all times in case of an emergency.

But of course, students quickly grew tired of organising books in the tiny, cramped excuses for bedrooms and put them in the bag too.
This of course, made the bags pretty heavy and often lead to straps breaking, but the children didn't care. If anything, the extra weight made them feel as though they were strengthening themselves from something as simple as carrying their bag.
It made many of the younger students feel quite proud of themselves.

Clay took the dusty, grey lump of cotton that had been carelessly handsewn into an excuse of a school bag and packed his things. Respirator, check. Hunting knife from Mika, check. Special knife from Chester, check.
Assuming he'd get his new books in class, he slung the bag over his shoulder, practically able to hear the half-assed seams crying out as they stretched against the weight, and followed Austin and April to their first class.

Having never really walked the halls at these times, Clay could finally understand what Austin had meant by 'rush hour'.

With various classes taking place at once, students of all ages flooded through the corridors, clambering over one another to reach their precious classrooms.
Though you could assume it was pure chaos, the older students at least had enough sense to move out of the way when a young child tried to get past.

Clay's old private school was nothing like this. In fact, they had built an entire system around avoiding the exact same problem.

Each class had its own time to leave, two minutes between, along with a strict rule to walk on the left side of the corridors.

Though the last thing Clay wanted to do was compliment the very place that had ruined his friendships, but looking back, he realised it was actually pretty smart.
Simple, but effective nonetheless.