Letting Reality Begin

Chapter Nine - The Unveiling of the Plan

“I’ll see you at break then,” said Matt, as the two of them emerged from their Business Studies class. Jamie hadn’t really wanted to take Business Studies for A-Level – he would’ve preferred to take French instead – but his father insisted that it would help it him in the future, so he had optioned for it, just in case his father was right. Even though he was now a senior – or rather, a Year Thirteen – he still didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life.

Before, in middle school, he had wanted to become a doctor, but as soon as he entered high school it became more and more evident to him that he was crap at Biology and he wouldn’t even be able to get into a medical school let alone be able to save lives. His classmates were already pretty sure of what they wanted to do – after all, most of them were taking over huge business empires worth millions of dollars – and Jamie felt like he was the only one who was completely clueless about his future. Even Lola had stated she wanted to join the Navy when she was old enough. She had already applied to join Navy Cadets – one of the first things she did when they moved over here.

“Sure,” replied Jamie, even though Matt had disappeared into the small crowd of students migrating to their next classes. He was thankful that his next class – Math, or rather Maths – wasn't too far from his Business Studies classroom, since he didn’t know any other people who were in his class and he hadn’t quite learnt his way around the whole school grounds.

After a few minutes of wandering around the building trying to find his classroom – because apparently his Maths class was intent on hiding from him – Jamie arrived at Maths. He was only two minutes late and he had a reasonable explanation, but his Maths teacher wasn’t having anything of it.

“Punctuality is a highly regarded value at this school and I expect every single student at Heather Franklin to have it,” thundered his Maths teacher, as soon as Jamie entered the room. “If you don’t like it, I suggest you transfer to another school where punctuality isn’t so important. You’ll sit over there by yourself for this lesson and you’ve earned yourself a break time detention.” He glared patronizingly at Jamie, as he pointed to an empty desk in the front row.

Jamie – humiliated by the rant his Maths teacher had thrown at him in front of the rest of the class – wordlessly sat at the empty table. He didn’t bother protesting against the unfair punishment, since he knew he would just get himself into more trouble.

The lesson dragged on, as Jamie tried to concentrate on what his Maths teacher was talking about. It really wasn’t working because it only took Jamie about a minute to get bored and annoyed of that patronizing voice. It was even harder, because he couldn’t stop but help to think that all his classmates were talking about him. It sounded arrogant – he admitted that – but everyone was whispering and he swore they stopped whenever he looked at them.

Just as Jamie was convinced he was about to fall asleep, the bell rang shrilly – which wasn't a comfort for him, since he still had to endure a detention. And this was exactly why Jamie hated school. If only he had copied Lola and pretended to be sick.

“Alright, class dismissed!” called his teacher, as soon as the bell rang. “Except for those who are in detention.” He shot a death glare at Jamie and a few other students who had earned themselves detentions throughout the course of the lesson. It was official. His Maths teacher – whose name he hadn’t bothered to remember – definitely hated him. Maths lessons – which he had six times a week, now, thanks to A-Levels – were going to be so fun. Note the heavy sarcasm.

Jamie slowly packed away his stuff into his bag and then sat there, completely still, staring at the clock on the wall above the whiteboard. Slowly, other students started to file into the classroom, obviously for detention as well. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one who his teacher hated. By the amount of people in detention – after only two lessons – it seemed that giving out punishments was more of a hobby.