Avilien

How school works

Jayce lay on the floor looking up at the spinning ceiling, his mind clouded as Brit and Luke walked past him and through the gathered students. Bart and Drew picked their leader up as they stared at Brit. A couple of students laughed at Jayce. Recovering himself as he scrambled to his feet, he gave them an angry stare, silencing them immediately. His reputation now in tatters, Jayce vowed revenge. He would get Luke and Brit back, no matter what.

Emily and Gemma huddled together, whispering and laughing at Jayce, who could do nothing to stop them as he feared Gemma's big brother Marcus, who was in year eleven. Monday wasn't proving to be his day, and it would only get worse as word spread about him getting beaten up by Luke's girlfriend.

Brit hummed as she looked at all the augmented artwork on the walls that students had made. The walls in AR were bright blue instead of the dull grey, and filled with videos, artwork, and school decorations. There were videos of cooking and AR games being played in P.E., the cooking videos getting Brit's attention the most as she stood slobbering over the sight of a finished three-tier cake. She was as bad as Nebs with food and shared that trait with him.

Luke could see the same as Brit with the Rifts, but couldn't open the augmented videos and nothing on the walls would react when he touched them, as the Rifts were not programmed to act that way.

"Does that always happen?" asked Brit as she looked away from the cake and towards Luke.

Assuming she meant the fight moments ago, Luke scratched the back of his head.

"That's Jayce for you. Right now, you are probably on his to destroy list. How did you do that, by the way? I thought you were going to pull out your sword and go nuts." Luke was hoping it was some kind of Avilien feature that he hadn't yet learnt, and that he could learn it to help him against his tormentors.

"Wouldn't waste my breath on him, let alone my sword. I've been taking self-defence classes from various masters since I was four to channel my 'apparent' anger issues." Brit even used air quotes as she said apparent. "So what are we going to do now?"

"Right now we are on break. We have thirty minutes to grab a snack, a drink, or just chill out. After that, it's back to class until lunchtime and then we get an hour to have food and lounge," explained Luke.

Brit sighed as she started to walk down the hallway, "I had hoped school would be more fun. If that Mace guy keeps trying to fight, that will keep me amused I guess, but so far it's just as boring as regular homeschool." Brit gave Luke a smile and the pair of them headed outside through the double electronic doors.

Most students went to the canteen to grab food at break time. Luke had never gone to the canteen due to never having money, and hadn't even seen the inside of the room. Sharon never gave him a penny, so Luke went without snacks and lunch every day. Not that she couldn't afford to give him money, she just didn't want to.

Outside, the warm weather had made it stifling hot. There were two sections to the school grounds, divided between the entrance and the back. The entrance had trees, sculptures, a small parking lot for teachers only, and lush plant-filled gardens. Round the back of the school, it was divided into three sections. A football pitch was at the far back along with various stands and school billboards, and to the left of that was a running track. The football pitch, when not in use, was where the tough or cool kids hung out. People like Lance, Anna, Cissy, and Nagori frequented there, along with others.

A bench area with tables and chairs lay to the left of the football pitch and also near the canteen, which led out into it through a pair of doors. The canteen, being a shimmering black glass building, allowing you to see outside from the inside but not inside from the out. A fountain sprayed water now and again as students sat around it on the marble framework. Luke had seen none of this as close as he was now; he tried to stay in school until time to go home. It reduced the amount of times he was caught by the likes of Jayce.