Present Day.

"Remember guys, the wiring must be done just right for this to work," Mr. Walsh announced to the class before him. "Blue on red, red on green, yellow on green. Anything else will just—"

   All wide eyes turned to the mild sound that filled the ghost quiet lab.

"...do that. Oh," His expression turned grim as he realized where it came from. Or rather who. "Miss Simmons."

   I could barely hear my name amidst the giggles and scoffs that erupted.

"How many effects do we usually get when the wrong wiring occurs, Beth?"

"Um, three?"

   His glare was really not helping.

"And they are?"

"Electric shock, Intermittent sparks and—"

"You would think she would mention the explosion she created as the first effect which, by the way, is caused by a complete discord. A mistake that would have been easily avoided if she had done the reading twice the number of times psychology requires."

   No, wrong guess. Not Mr. Walsh.

"Or maybe she did," The familiar sparkle which derived its source from my misery found its way to Viola Quill's eyes as she carried on. "But it's difficult to adjust when your mind is still tied down to the ancient, savage ways of public scho–"

"Okay that's enough!"

   Enough for her to throw a smug smirk in my direction and infect everyone else in class with more laughter. Thanks a lot, sir.

   At least Viola had the guts to always make her many, many, public digs to my face. She never shied way from displaying her undying contempt for me. It was better than the other Zavlonians who probably thought they were doing me a favor by doing so behind my back.

"Make sure you get it right next time, Bethany." Mr. Walsh cast another look my way.

   I'll do my best to be insulted and mocked in a more creative way, don't worry about it. "It's Beth."

   Just Beth. Not Bethany. Not Elizabeth. Not Bethesda. 

"Next lesson is Mechanics! Beth Simmons, you have Mechanics as your next course of stu–"

   As usual, since the day I learned to just ignore anything in this school that just wouldn't stop bugging me, I hopped off my hover seat/incessant Siri-like assistant and walked through the hallway.

   Now I'm usually nice to the tech I'm with, but not the kind that would constantly hound me for not staying seated on it during all school hours, insisting that it had to transport me everywhere.

   Yeah, including the bathroom.

   At this point, I was used to the gawking stares I received for using my legs as well as the 'slow processing, gadget-destructing, science's black sheep Beth Simmons' whispers. On good days though, it was 'Scholarship Kid' for short.

   My several attempts to joke that it be shortened to "scholar" have proved depressingly unsuccessful.

"Slow down, Beth! You know Terrence can't move at your lightning pace," Minji called as she approached me on her hover chair.

   I stifled a grin as I faced my locker neighbour from mine.

"I thought she was Vicky."

   Minji's green eyes enlarged as her tall frame recoiled further into the chair. "Don't let him hear you say that! Obviously, he's going through some form of transition."

"Right. Sorry." Obviously, he was.

"Plus, people started calling him 'ICKY!' Can you imagine?!"

   I nodded my head vigorously, trying my best not to let out full on snorts about the ordeals she –and Terrence, of course- face due to their... questionable attachment. Okay, not her words exactly. I'm not going to repeat those though.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for what happened back there." She got off her hover chair to pat me on the back. Minji was in my Electronics class as well. "That was just one screw up...okay, out of many times! But, don't worry we'll figure something out, I promise."

"I know," Suddenly, Viola's words were not even a whisper.

   That's why Minji Han was not just the locker neighbour that I talked to occasionally. She was the only one who had actually reached out during my first weeks here. As time went on, I found I needed her help in almost every subject. She's the reason I haven't completely made a fool of myself so far and lost my scholarship.

"Sometimes, Viola can be such a–"

"Bitch?" I offered.

"I was actually going to say Darth Vader." I joined in on her hysterical laughter. "But I guess that's practically the same thing."

"At least you have Mechanics next," She wiggled her brows, jabbing me with her elbow. "You get to have your favourite subject with your favourite teacher, teacher's pet."

   I tried to downplay the grin that slipped out and shrugged. Honestly though, there weren't many classes that involved doing things from scratch with not so complicated tools. Other than this, every other practical lesson involved completing or fixing some gadget, which I've discovered–the hard way–that I should just stick to creating from scratch.

"Alert! Alert! Beth Simmons is not in this seat. Scanning this perimeter for–"

"Wait!" I yelled at the creepy machine. The light filled eyes at its sides blinked in response.

"See you at lunch, Beth." Minji grabbed me into a hug.

   Grunting a goodbye, I hopped on my seat.

***
"Oh Beth, there you are!" Viola's soft voice called out. "As you can see, I made a few enhancements to your seat, feel free to express your thoughts."

   Yes, I had the pleasure of having not one, but two classes with Viola in it. The plastic cuffs that had imprisoned my wrists barely ten seconds after I had taken my seat in the hallway, came off on cue. I should have known.

"You know, Miss Quill, there are way more creative ways to apply your skills. Sabotaging your friends isn't one of them." The only teacher I had grown to take a liking to faced us with a stern expression.

   Our heads moved to glance at our Mechanics teacher, Mr. Sacury. The only non-Mr.Walsh teacher I had met so far.

"Which is?" Her response, like her eyes, was daring.

"Why don't you apply your creative skills to find out?" He asked, a gleam finding its way to his grey eyes.

See what I mean? The joy that surged through me was like no other as she stalked to her seat, muttering about typical dark matter converts.

   Not everyone was in support of the researchers that believed that a transition from the normal matter that made up our bodies to dark matter would broaden our understanding of the latter, including the government. The project was shut down but was so high-profile that the test subjects were found in no time. No one had expected any of them to be everyday people, much less a teacher at Zavlon Academia, but nothing has never really been addressed.

   Not to Mr. Sacury's face, anyway.

   And that includes the crazy rumours that improved facial and bodily features, level of intellect and unnatural abilities such as heightened speed, strength, are among the side effects the subjects experienced.

"Okay, everyone," He said, combining his hands into a quiet clap. "You know what to do."

   Staring at the devices that were spread out on my desk, I let the familiar feeling of comfort take over before getting to work. Building had been what got me into Zavlon and was the only thing that hadn't been sucked out of my spirit.

   My work in the Mechanics classroom though, seemed to remain within the confines of this room. I suppose my screw-ups were way more fun to share.

   Everything else was forgotten after my hands became one with the parts though. Each played the perfect role of obediently aligning itself with the other. I didn't even have to take another look at the device we were asked to make a replica of one more time. It was a clear picture in my mind, a disassembled mess that kept uniting with emphasis on the steps I remembered from last night's reading—Yes! I do read.

"I think that's enough time." Mr. Sacury called out some minutes later. "Who would like to show what they were able to do?"

"I will, Sir," I replied.

"Yeah sure, Beth. Come on up."

"Oh, no way! I had my hand held up first." Viola's furrowed brows stayed on me. "The rules state that you're supposed to pick the first person."

"And I was the first one to respond," I said.

"But I had my hand up!" She glanced at Mr. Sacury. "First."

"I don't have time for this." He sighed, slapping a hand over his head. "Beth, please show the class what you've got."

   The smugness I knew I wasn't supposed to feel was what carried me to the front of the class. Okay, it was definitely not the best source. Why the hell was my stomach turning now? There were less than twenty people in this room.

"Take your time." Not even his ever-zen voice was making me better.

"Okay," I let out a huge breath and tried to ignore my sweaty palms. "This is my duplication of—"

"More like mutation."

   I took a deep breath. I'd be damned if I allowed Viola's comment or my classmates' subsequent giggles to take away the one thing I was more than sure I was great at.

"What makes a duplication of this incubator is—"

   The class erupted into a chaotic scene at what had interrupted not just me. We had all been startled by the intermittent beeps that came from the digital watches given to every student by Zavlon Academia. The only times it beeped was for assemblies, which rarely occurred.

"Okay everyone, you know what this means." Mr Sacury yelled over the commotion. "MOVE TO THE ASSEMBLY POD IN AN ORDERLY FASHION PLEASE!"

   Are you kidding me? Gulping the aftertaste of my bad luck, I proceeded to join the fast-forming queue.

   This better be worth it.

A/N: Thank you so much for giving "Free Minds" a chance! Please vote and comment any thoughts.

Published 13th September, 2021.

QOTD: Favourite colour?  Mine's blue 💙.