Installation 5: The First Week

Welcome back, one and all! Eh, I'll warn you right now I'm not in the best of moods today. Someone found out about me reading the books I'm using for sources, and so I was called down to the office today. They asked me a bunch of questions about whether or not I was mentally stable, one of the questions was even if I found religion in the mythical occurrences described in the books. I lied and said no, that I was simply curious to see exactly how far-fetched the idea was. Still landed me here though, didn't it? I just hate how against these books they are. I don't care if you don't believe in what they say, but I do.

You know what? Forget about it. You're not here to listen to me complain about my problems. You just want to hear about the hybrids. Alrighty. So today's topic is their first week of school.

The first week for our five hybrids was basically a trial week. They took a week's time to catch them up on everything they hadn't learned in the missing 8+ years of their education. From writing to human interactions to basic math, they did their best to reach an equal level academically. The most advanced at the beginning of that week was Mat, with a basic understanding of how to read and write. Even that knowledge was limited; he only knew what his master wanted him to know. Everyone, at the very least, could begin to speak English and understand when people spoke it to them. To you, that may not seem like much. But to these hybrids, it was a world unknown to them.

If Hope's books are as true as they seem to be, the hybrids' first morning at school was a mess. Vik was sat outside the school, awaiting their arrival. Jerome, Brandon, and Choco had all arrived around the same time, 15 minutes before the day started.  Choco had come in shaking violently, avoiding being near anyone. Brandon was apparently a bundle of sunshine, saying hello and introducing himself to the two other hybrids. Jerome had been careful and calculated. He watched Brandon's volume, telling him to quiet down when he was getting too loud. And when Vik began to walk over, Jerome took it into his own hands to cover Brandon's mouth to shush him. Vik introduced himself, telling that he was meant to be protecting the hybrids during their time at the school. Vik was the first person Choco came to trust. Choco wouldn't introduce himself yet, but Vik had expected that. Jerome introduced himself first, keeping one hand over Brandon's mouth while he did so. Once he finished, however, he released Brandon and the slime hybrid began talking animatedly with Vik. Vik had chuckled, watching as another hybrid and a human walked over together. Kenny sent Vik a quick greeting, promising Preston he'd be safe with him. After this, Kenny was gone. Vik introduced himself to the lava-mob hybrid, who stated his name then asked where Kenny had gone. Vik didn't know much about Kenny, Kenny tended to keep to himself. However, Vik promised the confused hybrid that Kenny "probably just had something to do". After Preston's arrival, a huge commotion had begun in front of the school. A taxi pulled up, releasing the final hybrid. The cyborg stumbled slightly when he was pushed out of the limo. The vehicle then sped off, leaving Mat alone. Whispers and gasps filled the crowd, before people began to spit insults at the cyborg. He was one of the hybrids, the monsters they didn't want at their school. The accounts I have read are still not completely sure who had pulled Mat away from the insulting words and enclosing crowd. However, Brigitte's book seems to suggest it was Lachlan; and that's due to later happenings. I'll explain those another day though. After Mat was pulled from the mess, he was pushed towards Vik. Vik quickly stabilized the wobbling robot, holding him upright. Vik then rushed them around the back of the school, sneaking them into a door closer to their classroom.

The teacher's name was Mr. Minter, a tall blond in his mid-twenties. He was a new teacher at the school, and this was his own sort of trial. Vik walked the five hybrids into the classroom, smiling at the anxious teacher. Brandon was quick to make friends with the new teacher, visually calming the older man. Choco began to shake again when Vik had said he had to leave, but Preston seemed to know exactly what to do. He distracted Choco, telling him about his friend Kenny and everything the two had done. Choco continued to shake, but Vik had managed to sneak out the door and away to his own class.

Not much is known on how exactly Mr. Minter did what he did. By the end of that week, the hybrids could all read and write. They had a general debriefing of the country's history, going all the way back to the colonization of the old country America. That's what our country was called once, before the War of Reconstruction. I won't bore you with that though, I'm sure you know that by heart at this point. Anyway, back to Mr. Minter's work. The hybrids could do most math; some of them struggled with some of the harder content. But for only one week's time, they were amazing at everything. However, as you could expect, they had their strengths and weaknesses.

Pete hated writing. The pencils would stick to his hands, or they would stab through his hands. That always hurt when it happened, and it happened a lot more than you would think. However, he was great at science. He loved the topics; he always wanted to know how everything worked. Preston's worse subject was history. He couldn't understand why people did the things they did. He couldn't understand why people fought wars or took others' homes. However, he really liked the ideas behind math. He loved that he could put two numbers together with a sign and make a whole new number. Choco certainly didn't like the math though. It required a lot of time and thinking, and Choco tended to struggle. Preston would often help him through it, which was nice. Choco's favorite subject, however, was English. He loved to read and write: it was the only thing that seemed to calm the shaking bird. He was a talented writer as well. Jerome always struggled with science. He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that every single little thing around him was made up of smaller and smaller pieces. It seemed to hurt his head, and he simply gave up most times. However, Jerome loved their gym-esque lessons. He loved the idea of all the physical activity; it was a natural trait of baccas to love moving and exercise. Mat, unlike the others, loved everything. He was great at everything that Mr. Minter covered, absorbing all the information like a sponge. I can only assume this was due to his being a robot, although I can't be certain.

I am running low on time now, and I've still gotta tell you all about their lunch period. Maybe I'll add that in really quickly next time? I'm not sure yet, but be prepared for the next little installation to start out with an off-topic bit. Alright the bell rang. I gotta go, See ya! Peace out!