3: Worry

The government needs and the processes of education take precedence over analyzing education results in war times.

Education should be the most important value in war times, but slips in a desire to fill other needs more quickly.

***

"Okay, thank you, Phoebe. I know you want to help more, but I couldn't let you compromise your work."

Bryanna hung up the phone after hearing a brisk "goodbye" from the other end. Liz sat in Bryanna's room, twirling her orange hair around her finger tips, humming a tune that seemed to come from her own brain. She sat in her own world, away from the frightening truth they'd discovered.

Bryanna, on the other hand, was a realist. "This is ridiculous! I don't understand how they can take stuff from us without us knowing it. It's like how the government takes our money from taxes, but like... we know that! I just don't get it." She was pacing.

"I know, Bryanna," said Liz again. Ever since they'd gotten back from GRFS yesterday, this had been all that Bryanna had tried to speak about. They'd gotten home and called Phoebe right away.

Phoebe wanted to help the girls do something. They weren't quite sure if they wanted to. They'd been certain on entering that pristine research facility, but not sure if they'd planned on actually acting on anything they'd found out.

The girls were far from at peace. They had very much worry on their brains at the moment. They had highly-prioritized plans of calling Phoebe each day to work through the problems at hand.

***

Unfortunately, the girls still had to bring themselves to school and whatnot. After Bryanna's trip to the nurse's office a few weeks prior, everyone was on edge. Once one person was tested, they knew that many more would be too. This put the entire atmosphere on edge in the building.

People were quieter; nobody got excited about anything. Students did not raise their hands in fear of being called on because their reactions would be monitored, as Bryanna's has been. Students did not try very hard on projects or tests because it added more pressure to the situation. Caring less just made it easier to be less nervous.

The nation's educational system was failing because of it. In the past year, there'd been a severely higher number of college drop-outs and an incredibly lower number of high school graduates. Kids just didn't care anymore because they were living in fear.

"Nobody tries anymore. It's a fact. It's an unspoken, unwritten truth. Nobody wants to be brought down to the nurse's again. The worst part? They don't even know what they are afraid of. They think they're running from some painful vaccination, when it is really the government taking their neurotransmitters. Like... that isn't okay." Bryanna humphed. "This is awful, actually."

"It's fine, they can keep being clueless," said Liz, nonchalantly as she took a bite of her sandwich. They were at lunch.

"No. It's not fine," pushed Bryanna angrily. "People are suffering. Grades are suffering. Education itself is suffering. It's all suffering." She put her water bottle down. "Not okay."

"I know, I know. I just don't want to think about it; it's gross and awful and I'd rather pretend it's not happening." Liz shrugged and continued eating, not making eye contact with her friend.

"This is the problem!" Bryanna was not happy. "People know something is wrong but they keep suppressing it because they're scared. They're afraid and want to ignore it. We need to be the ones to stop it!" In that moment Bryanna knew that she wanted to stop it. She wanted to be the one to make the difference. They had an in, being Phoebe, and they had the knowledge. It had to be them.

And Bryanna was going to drag Liz with her.

"We have to make the government know. Obviously the lower down people know, people who are in charge of military and defense, but we have to tell someone important who doesn't know. We have to tell our President. There's no way she really knows about this."

"Are you sure she's not a part of this? And how are we gonna do that, Bryanna?" Liz stopped eating and finally broke her glare, staring straight at Bryanna. "That's kind of well... wild. I mean we live near the capitol, but it's not easy to just talk to the President about government issues any time. You're thinking too big."

"No, it's definitely doable. And I swear she wouldn't do anything like this to her people. We can stop in later, make an appointment- it's only a fifteen minute drive. We can make it easy."

"If you do all the talking, I suppose I'll go. I'm moral support, you could say." Liz frowned and went back to her lunch. She was skeptical.

***

Author's Note: You're all beautiful people. Thanks for my first couple commenters especially!

What do you think about Bryanna's character? Good excitement or bad excitement? Will it get the two of them into trouble or save the world one day?

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