“He’s never been a jerk to me,” said Adam.
“Me neither,” said Mark.
“He’s just a jerk to you because you’re family,” said Kevin. “Kassie is usually nice to everyone, but if she’s going to take out her frustration on someone, you can bet it’ll be her family first.”
Jimmy didn’t seem any happier at the news, so the group sat silently for a while watching the other people in the room. From what they had seen the previous day, it looked like it fairly evenly split between boys and girls, but possibly a few more boys. As far as the rest of it went, though, it seemed to be a mishmash of cultures and accents galore, but everyone seemed to speak English.
“What time do we have to be at the classroom?” asked Jimmy.
“Didn’t Horton say 9 a.m.?” asked Kevin.
Adam looked at his watch. It was just after 8:30.
“Let’s go back to our rooms and get ready,” said Adam. “And we’ll make sure we knock on Jimmy’s door before we leave so he doesn’t have an excuse for being late.”
Jimmy rolled his eyes at Adam.
“I’m already ready,” said Mark.
The other three looked at him and then focused on his hair, which was sticking up in all directions.
“You sure about that?” asked Kevin.
“Yeah,” he said, then after a short pause he caught on. “I forgot to do my hair, didn’t I?”
The others laughed as Mark furiously tried to make his hair sit down by smoothing it with his hands. When he could tell it wasn’t working he stood up and walked quickly to the stairs heading back to the rooms.
The others followed and soon they were back in their rooms again. Adam checked his own hair to make sure it wasn’t standing up like Mark’s, then brushed his teeth and looked himself over in the mirror to make sure all was OK.
“It’s as good as it’s gonna get,” he mumbled to himself before stepping out into the hallway. He knocked on Jimmy’s door first, then Mark’s and Kevin’s. The hallway was busy with other boys walking past on their way to their own first classes. Some were polite and said hello, and others pushed their way past without a look or any type of acknowledgment.
After mocking Jimmy for taking so long to answer his door, the group headed off for their classroom. At the intersection that led to the classrooms from both dorms, they merged into the groups of girls all headed in the same direction.
Suddenly, Jimmy ducked and tried to hide behind Kevin, who was leading the way.
“What are you doing?” asked Kevin, annoyed.
“Uh, nothing,” replied Jimmy.
That answer triggered the others to immediately look around, and soon enough Kevin and Adam spotted the two girls from the Astrodome, so they pointed them out to Mark.
“Don’t worry,” said Kevin. “We’ll catch up to them before we make it to the classrooms.” He was only kidding because the hallway was so packed that the only way to catch up would have been to elbow and shove their way ahead.
Jimmy straightened up and tried to regain the small amount of dignity he had left. “Oh, did you think I was hiding from those girls?” he asked, then guffawed. “No no, I just tripped. It doesn’t bother me if those two are nearby.”
No one believed him.
“Have you been taking advice from Jeff again?” asked Mark, laughing loudly at his own joke. Adam and Kevin laughed too, partly from the joke but more from Jimmy’s frustration.
Jimmy decided that the best thing he could do was shut up and just keep walking, so that’s what he did. He didn’t say another word until they had stepped through the doorway into their classroom.
The room was brightly lit by a row of the special windows against one wall. Two long, wide rows of Lumiens ran along the ceiling inside fixtures that were typical in most schools, making it almost seem like they were back in their own school in Grayson. Four old-style student desks sat in a row at the front of the room facing the teacher’s desk, and as they approached they saw that their names had been placed on each one via a sticker on the desktop. From left to right the desks were set up for Jimmy, Kevin, Adam, and then Mark nearest the wall of windows. They each took a seat and opened the top to reveal text books, pens, pencils, and all of the various things you needed as a student.
After closing them again, they all began to look around the room, finally settling on the windows.
“I still can’t believe that these aren’t actual windows,” said Mark. He got out of his desk and walked over to them, and everyone else followed.
“I know,” said Adam with Kevin and Jimmy agreeing soon after.
“I sat and looked at mine for a while this morning,” said Mark, “and if I didn’t know any better I could have sworn I was looking right out a regular window.”
“Students here in the 1970’s used to say it’s blowing my mind, man,” said Horton as he entered the room through a nearly concealed doorway at the back of the room.
His voice startled the boys and they all scrambled to their desks. Horton chuckled as they did.
“Don’t panic, there’s plenty of time to get back to your desk,” he said with a smile. “Even though you’re going to be learning everything you would have at your regular school plus a bunch more, I hope you’ll find this a little more fun. Because it’s only the four of you, we can cover things pretty quick and spend more time on the fun stuff.”
The boys were beginning to get excited as Horton spoke. They hoped that what Horton was saying was true.
“If you look in your desks, you can see that all of the books you are going to need this year are already there, along with supplies. If you need anything else, just ask me and I’ll try and get it. I’m your go-to guy for everything, so please don’t be shy. I’ve been around here long enough that I’ve heard just about everything you could imagine and I’m old enough that not much bothers me. One time I had one of my male students get his privates stuck in his zipper really horribly and I had to go help. All I needed was a pair of tin snips and a small hacksaw. If I wouldn’t have sneezed, Tina might still be called Tony.”
All four boys cringed a little and they winced, making an ‘oooo’ sound.
“I’m just kidding. Tony was just fine and he’s still called Tony. I like to joke around, so you’re going to have to learn to not take me too seriously, alright?”
The four chuckled and nodded.
“Any questions before we start?” asked Horton.
They shrugged and looked at each other, but even though Horton seemed really easy to get along with, the whole situation made the boys leery about asking anything.
“That’s alright. First day is always the worst. Soon you’ll be as comfortable here as you were at home. I thought you might ask a question about those ‘windows’ you were looking at. You obviously realize that they can’t really be looking outside like normal windows.”
The group looked to each other and nodded.
“Can you tell us how they work?” asked Adam.
Horton nodded. “More or less. These particular windows were made to make it feel less claustrophobic, since we are stuck in the middle of a mountain. They transfer the light from the side of the mountain via the mountain itself to whatever point we want them to emerge. It’s a similar system to the RTS. The light hits a collector on the side of the mountain that is slightly larger than the destination window, it compresses the light and transfers it through the rock where it is decompressed and projected onto the glass. The glass re-orients the light so that it emits at the same angle as it hits the collector.”
Adam was intrigued and many questions came to mind, but he was still too nervous to ask, merely nodding and looking as if the answer satisfied him enough for the moment.
“You will have the opportunity to work with some of those materials later on if that’s the area for you, and you’ll really get a feel for how it works. For now, we’re going to get started with a bit of an overview. You boys don’t know how lucky you are compared to the others t
hat are here because of your knowledge of the League already. I understand that you even had a class at your regular school about the League."
They all nodded and Adam spoke up. "It didn't seem to teach us anything, just told us stories that had happened to people within the League."
Horton nodded. "Yes. The upper management didn't want too much crossover with the information you would learn here so that is what they came up with. Keep in mind that the class was developed in a really short amount of time and it was the first time it's ever been taught. It will get better. I was more referring to your knowledge gained outside of the classroom. Not only have you heard the story of the League, you've heard it directly from one of the Teneo. Most members only meet a Teneo once or twice in their lives. Add to that all of your experiences with Larix and you guys have learned most of what you need to know about the League."
"So that means I can just spend a bunch of time playing those ancient video games," said Mark.
Horton laughed. "No, it just means you'll have more time to learn other things - but good try."
"I've been wondering what are we going to be learning while we’re here and why couldn't we learn it at home?" asked Adam.
Horton nodded. "Great question. What you will be learning is less of a factor than what the League will be learning about you. Each of our members has many different skills and talents, but usually there are one or two talents that are more dominant. Take yourself, for example. We already know you have an aptitude for the physical and mechanical sciences and you seem to enjoy them, so we will try and find a place for you in the League where you can help us and enjoy your work at the same time. Most of the students who come here have an idea what they are good at or want to do for a career, and we help them make sure. Others don't have a clue so we help them figure it out. But let's say that you really don't like doing mechanical things even though you are good at them. The worst thing you could do in life is work at something you hate if there are other options you would love. So even though you may have an aptitude in one area, that doesn't mean you have to work there. We’ll try and find the best fit for you that will also benefit us. Does that make sense?"
The boys nodded.
“Also, everyone will take self-defense classes, because that’s a pretty useful skill in life, along with other classes in basic surveillance techniques. Those that do well in basic surveillance can continue on to more involved courses too.”
Adam got excited at hearing that news. Everyone wanted to learn spy techniques, after all.
"As well, until the end of this year, you are all still initiates. Here, we get to watch you under controlled conditions and make sure you are a fit. Sometimes initiates don't make it through to full membership. I'm not worried about you four, though, and you shouldn't worry too much either. Just relax and be yourselves."
The thought that one of the four might yet be rejected by the League hadn’t crossed any of their minds for a long time. All of them had assumed that since the League sent them for training they didn’t have anything to worry about, but the mention of the possibility brought back pangs of unease.
“I really think you guys are going to have a lot of fun here. My advice is to get to know some of the others here, since you may end up dealing with many of them for the rest of your lives.”
“Most of the students are a lot older than us, though,” said Mark.
Horton nodded. “Every year it gets harder for me to understand why two, three, or four years difference in age makes interaction awkward in youth. I don’t think that’s going to matter for long in your case.”
Horton paused and Adam raised an eyebrow.
“Why is that?” he asked.
“Because everyone here is going to learn about your interactions with Larix as part of the League history. Usually we teach the history from the beginning to the end in date order, but this year we are giving the basics of how and why it came to be and following it with your experiences from last year because we want everyone to be on guard. For me personally, it’s exciting because we’ve never had anyone come here as an initiate that’s already part of the course.”
The thought hit Adam that people would be analyzing and studying everything that happened to him and his friends, and it was almost overwhelming. The events of the previous year were bad enough, but having everyone find out that he had been kidnapped and had watched Karl die just weeks ago…
“Keep in mind that there hasn’t been much news about Larix worth repeating here in the last hundred years, so your story is big news within the League.”
Horton could see the look of concern on Adam’s face.
“Don’t worry about it too much. We’ve decided that when we teach that part of the history, it will be emphasized that the students aren’t to bother you with questions. If they have questions about what happened they are supposed to come to their instructor. If anyone bothers you too much, just let me know and I’ll take care of it, alright?”
Horton’s genuine smile made Adam relax and he could see the others do the same.
“But what about Derek Gunderson?” asked Adam. “Won’t there be retaliation against him if students find out what his dad did to me last year?”
Horton’s smile faded. “As of this moment, John Gunderson is still being investigated. He has not been found guilty so far…”
Adam tried to argue but Horton held up a hand and continued.
“…and until he is found guilty, we cannot teach something that isn’t proven. And even if we find John guilty, we will not say anything about John because Derek is here this year. Always remember that Derek is not John. Many successful people in history have done so in spite of the things their parents have done, so we need to give Derek that opportunity.”
Even though he wanted to argue, Adam had to admit that Horton was right. It wouldn’t be fair to judge Derek by his father. That would be about as fair as people judging Adam by the actions of Mary. He relaxed into his seat and nodded at Horton, which made the smile return to Horton’s face.
“Excellent. Well then, even though you are ahead of everyone else in regard to the history of the Sentinel League, there’s still an entire year of all of the other subjects you take, so maybe we should get started,” said Horton.
“Are you sure we couldn’t just play some games instead? Ease the start to the year?” asked Mark.
Horton shook his head and grinned.
“Trust me, you’ll enjoy what I have planned for you this year,” Horton said in reply, “but for now, find your Math textbook and let’s get started.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The morning seemed to fly by even though all they accomplished was to start some of the normal subjects they would have taken at their school in Grayson, but none of the new League courses. It wasn’t so bad, though, because by the time they went for lunch they had all become comfortable with their new classroom – which seemed so much like their old school – and they had become comfortable with Horton as an instructor.
As he had indicated from the first time they met him, Horton couldn’t pass up a chance to throw in a joke, usually about himself, and really seemed to enjoy teaching. It was only the first day, but it was getting off to a good start.
Horton had led them to the cafeteria at twenty minutes to twelve, because he wanted to beat the lineup and choose from the freshest food. He knew that all of the other instructors would be keeping their students until the clock struck noon exactly, so they could be in and out before the rush. He left them as soon as he had dished up his food and instructed them that they didn’t have to make it back to the classroom until 1 p.m., so they sat and ate casually until the first lines of students began to appear.
“Except for the fact that we still have to learn everything we would have in our regular school year, this could be fun,” said Mark.
“You’re not going into electronics withdrawal yet?” joked Jimmy.
“Nah. They’ve got the best of the old school upright
games here anyway. The gameplay is classic, even if the graphics are terrible,” Mark replied. “Besides, they even have unlimited food here. Un – limited – food!”
Kevin looked at Adam and they both grinned at the thought of their conversation that morning.
“I really thought you’d be freaking out and asking to go home already,” said Jimmy.
“What about you?” asked Mark. “You’ve never been away from home for long before. You’re going to miss your mommy, aren’t you?”
“Not as much as you’ll miss yours,” replied Jimmy, a hint of anger in his voice.
They sat silent for an awkward moment until Jimmy switched on a smile. “Just bugging you. Don’t get too uptight. Neither one of us will be as homesick as Farmboy.”
“Homesick?” asked Kevin with a look of surprise. “You’re kidding, right?”
Jimmy shook his head. “I thought you’d be homesick most of all because you’re so tight with your family, that’s all.”
Adam and Mark agreed with Jimmy’s comment. It seemed to make sense.
“That’s true, but this is like a holiday for me so far. I got to sleep until 8 this morning, didn’t have any chores to do, didn’t have to help make breakfast, and didn’t have to do dishes before leaving for school. When class is over for today I’m going to go play a video game or mini golf instead of looking after livestock or cutting lawn or any of the thousand other jobs that are always waiting for me. Yeah, I’m going to miss my parents and little sisters, but I’m going to enjoy every minute of being away from home.”
His honesty shocked Adam a little. Adam knew that Kevin worked hard, but Kevin had never complained – ever. He always just continued working with a smile on his face. That was the first time Adam had ever heard Kevin say anything to the contrary.
“You’ve got me there,” said Jimmy. “I would have put money on you being homesick first, and Adam last.”
That news didn’t come as a surprise to Adam. His friends had grown up watching his relationship with his mother, after all. But the discussion about all of the others being homesick brought to mind a quick snapshot of some of the good memories of living in Grayson, and Adam was sure he was having small pangs of homesickness.
Initiates (The Book of Adam 3) Page 12