I Hate to Break It to You
Gisa
Gisa swung her legs back and forth under her desk in class. The clock ticked by with painfully slow motions. Jamison, Emma, and Ron seemed none too thrilled to be there as well. Only the four of them in this class. A new class for people from the Island. It was called "Cultural Submersion," but Gisa knew better. It was "Don't do anything wrong or we'll send you back" class. It was taught by Mother Guardian herself who turned out to be the headmistress of this school.
She was pointing to the projector which had a series of multiple choice questions. Questions regarding thievery today. "If you find this wallet lying around on the street with over a hundred marks do you, A, ask around and keep it if you don't find the owner? B, just take it since nobody looked for it? C, take the money and then turn it in to the authorities? Or D, turn the wallet with the cash into the authorities?" She smiled as she scanned the four of them.
Emma raised her hand and the Mother Guardian called on her. "Do we answer with the correct option? Or is this what we would actually do?"
Mother Guardian took a deep breath, trying to calm her scrunched features. "Dear, they should be one and the same."
Ron blurted, "Well then D obviously…"
"Raise your hand Ron for the seventh time in this class…" She breathed out. "There are schools on the island. Were the rules different there? These are common classroom etiquettes."
Gisa's mind flashed to the ramshackle buildings, the school teachers, some who had just barely graduated themselves. The buildings were always dark and drafty. There was no raising of the hands. Teachers pointed to you for the answer, and if you didn't know…
Ron shrugged, suddenly reserved in answer to her question. Before he completely crumpled, Gisa interjected, "They were just… just different, that's all." Gisa avoided the Guardian's gaze. It made her uncomfortable the way she pitied them so much. Treated them as if they didn't know right from wrong.
"Oh, well, why don't we take the rest of this class to go over class time behavior then?" She turned towards the computer, "Actually, why don't we take this class and turn it into a class for questions? If you don't understand something about the continent, we can try to explain how everything works here."
Emma nodded, "Sounds fine by us."
They nodded in confirmation.
After class the girls walked side by side towards their neighboring lockers. "What class do you have next Emma?" Gisa asked as she fiddled with the combination lock, trying to open it.
"Advanced chemistry." She sighed, "It isn't hard but there is this one boy in there and he's so—"
"Dreamy, right?" Gisa rolled her eyes, "Come on E, you confuse me." She laughed.
"What class do you have next?"
Gisa sighed, trying not to cringe, "Pre algebra…" She was seventeen and taking a class meant for a thirteen-year-old. This school didn't even have people under the age of fourteen, it was high school through graduate college level. She was with all of the stupids of the school. She'd always hated school, never understood it. But, she didn't really have to worry about Emma's judgment. Emma knew.
"Let me know how it goes!" Emma said with a smile, "I have to get going, it's a really long trek to the laboratory buildings."
As Emma flounced off, Gisa let her shoulders drop. At least someone was happy. She turned around and ran smack into somebody. "Hey what are you—"
"Oops, my bad." Prince Michael looked at her. His guards were returning their weapons to their places. "Sorry about them," he said nodding to the guards. "Overprotective."
"That's fine," Gisa said, glancing around as she slammed the locker shut. "I'm headed to math, so I'll see you later."
"I'm headed that way too actually." He smiled, "I'll accompany you! Just let me grab my things." He opened a locker on the other side of the hallway before walking over to her. "Ready to head out?"
Grimly, she nodded. Great. He was going to see how dumb she really was. She'd stopped school in eighth grade but had never been able to pass pre algebra. She failed it again in eighth grade.
"So, how have the past couple weeks been? I imagine it has been an adjustment?"
"It's… it's been alright." Gisa glanced around. "The teachers have been patient for the most part with us. Our schools were vastly different. The academics are hard getting used to again though."
"Again?" Michael raised an eyebrow. His fawny hair fell over his forehead making him look more like just another schoolboy and less like a regal king-to-be.
Oops. "Yeah well," here was the truth… "I'm not very smart, so my mom pulled me out of school after eighth grade when I failed half of my classes. I was luckier than some though, if they don't show any sign of intelligence they can be pulled out as early as third or fourth grade and start to work then. I was thirteen when I left, and it's been a while... I should be a junior but I'm only registered for ninth grade." She shrugged.
"Wow I'm— I'm sorry, I didn't know." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I had no idea… One of our governing laws is the right to education. You have to complete the first year of high school before you can legally be pulled out, and not only that but both the parent and the child have to agree to leave the school…" His eyes met hers, "Gisa how many children leave school every year before ninth grade?"
She shrugged, "I don't know about some schools, but for mine we started in kindergarten with about twenty to thirty kids per class and there were four or five classes. Every year our numbers decreased until there was only one class per grade by the time you entered middle school. High school was only for the smarter kids. Jamison and Ron both dropped out in eighth grade too. The three of us have this class together."
"And Emma?" He asked.
"She's a genius. This is her senior year and she just turned sixteen a couple weeks ago." Gisa took a deep breath as they walked up a wide staircase, the stained glass windows shadowing them with every color of the rainbow. "Without your proclamation she wouldn't have been able to study anymore. And there are no uses for people that are in love with physics on the island. I don't know what would have happened to her."
Michael swallowed as he nodded his head. "That's terrible. I promise I will speak with my father about all of this. We can't let this go, it isn't right."
"I hate to break it to you prince, but there are very few laws the island actually follows," She shrugged exaggeratedly before turning on her heel and walking into her classroom, slamming her bookbag on the ground in a seat beside Jamison. Her heart was pounding and her face was red.
"Getting all hot with the prince?" he winked.
"Hmmm no." She said with a humorless smile. "Besides, Annabelle would have her guards skewer me and turn me into barbecue." She was more embarrassed that Michael knew about her lack of intelligence and her rough home.
"She's a character for sure," Jamison agreed. "She's hot, but in a dangerous way." a chuckle. "Did you see the way that dress hugged her body the night we were introduced? That girl is beautiful."
"But she's a real—"
"Good morning everyone!" the teacher chirped as she came in. "I hope you are all having a wonderful day, but let's keep the chattering down today, okay?" She looked directly at Gisa and Jamison who didn't so much as flinch.
"Yeah, some of us actually want to be here," Ron muttered. Jamsion shot him a glare but didn't say anything.