Terranovus
Chapter X - Primus Academy

Despite Mum’s comforting and soothing words of “everything will be alright”, I fell asleep that night in a cloud of misery and despair. I tossed and turned all night and thought of everything I hated about Terranovus. I hated my new big stupid bedroom that required more than five steps to reach each piece of separate furniture. I hated the ridiculous smell of nature and fresh sea that wafted through my open window. I hated bloody Iris who I knew was recording every moment and sound I made.

Despite my misfortune, I was able to think of one silver lining - since Terranovus had no signal, the resistance wouldn’t be able to contact me as well. No more blackmailing meant Tommy’s life was no longer in jeopardy.

The next morning Iris woke me up at 7.30am. She kindly informed me the weather forecast was sunny at 68 degrees fahrenheit and I had one hour until the estimated arrival time of the school bus. Out of habit, I went to reach for my Ingo and check my notifications but stopped mid action. I had no signal. I laid back in bed and contemplated for a moment, I always spent the first ten minutes of every morning checking my social media apps.

Sighing, I crawled out of bed and showered quickly (which was a experience with seven shower heads) and slipped into my new school uniform that fit perfectly. When I looked into the mirror I grimaced and squirmed uncomfortably. My sling looked awful and I didn’t feel like me at all. Skirts and I did not go well together.

I heard my parents talking in the kitchen so I decided to join them after checking my appearance in the mirror one last time. They smiled at me encouragingly as I joined walked into the kitchen.

“You look nice,” commented dad.

“How are you feeling?” asked mum gently. They were both already sitting at the dining table and eating their breakfasts.

“Fine,” I replied and opened the kitchen cupboards to see what I could eat. A variety of cereals, porridges, breads and spreads and pancake mixes laid organised on a shelf. Families back at the Sectors would have dreamed to have so much food on one shelf. Ignoring a feeling of guilt crawling up my stomach, I grabbed the loaf of bread and shut the cupboard.

Dad glanced at his new watch then turned to mum.

“Looks as though it’s time for work, I don’t know what time I’ll finish,” he said and stood up from his chair. As if on queue a car outside beeped its horn. Dad leaned to mum and kissed her on the cheek then walked over to me and kissed me on the head.

“I love you girls,” he called out and walked out the front door.

“Bye,” we called out. After the front door closed, Mum turned to me.

“Are you excited for school?” she asked. I shrugged my shoulders and popped two slices of bread into the toaster.

“Not really,” I said. Mum stood up from the table and took her dishes over to the sink.

“Remember Tilly, millions of children back at the Sectors could only dream for an opportunity like this. Please try and make the most of it,” she encouraged. I sighed and rolled my eyes. If only she knew the truth.

“Yes Mum,” I mumbled and jumped in fright as the toast popped.

The next thirty minutes flew by quickly as mum packed a school lunch for me and I rummaged through random draws to replace stationery for my school bag. Before I knew it, I was standing outside of my new home and watching a yellow driverless school bus make its way down the street. I took a deep breath and walked forward down the path and through the white wooden fence.

The bus stopped in front of me and the doors spun open. I quickly glanced back at my mum who was standing at the front porch with a reassuring smile painted on her face and stepped up onto the bus. Immediately I felt a dozen pair of eyes stare at me and size me up. I ducked my head down and quickly sat next to a small brunette girl with glasses. The bus went to close its doors but a shout was heard from outside.

“Wait!” yelled a boy who was scrambling out of his front door from the house next to mine. The bus reopened its doors and a few seconds later the boy climbed on board and collapsed out of breath on an empty seat. He quickly glanced at me then looked away bored. The bus closed its doors and slowly moved away.

“I’m Maria,” greeted the small brunette girl with glasses next to me. She stuck out her hand and I shook it gingerly.

“Hi,” I said, “I’m Tilly.”

“Nice to meet you Tilly,” smiled Maria, “did you arrive yesterday? What do you think of Terranovus? Which Sector are you from? I bet you can’t wait to see the school, it’s simply wonderful! What happened to your arm?”

Suppressing my distaste for gossip, I plastered a big fake smile on my face and did my best to engage in a conversation. I forgot, have I mentioned my repulsion of girls?

Twenty minutes later the bus smoothly arrived at Primus Academy and I was in awe. The academy was beautiful. Completely made of glass and steel, the academy was built in the shape of a shell. Great big palm trees lined the pathway to the school and pristine beds of grass laid untouched on either side. It was extremely pretty.

“Tilly, are you coming?” asked Maria.

“Yeah,” I replied and joined her. On the bus she explained all new students on their first day at Primus Academy had to go to the reception first to meet the Headmistress and as she showed me the way I was barely able to pay attention to what she was saying, too distracted by the wonderful architecture. It made my pitiful attempts of drawing a school look pathetic.

“There’s only like 300 students here so far,” she said, “we have loads of subjects like English, Math, Science, Technology, Gym and Music! I love music, I played a real violin the other day, how cool is that? Anyway, you’ll love it here, the classes are relatively small, all the teachers know your name and everyone is so polite...” I nodded along to her chit chat until we reached the reception and I bid her farewell.

“Bye, I’ll see you at lunch!” she said. The receptionist behind a neat white desk looked up at me with a large smile.

“Hi, you must be Tabitha McKinley?” she asked. Suddenly nervous, I nodded in response. “Great! The Headmistress will be ready for you in just a moment, please take a seat,” she said.

Taking a seat, I looked around and admired a large fish tank sitting in the corner of the room. Perhaps a metre by a metre in size, it was filled with every colour of fish you could imagine. Impressed, I stood up and admired it closely, to appear so life like it had to be made of the latest technology.

“It’s real,” smiled the receptionist.

“What?” She had to be joking.

“The fish tank isn’t a hologram. When Terranovus was first discovered, the Commander sent the best marine biologists to work on the sea around Terranovus and they managed to revive a large reef,” she explained.

“No way,” I responded in shock. Tropical fish? Real tropical fish? “I thought they were all extinct?” I asked.

“So did I,” she responded. At that moment the door behind the receptionist opened and what must have been the Headmistress stepped out.

“Hi Tabitha, please come in,” she said with a friendly smile. With one last glance at the fish tank, I smiled at the receptionist and followed the Headmistress into her office.

Her office was modern and simple, it was very plainly decorated just like the headmistress herself. She was dressed in all white, wore glasses and had her hair styled in a rather tight bun. She smiled at me.

“Hi Tabitha,” she begun, “I’m Ms Zhou, it’s a pleasure to have you here. I’ve read your e-learning profile and I’m glad to see your grades are consistently above average, and my gosh, your graphic communication grades are marvellous - top of your Sector! And I believe you won Best Young Architecture Vision of the Year award?”

“Yes,” I replied blushing.

“Well, we’re very fortunate the lottery drew your name, aren’t we?” laughed Ms Zhou. “You’re going to love the graphic communication class here, I know Mr Bauman is looking forward to having you.”

Ms Zhou went on to explain the school rules, the timetable structure, term dates and assessment process for each subject. At the end of the meeting she gave me a tablet and explained all the learning materials I needed for the term ahead had already been pre-installed. She then produced my timetable and suggested we made our way to my first class.

As we walked through the pristine hallways to my English class, Mrs Zhou explain the school uniform was a key aspect in ensuring all students remained equal and united in appearance then kindly reminded me to pull up my socks. We eventually came to a stop outside of the English classroom and Ms Zhou turned to me sternly.

“Remember Tabitha, we like to reward good students at Primus Academy. If you continue to show the academic intelligence you currently show in your portfolio, you will achieve great things here in Terranovus.”

“I understand,” I replied. She smiled.

“Good.”

Ms Zhou opened the classroom door and I heard Mr Eldridge, the English teacher, talking about a man named Shakespeare before he stopped and looked at us.

“Mr Eldridge,” Ms Zhou addressed the teacher, then turned to the students, “class Eleven B I would like you to welcome another new student to our school today, Miss Tabitha McKinley.” The students turned their attention to me and I felt myself blushing. I don’t think I had ever been in a room with so many kids the same age as me. As they all stared at me I stared back at them.

“Thank you for the introduction Ms Zhou,” said Mr Eldridge, “I can take over from here. Now Miss McKinley, why don’t you make your way over to that spare desk next to Miss Waverton.”

I looked over at the desk he was pointing to and my stomach performed a backflip. You had to be kidding.

I stared at the girl, Miss Waverton, and she glared back at me with fury. She was the girl whose dress I tore at the ball back at the Sectors.

Screw this. Terranovus was getting worse and worse.