. . . Amnie Zhang, my friend from sixth grade.
“Hello, Amnie,” I greet.
“Oh, hi,” she replies.
“How was your summer break?” I ask.
“It was good.” Amnie replies.
“Same with mine. I really wish that it would last longer, especially after I saw that letter right before the day after the last day of the previous school year.”
“That’s understandable. Sure, the letter pointed out problems with the Anti-Trans Movement, but do they have to take it out on all of us?”
“Not necessarily. I mean, they could’ve just punished the government directly instead.”
“That’s true. Heck, I bet they haven’t even met us in their whole lives.”
“Other than the letter that our parents received, I don’t remember any interactions with them.”
“Me neither, and that only time was through the internet.”
Wait, I almost forgot something: I have to describe all about Amnie! She is a part of the Asian race and came from a Chinese family who moved here. Her medium length hair is black, and she likes to keep it down. Her t-shirt is plain white, while her blue shorts cover almost all of her thighs. There are some pockets inside them too. She also has dark blue sneakers on her feet.
As for the background, I had Amnie in most of my sixth-grade classes due to Covid. I primarily got to know her during the second half of my sixth-grade year. She's pretty nice like most of the students in my schools, and she's really smart like me. Amnie's also more of an animal person and the type to read graphic novels. Then again, it's been a while since I last saw her in one of my classes, so I'm doubting that last one. I think the last time I got her as a classmate was in seventh grade. According to Mrs. Jessica, she owns a Chinese restaurant. Sounds really cool, right?
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Sounds like that was the bell just now. I watch the doors seal shut and lock themselves up.
“Okay, everyone,” a lady’s voice announces over the speaker. “Go find a seat.”
Everybody does as they’re told while they become silent. Amnie and I find two seats close to each other, and we sit on them. Blue and pink smoke invades the entire gym as everyone watches. Inside the smoke, there is a couple who are apparently in their twenties, yet as obscure as they are, I feel like I already know who they are. Once the smoke clears up, it confirms my belief of who they are–Katrina Jameson and Jim Lessard. Why am I not surprised?
“Welcome to the first day of your new school, boys and girls!” Jim greets. “I hope you all will enjoy it just as much as we will!”
I hear a bunch of groans filled with disapproval, and I don't blame them a single bit.
“I know, I know,” Jim repeats, “transferring to schools is hard, but I guarantee that you will enjoy it!”
“And before you ask about our security,” Katrina answers, “we have already taken care of that long before any of the students arrived. Right when the clock hit 8:20am, we have guarded the entire building with a pink shield that you can barely see. Any intruders who will enter the building will be blocked from them. If they try to use any kind of weapon to break in, the shield will absorb that weapon when it comes in contact with it. Now for the students, you all are not able to leave and get out of the building.”
Oh great, as if this transferring shit isn’t bad enough. I look to see that many of the other kids have the same reaction as I do. I’m sure that they all genuinely care about their parents and siblings.
“Don’t worry,” Jim continues, “You’ll still be able to communicate with them through a tablet, which is placed in each of your dorm rooms.”
At least they all know how to get me and my parents to communicate away from home. I see some students breathing out a sigh of relief. One of the new freshman girls raises her hand. Katrina points to her.
“Does that mean we’re going to stay here until the end of the school year?” She inquires.
Once I hear her voice, I realize that it is Alyssa Morris, who is another friend of mine from eighth grade. However, I only got her in my math class during that time. Alyssa has dirty blond hair that is left at shoulder length. She wears some black glasses to go with her blue shirt, navy pants, and black tennis shoes.
“Well, longer than that,” Katrina explains. “All of you will stay in this building until you graduate from your senior year. If you are already in that, well, I think you know how it works.”
Goddamn it! It's like this first day just keeps on getting worse!
“Now let's get into the rules,” Jim changes the subject. “After all, who would want a school where misbehaving kids go unpunished? Number one: no talking when we're talking. This can get very annoying when students don't listen to their teachers because of the distracting conversations. Number two: Don't touch other people without their consent. At worst, it can get into the lines of sexual assault, which is when one shows sexual behavior without permission of the other. You can look up more information about that later. Number three: make sure you complete your work on time. If your homework is inexcusably late on the day that it is due, we will take away five homework points each day.”
“Speaking of late,” Katrina continues, “rule number four says, ‘if you are absent for a class, write a letter to one of the teachers.’ It will otherwise be counted as unexcused. If that day is when you have a test on a subject and your absence is not excused, you will automatically get a zero in the gradebook, and it will take a long time for your GPA to recover from it. Number five: don't cause any violent fights that will damage the school. Beating up somebody brutally would get him or her seriously injured. Same thing goes to somebody who records the fight while it’s happening. Number six: don't vandalize any of the school walls both inside and outside the building. This goes in the same category as touching other people's property without permission, and the more expensive it is, the more you'll have to pay.”
Ugh, can we please finish up the fucking rules already?
“Number seven,” Jim introduces, “don’t bring any electronics to school classrooms unless it is for a project. If you bring your device over on a test day, we will assume that you are cheating, and the teachers will give you an automatic zero for that test.”
“Last but not least,” Katrina finally finishes, “number eight: do not practice any religion other than our beliefs. If we catch you reading a bible, or anything related to that, we will take it away from you and donate it to charity. We will silence your mouth with a tight mask if we catch you praying to a god other than the transformation ones. Any questions?”
I see many shocked faces, particularly those who are a Christian. Why should I care for a bunch of Christian losers, anyway? They're just cowards who don't understand the real world. The next thing I watch is a hand being raised. Almost a second later, Jim and Katrina focus on the student. I already know that the person who raised their hand is a typical worthless Christian.
“Why do we have to stop practicing our original religion?” a typical Christian girl asks.
“Because they’re nothing but corrupt beliefs about our own!” Katrina replies.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” the same Christian argues, “and besides, you haven’t even met us yet. Plus, it would be a sin if we suddenly stopped communicating with Jesus without a good explanation.”
“We don’t give a shit,” Jim comments. “Be quiet or you’ll be in trouble.”
Dejected, the Christian shuts up, and this gives me a chance to look at her. Then I realize who was the Christian who argued with Jim and Katrina–Raelynne Tipton. Of course, it had to be her. Raelynne has long golden blonde hair with no bangs to cover her forehead. She likes to wear a yellow blouse, blue shorts, and a pair of blue sneakers. Raelynne's body is more like an athletic type due to her playing outside.
Raelynne likes to play soccer quite a bit. I remember that I used to play that sport back in third grade before I grew out of it. I also remember her back in both my sixth and seventh grade years. While I had her in all of my main classes in the former, like Amnie, I only had her in my last part of the school day, math, in the latter. I haven't got her in any of my classes since then, although we sometimes talked before I went there. In addition, I recall hearing Raelynne talk about 'Bluey' a lot, mainly in sixth grade, because she was a huge fangirl of it during that time, and she still is today! In fact, she literally can’t survive a day without watching an episode of that show.
“Anyone else?” Katrina wonders. Half a minute of silence floods the room.
“Really, nothing else?” Jim asks. “Then let’s move on to the consequences. We'll start off easy at first with a verbal warning. Then over time, you'll get a phone call to your parents if it keeps up. If that doesn't work, we're going to give you a detention slip, the first one being lunch detention and the second one being after school detention. However, if you do something that is truly horrible, the kindest fate you will get is a suspension for at least a week, and the worst punishment would be a full expulsion from this school. Do you understand?”
“No,” one of the new freshmen answers. “I have a question.”
“Okay, young man,” Jim asks. “What is it?”
“How can we get expelled if you locked all of us in here?” the same guy queries, and his name is Reese Raisor.
That's not a bad question for a douchebag who talks too much. While I can see the point of suspending us by locking us in our dorm rooms, how can we get kicked out with that near invisible shield in the way?
Reese is a very tall man. Not as tall as Ashur Upton, but still enough to be considered athletic. His brown hair is brushed and put to a taper cut, while his eyes are a dashing shade of blue. He wears a black t-shirt, some navy pants, and a pair of Nikes. With a handsome look like that and a decent set of muscles, you think that he would be my type of guy, right? Nope.
For starters, he is a very talkative person, and unlike in other cases, it gets very irritating. In fact, he had been the most disruptive person in my eighth grade first period along with Brantley Garner. If you make the two of them sit next to each other, you will frequently get them to talk about things that are not school related such as football, which is the sport that both Brantley and Reese play. I even remember having a crush on him one time back in seventh grade, and oh God, what came out of Reese was absolutely terrible. I don't want to even describe what he said to me because of how bad it is, and it was so traumatizing I got myself stuck in depression for months. Thankfully that message is way back in the past, but still, I can't believe I fell for a freak like him!
“That's actually a good question,” Katrina comments. “We'll show you how by using these to create an example from somebody from jail.”
Katrina and Jim pull out a staff that you would typically see in a magical girl show but with a Trans theme on it. Sounds dull and clichéd, right? Katrina's staff has a pink stick on it along with light pink angel wings around its tip, which has the female symbol at the center. Jim's staff is like Katrina's, but instead of having it pink, it is mainly blue and has a male symbol at the center of the tip.
“Teleportare Aleatorie!” Katrina and Jim cast on the same part of the floor, and eventually, the criminal who appears is . . .