Boarding School Resurrection - Boys' School

Jacky K. wrote:Congratulations, characters! Pack your jammies and toothbrush! You're going to boarding school!

There are two boarding schools in the town of AverageTown, Nonspecific:

Amherst
All-boys school

All students are required to wear a school uniform at all times on campus. For boys: white shirts; black slacks; black shoes; black ties; and blue sweaters. No exceptions! Show school spirit!

Character sheets will not be included. Introduce your characters through writing! You may use pre-existing characters from your own books or other chats, or you may create some normal schoolgoers.

The plan is to restart a little bit after where we left off. Seperation of the boys and girls schools is in effort to cut down on people having to go through pages of the other school if they are only active in one school or the other.

If parties from one school go to the other school, they will simply go from this chat to the sister chat and vice versa, providing appropriate copypasta and whatnot. Same principle for texts that go between schools, and phone calls, should such things happen.

If you weren't here back in the original chat and still want to get in on the boarding school fun... BY ALL MEANS, JOIN US. Just be aware that we want to keep the chat moving, so some days you may have to do a bit of reading to catch up, like in the olden days of yore. If you're interested in joining and need a room assignment, talk to someone in the chatbox about it and we'll get you sorted out pronto.

WHERE TO START:

Everyone has already for the most part found their rooms, and just finished up their first dinner of the school year. This should pick up back in the rooms just following dinner. Finish up unpacking, talk to your room mate, compare schedules...Whatever people do on the evening before school starts.

Yeah... that should be sufficient.

T.Mor:

After dinner, we went back to our dorms, and I was happy that I had someone I actually knew in my room with me... because then we could talk about all this... stuff... that had happened at dinner, because... that had been as crazy as anything.

I mean... knowing that he was in charge of the school...

I sat down on my new bed, unsure what exactly I should be doing. It had been years since I'd been to a school of any kind, so I didn't exactly know what to expect... and I mean, that school... you didn't sleep in that school. You ate most days... but not sleep.

I glanced up at Peter. "...So, What exactly do we uhm... ...do... now? Like... How does this... work? ...The uhm... whole... school thing." I asked. Yes, I was freaked out about the head of the school... but, I kind of did work with him being there at home...so... this wasn't that different from that... just... weird. It didn't stop me from having questions about school in general. And Peter knew things about stuff, normally... and was in my room...so... why not ask?

Peter

"We start classes tomorrow," I answered. "We just...use the maps to find the rooms and go to them, I guess."

It had been years since I'd been to a normal school, but it wasn't like I didn't know how schools worked. And it wasn't like a boarding school could've been too different.

...Even if this school was run by Mr. Face.

It almost seemed like one of those weird dreams that have people you know in them, but in unreal situations. In fact, the only reason I felt sure this wasn't some bizarre dream was that I did realize it was bizarre, since you tend think nothing is wrong while you're dreaming. I mean, come on...my team, my best friends, my girlfriend, and me all going to boarding schools run by some of our worst enemies? It was all so horribly contrived, it almost seemed like it couldn't be reality. And yet, here we were.

I looked over at Sesria, she looked back, and yet again I wondered what I'd gotten myself into.

T.Mor:

Wait... so... We actually knew where we were going...?

It struck me that that was probably in the envelope of papers I had in my suitcase, another one of my papers that I couldn't actually read.

"So... do we all go to the same places...? Or... Hold on..." I leaned over the side of my bed and pulled my suitcase out from under it, and got the papers out from inside it. "Is... was it all... here?" I asked, holding up the slightly crumpled pile of papers.

I hoped that maybe I'd be in classes with people I knew, so that then I wouldn't be alone... or... or look stupid or something. I didn't want to be confused and alone.

But knowing that Mr.Face was in charge, he probably made it however he did for it to be fun for him to watch. That didn't really answer much.

Peter

"It's all there, yeah," I told him. "We might not have the same classes, though, considering how many of them there are."

Come to think of it, I hadn't fully looked at my own schedule yet. Oh well, I'd get to it later.

It's not like you to put something off, my partner told me.

I know, but I just...don't feel ready for this. I don't want to think about it right now. Looking at the schedule would make it too real. Sesria frowned, but said nothing.

T.Mor:

"...Oh." I glanced at the meaningless garble of black letters on the page, curious as to what it was I was actually going to be doing here. And concerned about whether I'd be with Peter and people or not or... or what.

But asking him to read it to me would be a bit... I mean, It clearly had to happen eventually, someone would have to tell me what all that said on there.

After a moment, I went ahead and asked. "Uhm, Do... do you think that, maybe... you could uhm, read this...to me...?" I asked, looking back over at him again.

Peter

"Sure," I said. "Or I can just...help you to understand what the words say yourself? Er, if you want, that is."

I'd already helped Danae learn to read--given where she grew up, she hadn't exactly gotten the chance to learn properly--so I could certainly help T.Mor. Granted, he'd need a lot more than she had, but still...

T.Mor:

He was offering to help me learn. ...Which, actually... would probably be really good... because like, if there was this much to read before the school even started... then what was I getting myself into here? If I needed to know this much even to find the places where I was suppoused to go to learn things... then, could I even do school right?

I decided not to think about that at the moment. If I couldn't do school right, then I'd deal with that when it happened.

"Uhm... That...that would be good...yeah. Because...I... I guess that I'll kinda have to... uhm, learn... all this anyway...right...?" I answered. Maybe if Peter taught me to read tonight, then I could do everything right tomorrow, and I wouldn't do school wrong. This sounded very good. I liked this idea.

Peter

"Yeah, you're going to need it," I told him, walking over. "We can practice every night if you'd like. Here, can I see that?"

T.Mor:

I was glad to know that I had someone here to help me out with all this. "Thanks..." I said as I held out the papers to him.

This was kind of exciting to think about really... learning to read... But I wondered what he meant by practice... Was this not something you could learn in one night?

"So... ...how long does learning to read... uhm, ...Take exactly...?" I wondered, what if I wasn't capable of not being bad at school by tomorrow? ...Then what?

Peter

"That sort of depends," I said, taking the paper and sitting next to him. "Some people are good with languages, and some aren't. Some are just okay. Everyone's different. So it'll depend on how well your brain is wired to learn it. Here..."

I started reading the words on the page to him, tracing my finger under the lines as I did so. I remembered the early Pedla lessons I'd taken, and how the instructor never told me exactly what sound each syllable made. Instead, he read the words to me, and left me to pick up the patterns myself. Immersion is the best way to learn, after all.

T.Mor:

Peter started reading the words on the top sheet of paper to me, and running his finger along the line of little black letters so I could see where he was. I didn't quite follow how that was all working...because he was looking at the letters, and then saying what they said... and I mean, that much made sense, but just... how did he know?

I kind of ended up spending more time trying to follow along with his finger than actually paying attention to what the words meant which was a bit of a problem. I think I caught the word 'English' in there. and also 'Math'.

I continued staring at it well after he finished, still trying to see what exactly he'd been seeing in the letters. After a minute, I tore my eyes away from it and glanced back at Peter. "... ...I think...I kinda... got, uhm... lost." I told him, kind of worried that I'd done it wrong.

Peter

"It's alright," I said. "I can read through it again."

And I did, but slower this time. As I read, I tried to think of what methods I'd use in the days to come as far as teaching him went. I figured I'd make the classic large print, simple words flashcards and read them to him like I was doing now. Then I'd see what I could get him to read on his own. It would almost be like teaching a toddler, except he could at least speak the language already. So there was that.

...Though at the same time, it occurred to me that there were probably a lot of things here he wasn't familiar with...but I'd ford that river when I came to it.

((Actual idiom where he's from))

T.Mor:

Thankfully, Peter didn't mind reading it again... and I tried to pay attention to what he was actually saying this time, instead of following his finger on the page. I still tried to follow it, I just also tried to actually pay attention to what the words meant.

Pre-Calculus ... Reading and Comprehension... English 9... Physical Education... World History II... Science...

Listening to that, I had kinda gotten lost from the finger that was moving down the page. Oops... I skipped down to where he was at.

What even was Workshop? ...Like... a place for doing work...? ...Was... was that even allowed?

And why was I in classes with higher numbers when I never took part one of whatever they were?

I looked at Peter again after he finished it for the second time. "I heard more... that time, but like... ...then I kinda forgot to be looking at your hand....so... uhm." I explained, still kind of uncertain about how exactly I was suppoused to be doing this whole learning thing, and whether or not I was doing it right... "...Some of that doesn't... make like, uhm, a lot of sense...Like... why am I in history II?... ...and what even is...Calculus...?" I asked after another minute.

Peter

"Well, ordinarily, schools have courses that continue from previous years," I said. "And if you're coming from another school, you're kind of expected to have taken those already, or at least some equivalent. And Calculus..." I frowned. "That's a pretty hard math course..." Would he even be able to take that? "As far as the reading goes, though, don't worry about it. No one ever learned to read in the span of five minutes."

T.Mor:

"But the last class I actually... like... uhm, ever had... was like..." I had to think about it for a second. I didn't actually know what it had been called. "...I just called it school..." I finished after a minute.

If all the classes were continuations of classes... then, wouldn't I actually be really really lost for the most part? And as for that math class... I didn't even know what the word meant. Though...I mean, I kinda understood how numbers worked, because you had to do a lot of numbers to pay taxes right...

"...But what if I don't know how to read tomorrow... and like... I get in trouble...? For... for doing school wrong...?" I asked. I was really kind of worried about that whole thing. Because everyone else was probably already smart about all this stuff, and I was...not.

Peter

"They'll probably put you in special classes," I said. "If you haven't learned something, they're not going to blame you for not knowing it. Teachers want students to succeed. And...as long as it doesn't have to go through the headmaster, it shouldn't be a problem."

T.Mor:

It was a bit reassuring to know that I probably wouldn't get in trouble for not knowing things... But at the same time, the possibility of having to get my classes changed if they were too hard was a bit worrying.

...And I mean, what reason would there be to have to go through the headmaster for something like that...?

And if I was in special classes, then I probably wouldn't have a chance of actually being in classes with my friends who are already here... and then that would be weird... I mean, would they still be able to help me with stuff if I went to special classes? "...If I go do...uhm, special classes... will you still be able to like... uhm, help me with stuff...?" I asked, a bit uncertain about this whole thing.

Peter

"Sure. Any help you need." It wasn't like it would be hard or anything...

I was kinda worried about how he'd fare alone, though. T.Mor and social situations...didn't exactly go together. Still, I was sure it was better for him to take special classes than be stuck way over his head in normal ones. Besides, he would've undoubtedly been alone for a lot of those, too.

T.Mor:

"Uhm... ....Thanks..." I said after he said that he could help. I was still kind of really concerned about all that, but I guessed that there wasn't much I could do about it right at this minute, or at all, since Mr.Face was... was... uhm, all himself...

It occurred to me that it was nighttime, and that maybe Peter wanted to sleep eventually. ...And that we would be sleeping in the same room. Together. ...Without some wall between us. And that I'd be having to sleep eventually. I tried not to think about that. "...Uhm, if... if you want to... to sleep...it's... it's... ok. Uhm." I mumbled after a moment.

Peter

"Actually," I started, "there's something I want to do first."

I got up from the bed, went over to my luggage, and pulled out a black backpack. If you were to open it (purely hypothetical, considering I wasn't going to let anyone near it) and not actually search through it, you'd think it was just holding more belongings. If you were to search through it, you'd find a couple sets of clothes along with a few small necessities, a significantly high false bottom, and a variety of tools all neatly packed and ready for use. ...Well, for the most part, anyway.

I pulled out a small flashlight--military grade, just like everything else--and started a thorough sweep of the room. I'd noticed the doors were airtight when I first came in, but now that I knew Mr. Face ran the school, they took on a whole new level of meaning. Frankly, I wouldn't put it past him to hide gas dispensers in every dorm. Finding nothing suspicious initially, I grabbed a screwdriver and went to check the air vent itself. After unscrewing everything on the front, I found out it was secured from behind as well (a red flag right there). Nothing a crowbar couldn't fix, though. I inspected the vent; lo and behold, there were a few tubes that didn't exactly look like they should be there. I covered the openings completely with duct tape, screwed the vent cover back on, put my supplies back in my bag, and sat on my bed.

"They were gas dispensers, I think," I said to T.Mor. "Guess we'll find out if we wake up one morning to find ourselves the only conscious students in the entire school."

T.Mor:

I watched him completely wordlessly, not having had even thought of the possibility that Mr.Face would have done something like that. ...I mean, why would he want to kill everyone here? Everyone here wasn't like... tax evaders, or... or late to work or... bad or something, probably. I mean... everyone wasn't us...

"...I... you... you think that he'd do the... the whole school up... like... like that? ...Really? Uhm... not... not just... just us?" I asked, uncertainly.

Peter

"Well, it's entirely possible that it's just us," I said. "But if it is the whole school, I highly doubt he'd want to go through all the things that come with killing every student in the building. And there were multiple dispensers in there, so I'm guessing they do multiple things. One of them could just be knockout gas."

T.Mor:

...So, he probably wasn't going after everyone in the building? That was... well... not really comforting, but... like... sort of... "Oh. I guess that... that could make sense... uhm. Yeah. Uhm." I said uncertainly. It didn't totally feel safe being here now that I knew that there actually were things that were bad in the vent. "...So... is... is it safe now? With... with the... tape?" I was also kind of jealous that he had so much duct tape in his bag, just... chilling out... but, he did fancy work things and I didn't do those kinds of fancy work things, so I guessed that maybe it came with the job?

Peter

"Yeah, I sealed it all off. We ought to be fine." I stretched, fighting a yawn. I actually hadn't gotten much sleep the past few days. "Well, I'm gonna get in my pajamas."

I went into the bathroom, then came out wearing a white T-shirt and long, flannel bottoms. Made me wonder what T.Mor did for pajamas... I figured I could always give him a pair--we were the same height anyway. As for T-shirts, I never liked wearing them in the presence of others; you could see the scars that way. But this was T.Mor, so I didn't particularly mind.