The Helix Assignment [Part 5]

The fourth day of exams were as bad as the first, if not worse.

While normal students were busy revising for the next tests (Add Maths, Advanced Compositions, Moral and Civics---the last two very, very useless subjects), six members of this particular class was unusually tense.

And it have nothing whatsoever to do with exams.

'Jen Lophat is a mutant?' Aghast, her voice dropped to a hiss at the last word.

Elsa was irritable. 'Yes, Aqua. She's a mutant. She's a mutant. She's a mutant. do I need to buy a tape recorder and record "She's a mutant" so you can play it again and again until it enters your thick skull?'

Joye's face was scrunched into a mask of worry as Aqua scowled. 'Does she know about us?'

'Now, yes,' Elsa winced. 'I felt compelled to invite her to join us. Open invitation. C'mon,' she added hastily, noting the looks on her friends' faces. 'I mean, she has X-Ray vision! How cool can that be?'

Yet another look was fixed firmly onto her face. Elsa sighed dramatically. 'One more thing. I have a feeling there's something wrong about Pierce.'

'What about now?' Aqua asked sarcastically. 'What, she has powers too?'

'I don't know,' Elsa confessed. 'I have a feeling she's one of us as well. But I'm all for inviting her in. You know what they say, keep your friends close, and your enemy closer.'

Joye looked skeptical. 'Oh, so now she's an enemy? And who's they?'

'Maybe not,' Aqua interjected quietly. 'But Elsa's right. She may be one of us, but I vote for keeping her. She may be a friend, fine. I just don't want her as an enemy.'
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Hiroki looked up as Pierce knocked on his table. 'I did it, Hiro.' Her voice was full of excitement. 'They've asked me to join them. Of course, I may have helped a little in that area...' her voice trailed off as she smiled knowingly.

The white haired boy shook his head in helplessness, and started signing away rapidly. Pierce allowed him to rant, or rather, sign his rant before she continued. 'I know. I know. You think I'm getting way over my head for this, aren't you?' Hiroki nodded solemnly, before signing again. Pierce's eyes widened as she mouthed what he'd signed. '"You are very reckless and have a devil-may-care attitude which, frankly, I'm quite tired of!"' Hiroki shrugged at her indignance.

Pierce scowled. 'Well, I don't know about the Devil, Hiro, but I sure as hell DON'T BLOODY CARE!' She paced the room. 'I've been working so long on this, I can't just give it up. Naturally, I don't expect you to understand.' She lowered her voice, and Hiroki patted her shoulder sympathetically. Within seconds, her smile lit up again as she got a hit. 'Oh, yeah,' she muttered.

Hiroki raised an eyebrow. Pierce grinned at him. 'Guess what? The teachers are having another meeting.'
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'And the thing is, half the class doesn't listen to me.' Mr Amh Arah bemoaned. 'Everyone's either sleeping or talking away. I don't like this class.'

Miss K. Wang, the Moral teacher, scoffed. 'You think zat is bad? Hwah, these people ah...have no manners....no respect....In my country, we call them to "tidak menunaikan janji". Hah! Even Jelami also like dat!'

Mrs Dory, the Advanced Compositions teacher, frowned in puzzlement. 'Who is Jelami?' She leaned to her side to Mrs Chimes, the Add Maths teacher. 'Do you know who is Jelami?'

Mrs Chimes shrugged. 'I only know Jeremy, not Jelami.'

'Ah! YES, YES, it is Jelami I talking about,' K. Wang pointed at Dory and Chimes, who exchanged exasperated looks. Sometimes K. Wang's accent was too thick to understand.

'Wang is right,' Mr Caroll Morton spoke up. A tall balding man in his late fifties, he was heartily disliked by his class. 'The boys and girls'---see the condescending tone he uses? "Boys and girls." Come on man, they're SEVENTEEN---'are very naughty and dislike to pay attention in class.'

'Yes, I agree,' Madelina the biology teacher said. 'I was telling them about the WONDERFUL chromosomes in us and you know what they do? They sleep in the lab!'

'Gee, I wonder,' Mrs Chimes muttered, having a big feeling that if anyone was subject to Madelina's "Wonderful" chromosomes, they deserved to be shot. Immediately. Or shoot Madelina. Take your pick.

Man, what with Madelina's Wonderful Chromosomes, Amh Arah's talking crap all over, and K. Wang's "Jelami", it was going to be a long day. Dory and Chimes exchanged looks again, and comtemplating killing themselves for coming to this meeting.

Suicide was nothing compared to this.