There were two rooms of beds - one for boys, one for girls. I was in bed nine, Annisa in bed ten, Hanien in bed eleven and Eliphia bed twelve. I tried to sleep that night, honestly, I did but I was too distracted by the electronic welcome pack James had issued us on his way to his own bedroom, which was even further along the hallways. There was an iPod like device that was connected onto Wi-Fi with a personalised password that we'd listed in our forms. The extra services, the school services, were incredible. There were syllabuses and activities and trivia games and maps and free books from the Writer teachers, free music from the Musician and free movies from the Actor teachers. I was awake until at least one in the morning before I finally convinced myself to try to sleep.
Even so, I found myself bubbling over with anticipation on the morning of our first lessons. I woke at around seven, with classes starting at half past eight. I roused Annisa, Hanien and Eliphia, who were equally excitable. Then we were off on our quest for breakfast. We found James in navy pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt at a table in the kitchen, munching on a bowl of 'Frosties'.
"Ah, morning," he gargled through the milk, "I was going to wake everyone at quarter past."
"I don't think we're the only ones awake," Eliphia noted, "I think we were just the only ones who actually got up."
"Right, well, cereal's in the cupboard, milk's in the fridge, bread's in the cupboard under the chopping board and the toaster, well, I guess you can see the toaster." James gestured to his left at the sleek cuboid of metal with rounded edges that we all presumed was the toaster.
I fixed myself some cornflakes and eyed the bookshelf in the living room through the kitchen's doorway as I ate.
"What kind of books you got?" I asked between spoonfuls.
"Erm, some teenage stuff and some adult stuff. The teenage stuff is mostly adventure, fantasy and sci-fi. The adult stuff is where you'll find all the romance, thrillers and mysteries. Get something down while you eat if you want," James offered.
"Maybe once I'm more used to the morning routine. A book will just distract me and I don't want to be late on the first - Eliphia how can you be finished already?!"
She was not the only one. Hanien had also finished her breakfast and Annisa wasn't far off.
"Oh, come on," I sighed, "I know I eat slowly but just come on."
James patted me on the back and announced he was going to go and wake up the rest of the class. Hanien and Annisa stayed with me while I finished but Eliphia said she took a while to get ready in the morning so she left to go get started. I gobbled up my cereal fast enough to almost choke me and hurried off to the bathrooms to beat the queues which were soon to crop up once James woke everyone else. Once we were dressed in casual clothes and our uniform cloaks, the whole class gathered in the living room to be briefed on how the classes would work.
"Obviously you're all of different ages," James began, "but we've talked to the teachers from your old schools and we know exactly how to continue with the education of each one of you. The fandom classes will be focussed mainly on media studies and analysing some of the most adventure-filled, action-packed books around, such as Divergent, The Hunger Games and the Gone series. Also, Narnia. I love that part. Today, the classes go History, English, Geography, Music, Tech, Computing and P.E. English will be taught by Ian McEwan and Music will be taught by a group job-share, yes, you heard that right, between McFly and One Direction."
There were a series of whoops and groans, in equal measure. Me, I was almost exploding at the fact that I would be taught music by McFly, whom I'd listed as my favourite band. One Direction, however, I was as yet undecided about. I tried to keep an open mind and hope they weren't as rigid as they appeared on TV. James declared that he was done and led us all out of the common room and onto the main circuit of corridors. These led us onto an ornate balcony that ringed around a high-ceilinged hall with stained glass of BBC television shows. There were digital noticeboards blinking all over the walls and more of those displays I'd seen on the way to the common room.
The classroom we stopped in was nothing special. Well, it did have a giant poster with the picture from James's staff ID card on it. Other than the decoration, though, there was little to distinguish it from a regular classroom. James gestured for us to take a seat at the blocks of desks around the room. There were five groups of three two-person tables. They were arranged with the long edges of two of the tables lined up together and the final table had its long edge lined up against the join, like a Lego brink stabilising the structure.
Annisa, Hanien, Eliphia and I sat at the one nearest James's desk. I swear we weren't sucking up. Honestly, the other tables were just flooded with people before we even finished the conversation we'd been having on the way there. The table was at the left of the room and was joined to James's desk which joined to the wall on its right edge. I sat in the chair near the computer end of his desk, which put me in a snug corner between the wall, the desk and Annisa, who was on my right. Across from me was Eliphia, who was nearest to where James was perched on the edge of his desk and next to her on her left was Hanien. Isaac sat at the end of the table that faced the front, on the left side which put him perpendicular to Annisa. Beside him was a boy called Tom who turned out to be from Motherwell, which is a town near where I live.
James slid the cap off the lens of the projector on the left hand side of his desk and a slideshow sprang onto the wall.
"So," he began, "Before we start History today, I'm going to explain how your Digi-packs, those are the things that look like phones, work. There is a scoring system based on the number of hours you spend studying and the results you get in your exams. You can use the points to win prizes such as free books, episodes of television shows, films. This is also where you're going to store the character we're going to make up throughout the year."
We all examined the Digi-packs and entered the names of the characters we'd come up with into an app that James said he, Michael and Benedict had designed. I'd asked James the night before to change the name of my character, since I'd been inspired by Karim Gecko and now wanted to set my character in the past and 'Martha' isn't exactly a traditional name. He said that was okay.
"Obviously everyone's going to be studying different aspects of history but I'm going to try to get round everybody today and find out how I can help you. I'll start with you, Eliphia." James swivelled off the desk and was suddenly standing over Eliphia.
He got around us fairly quickly and in plenty of time to get started on his imperialism through the ages.
Pointing to a large area of turquoise on a map of twelfth century Europe, he declared, "This was the great Angevin Empire. On his mother's side, that's Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart was entitled to the Duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony. The Duchy of Normandy came from his father, Henry II, as did the Kingdom of England and the Lordship of Ireland. Wales and Scotland were vaguely under his control but not officially in the Empire. The counties included in the Angevin Empire were Anjou, Poitou, Maine, Touriane, Saintonge, Marche, Périgord, Limousin, Nantes, and Quercy."
With each county name he smacked the projector screen with his index finger for emphasis. An arrow would simultaneously slide into place behind where he was pointing and name the county.
He grinned. "D'you like my slideshow. I spent most of yesterday on it."
"Yes, James," we chorused.
He giggled and asked if anyone knew anything about the Angevin Empire.
"I know that Richard the Lionheart didn't speak English very well," I offered, "Ironic isn't it?"
"Yes." James nodded. "Actually, I saw a book about him on your 'recently read' list. Be careful what you take from it though. Historical fiction is not always to be trusted."
I nodded.
The bell was due to go soon so James had us all tidy up our History jotters. Somebody called him from outside the classroom and he jogged out to find where the voice had come from. When he returned, his face was dark and troubled. He motioned to the doorway and said Ian McEwan would be there soon to teach us English. Before he left, he gestured for Eliphia, Annisa, Hanien and I to follow him. I broke off a conversation with Tom about Harry Potter and trotted out just behind them.
"What's wrong, James?" Annisa asked, the worry in her voice underlining how all of us felt.
"Nope," James mumbled, "Not here. Come with me. Now."
Even so, I found myself bubbling over with anticipation on the morning of our first lessons. I woke at around seven, with classes starting at half past eight. I roused Annisa, Hanien and Eliphia, who were equally excitable. Then we were off on our quest for breakfast. We found James in navy pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt at a table in the kitchen, munching on a bowl of 'Frosties'.
"Ah, morning," he gargled through the milk, "I was going to wake everyone at quarter past."
"I don't think we're the only ones awake," Eliphia noted, "I think we were just the only ones who actually got up."
"Right, well, cereal's in the cupboard, milk's in the fridge, bread's in the cupboard under the chopping board and the toaster, well, I guess you can see the toaster." James gestured to his left at the sleek cuboid of metal with rounded edges that we all presumed was the toaster.
I fixed myself some cornflakes and eyed the bookshelf in the living room through the kitchen's doorway as I ate.
"What kind of books you got?" I asked between spoonfuls.
"Erm, some teenage stuff and some adult stuff. The teenage stuff is mostly adventure, fantasy and sci-fi. The adult stuff is where you'll find all the romance, thrillers and mysteries. Get something down while you eat if you want," James offered.
"Maybe once I'm more used to the morning routine. A book will just distract me and I don't want to be late on the first - Eliphia how can you be finished already?!"
She was not the only one. Hanien had also finished her breakfast and Annisa wasn't far off.
"Oh, come on," I sighed, "I know I eat slowly but just come on."
James patted me on the back and announced he was going to go and wake up the rest of the class. Hanien and Annisa stayed with me while I finished but Eliphia said she took a while to get ready in the morning so she left to go get started. I gobbled up my cereal fast enough to almost choke me and hurried off to the bathrooms to beat the queues which were soon to crop up once James woke everyone else. Once we were dressed in casual clothes and our uniform cloaks, the whole class gathered in the living room to be briefed on how the classes would work.
"Obviously you're all of different ages," James began, "but we've talked to the teachers from your old schools and we know exactly how to continue with the education of each one of you. The fandom classes will be focussed mainly on media studies and analysing some of the most adventure-filled, action-packed books around, such as Divergent, The Hunger Games and the Gone series. Also, Narnia. I love that part. Today, the classes go History, English, Geography, Music, Tech, Computing and P.E. English will be taught by Ian McEwan and Music will be taught by a group job-share, yes, you heard that right, between McFly and One Direction."
There were a series of whoops and groans, in equal measure. Me, I was almost exploding at the fact that I would be taught music by McFly, whom I'd listed as my favourite band. One Direction, however, I was as yet undecided about. I tried to keep an open mind and hope they weren't as rigid as they appeared on TV. James declared that he was done and led us all out of the common room and onto the main circuit of corridors. These led us onto an ornate balcony that ringed around a high-ceilinged hall with stained glass of BBC television shows. There were digital noticeboards blinking all over the walls and more of those displays I'd seen on the way to the common room.
The classroom we stopped in was nothing special. Well, it did have a giant poster with the picture from James's staff ID card on it. Other than the decoration, though, there was little to distinguish it from a regular classroom. James gestured for us to take a seat at the blocks of desks around the room. There were five groups of three two-person tables. They were arranged with the long edges of two of the tables lined up together and the final table had its long edge lined up against the join, like a Lego brink stabilising the structure.
Annisa, Hanien, Eliphia and I sat at the one nearest James's desk. I swear we weren't sucking up. Honestly, the other tables were just flooded with people before we even finished the conversation we'd been having on the way there. The table was at the left of the room and was joined to James's desk which joined to the wall on its right edge. I sat in the chair near the computer end of his desk, which put me in a snug corner between the wall, the desk and Annisa, who was on my right. Across from me was Eliphia, who was nearest to where James was perched on the edge of his desk and next to her on her left was Hanien. Isaac sat at the end of the table that faced the front, on the left side which put him perpendicular to Annisa. Beside him was a boy called Tom who turned out to be from Motherwell, which is a town near where I live.
James slid the cap off the lens of the projector on the left hand side of his desk and a slideshow sprang onto the wall.
"So," he began, "Before we start History today, I'm going to explain how your Digi-packs, those are the things that look like phones, work. There is a scoring system based on the number of hours you spend studying and the results you get in your exams. You can use the points to win prizes such as free books, episodes of television shows, films. This is also where you're going to store the character we're going to make up throughout the year."
We all examined the Digi-packs and entered the names of the characters we'd come up with into an app that James said he, Michael and Benedict had designed. I'd asked James the night before to change the name of my character, since I'd been inspired by Karim Gecko and now wanted to set my character in the past and 'Martha' isn't exactly a traditional name. He said that was okay.
"Obviously everyone's going to be studying different aspects of history but I'm going to try to get round everybody today and find out how I can help you. I'll start with you, Eliphia." James swivelled off the desk and was suddenly standing over Eliphia.
He got around us fairly quickly and in plenty of time to get started on his imperialism through the ages.
Pointing to a large area of turquoise on a map of twelfth century Europe, he declared, "This was the great Angevin Empire. On his mother's side, that's Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart was entitled to the Duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony. The Duchy of Normandy came from his father, Henry II, as did the Kingdom of England and the Lordship of Ireland. Wales and Scotland were vaguely under his control but not officially in the Empire. The counties included in the Angevin Empire were Anjou, Poitou, Maine, Touriane, Saintonge, Marche, Périgord, Limousin, Nantes, and Quercy."
With each county name he smacked the projector screen with his index finger for emphasis. An arrow would simultaneously slide into place behind where he was pointing and name the county.
He grinned. "D'you like my slideshow. I spent most of yesterday on it."
"Yes, James," we chorused.
He giggled and asked if anyone knew anything about the Angevin Empire.
"I know that Richard the Lionheart didn't speak English very well," I offered, "Ironic isn't it?"
"Yes." James nodded. "Actually, I saw a book about him on your 'recently read' list. Be careful what you take from it though. Historical fiction is not always to be trusted."
I nodded.
The bell was due to go soon so James had us all tidy up our History jotters. Somebody called him from outside the classroom and he jogged out to find where the voice had come from. When he returned, his face was dark and troubled. He motioned to the doorway and said Ian McEwan would be there soon to teach us English. Before he left, he gestured for Eliphia, Annisa, Hanien and I to follow him. I broke off a conversation with Tom about Harry Potter and trotted out just behind them.
"What's wrong, James?" Annisa asked, the worry in her voice underlining how all of us felt.
"Nope," James mumbled, "Not here. Come with me. Now."
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