9. What Goes On
Everyone was very enthusiastic during dinner, except for Giovanni, who was again feeling a bit dumber than usual since he was so far behind in Practicals schoolwork. He had hardly poked around his huge plate of boneless pork chops, steamed vegetables and fruit salad, but Circe kept reminding him to eat his food.
Giovanni was too intent in catching up, so he kept working on his handouts. Many of the pages of exercises were stained with fruit juice already. When Staci, Traci, and Circe finished their dinner, Giovanni tried to leave with them, but as soon as he tried to drop off his mostly full dinner tray with the dishwashers, Ms Loeb seemed to materialize out of thin air behind him, looking down at him through heavy-lidded eyes.
"What's wrong with your food?" The enormous kitchen monolith asked.
"Erm… N-Nothing, nothing's wrong. I'm not too hungry, is all…" Giovanni tried to shrug his way out of it, and started slinking to the side. He wasn't fast enough. Ms Loeb, seemingly not moving at all, suddenly had his dinner tray on one hand, while the other had Giovanni by the arm.
"Go back. Sit down. Eat everything. It's good for you!"
"Hey! Stop pulling! I'm coming along, alright? Jeez…"
Most of the kids laughed openly at him, and the Thompsons and Garret stood by the door, looking at Giovanni being frog-marched back to his table. Circe poked her head back into the room for a moment, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh at him, and said, "See? Toldja! Toodles!!"
Fifteen minutes later Giovanni presented his empty plates to Ms Loeb, who only grunted and resumed her impersonation of a fridge.
By the time Giovanni returned to his pod, everyone was still buzzing about being able to practice the Act of Joining that day. All the kids talked excitedly with each other, and even the Thompsons and Garret seemed to be in high spirits and getting along with everyone else. Giovanni made a bee-line for his bunk, and continued working on his Practicals homework, even though he also had a ton of homework from the Furies. After a while, he got up and asked Circe if she had a piece of chalk, because he wanted to give it a try.
"No no no no no!!" Circe shook her head emphatically. "No Magick allowed in the Pods. Didn't you read the School Rules? No? Well, you can't practice in the pods."
"And why the hell not? Who's gonna know?"
"Oh, they'll know, believe me. Didn't you see how fast mister Wozniak came back into the pod yesterday, when the Thompsons tried to hex you? And, besides, if someone uses Magick in the pod, everyone gets punished. We are still waiting to see what kind of punishment we'll get because of what the Thompsons did to you. So don't even think about it, okay? Okay?"
"The Thompsons tried to do what to me? What are you talking 'bout? Well, whatever. Fine. But I still don't think it's possible for them to know that…"
"Just because you're bigger and meaner than us, doesn't mean that all of us together can't take you on, you know?," Bryan interrupted him, coming up to him rather suddenly. Giovanni was surprised to be addressed like this by Bryan, who was also on the shrimpy side, and a few years younger than him. "If you try to get us all in trouble, we will make your life miserable, you get me?"
"Look, kid, get off my dick, alright? I'm not trying to get you in trouble, okay? And, if you ever give me crap again, I'll stick you into a toilet head-first. Now, do you get me?" Giovanni couldn't stop himself from doing his macho thing. He even thought about giving Bryan a small shove for good measure, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed two things at once that made him pause. He noticed that the other kids were actually scared of him, and it made him feel rather rotten to be seen as the heavy. And he also noticed the disappointment in Circe's face, and he was confused to feel hurt by it. Since when did he care about anything an eleven-year old girl thought of him? Well, he was confused. So, he changed his mind and mellowed out. Instead of shoving Bryan, he patted him a few times on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, kid, I'm not gonna get you guys in trouble, alright? I just didn't know… But don't forget about the toilet, huh?" And then he smiled.
Giovanni didn't ordinarily smile. Apparently, it wasn't a "cool" thing to do, to go around smiling like an imbecile. It indicated weakness, or something, so he didn't smile. But, even though Giovanni didn't quite know it, his smile was nothing short of spectacular. It was like looking at the sun coming out at dawn. Bryan automatically smiled back, forgetting all about having been threatened just now to be dunked in a toilet. Circe's expression changed into amazement, and the older girls felt themselves blushing and their eyes sparkled for a moment or two. The Thompsons and Garret felt their loathing deepen, and now hated Giovanni even more.
All this for a smile…
***
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!!!" Circe again kicked Giovanni's bed a few times, and for good measure pulled away his pillow from under his head.
"Hey! Give it back!" Giovanni half-sat up.
"You sure?"
"Yes! I'm s—" Of course, Circe banged him pretty hard on the face with his pillow, and then ran away, laughter tinkling behind her all the way into the bathrooms.
Oh, crap, Giovanni thought, is she going to be like this every morning?
***
This was the second day Giovanni was in the school, and he started to find out how tricky these people really were. During breakfast, when Adelaide announced that Cerulean Pod would spend the morning again with Mr Wozniak, Giovanni began to suspect that his pod would be forced to chop up all the logs as punishment. And he was right. Mr Wozniak was waiting for them outside, and with a grin on his face he announced that they would be spending every morning with him until the logs were completely chopped up, however many days it took.
After everybody took a moment to groan and protest, they got started, seemingly willing to do away with the logs in the shortest amount of days.
Giovanni was pleased to see that everybody now gave the Thompsons and Garret all sorts of dirty looks, and every so often other kids would "accidentally" kick out and spill their piles of fire logs, forcing them to pile them up again.
Something new Giovanni noticed, and was a little bit uncomfortable with, were the small smiles and shiny eyes on the faces of the girls in the pod when he caught them looking at him. Well, at least Circe wasn't acting all weird…
***
After lunch, when they got to the regular classes with the Furies, Giovanni thought that he'd be in trouble for not doing his homework. But Agatha didn't even ask him for his homework, and instead launched into an explanation of the rather complex schedule they had designed for him. It was divided into many short segments of time, and Giovanni would be spending sometimes a few minutes in one subject before switching to a completely different subject.
"You see? The thing is that many of these facts can be linked together. Usually, the student has to make this links on his own, and that slows down the learning process a lot. When presented with all this related topics across different subjects, the student can more easily fit them all together in his head. So, sometimes something you learn in Maths will have relevance with something in Chemistry, or even History, and you'll learn everything easier."
However, at the end of the three hours of regular class, Giovanni still felt as if his brain had been slowly roasted and pierced multiple times. And, he also found out his punishment for not having done his homework: he had a pile twice as high assigned for today's homework. "Just make sure you turn it in by the end of the day tomorrow, dear. Now, grab your stuff and let's go. Professor Benoni is waiting for you. You'll spend the rest of the evening with him."
Giovanni was disappointed that he wouldn't go to Practicals that day.
Everyone was very enthusiastic during dinner, except for Giovanni, who was again feeling a bit dumber than usual since he was so far behind in Practicals schoolwork. He had hardly poked around his huge plate of boneless pork chops, steamed vegetables and fruit salad, but Circe kept reminding him to eat his food.
Giovanni was too intent in catching up, so he kept working on his handouts. Many of the pages of exercises were stained with fruit juice already. When Staci, Traci, and Circe finished their dinner, Giovanni tried to leave with them, but as soon as he tried to drop off his mostly full dinner tray with the dishwashers, Ms Loeb seemed to materialize out of thin air behind him, looking down at him through heavy-lidded eyes.
"What's wrong with your food?" The enormous kitchen monolith asked.
"Erm… N-Nothing, nothing's wrong. I'm not too hungry, is all…" Giovanni tried to shrug his way out of it, and started slinking to the side. He wasn't fast enough. Ms Loeb, seemingly not moving at all, suddenly had his dinner tray on one hand, while the other had Giovanni by the arm.
"Go back. Sit down. Eat everything. It's good for you!"
"Hey! Stop pulling! I'm coming along, alright? Jeez…"
Most of the kids laughed openly at him, and the Thompsons and Garret stood by the door, looking at Giovanni being frog-marched back to his table. Circe poked her head back into the room for a moment, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh at him, and said, "See? Toldja! Toodles!!"
Fifteen minutes later Giovanni presented his empty plates to Ms Loeb, who only grunted and resumed her impersonation of a fridge.
By the time Giovanni returned to his pod, everyone was still buzzing about being able to practice the Act of Joining that day. All the kids talked excitedly with each other, and even the Thompsons and Garret seemed to be in high spirits and getting along with everyone else. Giovanni made a bee-line for his bunk, and continued working on his Practicals homework, even though he also had a ton of homework from the Furies. After a while, he got up and asked Circe if she had a piece of chalk, because he wanted to give it a try.
"No no no no no!!" Circe shook her head emphatically. "No Magick allowed in the Pods. Didn't you read the School Rules? No? Well, you can't practice in the pods."
"And why the hell not? Who's gonna know?"
"Oh, they'll know, believe me. Didn't you see how fast mister Wozniak came back into the pod yesterday, when the Thompsons tried to hex you? And, besides, if someone uses Magick in the pod, everyone gets punished. We are still waiting to see what kind of punishment we'll get because of what the Thompsons did to you. So don't even think about it, okay? Okay?"
"The Thompsons tried to do what to me? What are you talking 'bout? Well, whatever. Fine. But I still don't think it's possible for them to know that…"
"Just because you're bigger and meaner than us, doesn't mean that all of us together can't take you on, you know?," Bryan interrupted him, coming up to him rather suddenly. Giovanni was surprised to be addressed like this by Bryan, who was also on the shrimpy side, and a few years younger than him. "If you try to get us all in trouble, we will make your life miserable, you get me?"
"Look, kid, get off my dick, alright? I'm not trying to get you in trouble, okay? And, if you ever give me crap again, I'll stick you into a toilet head-first. Now, do you get me?" Giovanni couldn't stop himself from doing his macho thing. He even thought about giving Bryan a small shove for good measure, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed two things at once that made him pause. He noticed that the other kids were actually scared of him, and it made him feel rather rotten to be seen as the heavy. And he also noticed the disappointment in Circe's face, and he was confused to feel hurt by it. Since when did he care about anything an eleven-year old girl thought of him? Well, he was confused. So, he changed his mind and mellowed out. Instead of shoving Bryan, he patted him a few times on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, kid, I'm not gonna get you guys in trouble, alright? I just didn't know… But don't forget about the toilet, huh?" And then he smiled.
Giovanni didn't ordinarily smile. Apparently, it wasn't a "cool" thing to do, to go around smiling like an imbecile. It indicated weakness, or something, so he didn't smile. But, even though Giovanni didn't quite know it, his smile was nothing short of spectacular. It was like looking at the sun coming out at dawn. Bryan automatically smiled back, forgetting all about having been threatened just now to be dunked in a toilet. Circe's expression changed into amazement, and the older girls felt themselves blushing and their eyes sparkled for a moment or two. The Thompsons and Garret felt their loathing deepen, and now hated Giovanni even more.
All this for a smile…
***
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!!!" Circe again kicked Giovanni's bed a few times, and for good measure pulled away his pillow from under his head.
"Hey! Give it back!" Giovanni half-sat up.
"You sure?"
"Yes! I'm s—" Of course, Circe banged him pretty hard on the face with his pillow, and then ran away, laughter tinkling behind her all the way into the bathrooms.
Oh, crap, Giovanni thought, is she going to be like this every morning?
***
This was the second day Giovanni was in the school, and he started to find out how tricky these people really were. During breakfast, when Adelaide announced that Cerulean Pod would spend the morning again with Mr Wozniak, Giovanni began to suspect that his pod would be forced to chop up all the logs as punishment. And he was right. Mr Wozniak was waiting for them outside, and with a grin on his face he announced that they would be spending every morning with him until the logs were completely chopped up, however many days it took.
After everybody took a moment to groan and protest, they got started, seemingly willing to do away with the logs in the shortest amount of days.
Giovanni was pleased to see that everybody now gave the Thompsons and Garret all sorts of dirty looks, and every so often other kids would "accidentally" kick out and spill their piles of fire logs, forcing them to pile them up again.
Something new Giovanni noticed, and was a little bit uncomfortable with, were the small smiles and shiny eyes on the faces of the girls in the pod when he caught them looking at him. Well, at least Circe wasn't acting all weird…
***
After lunch, when they got to the regular classes with the Furies, Giovanni thought that he'd be in trouble for not doing his homework. But Agatha didn't even ask him for his homework, and instead launched into an explanation of the rather complex schedule they had designed for him. It was divided into many short segments of time, and Giovanni would be spending sometimes a few minutes in one subject before switching to a completely different subject.
"You see? The thing is that many of these facts can be linked together. Usually, the student has to make this links on his own, and that slows down the learning process a lot. When presented with all this related topics across different subjects, the student can more easily fit them all together in his head. So, sometimes something you learn in Maths will have relevance with something in Chemistry, or even History, and you'll learn everything easier."
However, at the end of the three hours of regular class, Giovanni still felt as if his brain had been slowly roasted and pierced multiple times. And, he also found out his punishment for not having done his homework: he had a pile twice as high assigned for today's homework. "Just make sure you turn it in by the end of the day tomorrow, dear. Now, grab your stuff and let's go. Professor Benoni is waiting for you. You'll spend the rest of the evening with him."
Giovanni was disappointed that he wouldn't go to Practicals that day.
To Be Continued…
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