Log 8: Boredom

Idree fitted a wavy black wig onto Saturn's head. It wasn't comfortable. Why did she have to wear it anyway? Would red hair stand out that much? Maybe Idree knew.

"Does my hair stand out too much?" Saturn stared up at Idree.

"Well, redheads aren't common nowadays," her caretaker explained. "So, yes."

"This wig isn't comfortable. I don't want to wear it..."

"It's for your safety, Saturn," Idree said. "With Index's help, we got you registered as a transfer student at an elementary school nearby. You'll start tomorrow morning."

"What's school like?"

"You go to a large gray building and sit for several hours learning things. After that, you come home, do homework, eat supper, and sleep."

"Oh..."

Saturn's eyes glazed over during the attempted visualization. It sounded incredibly boring. So all she had to look forward to was sitting around for long periods of time. How annoying. But, soon, Kairo would be back and she could thank him, so she'd try her best to stay safe. Saturn rubbed her eyes and yawned. It was already half-past six.

"You want to go to bed?" Idree asked.

"Mm-hmm."

"Alright, I won't stop you. Get as much rest as you can before morning."

"Okay. Night-night," Saturn said, departing to the guest bedroom.

The girl climbed onto the guest bed and tucked herself in. The new bed was cozy. Perhaps as soft as Kairo’s. Maybe softer. No, even if it was, it didn't matter. It wasn't the same since she had already slept in a bed before. Even if the old bed was burned, she knew this bed didn't hold the same memories of amazement that the other did. Though Saturn was young, she fully understood that the initial amazement and joy of something new could only be experienced once. Or, so she thought.

***

Idree's phone buzzed four times before she answered it.

"Hello?" Idree asked.

"Salutations my dear daughter. How are you?"

"I'm doing fine. What about you?"

"Not bad at all. I just wanted to call and check in on my little girl," Lady Alexandria said in a terribly condescending tone.

"Well, you called at a bad time. Goodnight."

"Oh, dear. What's—"

Idree ended the call. She didn't want to speak to her mother right then, not at all. The phone was going to ring again, but she would ignore it until her mother stopped calling. It was strange though. Lady Alexandria never called her. So why now? Did she learn about the call from earlier? Was she angry? But then, why would she take that anger out on Idree instead of Mr. Cornwell? Idree sighed. It didn't matter why. She had more important things to do.

Idree continued stitching small tracking devices into Saturn's uniform. She put them under buttons so that they would have less of a chance to be found. Once she finished that, she moved to Saturn's phone and put a phone grip onto the back before carefully tucking it into Saturn's backpack.

***

In the morning, Idree helped Saturn dress before school. She was still very tired. She didn't understand why she had to go to this school place. It sounded so dull. Once the backpack was on, Saturn was ushered to the breakfast table.

Idree had prepared peach slices, bacon, eggs, milk, and a grilled cheese for breakfast. It was good, but it would've been better had Saturn been more awake. She tried to eat somewhat slowly in the beginning, but she learned, by means of Idree, that that would cost her getting to school on time. Apparently, that was bad for some reason. Nonetheless, Saturn did eat breakfast faster. She was full after only half the plate.

"Do you want to save it for later?" Idree asked.

“Mm-hmm."

Saturn slid from her seat and washed her hands in the bathroom. Although she had no clue what school would be like, she couldn't go with unwashed hands. The Professor would have appreciated her good behavior. Saturn shook her head and slapped her cheeks. She wasn't in that lab anymore. It didn't matter what the Professor thought. He wasn't here now, he didn't hold any power anymore.

It wasn't long before they went to the car. According to Idree, even though they could walk, it would be better if they didn't because of hommedity or whatever she called it. It had something to do with the air being thick.

During the ride, Saturn stared out the window. She was amazed how fast the buildings went by. Cars were amazing.

"How wondrous..." Saturn muttered, eyes wide.

"When'd you learn that word?" Idree asked, curious. "Sorry if I seem condescending, but I had assumed your vocabulary was small because of where you grew up."

"No, that makes sense. I don't talk a lot. But, the Professor taught me a lot of words."

"Who's this professor fellow?"

"A very scary man."

"Do you remember his name?"

"Everyone just called him Professor, so no. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, kiddo."

Eventually, the car turned into a parking lot. Saturn stared at the large building she would soon be learning in. It was tall and gray, just as Idree had described. Small square windows lined the outer walls. It was quite unsightly.

"Is this it?" Saturn asked, hoping it wasn't.

"Unfortunately for you, yes."

"Oh, okay..."

A woman in a plain white dress and black heels exited the building and began walking toward them.

"It looks like one of your teachers is coming to get you," Idree said, pointing at the woman. "Are you ready?"

"I guess..." Saturn stared at the teacher.

Idree hopped out and headed around the car, opening Saturn’s door. The bored girl slid from her seat. The woman neared ever closer. Saturn hid behind Idree and gripped her uniform's skirt. The teacher walked up and shook Idree's hand.

"Hello, Ms. Alexandria. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Anne Kingsley," the woman greeted. "Is this girl Jessie Kighte?"

"Yes," Idree confirmed. "She's a little shy."

Saturn was confused. Her name wasn't Jessie Kighte? Perhaps this was part of keeping her safe? Well, she'd try to play along if it helped her stay away from Perraden.

Saturn stepped out from behind Idree and stared up at the teacher. "What do I do?"

Idree smiled. "Follow Ms. Kingsley and try to get along with the other students. Have good first day.”

"Okay."

Idree got back into the car, but the vehicle didn’t drive until Saturn and her teacher were securely in the building.

The interior walls and floors were somewhat unkempt, something the Professor never would've stood for. It was actually gross to look at in some areas. Metal boxes lined the walls just past the entrance. Anne directed Saturn to one.

"This is your locker," she said.

"What's a locker?" Saturn asked.

"Oh, uh, you don't know what a locker is?"

"Uh-uh." Saturn shook her head.

Anne furrowed her brow. "Well, since you're a transfer student, you'll need to register your thumb print in the principal's office. The IT team will handle it from there. For now, you don't need it."

"Okay."

If she didn't need it now, why did she need it ever? This felt pointless. It wasn't long before Saturn was led into a classroom. It was as drab as the rest of the building. A gray room with windows on the far wall and many desks as decorations.

Everyone in the room looked to be the same age as Saturn. When she and the teacher entered, the other students fell silent exceptionally quickly.

"Good morning class," Teacher Anne began. “Please give a warm welcome to Jessie Kighte. She's a transfer student who will be learning with all of you for the foreseeable future. Please treat her with the utmost kindness."

"Yes, ma'am!" the students said in unison.

Anne led Saturn to a window seat one row from the back. Now sitting, Saturn started counting heads. Each row had five students and there were five rows in total, thus there were 24 students, excluding herself. Now that that was done, she had nothing left to do. Plus, she was still very tired.

Anne was saying something, but Saturn couldn't pay attention. It was too hard to be awake this early, and also process things. She couldn't manage it. Saturn let her head lean forward and closed her eyes. She'd take a small nap. No harm in that. Not at all.

"Wake up," the girl to her left shook her shoulder. "If Ms. Kingsley catches you sleeping, you'll be in for it for sure! My name's Sammy, by the way."

Saturn opened her eyes and looked at her neighbor. She had black hair pulled into two pigtails. Sammy smiled at Saturn.

"But, I'm tired," Saturn whispered back.

"Doesn't matter. You don't want to be punished by Ms. Kingsley, do you?"

"What would happen?"

"You'll get detent—"

"Girls," Ms. Anne sternly interrupted, slowly spinning a piece of chalk in her hand. "For speaking in class, you'll both receive detention after class."

Sammy's face turned bright red and she stared into her lap. Saturn was confused. Anne had been so much nicer before. Did she act stern around her students only while teaching? Or, was she just being nice for no reason earlier? It was very strange.

Hours passed. Occasionally activities would occur, but they mostly sat. It was actually quite uninteresting to Saturn, though all the other kids seemed to enjoy the classes. Maybe Saturn was just too tired? She wasn't sure.

At some point, without Saturn noticing, school came to an end. Unfortunately, the boredom was probably going to continue since she and Sammy were told to stay for detention. Then again, based on what Sammy had said, detention should at least be interesting.

"Girls, why were you talking?" Anne asked.

Sammy looked to the side, too nervous to speak.

"I am very tired and I was falling asleep earlier. Sammy woke me," Saturn stated.

Anne's eyes narrowed. "Sammy, is this true?"

"Yes..." she muttered.

Ms. Anne sighed and shook her head. "Well then, you two will stay for another twenty minutes. I'll quiz you on math. Take two of the front seats."

Saturn's heart fell. More school? This was misery. She looked over to see if Sammy was as mortified, but she was shocked to find her happily smiling. Was she expecting something worse? What was worse?!

"I don't expect either of you to answer this, but if you can, without calculators, then I'll let you go early," Ms. Anne explained, marking up the chalkboard.

She wrote: "There are five people at a party. If everyone shakes hands one time with all of the other partygoers, how many handshakes occurred?"

"10," Saturn answered in under a second.

Sammy stared, eyes wide, mouth ajar. Ms. Kingsley's chalk clinked against the floor.

"Oh, uh. Yes. That's correct," Anne said, shocked. "Detention dismissed, then..."

Saturn stood up, grabbed her bag and walked out of the classroom. Sammy hurried behind her.

"How did you do that?" she asked in amazement.

"I'm good at math, that's all," Saturn said, knowing she couldn't tell Sammy the whole truth.

"That's awesome!"

Saturn quickly spotted Idree's car. Hopefully she didn't keep her caretaker waiting too long. She waved goodbye to Sammy, hearing her yell something about seeing Saturn again. Strange.

"School is boring," Saturn said on the drive home. "I'm glad it's over."

Idree chuckled. "Not quite. You'll be going back tomorrow, so make sure you're ready."

"Seriously?" Saturn asked, shocked, sad, and above all, annoyed.