They give each other an odd look and I worry for a second that I'd have to resort to my more decisive means of negotiation, "Yeah, this is probably the transfer student..." "I didn't think ${he}'d be so...young." I never understood why that was always the thing that sticks out the most when people learn about my background. Maybe it's an American thing, but I feel like if I were in their shoes I'd worry more about a person's threat level instead of their age. "Well, we were told to expect that," the first officer looked at me, "Principal Gardner said he wanted to speak to you when you showed up." Principal Gardner...Daniel did say he wanted me to talk to a principal "Principal Gardner is your commanding officer?" "Uh, sure." "Then take me to him." *page_break It's a short walk to the principal's office... He met us at the front entrance; from here I can see where Daniel dropped me off a few moments ago. Principal Gardner looks surprised when he sees me coming from behind him instead of the doors where he probably expected me to appear from; but I didn't survive this long by doing what people expected me to, "Ah, you're the transfer student! I...see you're not a fan of using the front door..." He stated the obvious observations "You are in charge of this facility." I countered his obvious statement with one of my own "Well, technically yes, but I like to think of myself as, well, more of a...consultant for my students' daily lives!" He laughed awkwardly and even my guards looked somewhat uncomfortable, "Ah...anyway, uhm, why don't we take this back to my, uh, office? Away from the officers." "That would be preferable," I respond. I'm not particularly afraid of the officers, in fact even if they attacked me right now I am reasonable certain I could defeat both of them relatively quickly, but stand-up fights are something I prefer to avoid whenever possible. "Right this way, then." *page_break Next I stop the second we step into the main office. I see his office door, complete with nameplate for visitor's convenience, right away but what really catches my eye is the massive set of computer screens in what appears to be a sectioned off part to serve as a security room. Judging from the visuals being presented I can only assume it is the feed for all the cameras I saw on the way in here. There are even more cameras than I expected; it seems like not a single inch of the school is being left unmonitored. It appears that in surrendering to the guards I was able to complete a more thorough reconnaissance than I ever could have dreamed of by running around the school on foot, and I was able to determine that the commanding officer of the institution was no threat to me whatsoever in the process. *set memorized_school_layout true It was only after I was finished committing the scene to memory that I noticed the principal had been holding the door open for me the entire time, probably wondering why I had randomly stopped in the middle of the room. I determined that the time it took to explain it to him would be better spent just walking through the door and getting our meeting over with, letting him draw his own conclusions. Inside his room there were a large variety of trophies that the school had earned over the decades, with dates ranging back decades; I made a mental note that the principal's room was the place to go with I needed bladed or blunt weapons in a hurry. *page_break Next "So, ah, why don't you take a seat?" said Principal Gardner "I prefer to stand," I saw, ensuring my back is to an unoccupied corner and I'm able to keep an eye on the entire room "Yes, of course..." he said, "So, uh, I suppose you CIA types would, well, would prefer to just get to the point, I take it." *fake_choice #I'm not CIA "Right, my apologies..." #You would be correct "Well, uh, very well," He ticked nervously, "I just, well I have some paperwork for you to, uh, to fill out right here..." He slowly took a sheet of paper out of his desk and slid it toward me in a careful manner. I at the top I could read out my name... *fake_choice *if (female =true) #Jane *set firstname "Jane" *set fullname "Jane Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. He said the name Jane suited me; as in Jane Doe, the woman with no name, no past, no identity. Perfect for a fresh start; or so he put it. *goto nervouspervus #Henrietta *set firstname "Henrietta" *set fullname "Henrietta Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. He told me I was named after some woman from a long time ago named Henrietta Lacks, whose cells had managed to live long after she died and survive multiple splits. A testament to their survival instinct, although I didn't understand a word of it until we started my biology lessons. *goto nervouspervus #Joy *set firstname "Joy" *set fullname "Joy Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. *if hatedan >0 I'm pretty sure the name is meant to be ironic seeing as how I haven't smiled in...well, I haven't smiled. If he meant it to be serious then he had a very poor sense of judgement when he named me. *if hatedan =0 At first I thought he meant the name as a joke until I asked him about it. He said his hope was that someday the name would fit, and so every time I heard it I would be reminded of where I was trying to be. He wasn't sentimental very often so that moment always stuck out to me. *goto nervouspervus #Jeannette *set firstname "Jeannette" *set fullname "Jeannette Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. He said I was named after an American girl named Jeannette Walls, who was able to grow up in some of the worst conditions possible and still come out as a person, and even wrote a book about it. I never got around to reading it, but I admit I wouldn't mind swapping stories if I ever met her. *goto nervouspervus #Joan *set firstname "Joan" *set fullname "Joan Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. He named me after a woman who became some kind of holy soldier a long time ago. I don't know much about holiness, but I recognize the soldier part all too well; which is why I suppose he figured it would be a good name or me. *goto nervouspervus #It was slightly misspelled, so I corrected him *input_text firstname *set fullname (firstname&" ")&lastname "${mr} ${fullname}, you say? Well, I'll uh be sure to have them fix that," he said. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. *goto nervouspervus *if (male =true) #John *set firstname "John" *set fullname "John Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. He said the name John suited me; as in John Doe, the man with no name, no past, no identity. Perfect for a fresh start; or so he put it. *goto nervouspervus #Pinocchio *set firstname "Pinocchio" *set fullname "Pinocchio Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. I found out in our literature lessons that I was named after a fairy tale character who started out as a lifeless puppet but through hard work and a little help managed to become a real boy. I suppose he was trying to be poetic. *if (daniel_warden =true) I thought it was a really stupid story. *goto nervouspervus #David *set firstname "David" *set fullname "David Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. He chose David from the old biblical story, David and Goliath. Supposedly about a man who, with a slingshot, killed a giant with the help of his father, though the story didn't explain how his dad helped him; I assumed he provided some kind of sniper support from far away and let his son take the credit, though apparently he didn't coordinate this to his son because the son kept telling everyone that it was actually his father that killed the giant, but they made him a king anyway. I didn't really get it but apparently this kind of stuff is very popular in America. *goto nervouspervus #Rommel *set firstname "Rommel" *set fullname "Rommel Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. Daniel was apparently a history buff, cause he named me after a German general in a war from a long time ago. Apparently he was pretty good cause he wrote a few books; though if you ask me, he couldn't have been that smart if he wrote down all his tactics in a book for his enemies to read. *goto nervouspervus #Bruce *set firstname "Bruce" *set fullname "Bruce Decker" My name, ${mr} ${fullname}, printed at the top with big bold letters. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. Bruce was apparently the most boring and unassuming name in all of America, which made it perfect for blending in. I could see the reasoning behind it and thought it was pretty smart of him. *goto nervouspervus #It was slightly misspelled, so I corrected him *input_text firstname *set fullname (firstname&" ")&lastname "${mr} ${fullname}, you say? Well, I'll be sure to have them fix that," he said somewhat annoyed at either the printing company or at me for pointing it out. It was weird to think of it as my name; nobody knew what my actual name was, if I ever had one, so Daniel ended up picking one out for me. *goto nervouspervus *label nervouspervus Beneath my name and other bits of personal information, which was really nothing more than one-half falsified reports and the other half covered in black ink, was a list of the classes I would apparently be taking for the next year, assuming nothing happened to interrupt this experiment at a normal life; which, the odds of that were probably in the lower twentieth percentile. 1st hour: Family and Consumer Science 2nd hour: Personal Finance 3rd hour: Algebra 4th hour: Art 5th hour: Language Arts Lunch 6th hour: Psychology/Sociology 7th hour: History It said that I was going to be placed in the Freshmen class, since I was 14-years-old. That part was also falsified but not for the same reasons as the rest; since nobody knew my real age my appearance was the best clue as to how old I was, and apparently I looked 14 to most 9 out of 10 people that looked at me. "I'm done," I said, sliding the sheet back to him "You uh don't want to keep it?" "I have it in my head." "Right, of course...well, classes should begin shortly after the opening assembly, which you will be excused from for...well, for obvious reasons. Just uh hop on off to your first class and, I guess you can just wait for the rest of the students to show up. I hope you come to enjoy everything our school has to offer! There's no reason to let, well, bad histories get in the way of progress, wouldn't you say?" Well, we'll see about that... *page_break First hour... *goto_scene 1-4first-1