Snippet #1331434

The orange rays of the morning sun crept through Charlie’s blind-covered window, illuminating her tiny room. The walls were a creamy off-white in color and the tree that swayed back and forth outside left its shadow on it over her bed’s backboard. Below the dancing shadow-colored leaves, Charlie laid snuggled up in her polka-dotted covers, clutching them close to her chest. Her long and curly brown hair fell across her face, shielding her eyes from the dawn. A few strands found their way into her lips as she moved and she unconsciously spat them back out again. It seemed nothing would awake her from her quiet and peaceful slumber, but the calming silence was soon replaced by the chiming of her radio alarm clock, playing some catchy indie song. She groaned and reluctantly opened her hazel eyes. It took a little while for the room and furniture to come into focus. She slid out from underneath the blankets and leaned against her pillow, rubbing her eyes and trying to clear them.

The place that awaited her was foreign, somewhere she was not used to. Just that night she had been dreaming about her old high-school, the place where her friends, teachers, and other acquaintances would find themselves spending the ever trite and boring day, forgetting that her time there was finished. She had been whisked away to a new world entirely. The world of T.H.E.S.I.S; a world she had been completely unaware of until the previous week, when she learned she had been enrolled there. She took in her barren living quarters. Underneath her double-paned and wooden-framed windows sat a stout and wide dresser. On it her mother’s jewelry box, photo-album, and her mp3-player were placed, though not placed by her. Her dresser had already been stocked with her articles of clothing, as had her closet. Beside her closet door was a computer desk, hers was bear, of course, but she had been informed that students who arrived at Thesis without their own laptop would have one lent to them by the school, because they were a necessary learning tool. On the other side of the closet was a mirror, which hung on the wall directly across her bed.

The Charlie that looked back at her was a bedraggled and sloppy looking one and she huffed, wondering whether or not she should even bother with getting ready. Her bed was so warm and cozy, and the apartment house that she was staying at was freezing cold. She kept telling herself “only a little longer” but that face in the mirror kept on telling her “you look like crap” so she gave in, went through her closet and found something nice to wear (a white shirt with red polka-dots, some skinny jeans that she stuffed down into some flat black boots, and a black fleece jacket), brushed her hair out, brushed her teeth in her own private bathroom (thank you for that), and slapped on a little makeup. She turned off the music that was still blasting from her radio. Before she left to go downstairs she took one more look at the place she would be spending the next five months living in. It was bland, that was for sure, but maybe it would only take some getting used to.

“Charlotte right?” The teacher who individually ran and monitored the housing complex Charlie was living in greeted her, as Charlie walked into the kitchen and headed over to the pantry for some cereal. Luckily for her it was stocked with sugary and unhealthy, sugar-rush, confectionaries, and she picked one out and poured it into a bowl.

“Right,” Charlie told her, then headed over to the fridge for some milk.

“Ah, well good-morning Charlotte,” Jennifer, which was her name, said to her, a warm smile on her face. She looked way too young to be a teacher at a place like Thesis. She had lively green eyes that were the perfect almond shape and void of wrinkles. Her silky black hair was pulled into a ponytail and draped across her tiny shoulders. She wore a grey tank-top and some plaid pajama pants that showed off her trim and healthy figure but her arms were defined and had some muscle. She looked independent and fierce. Jennifer was Charlie’s ideal role model.

Charlie sat at the other end of the kitchen island, high up on a barstool and watched as Jennifer continued to snack on her healthy apple. “It’s Charlie by the way,” Charlie told her, as she put a large spoonful of the cereal in her mouth, feeling a little guilty for being such a glutton.

“You just said it was Charlotte.”

“It is.”

Jennifer sighed. “Make up your mind child.”

“Sorry.”

Another girl who was staying in the apartment complex entered the kitchen, her sleepy feet dragging across the linoleum floor. They all finished eating in silence and handed their dishes to Jennifer to be loaded into the dishwasher.

“By the way,” Jennifer told them both before they left. “Since it’s Sunday and there are no classes, some Level 3 students volunteered to give a tour of Thesis to the newbies.”

“Will they tell us what Thesis stands for?” The other girl asked, a bored expression on her face (but Charlie kind of noticed that was pretty natural for her).

“I thought it stood for The Scientific Institute of Science,” Charlie answered, before Jennifer had a chance to open her mouth, with complete assurance.

“Do you even realize what you just said?” The girl raised an eyebrow, the first form of emotion she had seen from her since her arrival.

“…It was a joke…” Charlie defended herself, which it was. She had to quit saying things like that with such seriousness. She was already clueless enough.

“Ehem,” Jennifer cleared her throat, interrupting them. She looked up at the clock. “Well… if you two are going to go to that tour, I suggest you get a move on it. I think everyone was going to meet at around nine-o-clock and it’s eight-fifty now.”

“Uh yeah,” Charlie said, and headed for the door. She looked expectantly back at the other tenant, who shook her head.

“No, I’m not going,” the girl said, and for some reason the way she said it sounded like, “I’m not going because you are,” to Charlie, but she tried to ignore that.

Outside, Thesis resembled a small college town in many ways. The apartment complex Charlie stayed at was not alone. There were plenty of dormitories, apartments, and houses for students to reside in. The streets were lined with cars and trees, which were turning red and orange for the fall. The leaves broke off and fell onto the ground, littering the sidewalks with color. The occasional cyclists would wiz by and stir them up, so that they could get caught on the wind and flitter to somewhere else. The faint hum of music played from somewhere and Charlie could smell the familiar scents of coffee and vanilla in the air. Everything seemed so friendly, but somehow the campus felt quiet, eerie, and lonely.

She hugged her arms across her chest and briskly walked down the sidewalk, passing a few other students and teachers as she did so. On her left she passed a tiny park, with flowers, trees, and a fountain. All the plants were marked with a tiny nametag, so people could learn and observe what species it was. There was a girl sprawled out in the grass there napping, and two older looking kids talking beside the circular and marble fountain.

Finally, she arrived at the place where Jennifer told her the students would be meeting. It was at the library and study hall, on the front steps. She could see the three Level 3s there, talking enthusiastically to some of the new students, who were listening with complete interest.

“And now,” One of the Level 3s gestures with his hands, slowly waving them in front of him like some kind of magician, “I will show you all one of the most deadly weapons in the world!” Quickly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen, an over zealous expression of amazement plastered onto his face. “Can anyone tell me what this is?”

One of the kids standing in front of him raised his hand. “It’s a pen!”

“Good-job Captain Obvious,” the upperclassman chuckled and flipped the pen around in his fingers, like Charlie had seen some dude do on this commercial once. “No, no, what this really is is a simple high-tech and complicated mini laser, able to slice through any materials known to man, and some that aren’t. It might not be all too amazing or cool, but it’s one of the most important tools of the trade for an agent… Now watch!” Suddenly, he lunged towards the student who had raised his hand and pressed the button on the back. The young boy’s face turned pale, as if he was about to have a heart-attack and staggered down the stairs, ready to flee, but the upperclassman only chuckled. “Just kidding! This is just a pen… Didn’t mean to scare you that bad…”

The new boy grasped at his chest, trying to calm his heart and slow his breathing. Charlie questioning whether or not what the Level 3 did was just out of meanness or simply a sorry attempt at humor. Either way, she inched closer to the crowd, blending in seamlessly with all the other clueless faces.

“Anyways, lets get started with our tour shall we?”