Temporal Exploring 101 - Cultural Immersion

II.30 Disaster

On the morning of the first day of school after our return from the excursion to Wales, we had an Advanced Physics class in first period.

Ms Jefferson entered our classroom, looking serious and concerned.

"I need to talk to Fogg, in my office," she announced. "I fear that that will take all of the time allotted to our lesson, so I must ask you to please keep quiet while I am away. Perhaps you could all visit the cafeteria, if you like."

I looked askance at Natty, but she just shrugged, indicating that she did not know what this was about.

As she followed Ms Jefferson to the class teacher's office, the rest of us gathered in the school cafeteria. Nursing our coffees and soft drinks, we chatted and speculated about what sort of trouble my roommate might have gotten into.

It took almost forty minutes for Natty to return. She looked aloof and detached and distant. I knew immediately that something must be very wrong.

"So, what happened?" I asked, with a heavy sense of foreboding.

"Shit happened," Natty replied. "Turns out the School Council convened while we were away on our excursion. Turns out they passed that proposition pushed by the 'Concerned Parents Initiative'."

"So?" Mallory Carmichael asked. "What does that imply for you, Nat?"

"It means that's it, I am out. They passed the proposition. The new ruling concerning students like me will become effective as soon as it gets signed by the chairman of the Board of Trustees. Which is a mere formality and will happen just a couple of days from now. Jefferson told me to start packing my things already, except for the stuff I need for those remaining few days."

There was a big commotion, with several girls talking at the same time.

"Oh my god!"

"How could they do that?"

"That's preposterous!"

"Where would you even go?"

Natty shrugged. "They are going to either pack me off to another orphanage, or else to a foster home in the country where I am to attend some run-of-the mill secondary school."

"But they can't do that! What about your fellowship from the Chochet Foundation?"

"Turns out that my Chochet Fellowship is tied to the condition that I stay enrolled and study at this one particular school, St. Albert's. If I were to change to another school, I would have to apply for a new fellowship. The application process itself will take at least one year, and it is unlikely that I will be awarded another fellowship, anyhow. So, to repeat: that's it, for me." She smiled grimly. "I am sure quite a few people here at St. Albert's will be very happy about that."

There was a heavy silence.

"Screw the School Council," Jen Turner muttered.

"Yes, and screw that blasted Concerned Parents Initiative," her sister added.

Nobody had much to add to that.

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A / N : A short chapter, this one. But as I said, word count does not enter into what I regard as a chapter :-)

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