Secret Academy - Deuteronomy

VI: Chosen

“Well that’s strange…” Kat was twirling her gorgeous red hair between her fingers as she stood with Jasper and Barbara by their desk.

Coco just arrived in the room and upon seeing them talking, he put his bag down his own desk and joined them. He was grinning from ear to ear, apparently in high spirits.

“What’s up amigos!”

“Coco! Jasper said he didn’t take an entrance exam! Don’t you think that’s strange?” complained Kat.

Half of the class was already present and waiting for the first morning bell to ring. Most students were busy chatting or gossiping, while a few sat quietly at their desks and read. It’s been two days since Jasper McCurdy was sent to this strange academy and have met his new friends.

Barbara bit her naturally rosy lips as she recalled something.

“Well, sometimes the exam is different. You know how it is. You didn’t take a written exam either, did you?” she asked, turning to Kat who was still playing with her hair.

“Well…no…but, they sent me to a lab where they asked me to replicate the simple flu virus…”

“They asked you to what?!” Jasper couldn’t believe his ears.

“To replicate the flu virus. It was easy really…once you have the DNA blueprint…” Kat repeated and giggled.

There was that matter-of-fact tone which he heard often, as if everything they did was as normal as drinking tap water. But nothing he’d heard recently could be categorized as…normal.

“It all depends on the student’s ability. I didn’t take a written exam either. They made me disassemble and assemble an AK-47 in less than five minutes. That made me sweat!” said Coco, and he pretended to wipe imaginary sweat off his forehead.

Jasper frowned. It seemed that everyone got in because of unusually high talent and skill. He wondered what got into his father’s brain to send him here. He felt like he didn’t belong at all…

His gaze fell on the doorway and saw a girl peering in, as if looking for someone. His friends followed his line of sight and smiled as they saw someone familiar. The girl noticed them and returned their smile with a brief nod and left.

Barbara sighed wistfully when she was gone.

“I really wish I had her hair…” she said, looking rather scornfully at her own set of wavy locks.

Coco quickly put his arm affectionately around her, pulling her close.

“She’s class B’s Snow White, but you’re our Bonnie Blue forever” he announced proudly.

Barbara flushed pink but was satisfied.

“Who’s she?” asked Jasper.

Suddenly, he remembered the scene he saw just after coming into the academy. He had almost forgotten about it.

“Ilse Schumann, one of the Principal students. Pretty isn’t she?” and Coco gave him a knowing wink.

It seems like everyone here is beautiful, he thought.

“Principal student…?” he was still staring at the doorway.

“There are four of them: two in class B and two here in class A” Coco paused and thought for a while before continuing “It’s sort of like a Student Council – maintaining discipline and order in the school and stuff”

“It looked like she was searching for someone…”

“Yeah, that would be Alice Molina. She’s their president. They’re bestfriends, I think” Kat answered.