Dawns High and the Destruction of the Bees

CHAPTER 12

George Hum

Monday, January 4th—

I wonder what the first task is, I really do. It's a shame they can't tell us beforehand. I'm on the bus right now to an unknown area with all the constants. Well, there are 14 coach buses in total to hold everybody plus some staff members. Most of the staff are trainers for the upper grades as all of them are participating, their trainers might as well come alone. I've been sitting on the bus for hours now and Selena is sleeping next to me. Matthew and Emma are arguing in the seats in front of us and Roy is sitting behind me by himself. We chose to sit at the back of our bus so that there'll be less people surrounding us. Roy chose to sit by himself because he claims to be a loner. He really is one, but I don't think he needs to make it any more obvious.

Anyway, I'm playing mobile games with him, Matthew, and Emma. Matthew and Emma are playing together since this game is new to them.

"When are we going to arrive?" Matthew says as he's playing the game. "My back feels stiff." I'm fine because I often travel on the bus.

"Imagine how Aaron is feeling," Emma says in a cunning tone that sounds like she's planning something. I have learned over the past months not to mess with her if I want to live and I also learned that Aaron gets motion sickness. I guess this is why Emma is so joyful today.

"I win!" Roy suddenly shouts. I look at my screen, a bit pissed off that he took the opportunity to strike when the rest of us were having a conversation, but I guess that's my fault for not paying attention.

"Want to play another round?" Roy asks, admiring his new badge he got from winning the game.

"Nah, we're here, so we should get ready," Emma says. Our bus stops at a halt by a sign that reads: Payton Avenue, Alrabara. What? We are not even in Dawns anymore?

"So we'll perform our task in Alrabara?" Emma says. "Interesting!" She's the only one who looks excited. I kinda expected that we'd be at a weird place, but I didn't know we'd be in Alrabara. Alrabara is a small city right next to Dawns and it's rumored that people here go crazy for power. There are mostly weaklings here and I heard that the crime rates are very high, high enough that there aren't enough prisons and that inmates keep breaking loose. This place gives me the creeps.

Selena wakes up when everybody on the bus starts to talk loudly about Alrabara or the first task. She stares at the sign and unexpectedly, gives off no reaction. But I guess I don't know her enough to say that she's giving off no reaction. Her face right now could very well mean a lot of things.

"Students, we are departing here so please get your stuff ready and leave nothing on the bus. You will be held accountable for any of your missing properties," Ms. Grandel says. She is one of the trainers for the Sophomores. I retrieve my suitcase from the cupboard above me and exit the coach bus. It's late in the afternoon when we arrive, but there's no light in the streets. Everywhere is dark and there's no light coming from the windows too. It's not that late to be asleep yet, but it's late enough for the public lights to be on by now. (The environment we are in looks awful. We are at a swamp and the water is dark green. There is a horrible odor here too. It must be coming from the landfill by the swamp.)

"This place is like a horror movie," Roy says, when he catches sight of everything. I forget Roy doesn't like scary stuff, even though he acts like it doesn't bother him at all.(I see him carrying his luggage so that it doesn't touch the floor. Roy is kind of a clean freak.)

"They did say we weren't going to be at the most normal places and that things outside of school are going to be different," Emma rubs in. "If you guys were at the meeting." Looks like she hasn't forgiven us for running away that day. My body still pains from the many times that she zapped me.