Dawns High and the Destruction of the Bees

Con.

George Hum:

Thursday, April 22nd—

A couple of days have passed since the big event. Honestly, I didn't even know what to make of it after I heard the story from Matthew.it was so disgusting and upsetting! And he and Emma had to go through that? It sounds unbearable. How would going through it feel like?

I'm in Social Studies class right now. Everything has gone back to normal, for the most part. The field isn't in use right now because there are too many holes in the ground. Emma hasn't been talking much, nor has Matthew although he never really talked much. Roy even did all his classwork today and participated in a group event, which is so weird. We've been talking to Selena for the most part because Emma and Matthew had been hard to talk to. I mean, I wouldn't want them to talk much either. They should rest and when they're ready, we can all have a good time again.

That being said, I'm being surrounded by people asking me questions about Emma and Matthew, like I'd know! Aaron told the school the truth about what happened during the carnival, but some people didn't believe him. These people are going around asking for answers and what better way to get answers than to ask the friends of Emma and Matthew themselves.

"I don't know anything," I say. "But Aaron wasn't lying." I try to keep on a happy face, but I'm so tired having to say the same thing over and over again. The same guys keep coming over and asking the same thing.

"Do you have proof?" Betty asks. "Do you expect us to just believe your words?" She's gone back to being mean. Some people just don't change.

"I'm not them, how do I show proof?" I ask, trying to make it sound as friendly as possible.

"Eh, you're right," Harper says. "Guys, he's useless, let's go." Good, that'll get me some peace and quiet before another group of students come.

During lunch, the five of us get a table to ourselves. Somehow none of the students are coming over. Even Brandon and his friends are not here today.

"Did Aaron have to go to this extent?" Roy asks.

"Aaron did this?" I ask. Oh, that makes sense now. He's trying to keep the students from asking more questions.

"He sure did," Matthew says. This is like the most words he's spoken all week!

"How are you feeling?" Selena asks. She's got a huge workload, having to take care of everybody, even at night, sometimes. Her under eyes are getting very dark, well, all of ours technically.

"Fine," Matthew mumbles. The silence here is driving me crazy, it's so depressing to watch them like this!

"Do you guys want to do something later?" I ask, "now that the bees are gone forever?"

"Fine with me," Selena and Georgesays in unison. Matthew doesn't say anything and Emma looks dead. Her eyes bare no traces of a live person's, it's very scary. Her face is super pale and it looks like she hasn't eaten properly in days. Emma's just picking at her food, not putting anything into her mouth.

Suddenly, she stands up and throws out her lunch. She doesn't come back though and instead walks out.

"I'll go see what's going on," Selena says, and with Matthew, they silently walk to catch up to Emma.

"That must've been a tragic event," I say. "It left a very strong impression on them." I feel so bad for them, damn.

"Yeah," Roy says bitterly. "People like Hugo are assholes." The way Roy is saying this makes it sound like he's experienced something like this himself.

"Any ideas to cheer them up?" I ask. Emma really needs it and I do not like to see my friends upset, at all.

"Well food is not even cheering her up," Roy says, "what can we do." He's got a point. What else can make Emma happy that doesn't relate to food?

"Also," Roy says. "Are you sure the bees are completely diminished? I thought they were mass producing the bees in other places on April 28th."

"You're right!" I say, putting a hand to my head. "We have to stop them!" Let's see—it's only 6 days away!

"How? We can't travel to the other cities and do that," Roy says.

"Maybe we can do something from here," I say. "I remember Matthew saying the underground lab has a lot of control switches."

"Maybe," Roy says. What if Matthew and Emma forgot about the problem? What happens if there are bees in other cities as well? That'll be tragic!

"We'll just have to take this into our own hands now that they're gone then," I say. "We can do this ourselves, right?"

"If you know how to hack into a system, then by all means go for it," Roy says. Right. Only Matthew and Emma know how to do it.

"How about Selena? She should know something, right?" I ask. She's been with Matthew and Emma for years. She's ought to know something. She has to.

"Hard to say, but I don't think so," Roy says. "I doubt those two share anything with anyone." What does he mean by that?

"Let's go check on them," I say. "See if they've found Emma yet." I get up and Roy follows. We quietly leave the cafeteria and into the fields. Students aren't allowed to go outside, but I think we've broken enough rules and one more wouldn't hurt.

"Are they here?" I ask, looking to the left. I don't see them.

"Yup," Roy says, pointing up. I look in that direction and see Emma sitting on the top of the fence with her hair down. It's flowing in the direction of the wind. Why does this make her look so much sadder?

Matthew is sitting some feet away from Emma and Selena's just sitting at the bottom. How did Emma and Matthew even get up there? I've always wondered how Emma climbs so high.

"Matthew!" Roy shouts. "Get your ass down here!" Damn, you can be a bit nicer, you know?

"What?" Matthew asks coldly as he jumps down. It would've been. a cool move if not for the tension between us.

"Remember the mass production of the bees?" Roy asks. "Yeah, so we have to stop them, right?"

"Yeah," Matthew says. "I forgot when it is." What? Matthew is always so organized. How does he forget such an important matter?

"Get yourself together," I say. "Don't let that man, whoever he is, ruin you!" Matthew just gives a sad chuckle and then says, "you're right."

"Then we'll head to the lab soon to fix the problem?" I ask, hopefully.

"Sure," Matthew says, looking at the forest. I do the same, and wondering what danger lies ahead.