High Life | ✔️

24

"I'm a bit surprised," Jaxon started. "Is this your first encounter with politics?"

"Wait, so you actually agree with me?"

"It's like this too in the real world," he shrugged. "People who transcend the system either take advantage and ride the wave or they ignore it altogether."

"I don't understand. Explain."

"What do you not understand? I just mean there isn't much you can do. Unfortunately there aren't too many people like you in society, otherwise there would be an uprising. That's why we need the shallow people who don't question authority. There needs to be conformity for a country to run."

I sighed helplessly. "I just hate how things are at RPA. Could be better, ya feel?"

"Well, you don't have to obey the system. It's not exactly school rules, just vestigial, like you said. Hence respected."

I blinked at the Calculus textbook.

"But since we're having an objective heart-to-heart, want my two cents?" Jaxon asked.

"Sure."

"I reckon you feel a bit lonely because you can't find like-minded people."

"Are you kidding me? How is this related?"

"I wasn't done," he said calmly. "I could tell you weren't a Faction 5 from the very start. They're robotic people who won't concern themselves with the rest of the population."

"Hold up. What made you think I wasn't one of them? Are you trying to say that I'm dumb?"

"I wouldn't say dumb, just different. Faction 5 members love the system because it draws them together. They're all introverts with varying degrees of social anxiety, you see. But they know that they're superior both mentally and academically. The system brought them together. Number, to them, is power. They build on each other's intellect. So, for some, the factional system does good." 

"Why did you refer to people in your faction as 'they'?"

"Because Andrea," he said seriously. He halted too, for added drama. "I'm a divergent."

Laughter filled the room. I caught wisps of my own laughter, interspersed with Jaxon's deeper sounding laughter. God, it felt good to laugh. I wasn't someone who laughed a lot. This was my first genuine laugh at this forsaken place. Suddenly the room wasn't tense anymore and suddenly Jaxon didn't seem like such a bad person anymore.

"What about me?"

"That's something you gotta ask yourself, friend."

"Friend," I mused, remembering the origin of that title. It was birthed from hatred. But I daresay I was glad to have this insightful conversation with someone like Jaxon.

"Anything else on your mind?"

"I don't think you're a man-child or a douche," I said sincerely. "That day you found me in the male accommodations, I came from Elias's room."

"Ah, I see why you feel troubled now."

"I can't tell if you're being condescending."

"If it's any consolation, you'd be surprised by the amount of students here who have undergone cosmetic surgery. Most of us come from money. It's a small price to pay for aesthetics," he shrugged. "Sadly, it's only stigmatized when a male does it."

I nodded in agreement.

"You wanna know why?"