Normal (Book One)

Eight...

I was back at school after the weekend. I was quite though, not saying too much to the others. I knew this was making them worry, but I did honestly explain to them that I have a lot going on through my mind and I was trying to figure it out. I was truthful in telling them, I was starting to learn more about myself, my past that I had locked away for years and it was starting to all come forth, as if a door had been unlocked to some forbidden memories. They understood and did not bug me too much on it. They had their own things to be worried about.

The rain season was here, winter and it was soon going to be school holidays, mid year exams were going to start the next week and then we would be out for two weeks. I knew it was in this time that what ever Kyle was planning was going to happen. Middle of July was always the worst for the rain and he was going to make it even worse. I did not know how they were going to stop him, and I was half begging myself to see something again. It was hard however, it was not so easy to just turn on some vision of the future. I was not fully skilled in the art of seeing, and so we could not force it.

With the term almost over, our Drama class were getting preparations done for the performance of the plays. We were going to be marked on these, and this was going to be our exams. A few of the students in the class were stressing out, because they were scared they were not going to perform well enough, but I didn't worry, it was more stressful to stress then it was to just go on stage and do the best one could. Considering the tickets were selling pretty fast and we had to organise for an additional performance. A few students were not keen on this, thinking it meant more work, I loved the idea and I voiced it in one of the drama lessons as well, that it meant we can book the moderator in for the final night, and that way we had two nights to practice the plays in front of an audience, so we were more used to it on the last night, more at ease. Matthew backed me up and thought this was a brilliant idea, and slowly others started to agree.

At the same time we were getting ready for our performances, Abby's music class was getting ready for what the school called a Music Night. Bands from all year levels would play two to three songs in their bands for parents and other guests. They too were selling tickets, and had planned to have their Music Night at the festival theater in the city. I was excited for this, as I enjoyed seeing the talents of other people and what they could do with music. They too would be using this night as their exams, and would have a moderator there watching as well.

Moderators were higher up in the educational department, people who had qualifications that gave them the ability to mark work above our normal teachers. When you hand in an assignment for assessment, it gets first marked by the teacher and then sent off in a bundle at the end of the season and is then graded by the moderator. Depending on these marks, is the score you get mid year, and then the same thing happens, just more stressful and full on, at the end of the year. You work is compared to everyone's in the states doing the same courses in other schools and your scores are added to give you the end of year results, which then gives you the marks you need to get into the Universities that you have applied for, If you do not make the required marks, you miss out. Then you get a chance later on to apply but have to do some special test to be accepted in. In all, most people hoped they got the marks they needed.

For April and Claire their art class would be doing things differently. It would be at the end of the year when there was an open day on for any students that wanted to attend for the next year, it also was a time where parents could attend the school and see what their children were doing in classes and if the school was meeting up to their standards. To be honest, the school was not the best out there, it was basic, but that made it different front the rest. There was none of this, let's try and look better than another. It was our school and we had our own differences compared to other schools.