Wandering Minds Slow Down

FALL

2019-09-18 11:20 AM

So, there’s like this school that’s not really a school—it’s really a place where scientists go to do experiments on these uniquely gifted children—they aren’t children, though. I say KIDS even though they’re all basically in grade 12—so that makes them high school seniors—everyone younger than me just feels like a kid, honestly. But anyways, the experiment went like this: a group of research scientists put 10 students in a classroom telling them that they’re all gonna be classmates for the rest of the school year. That’s regular, right? The students all already knew each other because it was still the same school—but that was prior to the experimenting period. The prior years to this had them all getting to know each other since they were 5 years old—so basically, they all grew up together! But the moment they get to class, they notice how little there are of them. What the hell is this girl saying? There’s only 10 of them? What happened to the rest? The classroom desks are laid out as a 4 by 7 grid—that’s 28 tables in total—but there were only 10 of them. As they all look around at each other in question, they end up dismissing it as just the other late students and they scatter around the room, either alone, or in their little groups.

Should I say something? Umm—

Just getting a glance at the room, you can already see everyone’s personalities from the way they hold themselves up in their chairs. Starting from the left, in the chair closest to the door, there’s a scruffy boy with a rat tail haircut sitting at his desk with perfect posture, only blinking and breathing when he needs to. Despite his scruffy looks, he’s actually one of the top students at that academy. Is she... okay? A few rows behind him, there’s a girl with a stiff mullet, bobbing her head to the music noise bleeding out of her headphones. I think she’s listening to rock music, but that’s up for interpretation. Interpretation for what!? Oh! And in her backpack, she has drumsticks sticking out, so she kinda gives off that hot drummer girl vibe from my point of view, but that’s also up for interpretation... In the seat to the right of her, there’s a sad kid wearing a really big smile, joking around, begging for the attention of his two other peers with each joke. According to his background check, his parents were never around and his sister hated him, so of course he would probably look for attention elsewhere—or maybe he’s just really having a fun time at school because there’s no one there who treats him like a fairy tale princess... but that’s also just up for interpretation. The boy blabs his mouth off to the 2 other girls around him who seem to be giving him half hearted answers as they do their own thing.

What time is it?

Girl number 1 seems to be heavily invested in her book AND is growing more and more annoyed at the sad boy, but she doesn’t want to seem impolite because she hasn’t really been all that expressive with aggression ever since the INCIDENT, so she kindly multitasks as she reads her book. Girl number 2 is dressed in stylish clothing that would borderline be breaking school rules because of how risqué it is, but it’s okay because... Because? We will get to that in a second—but that stylish girl has nothing better to do before class and she kinda finds the blabbermouth jokester a bit attractive, so it keeps her attention to his semi-funny jokes. It’s shallow, but in my opinion, that’s just how teenagers work, right?

I’m really confused... What the hell is this? Who the hell is this girl? I was just sitting here tuning out the world, organizing my notes, and eating my damn bagel when this random Korean girl in a pure white sundress with the generic straight cut bangs and freckles comes up to me, sits across from me at my table in the cafeteria, and starts rambling off about something that clearly needs some more context and editing—I just want to eat my bagel in peace before class starts. I don’t even know what the hell is going—I’m not even paying attention. Does she not see this—does she not see me wearing my headphones? Does she think I can hear her—?

Then in the back—all the way in the back—there’s a couple. A boy and a girl just making the hell out. On the surface, there’s not really much to say since their personalities are basically around the tropes of them being a couple because they’re together 24/7—they’re legit nothing without their other half—but it’s also kinda cute how the two of them complete each other—but ALSO, everything isn’t perfect. When they’re not making out, the guy works on his stocks since he believes that money can solve all problems. On the other hand, the girl doesn’t really like anyone else but her boyfriend—oh! And since the guy is always stock trading on his downtime, he’s ALWAYS stressed ALL THE TIME, so all he wants is sex from her. It’s not really that shallow or sad; this actually makes them the perfect couple since the girl just loves the idea of being around him as the guy is really low maintenance, and other than the sex thing, the girl just sits around his room whittling at wooden blocks, making weird little figures out of them... but that doesn’t mean they aren’t inseparable at school—like I said before, they’re together 24/7.

Why’d she put so much detail into them—that doesn’t matter; what really matters is stopping her because—

In front of them... She paused. This is my time to interrupt her— There’re boys—a group of three boys playing on their vintage, handheld gaming consoles from the past—our present—and they shall not be named for legal purposes, but it deals with a whole group of people banging each other on a stage. What legal purposes?! No one but me is listening to this crap. They each have their own little look, but they can all be summarized with their own film cliché-trope-thingy: The brain, the brawn, and the weird one who doesn’t really fit in anywhere. The guys would be called the geeks of the school, and everyone has already labeled them as that—and I’m labelling them as that too because I’m... I am... I’m just the teller of this story!

It’s already 11:25—

Anyways, the 10 high school seniors don’t really know what’s going on, but they’re careless students in a world that has no REAL problems—oh yeah, I said that this was a futuristic city, right? Did you? I don’t know. This is some time in the future, a perfect UTOPIA. I’m guessing with how much our technological advances are going, I would say it’s around the 31st century—but anyways, where was I? If you don’t know, then who the hell— Oh yeah! They all don’t seem to care about school that much since it’s a chill place and everything’s already been done, so you can kinda already guess their vibe. But then, their attention is immediately grabbed as they see 3 teachers walk in. The thing about that is that they aren’t really teachers, but they’re actually researchers in disguise! She points her finger as if this is a plot twist. "You can kinda imagine this already: 3 teachers walking in all at the same time with serious expressions is something that’s not too common for these kids, so they all freeze in place, sit up straight, and pay close attention to the serious atmosphere. ‘Welcome students—‘ She’s doing voices now? ’To the last year of your career as students... You’re now finally seniors and we are excited to give you your final task.’ The middle researcher begins speaking as the one on the left hands out course outlines to the 10 students. ‘This year is going to be a bit different; you see...’ The students look around at each other and then at the course outline. ‘One of you is an AI and your final assignment for this year is to find them. You all are going to continue your regular learning as the year goes on, but it won’t have any affect on your overall final grade since it’s supposed to reflect on your ability to find the one AI in your class!’ The middle researcher smiles."

I need to get to class... If I walk away, will she sit there and continue talking to nothing?

Of course, this whole statement causes the class to sit at it, stunted in silence, reading through the course outline as the unreal reality sets in. She’s following me... So then the researchers went over the rules: they aren’t allowed to leave campus anymore. Their belongings from home have all been moved into the dormitories to where they will all live alone, isolated in big rooms that would basically have all their needs met. A workout room, kitchen—if they couldn’t cook, then there was a phone that they could use to order room service free of charge, covered by the school—television, videogames, computers—basically it’s everything a teenager needs except for the social interaction because after class; the students are to go back to their rooms immediately. No exception.

I’ve been doing winding turns to get rid of this girl so she doesn’t follow me to class, but I don’t think she’s realized we’ve been going in a circle. I have to get to class soon, though. It starts at 11:30 and goes all the way to 2:50—I know it feels really long, but that’s fine since it’s only once a week. I kinda prefer it that way since it means I only have to go to school on Wednesdays and have the rest of the week off. This is also the first time I’ve ever been able to have any sort of break since I applied. I’ve been taking full course loads term after term. That’s 5-5-3; 5 in the fall, 5 in the winter, and 3 in the summer, and because I’m microwaving my degree, I’m basically on course to graduate in 3 years instead of the regular 4 it takes for a general engineering degree. That’s all I honestly need since I—I just realized something. This girl is wearing a sundress... in fall? It’s windy! She should’ve dressed heavier for the weather—

To the two students who were alone—the scruffy rat tail and the drummer girl—they didn’t really think too much about it since they didn’t have any friends in the first place, but what happened to the three groups? The sad guy making jokes to his female friends? The geeky boys playing their vintage videogames? The couple in the back? And... she followed me into my class... You would think it would start a huge brawl or at least some contestation from the students, right? NOPE! On the surface, nothing much happened! The students just accepted it and the researchers continued class as if everything was regular, but deep-DEEP down... we all know that it isn’t. And now she’s sitting next to me STILL telling me this contextless story... They still kept the classroom in order, but as the first term flew by, the students grew distant. The couple broke up, the geeks stopped playing games together, and the jokester and his team grew quiet... They needed to figure out who was the AI for them to graduate, so they started probing each other with passive, almost regular, questions to catch each other off guard, but they were just going in circles around each other. But then! She brings up her voice which echoes around the lecture hall. You know what? She doesn’t pause to let me respond but just goes straight into the next part of her little rant. There’s actually a HUGE plot twist to this whole story: They were actually all AI! That’s crazy right!?

Not as crazy as you following me—

NONE of them were human at all... She doesn’t hear me mutter underneath my breath. But the seed that was planted in their brains caused them to grow wary of each other and the only humans that were in the room were actually the scientist—actually, they weren’t even in the room to begin with! The whole world is actually simulated on a supercomputer, so all 10 of the students—plus another 300 or so—are actually just part of a whole hyper realistic simulation—

Oh! Right on time, Gabris, you’re here for story time... Exactly at 11:30, he comes in to interrupt this weird girl’s rant. Do we have another student who wants to taste my wrath? He laughs with an evil boast. There’s no way this girl is part of this class, if she was here last time—or if she even looked up our professor ahead of time—then she would’ve dipped—

Ah—uh... She stands up quickly. No! I am—no, yeah, I don’t think I am... Of course, she isn’t—she spins with her dress flowering around in a perfect circle almost hitting me in the face and prances up the stairs, out of the lecture hall doors causing a loud slam at the end.

At least she’s gone now. I’m not here to make any friends, and I thought I made that clear for the past 2 years in this faculty—I already brought up the reputation amongst my colleagues for wearing my headphones in the middle of the lounge, before class starts, and everywhere else that could be a place for socializing, but I guess some people haven’t built up their social cues enough—

Okay, class! Gabris’ booming voice almost makes me jump in my seat. Like I said before... The professor for the final class I’ll ever take in this crappy school. This is the only class he teaches for some reason which is weird since he told us that he’s on a tenure. A round face, dark brown bushy beard, wavy hair, and a... a well-fed body. If I were to describe what he looked like in a quick minute, I would say that he looks like a budget Mack Tayipianatis that went slightly above budget and now we’re in debt, so his only purpose is to just give us a hard time. This class isn’t going to be a slice of cake walk in the park or... something like that. The hell just happened? This ain’t a fairy tale, you got that? Things aren’t just going to magically click in your head and you’ll become this sort of super genius over night. This world is meticulously designed to give you more and more road bumps until you get to a gravel road, and even then, after your hours and hours of hard work, thousands of cups of coffee—which you should not be drinking in the first place because it is incredibly UNHEALTHY for you—and late nights of studying, nothing will probably come to flourish. Says you. You just put five creamers in your coffee throughout that whole monologue. Nothing will line up—AND if something DOES end up lining up, then it’s only lining up just to fuck you over! He slams his hand down on the lecture table in front of him... Are professors allowed to swear at us? Just like how I designed my classes... this won’t be fun.

You’re supposed to have fun with these things, aren’t you? You know those sayings, right? If you do what you love for a living, then you won’t work a day in your life. Of course, I don’t believe in that crap; just trying to do what you love for a living only adds onto the stress, in my opinion. Actually, doing something like this—engineering—would lead to a more relaxed life since I don’t have to focus on being good at what I love because only the people who are GOOD at what they love are able to do it for a living. That’s basically me just being doubtful about myself saying that I’m not good enough to do what I love for a living, but either way, it just adds stress whenever I think about it... or maybe that’s just my greed desiring me to be the best at things. I mean, I don’t think it’s too bad to be greedy about trying to be the best; it gives motivation; it gives reason—

Just kidding! What? Did Gabris just switch out with a more... softer speaking double while I was wandering in thought? What the heck are you doing all the way up there? I’m in the exact center of the lecture hall; exactly 15 rows from the front. Come down here! There’s lots of space! What the hell is this cuddly bear aura I’m getting from him? I knew something was off. There’s no way this is the same guy from last week. Is there a possibility that the real Professor Gabris was actually kidnapped and murdered by this psychopathic bipolar bear? That’s better. I made my way to the front—there’s just no way, right? Is this some sort of trick? Now I don’t have to project my voice as much. You are doing me a huge favour. So, was the whole first class all just a lie? What’s wrong?

The final... My words couldn’t come out like, What the hell happened to you just now? or Who the hell are you? Where is the real Professor Gabris?! I was only able to get out those simple words on my tablet in front of me.

Oh! The 50% final I mentioned last week was a lie! Gabris laughs with an airy whistle. It’s just a simple 15%! What the hell!? That was the main reason the whole class dropped out! He actually made me change my whole schedule around because I thought this class was going to be hard. I pushed around my chores for this! I’m not exaggerating either, I’m barely getting any work done on the farm!

But you were... My words—WORDS, COME OUT NORMALLY! But... What? Why?

I have tenure, I can basically do whatever I want! He laughs the airy tone again. But why did you stay? You could’ve left and had a little break.

I can’t do that. I can’t do that.

I mean, it’s pretty easy. You can just go to your advisor and request to drop—you can also put in a big complaint for me. Gabris turns around to start writing on the board. That would be a really big help.

Why?

Just to... He stops writing out the topic of this class on the board as he looks down at the chalk on the... chalk rail. Test out the tenure—but you didn’t answer my question! Why is it so important to him!?

This is my last class before I graduate. I’m not going to drop out just because you feel like— I’m being rude... but screw it. Playing games...

Ah... He taps the chalk in his hand on the side of his head leaving dust on his temple. So, you’re one of those kids. What the hell does he mean by that? You’re just here to get your degree and out, right?

That’s absolutely right, it’s not a completely new concept, and there’s nothing wrong with it so don’t make it sound like it is. Sure.

That’s pretty funny... He continues writing out the course title on the board. You guys are so quick to get out of here and start working your 9 to 5, aren’t you?

I’m not that simple, but... I don’t know... "I just don’t want to have to