Chapter Two – Some Competition

“So, that’s differentiation and integration for you.” Mr. Rogers announced to his surprisingly compliant class. After the excitement of having a new student in their class had passed, his students had settled well into the class and for the first time in a long time, he had a hitch-free lecture.

Even Asher had been surprisingly well behaved, and Rogers almost found himself wishing a new student would show up again the next day if he’d get this same amount of peace.

“Assignment time.”

At this, the students groaned, and even the new girl rolled her eyes.

Assignments are a terrible thing, at least, most of the students can agree on this. But, to get assignments on a Friday has to be one of the most terrible things that can happen to a regular high school student.

“Do we really have to get an assignment?” Jemina whined, looking genuinely upset. But, before the teacher could say anything, Jane, a geeky girl who wasn’t scared of the cheerleaders snickered.

“Why do you look upset, Jemina? We all know assignments are below your station.” The sarcasm stinking to high heavens, her comment caused the whole class to burst into loud gales of laughter, and Jemina to turn an unattractive shade of red while she sent murderous looks at Jane.

While the whole exchange was going on, Aurora watched all of them with a very vigilant expression on her face.

“Your assignments will be sent to you on your student portal. I want all of you to attempt all the questions and submit it on your portal before 9 pm on Sunday. Anything later than that and the portal will not register your submission. Have a nice day!” the teacher announced, and at that exact moment, the bell went off, cutting off their grumbles and cries of protest.

Immediately the teacher went out of the class, Aurora gathered her things and stepped outside immediately, completely ignoring the looks her new classmates were giving her.

It is not in the nature of Aurora James to walk without grace. Even when she seems to be walking fast, there was still a certain grace to her steps that set her apart in any crowd, and the hallways of Bedford High School was no exception.

It was full of students leaving a class and going into another. But, despite the general clumsy atmosphere in the hallway, the other students still took notice of her and cleared a path for her to walk through.

Earlier on in her training, she had thought her face would be enough to get her whatever she wants. After all, her mother had told her as much. But somewhere along the line, she discovered that she was going to have to do more if she wanted certain things done. The natural thing to do, of course, was to redefine how she dressed, and it had worked for her since then.

The outfit always works like magic.

Aurora walked as far away from the students as she could, while still maintaining an elegant stride until she found an empty room which turned out to be the drama club auditorium.

“This will have to do,” she said to the empty room, while she fished out her phone from her bag. She took another quick glance around the room to make sure it was indeed empty before she switched her phone to hologram transmission mode.

“Hello, Aurora.” came a voice from a floating head just above her cellphone.

“Good morning, director. I promised to call with reports.”

“Well? Do you have any prospects yet?” the holographic form of the director asked, a tad bit impatient.

“Yes, director. I have only been in one class…”

“That’s hardly enough information to pick prospects with,” the director said, cutting her off. Aurora had known that this might pose a problem, but she knew her onions and she was very certain that they had some of what they needed in her calculus class. Besides, she has a dossier on all of her classmates. Hacking into the school database had been too much like a walk in the park, on a sunny day.

“With due respect, sir, I was given this assignment because the agency knows I’m great at what I do. So, yes, my first class gave me more than enough information to pull from. Sir.”

The director was quiet for a while, obviously displeased at being spoken to that way, but he knew she was right about her potentials and ability. Grudgingly, he gave her the go ahead with a curt nod.

“Thank you, sir. I’ll forward their information to you so that we can have the proper detailing on them.”

She was about to click the ‘off’ button when he said, “Agent Aurora. If this goes wrong, it’s all on you. You know how it is.”

She nodded her assent and turned the hologram off.

“Well, it’s time to make new friends.”

The Monday after the weekend, calculus class usually came first, much to the student’s disdain. In the defense of the school authority, they made it first period because of its relative difficulty level, so that the student’s brains are still ‘fresh’ to meet up with the demands of calculus.

“Well, I took the liberty of printing out your assignments. I will hand out the graded scripts now.” Mr. Rogers announced, after three minutes in the class, grinning from ear to ear.

“Why’s he being so weird today?” Sandra, one of Jemina’s squad whispered to Asher.

“You mean weirder than usual?” Jemina answered instead, having overheard her friend’s question.

“Hey, Mr. Rogers, the new girl is not here yet. Maybe she can’t handle Calculus after all.” Asher said smugly. The thought of having a competition seriously offended his ego.

But, before Rogers could respond, a breathless Aurora rushed in.

“Oh, I’m so sorry I’m late, Mr. Rogers, I was called to the registration department. I had to fill more forms.”

“It’s fine, take a seat. I was just about to share the assignments script.”

“Nice outfit,” Jemina said as Aurora walked past her desk to get to her own.

“Thanks,” she responded, drinking in the look of admiration on the other girl’s face.

She had deliberately toned down on her outfit this morning, to go from anime character to elite, British fashionista. She had opted for a loose, white, chiffon top, over an elegant pink pleated skirt that has antique chairs printed at the edges. To complete the outfit, she chose an elegant, pink kitten heels shoes decorated with bows.

“Alright, settle down class. Time to see your results.” Mr. Rogers announced, returning the class’s attention back to him.

Chapter Summary

Aurora is on a mission in her new school, that much is evident from her conversation with a holographic projection she called ‘Director’. But, we are still held in suspense as to what the mission is. The chapter gives us hints that it involves some of her classmates. With bated breaths, we proceed to the next chapter, with the hope that all our questions are answered.

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