Chapter 0: UGT Countdown?
“Come on class, everyone settle down please. The bell’s already rang.”
Once again, it was the same hectic scene as usual for a Monday morning in Mrs. Patterson’s homeroom class. The bell had rung, students had ignored it – too bust gossiping and talking about all the things they’d did over the weekend – and all the poor teach could do was sigh and repeat what she felt was becoming an endless mantra for her.
“Come on class, everyone settle down please. The bell’s already rang,” she repeated once again, once again to no avail. “Jason. Jason. Jaaaaasoooon…” Repeated calling of student’s names was simply ignored, as her petite voice simply wouldn’t carry over the overall din the students were making. Taking a deep breath, Mrs. Patterson finally picked up one of the text books sitting on her desk, before standing up and walking over a nearby desk. BAM!! With all her might she slammed down the book onto the top of the desk.
“HOLY SHIT!!” Startled, Jason tried to jump back from the suddenly unexpected loud noise right on top of him, but he was tangled with his feet around the legs of his desk and flipped over backwards scattering his papers, pens, and notebooks all around. KA-CLANG!! The sound of the desk hitting the floor echoed throughout the classroom and silence suddenly descended over everyone.
“Jason, sweetie, are you here today,” Mrs. Patterson asked all innocently.
“Umm… I think so,” Jason replied, as he slowly eased up and looked around at everyone who was still staring in his direction.
“And are you alive, dear?” Mrs. Patterson asked, sounding completely serious and not cracking a smile at all – not even when the first light snickers started to whisper around the room.
“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Brushing himself off, Jason slowly uprighted his desk and sat back down in it, blushing slightly at being the center of everyone’s attention.
“Well that’s good,” Mrs. Patterson told him, lightly ruffling her hands through his hair, before pushing her glasses back up on her nose fully. “When you get a chance, be a dear and pick up my book and put it back on my desk, won’t you?”
“Sure. Sure. Whatever.” Sighing, Jason bent back down and started to pick up the textbook and all his scattered supplies.
“Sue, you here?” Smiling slightly, Mrs. Patterson went back to calling attendance for the rest of her class.
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“Okay all, now that we’ve got that out the way,” Mrs. Patterson told her class after finishing attendance, “I have an important announcement for all of you. Several of you might remember Matthew Barnett from class last year, and how he had a few troubles and was pulled from school – he’s going to be coming back and attending classes with all of us once again…”
“Aww… man! Does he have to? He’d damn crazy!” One of the students in the back of the class called out, interrupting, while several others began to mutter and complain quietly amongst themselves.
“Yes,” Mrs. Patterson sighed deeply to herself and then held up a hand to try and quiet everyone once again. “Yes,” she repeated, “the young gentleman is going to be attending classes again with everyone once again. His doctors have assured the school that his previous issues were all due to a hormonal imbalance and that now that he’s on the proper medication there shouldn’t be any more problems.”
“He thought he was talking to God. Or for God. Or something like that,” Jason muttered, causing several people around him to snicker loudly.
“That was all because of his medical issues,” Mrs. Patterson tried to explain patiently. “You can’t blame someone for being sick, and all of you should be thankful for your own good health and good fortunes!” Stomping her foot slightly, she was starting to turn slightly red with frustration. “Any of you can get sick, injured, or hurt at any time – remember getting your leg dislocated during that football game last season Jason, and feeling completely worthless? You weren’t, and Matthew isn’t either. He was simply sick before, and he’s not now.
“Understand?” Glaring back and forth at each of her students in turn, Mrs. Patterson held each of their gazes to make certain they saw how serious she was being. Once the classroom had settled back down, she finally nodded to herself and pushed her glasses back up fully onto her nose.
“Well, I’m glad we’ve got that out of the way,” she muttered moodily to herself. “Someone go over and open the door and let the young gentleman know that he’s welcome to join us. I want all of you on your best behavior, and to make him feel welcome.
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“Or else,” she warned, tapping the tips of her fingers across her desk a few times for emphasis. Silence was her only answer from her students, as the girl closest to the door slowly stood up, opened it, and peeked outside, before asking, “Matthew? Mrs. P says you can come in with us now.”
“Thanks for nothing.” A tall lanky young man pushed past the girl at the door and slowly strode into the room. Long black hair stuck haphazardly in all directions across his head, making it appear that he hadn’t brushed it at all this morning since waking up – or maybe not even for several days now. “I’m Matthew,” he said, pulling his hands out of the front pockets of his pants and slowly holding them out, palms-up, in front of him. “They say I used to be bat-shit crazy, but I’m not anymore. I’ll try not to rape, murder, and pillage too many of you this year, so try not to worry ‘bout it. ‘Kay?”
Half chuckling, a crooked smile twitched up at the corners of his mouth as the stared eerily at the rest of the class. “No need to tell me your names. We won’t be friends. We won’t get to know each other. There’s nothing I can do for you, and nothing you can do for me.” Staring forward, Matthew’s eyes seemed to be focused on some strange point off to his left, looking at something that no one else could see.
“There’s twenty-seven minutes, thirteen seconds left before it’s midnight in UGT and then it’s Game On,” he muttered cryptically, while never blinking as his eyes stared off into space.
“UGT?” The girl standing at the door asked, as she nervously rubbed the wrinkled down and out of her dress, before sitting back down in her seat.
“Universal God Time,” Matthew answered, sounding oddly serious.
“Universal God Time?” Jason chuckled, and then drew back his hand and tossed the eraser off his desk up at the front of the room. “This freaks just as bat shit crazy as he ever was! We don’t want him in here!” A low murmur of whispering agreement slowly echoed from around the room.
“Now, now, everyone!” Half shouting to get their attention once more, Mrs. Patterson slowly walked across the room to cover the distance to where Matthew was standing. Gently, she held the back of her hand up to his head, to check his temperature. “Matthew, did you take your medication properly this morning?”, she asked gently.
“I… I don’t know.” Frowning, Matthew slowly shook his head from side to side, as if to clear it. “It was a busy morning. I may have forgot to.”
“Well that’s okay, sweetie.” Laughing lightly, Mrs. Patterson slowly pushed the glasses back up on her nose, and then lightly ruffled his hair. Turning to the girl sitting near the door, she asked, “Rebecca, would you mind escorting Matthew down to the nurse’s office? I’m certain he’ll get to feeling more like himself, once he’s had his medicine this morning.”
“Umm..” Glancing back and forth, Rebecca looked like she wanted to anywhere but where she currently was. After an awkward moment of hesitation, she finally stood up and nodded slightly. “Sure Mrs. P. If you think it’ll be fine, I’ll do that.”
“I’m certain you’ll be fine,” Mrs. Patterson said, smiling lightly. “Matthew’s never hurt anyone. You don’t have to worry about him. Just keep him from wandering off and getting lost. He hasn’t been here in school for a while, and he might not remember where the nurse’s office is.”
“Hell, I’m not even certain I know where the nurse’s office is,” Jason muttered moodily. “Do we even have one?”
“Yeah,” Matthew muttered, “it’s the door down on the first floor, between the restrooms and the detention rooms.” Turning, he slowly started to walk on out of the room. “I know the way. I don’t need an escort.” Half sulking, he slammed the door as he left.
“He might not need an escort,” Mrs. Patterson chuckled lightly, “but he’s going to need a hall pass. Rebecca, grab the one at the blackboard and hurry up and catch up with him before he gets in trouble.”
“Yes Ma’am!” Hurrying to the blackboard, Rebecca grabbed the small rectangular wooden block that hung there on a string. Reading simply “314”, and having a single key on it which could open the restroom doors on this hall, it was what was used by students as the normal hall pass. Hurrying, she rushed over and out the door, calling out “Wait! Hold up a moment, I’m coming.”, before shutting the door and rushing down the hall.
Almost the second the door shut again, the room broke out in talking, questions and disarray once more. Sighing deeply, Mrs. Patterson pushed her glassed back up on her nose once again and then walked over to sit at her desk and sip on her coffee. She couldn’t help but think that she really didn’t get paid enough to deal with all this.