16: EXPLOITED
//
12:59 P.M. // 10 - 23 - 2023 // Arc - F-Wing, Refinement Class
Starring Zendolyn Ato
Featuring Reyenal Ato, Professor Carmela, Cedrance Manamune, Michael, Aythe Siena, and Nolan Faust
//
“Wow. We’re early.”
A few eyes turned to Reyenal and I as we entered the classroom, and then they returned back to their conversations. For some reason, most of them were guys, all also early like us, and sitting at the front. The smoldering hot outside air was an absolute pain to walk through having just eaten a bowl of hot soup. But then the draft of cold air conditioning blew into my face as we passed through the door, and all the pain I had was forgotten.
The class was buzzing with noise and chatter from all the students around. Reya took the front and took the stairs up to the top level, in the very back.
“Zen.”
“What?”
“Don’t forget.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yep.”
Don’t embarrass her.
This, she had told me, was our first ever class together. She was in a higher grade than me, so it was only natural that she was more booksmart than me… so her only condition in sitting next to her was to not be stupid. I, on the other hand, sat next to her so I could feel safe from all of the other kids in the room, especially after what had just happened in the cafeteria. High schoolers were scary creatures.
We sat down and set our backpacks onto the ground. Unlike in most classes, I was wide awake. My finger tapped against the table silently, my foot against the ground, also silently, a rhythm stuck in my head from last night’s session.
I checked my watch for the time. Two more minutes until class started. Then I looked up and scanned the room nervously. There weren’t any familiar faces in the room, not like I’d approach them if I did know them. Most of them were pricks.
“Hey, Zen,” Reya bumped my shoulder.
“Hmm?” I wasn’t really listening to her, more on the conversations in front of me. Something about ranks and points? Nah, don’t care.
“I forgot to tell you something.”
“What do you want?”
“Hey,” Reya said, her voice a little more sharp, “this is serious.”
I turned to face her. “Yeah, okay. Tell me.”
Her face was lathered with pity.
“Seriously, what?”
She reached to pat my shoulder. “You’re going to have to introduce yourself.”
“Yeah, and?”
“In front of the class.”
I flinched. “Really?”
“Good luck,” she responded. “She’s very harsh.”
“Wait a minute, is that all you have to say?!”
Reya gave me a look. And then smiled. “Yep. Time for my little cousin to suffer.”
I glared at her, not before immediately enlarging my watch into a laptop-sized screen, having left my laptop at home in favor of the portable and light watch. I had enough practice at my extracurricular classes in the real world, and good teachers as well. That was enough for me to… woah…
She’s here now.
The professor walked into the room, the door closing behind her, her heels clacking against the ground, and like a button was pressed all of the noise came to a halting stop. Everyone huffed up their breath and held their gaze, focused on the gorgeous lady strutting forward in front of them.
This was a free gala experience, and the theme was ‘smoking hot teacher’.
Then I realized, wasn’t this the lady from the opening ceremony?
Crud, I had completely forgotten about her. She was someone I was supposed to be watching carefully, because she looked like she would be important, as was every other notable person around me… wait, around me? I sweeped over the students again, Cedrance, Aythe, the guy from earlier Michael, even Nolan who I hadn’t seen since the ceremony. This class was the ideal webtoons drama environment, and somehow I had just landed myself in the middle of everything.
The professor stepped up to the speaking podium. The woman held no papers and no books, nothing, but her head up high and her body in perfect shape.
“Well, looks like we have a new student.” And then I shivered again, this time in dread. She wasn’t even taking attendance first? “Do you want me to call on you, or are you going to come up here and introduce yourself?”
Reyenal slapped my back to my shock, and also pain, and then the whole class turned to look at me at the sound.
I kept my face neutral, but beneath the table I made a fist and slammed down into Reya’s thigh. In return she pinched my arm. My face was now struggling to stay neutral.
—BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
Damn it.
I stood up, and she stopped. Without rubbing my arm to show any signs of pain, I steeled myself and began taking the flight of stairs back down. Why the hell did Reya choose this spot for us? Actually, why did I even follow her?
—BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
Everyone was staring at me, but it couldn’t have been as bad as it was in the Auditorium. I was in the acting zone, my switch was turned on.
—BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
The professor gave me an interested look as I approached her, with confidence, or as much as I could show without it coming off as hubris, or without giving her anything to put her expectations on.
She snapped her finger twice, and I resisted the urge to jump away in fear of the tropes that a sudden tidal wave of energy would sweep me off my feet and throw me into a wall, but nothing like that happened. Instead, all of the guys in class sitting in the front rows instantly raised their hand into the air, each one trying to outdo the other by lifting their hand higher. A few lifted two hands into the air.
What was going on?
—BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
The professor smiled, and then beckoned a student in the second row to come forward. In his excitement I heard an audible, “Yes!”, and not a second later he lugged two chairs to the front, onto the stage which I now stood in front of.
“Student,” her voice rang across the room effortlessly, and I could feel the ears of every man in the room itch with pleasure. “Come up here. Sit down.”
—BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
“Yes, professor,” I bowed my head slightly in solemn respect. Zen was my character. As far as I knew, he was a master at acting. That was how I kept my face straight the entire time.
—BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
But also, Zen was a rich kid. Each judgment of this professor in my head told me that she was definitely a biased teacher, a class and status type, someone who valued image over skill. And as a child booted from the wealthy and well-known Ato family of Silverdawn, there were much too many hurdles for me to cross over in order to perform as truly Zendolyn Ato.
—BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
Back straight, but head looking somewhat down. Feet firmly shoulder width, chest pushed out with confidence, contrasted with the solemness and purpose in each step. Someone who had only recently fallen, someone who still bore the potential for power and wealth. But most importantly, someone who knew their place.
So emotion must never show on my face.
I took my seat, placed across from her, facing slightly towards the other students like we were in some sort of Saturday talk show.
I had a vague guess on what we were going to do.
— BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
That didn’t stop my heart from pounding like a bazooka was constantly blowing up in my chest. Already I was dizzy from the anticipation.
The professor started first when we made eye contact. “Good afternoon. What is your name, student?”
“Likewise, professor. My name is Zendolyn Ato,” I responded, and then took a second to reflect on what I said. Was the ‘my name is’ part too long? Should I have been more concise? What was she looking for in me?
“My name is Jennifer Carmela,” she said colorlessly, and her eyes never strayed from mine for even a second. “You may call me Professor Carmela. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Zendolyn.”
She wasn’t as snobby as I expected from her words earlier, and seeing her hand stretched forward I took her offer up and shook. Her hand was warm, her expression was cold, and her hand was almost completely over my own, turned to the sky while mine was towards the ground.
— BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
“Zendolyn,” Professor Carmela continued, “I’d like to know more about you first before we talk about why you are here. I’ve read your resume. It says you are in the Musical Compositioning 101 class with Professor Harping. Tell me more.”
— BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
Hearing that I was in a musical class, some of the students began to snicker. I knew it. This was an interview to assess my worth. She probably didn’t care about class, she knew she was above me and everyone in the room. Her confident aura and unexpressive manners along with her manipulative subtleties told me that much.
“Thank you for asking, Professor,” I nodded my head, scrambling to think of my next words. The name of the game was confidence. I needed to embellish my bullcrap as much as possible, and leave no gaps of weakness in anything I presented.
— BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
“Musical Compositioning is a class that tests my creative intelligence to a higher degree than all of the courses I have been placed in, combined. One may scoff at my choice, but I believe it was definitely worth taking as it shows that I’m willing to take harder courses, and maximizing my Arc experience as an unawakened student by indulging in my passions even further…” Shoot. I missed. Why the hell did I bring up my passions like this?!
“Even further?” Professor Carmela raised her eyebrow. “Do you have past experience in the field of music?”
— BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
Dammit! Dammit!
“No, I regrettably do not,” I shook my head, “but I would definitely consider myself to be a talented musician and vocalist. Other than this—” I tried to swerve the conversation away from the whole music thing, and luckily the Professor noticed this and didn’t try to stop me. But her eyes did give off a much more malicious look than before. Was that just my imagination?
“Zen, I’ll have to interrupt you there. I have another question for you.”
I held back a gulp.
“Yes, professor?”
— BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
Her face changed for a microsecond, and my heart pumped even faster.
“Zendolyn. What is it like, being from the Ato family?”
It was dead silent in the room.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“I’m sorry, Professor, but I cannot answer that.”
“No worries.”
Absolute silence.
“Thank you for indulging me as you might your own musical passions. Zendolyn, you may return to your seat now. And welcome to the Agent Preparations class.”
No one said anything.
The only sound was of my feet going up the stairs.
A little buzz on my watch, and I glanced down.
A notification from the Arc app.
[You have been rewarded 50 points from Professor ‘Jennifer Carmela’]
[“A pleasure to meet you, Zendolyn Ato. I would like a second of your time after class ends.” - Professor ‘Jennifer Carmela’]
—BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP
//
4:07 P.M. // 10 - 23 - 2023 // Saint Hospital
Starring Avil Daniase
Featuring Aythe Siena, Ben Roswell, Cedrance Manamune, and Gwen Olynn
//
I first spotted the front desk clerk peering around his desktop as I walked through the automatic door. The lobby of the Saint hospital smelled like hand sanitizer and disinfectants. Seeing three giants and two dwarves entering, the man nodded as if it was normal for a bunch of students of varying sizes all dressed in the Arc uniform to waltz into a hospital.
“Do you guys have an appointment?” He asked dutifully from behind a clear plastic screen as I made my way to the table.
Naturally, I, the best one of the bunch, was the mouthpiece that spoke for everyone else. Aythe and Ben took a seat on a nearby bench, while Cedrance and Gwen followed up behind me, both of them wearing a light pack.
“Yes,” I responded promptly, “we’ve been volunteering here for the past week and a half, Wards 104 through 106.”
Why did Professor Carmela even want us here? Community service?
The man nodded his head, his eyes shortly flickering on the two very handsome guys in the vicinity, to Gwen, and then back to me as if he hadn’t been sneaking any looks. “I was informed about you guys earlier. Can you two show me what’s in your backpacks?”
I took a step back as Ced and Gwen moved forward, unzipping and shuffling through the contents before he satisfiedly nodded his head. “Take these stickers and go ahead. The elevator’s on the left, fourth floor up. Please be considerate to the patients and staff.”
“Of course. Thanks.” I nodded my head politely, and grabbed one after the two had stepped aside. “Guys, let’s go.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Aythe rolled his eyes, attached to the holographic screen on the watch glowing in front of him. He stood up, and then grabbed a sticker and followed behind us with Ben in tow. “We divied up the wards fair and square. Got that, little bro?”
I refrained from cursing in public. A few people, some older folk and disabled patients with crutches and walking canes were eyeing us from all around the giant room past the lobby. Maybe it was the smell of bad vibes coming from our group, or the eye catchers Cedrance and Aythe, but either way the attention was unwanted. Above was a ceiling of glass over a huge and sleek hallway leading two ways, with multiple rooms and numbers and doctors walking around and generally not paying attention to us, an elevator at the end to the left.
Gwen scoffed, but didn’t say anything, while Cedrance gave Aythe the stinkeye. We stepped into the elevator, and I pushed the button to the fourth floor.
It was thankfully a wordless and painless ride up before the elevator door slid open, a pale young man with a mask and a blue nurse’s outfit stepped in as we passed him.
The hall ahead was spacious, a couple pots and plants for decoration against the sparkling white floor and walls, doors along them numbered . An older man at the very end with a mop and a bucket, the janitor, sweeping the ground peacefully, and no one else was in sight. The man spotted us and greeted us with a short grunt, then returned back to his work as we said nothing in reply.
I stopped at the second door to the left. “Here’s where I go,” I nodded my head towards the number at no one in particular, but Ced nodded and waved a little goodbye.
“Yeah, good luck, Avil,” Gwen didn’t stop walking and took a turn to the right, her ward. Cedrance followed suit, he and Gwen shared a Ward. I averted my eyes from them and took a short breath, before pulling open the unlocked door.
The sounds of the others’ footsteps faded into the background as instead a collective but faint breathing took over. The room wasn’t inviting, certainly as bland porridge as yesterday, and the air smelled like nothing. A curtain impeded my view to the patient on the other side, as did the other curtains along the row to separate person from person.
My unwanted job here was simple. Keep the patients company.
With light steps, I walked carefully over to the first patient, the name José and his permanent medical ID taped to the curtain which I didn’t bother to read.
I placed myself at the foot of the bed behind the curtain, and there laid José, a tall and burly man with a head of curly and dark hair, his facial hair growing into an untrimmed beard. His back was raised and almost upright on the bed, uninterestedly reading a book with a blue cover that seemed to depict some sort of romantic novel, the white outlines of a woman’s face near a man’s. José was a fresh and lovely reminder that not all things in this world were pretty, and those who didn’t fit societal standards could still be ‘pretty’.
I still remembered how yesterday he had told me his symptoms; a feeling inside of his head, radiating pain throughout his body.
Upon spotting me his face brightened, “Oh, there you are, Avil! Ha, I was waiting for you, friend,” his accent was a thick Spanish or Mexican accent, an ordinary guy like me couldn’t dare ask for the difference. He beckoned me closer and I indulged him, his book dropped down onto his lap ungracefully and papers folded on itself.
“Good afternoon, man,” I extended a clammy hand, and José enthusiastically reached out and shook it, his face scrunching into a grin, smile lines all over. His hand was big, but his grip was definitely weak, or weaker than what was expected of his bulky size.
“Avil, friend.” I pulled my hand pack gently, but still postured myself close to him. His joyful demeanor faded a little bit, and I concernedly nodded my head for him to continue. “Mi mamá, mi Lloronna, Sami y Saúl. You do what I asked, yet?”
“Mister—sorry,” I corrected myself, and tried to think of a way to tell him it wasn’t possible, “José, you left me on a cliff yesterday. So… please, tell me more about your situation.”
“A cliff?” José shook his head, a little sadder now. Later tonight, I was going to research diseases that could cause emotional fluctuation. However, after a slow second, he eventually nodded. “Well, my friend. Mi familia… could be in a rough situation right now. All I ask,” José implored now, clutching his hands together pleadingly, “is for you to tell them that I will be home soon. Everything will be fine. Please, friend.”
I tentatively glanced up at the monitor. His heart rate wasn’t high enough to make it start beeping quickly… and that was the only thing I could figure out. I wasn’t a doctor, I couldn’t tell.
“Umm… I’d like to know where they are…?” My voice cracked strangely.
José nodded, his hands slackening and his brows relaxing, “I knew you’d come around, Avil.”
I flinched. No? I didn’t say that!
“Ah, sir—I mean, José, you must be mis—”
“Well,” he interrupted me as if I wasn’t even talking. José’s face was blissful, his eyes closed, a smile across his face. Now I really didn’t want to ruin this man’s moment.
He must have really been in some sort of pain…
But why force this on me?!
Suddenly, a huge blue screen appeared in front of me.
========================
‘Avil Daniase’ has been presented with a task:
[Find José’s family]
Current task(s): [Prove yourself]
========================
…
This system was out to get me. A rage built in my mind. If it was going to give me a vague quest and now this, at least tell me what goddamn reward—
========================
Reward for Quest: [Prove yourself]
???
Reward for Quest: [Find José’s family]
[Prove yourself] Partial Fulfillment
========================
…
“Avil?”
I snapped out of my mad delirium. “Oh, did you say something?”
“Maine, friend. Mi familia lives in Bar Harbor, 391 Main Street.”
I blanked out.
What. The ****.
//
4:11 P.M. // 10 - 23 - 2023 // Saint Hospital
Starring Gwen Olynn
Featuring Cedrance Manamune and ???
//
Just another day at the hospital, and as usual something was up with my body. Today, my stomach hurt.
I held the door open as Cedrance walked past me. We didn’t make eye contact.
Following lethargically behind him, I let the door swing back to a close, the hallway disappearing behind the door. A few stools here and there, a little telephone on a long table with clipboards, a sink, a computer and a telephone, along with more things I didn’t care about. This was the ward I’d be spending hours of my week in for a month. I shouldered my backpack, Cedrance had already walked to the end of the long ward, and a burst of exclamation, recognition, from the woman at the end told me that I had to start soon.
“Cedrance! Took you long enough.”
“Yeah, yeah, Miss Farah, sorry about that.”
“Ohh, no worries, your face is all the apology I need.”
I pulled the backpack’s zipper open, at the top of all my things sat the little octopus hat I had been working on for a while now. The sight of it made me smile a little, the big oval eyes, the colorful tentacles, the poofy headcap. The week I had spent making it perfect.
“Sorry?”
“No, no, never mind me. Did you bring the book?”
“I did, Miss Farah. Unblessed, right?”
I reached into the backpack again, and scrounged for a second, then pulled out my personal sewing kit I had bought not too long ago, three points. Then I pushed both of the items back into the backpack and slung it over my shoulder.
“You remembered!”
“Well, of course I did. You asked me yesterday to… read it to you. Right?”
“I can’t believe it—! Yes, yes, please do, Cedrance.”
I glanced over at where Cedrance was, and only his back was visible as he sat on a stool facing towards the woman. Even his back was handsome. A very defined and muscular back.
Without thinking about him anymore, I pulled a stool over, the rolling sound pleasantly silent, and then past the curtain.
On the bed was a kid, he couldn’t have been older than twelve. The boy’s tan skin was bubbling with sweat. His adolescent chub still clung to his cheeks, but the rest of his frame was an almost feverish and sickly appearance, bony and tired, but nevertheless he managed a smile when he saw me.
“Gwen.”
I nodded. To my left was the sound of Cedrance’s voice, reading aloud the starting passages to the story. What was the book called, again?
“David. Are you feeling okay?”
He returned my nod. “I was sick yesterday, and my body just… didn’t…”
“Heal? Recover?” I filled in the words for him, and he sighed. The boy was definitely young, but like the other people in the room, he complained of having odd waves of pain, starting from the head.
“Yeah.”
This kid was at a fragile age, and sicknesses like what he had could ruin him. I myself sympathized a lot with the poor kid, though. In the real world, I was also considered a sick kid: not allowed to run at PE, so easily ill every other day, doctor checkups here and surgery there, cameras in my body, food problems, that was me. Gwen was, in a way, hardly any different, but her body recovered faster than my own. My adjustment into this lonely and privileged world wasn’t all that bad.
I faintly heard Cedrance break his reading voice, “I’m sorry, but Miss, please keep your hand off of me.”
But David here in front of me… I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He spoke like a kid. He acted like a kid. I was oddly aware that he didn’t think like a kid.
“Aww, but Cedrance~…”
“You remember last week when you asked for something?”
The boy, spaced out to Cedrance and the Farah lady, returned his attention to me, and then paused for a second. “Uhh…?”
“Your voice is so sexy, you know?”
Cedrance paused. “I…”
“Keep going. It’s nice…”
I shook my head, trying to ignore what was happening over there. “It’s okay if you don’t remember. I still made something for you, and just you.” I reached forward to bop him on the nose dotingly, but he realized what I was trying to do and pushed his head against the pillow, scrunching his face.
I giggled, but pulled back anyway, and then turned around and unzipped my backpack. He interestedly watched over my shoulder, but I waved him to lay back. David obliged, but still frowned, an expression which quickly changed to delight as I pulled out the octopus hat in all of its full glory.
“What do you think, David?” My smile was even wider now, the octopus hat hanging on my hand like a gauntlet. I offered it to him, and he seemed almost unsure of whether he should accept it or not. What a mature kid. I liked him a lot.
“Take it.”
It made me happy that he looked happy, and I didn’t need any words from him to know that he truly appreciated my gift. The grin on his face was worth it.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome… David? David!” My eyes widened as he began to cough violently. He folded himself over, coughing and coughing, wet and harsh, it was terrifying.
Jumping to my feet, I made a dash for the telephone, but from behind David weakly called out. “No. Don’t.”
“But David—”
He coughed again, this time not as strongly. “Please don’t. It happens all the time when you’re not here—” David fell back into his coughing fit again.
Another voice in the background, Cedrance stopped reading. “Miss Farah, I—I think my partner needs some help over there. Could you please wait a moment?”
I knew hardly anything about his sickness. I knew nothing about how to treat it. Even so, even if I did know, I was usually on the receiving-end of the sickness, the person who needed help, the one who was sick. Not the one who healed the sick.
“Hey, please let go,” Cedrance grunted, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“No! You were doing just fine, keep reading, keep reading!” The woman’s voice was tight with strain. Strain, and lust.
I didn’t know how to help him.
“Miss! I’m really serious right now!”
I was…
“I’ve warned you twice now.”
My stomach hurt.
“Hey, David.”
A cough. “Yeah?”
“Do you ever… wish that life could get easier?”
…
Behind me, I sensed Cedrance’s worried presence. “Are both of you okay?”
We both turned to look at him.
…
“I wish that I wasn’t so sick.”