Mari did not want to talk about her experience inside the prison of the desert, but many people asked. They would pry and pick until she gave another morbid detail. If there was one good thing that came out of the entire ordeal, was that a conspiracy was revealed.
Several people in different ranks did not approve of Weavers, and the quiet extermination of more entering the Imperial Military was thwarted by just one group of people making it out alive. Many were fired, complete restructuring was considered for certain departments, and many people were given settlement funds. Many recruits who survived the entire ordeal quit, but Mari could not.
She needed to finish high school.
Mari could not afford to pay for school, because there were no public schools in Mu. They were committed to being the first in their family to finish high school and committed to always seeing something through.
Mari told herself it would be fine.
Boot camp was over anyway.
It was now nearing the end of the fourth month of training, and they could now return to getting their basic education. They were moved from the training facilities and into dormitories at the military academy in the other part of Fadeno, the Nordo district.
Mari welcomed the return to normalcy, but their new life was now a tough adjustment indeed.
The week before school started, Mari needed to get some things in order and went to the Student Support Center. She needed to update her student ID card and went in person for a new picture.
The student working the front counter was friendly, she was too friendly, and Mari did not like the attention.
"So what year are you," she asked.
"Uh. Senior. So how much is it to get a new picture," Mari asked. "I also need to get my name updated."
"Twenty credits, but I can waive it for you," she replied.
She winked and started typing away at her computer. Mari started to sweat and get anxious again from all the new attention she was getting. She did not like being handsome. She missed being invisible. However, she did not mind being tall.
"Okay, stand right up against the wall. Give the camera a smile!"
Mari attempted to smile, but couldn't and the flash went off. The front desk attendant started clicking away, and a churning noise came from a box next to her. Out popped a student ID card, and she held it out to Mari.
When Mari took it from her, she looked deep into her eyes and felt something between the card and their hand. She whispered something intelligible and Mari quickly left. When they looked down, they saw a piece of paper with a phone number on it, and once again they turned red.
They rushed off toward the front of the campus, where they were meeting Tiffany for lunch.
At the campus cafeteria, where the food was digestible and filled with color, much to the delight of the recruits, was where Mari met Tiffany for lunch. She brought Seraphina along, and they sat outside catching up.
"Oh gods," Seraphina said in awe. "It's true! I thought Tiffany was messing with me."
"Yeah," Mari nodded. "Sorry that I'm a man."
"We forgive you," Seraphina replied. "But with the power of science, this deformity can be corrected."
"Shut up Sera," Tiffany said.
She leaned across the table and put her hand on Mari's.
"If anyone is bullying you Mari, let me know," she said.
"I can't do that! They already mess with me enough already!"
"Ah your fragile masculinity is showing through already, Mari, " Serpahina said.
"No, it's not! And it's not Mari anymore...."
"Oh? What's your new name," Tiffany asked.
"I really didn't want a new name, but no one believed me when I said my name was Mari! This sucks!"
Mari laid their head on the table, closed their eyes, and wanted to disappear into the pavement.
"So what's your name," Seraphina asked.
Mari said it quietly, and Seraphina asked them to speak up multiple times. Tiffany was concerned because Mari had seemed to grow out of their shell, but this recent event was pushing them right back inside of it.
Now flustered and embarrassed for the 20th time that day, Mari instead brought out their student ID card.
image [https://previews.dropbox.com/p/thumb/ACWcnjC0DkqC-NQJyNJU9HPzk9UFJmPO5c5yP8QPnLDeX-U5CfBjTE6GtvVlMQOUIYJpRO4D346KEbtOa8CGpEx08m4CM_hjHt0BZo1ff5bffHNFmK2VUEqr8evHxPUPIz31Asxx0b729bA8GYLDSUKxPADQAxPc1JWt0zz3i_BBhfNaDFwp6EUpTxpcFrN1O83KMV9_YzT29goI__47nM0oZZ6bkRxninPgkk0_vLzeUkOhJHToPFqCXUdf_Um_YmDrt0525Q8-_2tkUZUrL7uezEhhvL4nT0_PLbHhQiYmiVbAwWuyV66318tqiJI6Bp1EfKWNBeML894TZuDro1CiS1gEHFfHUhtxyoD-0xIA3WCmRYsvpEBpn9-uyJrzBRE/p.jpeg]
"Your name sounds like a car model," Seraphina said.
"I think it's cool," Tiffany replied. "What do your parents think?"
"....I haven't told them yet..."
"What," Seraphina shouted. "It's been a month and a half since you've been like this!"
"Don't remind me."
"Well, what about your dorm? Who are you living with now," Tiffany asked.
"Eric."
Tiffany and Seraphina did the silent communication women did with each other using only their eyes. Mari Max did not care to understand how they did it, because at this point he figured he never would. When their telepathy was over they looked at Max with a strange look.
"Just don't do anything you don't want to do," Tiffany told him.
"Make him work for it," Seraphina agreed.
"Please stop," Max begged.
They did not.
The rest of lunch was filled with many dirty jokes and dirty questions, and Max was so flustered he did not finish his sandwich. When 2:15 PM rolled around he was more than ready to go to driver's ed class.
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Max was the worst driver in the entire class.
He was required to own at least a driver's license for the position he wanted in the military and never foresaw the hardest obstacle to be his poor parking skills.
The instructor, Mr. Bah, started all the new drivers on the older model cars that would stay on the ground and then help them work their way up. Everyone had moved on to the secondary stage except for Max.
He was too nervous.
He sat in the driver's seat, palms sweaty, knees weak, and knots in his stomach even though he had not eaten much. Mr. Bah had never failed a student, and he was not going to fail Max, but he wasn't making his job easy.
"Are you ready," Mr. Bah asked.
Max nodded yes.
"Okay, let's go!"
Mr. Bah gave a smile of encouragement and Max pressed the gas pedal.
Nothing.
He pressed it again.
Nothing.
"You need to turn the car on," Mr. Bah informed him.
Max's hand trembled as he put his hand on the key and brought the car to life. He felt his chest burn as he put his hands at 10 and 2, and even though the car was stationary, he knew, he just knew, that he was going to die.
"Are you fine," Mr. Bah asked.
Max nodded yes.
"Are you sure," Mr. Bah asked.
Max nodded yes again.
"Very well then! Drive to the other end of the parking lot and park where the green flag is."
A little green flag attached to the top of an orange safety cone was all that stood between Max and the next level of his driving course. It was all that stood between him and making his family proud. At least, that was what he believed. The little green flag was not as threatening as he believed it to be, but Max was so anxious, he started to irrationally see it as a threat.
He gently tapped the gas pedal and the car started its slow 5 MPH crawl across the asphalt, but even this slow speed was too much for Max's anxiety. His chest started burning, intensely, and he let go of the steering wheel clutching his chest. Mr. Bah took over the wheel and brought the car to a stop.
"Are you having a heart attack," he shouted. "I'll call the-"
Other students watched in the parking lot in confusion as a bright blue light emitted from the brown driver's ed car. Glass shattered and the front window broke when a sword burst through it. Mr. Bah tumbled out of his car door and ran out of the parking lot, as far as his pudgy short legs could take him.
Reluctantly the other students approached the car to see what had happened.
They started running away in fear as well when they saw Max take a sword and plunge it straight into his heart.
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Back at his dorm, Max told Eric about what had happened, and he was in tears.
He could only cry out of his right eye, and it made him look even stranger when he fell off his bed and started laughing. Max had been sharing a dorm room with Eric since the beginning of the week, and he was a wonderful roommate.
Up until now.
"I was really scared," Max shouted.
"Of what? The bugs in the windshield?"
Eric cackled and tried to get up from the floor but he couldn't. It was even harder with one arm. His left arm was under repairs and for the past few weeks, he had been making jokes about both he and Max having something different about their bodies.
"This is serious! I need my license! I have to support my parents!"
Eric stopped laughing and felt guilty because now and then he'd remember how poor Max was and it made him feel weird.
"I have to pay for the car too," Max complained. "I don't have that kind of money! I barely got all my textbooks!"
"It's not the end of the world," Eric assured him. "You can always try driving again later."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Max turned red and closed his eyes.
"I'm banned from the driver's education courses," he said softly.
Eric started laughing again, and their neighbor started smacking the wall with a broom telling him to shut up.
Max decided to tell Eric less and to start putting things on the shelves a little bit higher since Eric was short.
Seraphina told Max that Eric had to work for it, after all, Max told himself, and he could start by standing on his toes.