With her poster board under one arm, and her book bag over her shoulder, Chell began to walk down the front stairs of Aperture Academy as her fellow students hustled and pushed their way out of the school and into the open air. She took a deep breath and let it out again slowly, blowing away with it the cobwebs of the day. The sky was a bright, clear blue, the trees and grass were beginning to regain their green coloring, and the cool, crisp breeze carried with it all sorts of delicious and fresh smells. It was the perfect day to be outside.
The first day of spring.
Most of the students at Aperture Academy had at least one of their parents or a legal guardian working at Aperture Laboratories in some form or other. The facility had set up the academy about ten years ago for the children of their employees, only a short distance away from one of the many entrances into the labs. Although the facility itself may have been right underneath the academy for all Chell knew. Most people assumed it was a kind gesture on the part of the owners of Aperture to provide an education for their employee's children, but some – Chell being one of them – wondered if it wasn't just so they could recruit the offspring of their current employees for later…or perhaps to keep an eye on everyone who had any connection with that place.
As Chell headed toward the parking lot to wait for her dad to pick her up, she stopped as she heard the sound of kids laughing. Of course it wasn't an unusual sound for her to hear, but this sounded like a mean, teasing kind of laughter. If there was one thing Chell couldn't stand, it was bullying – treating someone as less than who they really are.
Less than human. She absolutely hated that.
She followed the sound around the corner of the building, and found a group of some of the meaner kids gathered around someone she couldn't quite see.
"C'mon then, don't be shy!" one of the boys jeered at their victim. "Say 'hello!' It would be rude not to."
There was a moment's hesitation before Chell heard the small and quiet voice of a boy say, "…Ello…" come from the middle of the huddle. The group then burst out laughing.
"Oh oh, here then gov," said another one of the kids, trying to imitate the boy's accent in an exaggerated and awful way. "How about you fix us all up some tea and crumpets like a little girl at tea time, eh? You like your teatimes don't you?" The group began laughing again.
"J-just leave me alone, alright?" Chell heard the boy reply, trying to sound tougher than he felt. The group laughed even louder as they heard how he accented the 'i' in 'alright'.
Chell had heard quite enough. She marched right on in among the group of bullies, and without looking at anyone, pushed her way through to the middle, grabbed the arm of the boy, and marched right back out again with him in tow. If she had looked, she would have seen utter surprise and also relief on the boy's face as she pulled him free of the tormenting gauntlet. She kept her eyes looking straight-ahead, utter determination in her expression. It was due to this kind of precedent that she didn't need to push her way back out of the crowd. Bullies though they may be, her assertiveness caused them to part without thinking and let her and the boy through. It was like watching a sort of version of the parting of the Red Sea.
There was a moment of silence as the crowd was trying to take in what just happened. But not wanting to just let the matter go, from behind them Chell heard one of them say, "Aww! Now you need little teatime girls to come and rescue you!" As the group began laughing yet again, Chell turned and glared them down so hard that they all once again fell absolutely silent. She then kept on going with a determined stride, still holding onto the boy's arm, and walked all the way to the back of the school building.
Once they got round the building, Chell let go of the boy's arm and was about to continue on her way to the parking lot, but before she had gone half a dozen steps she heard him cry out, "No, wait! Uh, please…don't go."
Chell stopped and turned and looked at the boy. He was skinny, was a bit taller than her, had short blonde hair, and a slightly pointed nose. He had glasses, and behind his glasses were the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. Stratosphere blue, if she had to guess the exact shade of blue they were. When she though about it, she had actually seen him a few times around the school before then, almost always alone. He must have been new that year because she hadn't seen him before that term. In one hand he carried a big black case, and she also then remembered seeing him playing French horn in the band once.
"Uh…thank you. For- for helping me back there," he said, looking down at the ground. "Those fellows are always teasing me. Er- I mean, 'guys', those guys are always teasing me."
"Why are you doing that?" Chell asked.
"Huh? Doing what?" he replied in confusion.
"Trying to hide your accent just now?" Chell stated.
"Oh! I, uh, well, you know. Just trying to fit in, and all that," the boy replied, obviously not having expected to be called out on it.
"You don't have to do that," Chell said. "Besides, I really like your accent."
Here the boy looked up in surprise, a smile eventually coming to his face. "Really!? Oh, well, that's…uh, good. Seems like not very many people do around here. Either they find it funny, or else they say it sounds snobby or something."
"Well I don't think it sounds like that," Chell said, as if her statement were some sort of official decree needing no more discussion.
"Well, that's jolly decent of you to say!" said the boy, with a newfound enthusiasm. "Oh! I just realized! We haven't exchanged names. Ello!" he said happily, seeming to relish for once the accent he found he put on the word, and extending his free hand. "My name's Stephen."
Chell gave a small smile back and took his hand in hers. "Chell."
"Nice to meet you Chell," Stephen said, with his smile becoming bigger. "So, what've you got there?" he asked, pointing to the poster board she had under her arm.
"Oh, this," she said rather unenthusiastically. "This is the project I'm supposed to bring to 'Bring Your Daughter to Work Day' at Aperture tomorrow."
"Whoa! Wait! You mean they're actually letting you into the lab?" Stephen asked in surprise. "Since when do they allow kids in there? I've never been allowed to go in, not even just to see my dad when he's working."
"I've gone in a few other times before," Chell said simply. Stephen's jaw dropped.
"Wha- when!?"
"Once every few months," Chell said. "Usually to see Ms. Caroline."
"You've seen Ms. Caroline!?" Stephen exclaimed in even further astonishment.
"And Mr. Johnson," she continued. By this time Stephen's expression was so goggle-eyed that Chell actually had to prevent herself from laughing. "I don't know why really, but every once in a while my dad would bring me down there, and every time he did we'd be notified that Ms. Caroline at least would want to see us. Sometimes just me."
Stephen then looked around quickly, eyes darting here and there to make sure no one else was listening. He then whispered to Chell, "Maybe it's some sort of conspiracy. I mean, this seems very strange that they should give you that kind of attention. I mean, uh, not that you don't, er, warrant good attention, but…uh…it does seem a bit strange, doesn't it?"
Chell just replied with a raise of an eyebrow. In all honesty, she really liked Ms. Caroline. She always had a full jar of cookies on her desk, and once she even gave Chell a diary for her birthday. But mostly Chell liked her because she was always so willing to listen to her and ask her questions about how things were going for her, what she was interested in, etc.
But she couldn't help but feel that there was something strange about the attention she got from Ms. Caroline, or even Mr. Johnson on occasion. Seeing as how she never entirely trusted the whole organization of Aperture, and seeing as how the two of them were the ones who were at the top when it came to running the place, it was only natural then that she would carry some similar feelings when it came to them. And she couldn't help but feel that sometimes they weren't just interested in 'who' she was, but 'what' she was. It was hard to explain, but sometimes it felt as if she were being 'observed' by them, rather than being actually listened to. Perhaps their scientific minds just ran like that, but she couldn't help but feel also a sense of reassurance to her theories as she now found someone who shared similar ones.
Chell decided then to change the subject.
"So, you said your dad works in the facility as well?"
"Huh? Oh, ah yes!" said Stephen, taking a moment to realize that Chell wanted to move the conversation on to something else, and Chell realized soon enough that that was completely fine by him. He seemed to really like to just talk about anything really. "He works in one of the engineering departments there. That's actually why my family is here. In-in America I mean. Originally I'm from England, as you can probably tell already. But they gave him a really good job offer here, and so he took it, and now here we are. I wish I could say it's been good here, but…well…I'm sure you, you understand."
Chell then went deep in thought for a moment before replying. "I do. I really do."
It was then Stephen's turn to raise an eyebrow as she put on emphasis on the last bit of her statement. Chell knew he was waiting for her to continue. Not really sure why, she felt that although she had barely known him for more than fifteen minutes tops, she could tell him about the things she was about to go into.
With a sigh, she began.
"Things haven't been great for me here either. I've been made fun of too you know."
Stephen's eyes once again went wide. "Wha- what could anyone make fun of you for? You're amazing!"
Chell looked at Stephen in surprise. She had never had anyone call her that before (except for perhaps Ms. Caroline and her dad). Suddenly realizing that perhaps what he just said, though nice, was also a bit awkward, Stephen once again looked down at the ground, cheeks turning red. Chell, not wanting him to feel even more awkward, simply continued.
"Well, they have. Mostly because of who I am. I mean, I'm adopted for one, and…well…I love my dad…my adoptive dad…so don't get me wrong, but…they also make fun of the last name I have from him."
"Oh…" Stephen replied, then also adding, "Well, there's nothing wrong with being adopted. And I'm sure your last name can't be all that bad."
"Rattman."
"Sorry, what?"
"Rattman…my last name."
"O-oh…" said Stephen, not knowing how else to respond to that. He didn't laugh though, which was a relief to Chell.
Suddenly seeming to have an idea pop into his head, Stephen sat down next to the rail of the patio of the school building, and pulled a tan-colored book out of his backpack.
"Here, I want to show you something!"
"Alright," said Chell, only too happy to have the subject change yet again.
"Here!" said Stephen excitedly, handing the book to Chell. She opened it to find that it was full of drawings. They were very unique to her in that on each page was a large circle in the middle, and in the circle was drawn a doodle of some kind. But nothing was drawn outside of the circles, although she thought that was fine as it made it all the more striking. It was like looking at things through a singular, round lens.
"Are these your drawings?" she asked.
"Yup!" he replied. "I don't usually show them to people a lot though. They seem to think they're a bit…well…weird. Even I don't really know why, but I've always really liked circles. I guess that may be a bit weird, but if you think about it, a lot of things are circles. Or at least round, or round-ish. Like cells, or the sun or the moon, or basketballs, or footballs- er, I mean, soccer balls. You Americans seem to have really weird-shaped footballs. Uh, that is, um, sorry that just slipped out. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," said Chell, still flipping through the pages. "I really like these."
"Thanks!" he said, now very cheerful.
For the next hour or so, Chell and Stephen hung out around the schoolyard. They talked for a bit more, but eventually they also found themselves playing tag and whatever other random games they could come up with. One of them was a sort of obstacle course game Stephen came up with in which they had to use their text books as stepping stones to get over an imaginary pool of acidic goo. Chell then showed him the butterfly mask she had made in art class that day, and Stephen showed her how to play a few notes on his French horn.
For the both of them, it was so nice to have found a new friend. A lot of new things come about in springtime it seemed.
But eventually, their playtime was interrupted by a voice calling from around the building.
"Chell! Chell! Are you back here!"
"Oh crap!" said Chell. "I totally forgot! That's my dad. I'd better go. I'll see you soon yeah?"
"Oh, yes please!" exclaimed Stephen. "I'd better go too. But, uh, would you want to meet up sometime over spring break? I'll draw another picture, and show you more of how to play the French horn, or even the piano if you wanted. My mum insisted I take lessons you see, and-"
"Chell!"
"I'm here! Coming!" Chell called out to her dad. She then turned back to Stephen real quick as she picked up her things. "Yeah, I'm sure we can work something out."
"Great!" he said. And then extended his hand out again. "It was really nice to meet you Chell."
Chell glanced down at his hand, seemed to think for a moment, and then as she took it in hers she pulled him forward and gave him a quick hug.
"Was nice to meet you too, mate!" she said over her shoulder as she ran around the corner of the building. Before that afternoon, Stephen would have thought it teasing to have someone imitate his speech like that, but he knew that certainly wasn't the intent this time. After getting over his surprise at the unexpected hug, he then picked up his things, and headed for home. Before that day, he always went home looking a bit sullen as his days at school were rather like how they had been only a couple hours before. But now, for the first time, he went home from school with a silly smile that lit up his whole face.