Chapter 1: Welcome to Hell
~Monday~
Hi, I'm Rachel Roth. I'm a regular kid. Divorced parents, invisible at school, only two good friends. What more could I ask for, right? But this damned new kid, what the hell was his name again, Garfield Logan or something like that…he has the nerve to make me look like a fool in class.
A few of the students sitting before me snickered. I glared at Garfield from the corner of my eye.
"Now, as I was saying," Garfield smirked and continued, "Humans have always and will probably always depend on the forests to a lesser or greater degree. Trees provide food, shelter from the elements and predators not just to humans but the vast majority of life on land."
"But cutting down trees for lumber – that is used for building materials, furniture, and paper products. Forests are also cleared in order to accommodate expanding urban areas." I crossed my arms. The class stayed silent as Garfield thought of his next answer.
He shrugged, "We can expand on other places. We don't need to cut down forests for that. What about abandoned buildings? We are just leaving them up, we can build over them."
"Some of them are Historic."
"Is Alcatraz important?"
"Yes."
"Oradour-sur-Glane?"
"Yes."
Garfield looked at me, an eyebrow slightly raised, "Six hundred forty-two people were massacred their by Germans during World War Two. The men were herded into barns where they were shot in the legs so they would die more slowly. The women and children, who had been held in a church, all perished when their attempt to escape was met by machine gun fire."
"So? It's a historic place." I defended myself.
"Why would people want to remember a massacre?"
"Getting off topic." The teacher, Ms. Mia, told us, looking up from the class to us.
Garfield nodded and cleared his throat, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets he stated, "Rainforest's are the richest and most diverse areas on the planet and are home to the vast majority of the worlds species, many yet to be seen or classified by science."
"But-"
"Erosion of soil, disruption of the water cycle, loss of biodiversity, flooding and drought, climate change, and the list goes on. Now, I don't know about you but would you want to live in a world with barely any oxygen, uneven soil, below sea level land, and rapid climate change? I know I wouldn't."
The class clapped and I was left defeated.
"Well," Ms. Mia stood up, "That was a fun discussion. Ms. Roth. Mr. Logan. You can sit down now."
I walked to my seat in the back and sat down. Garfield did the same.
"Class, pay attention." Ms. Mia ordered, walking to the front of the class. There was 10 minutes left in the class period.
"I've decided to allow you the freedom to choose whatever great literary work you so desire to complete this project." Mia looked around at the class.
"Does this mean gossip girl books count?" Kitten asked.
Mia sighed, "The gossip girl series is an excellent story, but no, you may not do your project on any book, play, poem, or speech that has been adapted into a movie or TV show."
Mia picked up a stack of papers from her desk, handed them to her favorite student, Argent, and asked her to distribute them to the rest of the class. When I was finally handed the rubric, I fought to hide my grimace. This was a partner project, which meant I would be doing the work by myself. Whenever another kid in the class was paired up with her, they would leave her to do the work herself.
"Now, the project is really very simple, whatever work you and your partner agree on, I want you to complete it." said Mia.
Complete it? What on earth did she mean by that? If something was published doesn't that make it complete by default? Who were they to say it wasn't complete already?
Mia giggled, "You guys are confused, I understand. What I simply mean is I want you two to write a sequel. For those of you that don't know what a sequel is…think of Friday the Thirteenth. Than Friday the Thirteenth part 2 than part 3. Those are sequels. You are just writing what you would of like to have happened, where did they go when the curtains closed or the story ended."
Creative writing wasn't one of my strengths, but I know I can whip up something.
"Excuse me? You didn't include a due date on the rubric. When were you expecting us to turn these papers in by?" I asked, looking through the pages.
Ms. Mia smiled, "This is more than just a paper. I want you to put a lot of time and effort into this project. I'm not talking about a five-page essay here; I want manuscripts from all of you. You will be free to hand in your work at any time during the year but I want to have it before final exams in the summer. This project is yearlong and I'm expecting great things from you all!"
"I see," I said, "Are we allowed to choose our own partners?"
Ms. Mia shook her head, "Sadly the last time I let you all choose your own partners, and only one of you did the work. I have already made a list. I'll read off the groups now."
Ms. Mia took a piece of paper from her desk and started to read off the names, "Kitten, you're with Argent. Next we have Richard and Kori, Bee and Victor, Jason and Koma." Ms. Mia paused and turned the scrap paper over.
"Rachel…let's see…you're with…"
My eye twitched, Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
"Rachel and Garfield."
Yup, about what I expected.
I held my breath, "What?"
Ms. Mia looked up from the clipboard, "Did I stutter, Ms. Roth?"
The class snickered.
I flushed in embarrassment. Ms. Mia nodded her head and went back to pairing people. From the corner of my eye I could see Garfield smirking at me. I sighed and put my head in my hands.
This is gonna be a great year.
