CHAPTER 4
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
The four most important rules of robotics:
1. Robots are not supposed to do any kind of harm to a human being.
2. A robot should always listen to its owner.
3. A robot should make the humans around them, especially their owner, happy.
4. A robot has to be deactivated if it breaks any of the rules.
Astro and his friends were cleaning ZOG while listening to old music through the radio.
Suddenly it stopped.
"Hey, this is my favorite song!" Zane said and it started playing.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"What?" Astro murmured.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"This song is horrible," Astro said, but Zane started dancing to it.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Turn it off!" Astro exclaimed.
Zane ignored him and started cleaning ZOG again.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Astro went over to the radio, lifted his hand and-
BEEP!- SMASH!
Astro stared at it for a few seconds. "Wait a minute-"
He opened his eyes and sat up rapidly, realizing he was just dreaming. To his horrifying realization, not all of it was a dream as he turned to his nightstand where his now broken alarm clock was sitting.
"Great..." he commented, sarcastically and stood up.
He collected the single pieces of it, including those that had landed on the floor, and put them into an empty drawer so Dr. Tenma wouldn't see it if he entered his room.
"First day of school," he murmured and thought about how bad his day could go wrong while changing his clothes.
He wore the clothes he bought with Tenma two weeks ago so Astro could finally have his own wardrobe.
After he brushed his teeth, he picked up his whine red backpack and left his room. While walking down the stairs, Dr. Tenma noticed him.
He took a sip of his coffee. "Good morning, son."
"Morning," Astro replied and sat down next to him.
"And?" Dr. Tenma asked. "Are you excited? It's your first school day!"
"Uh, kind of," he chuckled, nervously.
"I'll drive you to school today," Dr. Tenma said.
"Thanks," Astro murmured and stared at his slightly burned pancakes. "Did you make them this time?"
"Yup! I pretty much improved since the last time, huh?" Tenma chuckled.
"Totally, especially since the first time I had to grab a fire extinguisher and we were late for a meeting," Astro said.
They both laughed and had a good time.
Tenma sighed and started uneasily tipping with his fingers on the side of the table.
"How is Dr. Elefun," Astro asked. "I haven't seen him in the last few days."
"Oh, he's fine," he responded. "If you want him to come by, I'll tell him that."
"Sure," Astro said with a smile and continued eating.
Tenma sipped his coffee and tipped with his fingers a bit faster.
"Astro?"
"Yeah?" he looked up again.
"You were pretty stressed out yesterday so I didn't want to tell you this, but," Tenma took a deep breath and looked Astro deep in the eyes. "Please be careful out there."
Astro chuckled. "I already know that, you didn't have to tell me."
"I know, just be more careful this time and pay good attention to your surroundings," Tenma said.
"I know," Astro said and leaned back on his chair. "But why are you so serious about it this time? Did something happen?"
"Just... be very careful, okay?" Tenma looked over to the clock. "We should get going."
"Mhm," Astro quickly stuffed the last two pancakes into his mouth and grabbed his backpack. He was very confused about Tenma's worried expression, but him being paranoid wasn't something new.
Astro looked around the apartment before leaving. "Where did Orrin go?"
They walked towards the elevator and stepped in. Astro pressed the button for the floor underground where the garage is.
"He went shopping for groceries," Tenma explained while taking a look at his watch.
The elevator chinged and they stepped out. Tenma took out his keys and pressed a button for the car to turn on.
The scientist took the seat at the wheel and Astro the one next to him. After they left the garage and were driving on the street, Astro hugged his backpack and looked out of the window. He watched the other kids walking with their backpacks, waiting for the bus or train and some of them even rode an airbike or a hoverboard to school.
They arrived at the school, but Astro hugged his backpack even tighter and didn't leave the car.
"What's wrong?" Dr. Tenma asked.
"I... can't," Astro stammered.
The scientist sighed while picking up a black box and handed it over to Astro.
"Huh? What's that?" he asked.
"Open it," Dr. Tenma said with a soft smile.
Astro opened the box with a confused look on his face. His eyes widened when he saw what was inside of it.
"A mini-phone?" he asked while staring at it.
"Yes," Dr. Tenma said. "You can stick it to your shirt, your arm, or keep it in your backpack."
"Awesome!" he said and hugged him. "Thanks, Dad, but why?"
"Well, you have friends and I would also like to know how you're doing when you're outside," he replied.
"Makes sense," Astro said and focused again on the phone. He smiled.
"Now go. Mr. Mustachio is already expecting you," Tenma said.
Astro looked at the schoolhouse and sighed.
"If you don't want to go, you don't have to. I'm not forcing you," Tenma said. "I could tell them that you have a virus and that you have to stay at home."
"No," Astro said. "I want to go there. I really do."
After a long moment of silence, he finally pulled himself together and put his hand on the opening button. "I'll see you after school."
When he left the car, the students gasped and stopped chatting and walking.
The limousine left and Astro followed it with his eyes until it was completely out of sight. He turned to the schoolhouse again like he was in the middle of a battlefield.
There was a small road between him and the school ground where the other parents normally drive through to drop their kids off.
As he was crossing it, a car speeded towards him and he froze. The driver pulled the brakes so hard that the car squeaked.
There was a grown, big man in the car, and next to him a boy who seemed to be his age, staring at his phone.
"Get off the road, dipshit!" the man yelled and honked.
Astro flinched and a teacher that was standing at the gate walked towards the car. "You are not allowed to drive at these speeds next to school grounds!"
The man rolled his eyes.
Astro quickly got off the road to the school ground and the car drove off.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" the teacher asked, worriedly.
"No, no, I'm okay," Astro said. "I'm just a bit in shock."
"If that happens again, please notify me," she said and started walking towards the gate again.
Astro started to move his legs again to get to the school building, trying to recover from the shock and the embarrassment in front of the other students that were staring at him.
This gave me flashbacks from when Toby was... he was what? Astro thought with a confused expression on his face. Did I forget?
Astro turned to the road again. Whatever just happened is linked to memories that I can't recall. Toby's memories.
He continued walking towards the school building again, trying his best to avoid eye contact.
I'll think about it later when I have the time and energy for it, Astro thought.
After he entered the schoolhouse, he walked past the staring students, directly towards Mr. Mustachio's office.
A relieved sigh escaped his mouth when he reached the door. "Mr. Mustachio's office" stood on the door in big letters "PLEASE RING THE BELL" stood under it and he did so.
"Come in!" Mr. Mustachio yelled.
The young robot boy clicked the button next to the door that was over the bell.
"Good morning, Mr. Mustachio," Astro stepped in and the door closed behind him.
"Good morning, Astro," the teacher greeted. "It's nice to finally meet you. Please have a seat."
Astro nodded and sat down on the chair in front of his desk.
"I already talked with your father and I want you to feel as comfortable as possible in this school," Mr. Mustachio said. "Metro High is a high school with students from different cultures and religions which we learn to understand and accept. You are the most advanced robot student we've ever had, so I hope you can find friends very quickly."
Astro smiled and Mr. Mustachio handed him his student ID.
"With this ID you can open your locker and get food at the cafeteria," Mr. Mustachio explained. "You should always have it with you at school. It also has your student number written on it. When you get called to the office, they're going to read out your number, not your name."
"Interesting," Astro said and smiled at his ID. Quite a few things had changed since the last time Toby went to school.
"You can arrive at 9 for sports activities, but homeroom first starts at 10 till 10.30. The first lesson starts from 10.30 till 11.15 and the second lesson lasts from 11.30 till 12.15. Then you have lunch break which lasts till 13.15. Then you have class till 14, the fifth lesson starts at 14.15 until 15," the teacher explained. "Afterward you can go to school clubs which normally last till 16 and then you can go home. Joining those clubs is optional."
Astro nodded. "Doesn't school normally start at 7?"
"You are right," the teacher said. "The ministry of health department put a lot of pressure on the government to allow students to enter school at 10."
"Okay, so there are only 4 lessons every day now?" Astro asked.
"Yes, those are altogether 4 lessons. Each lasts 45 minutes with a 15-minute break after it and a 1-hour lunch break," Mr. Mustachio explained. "Mondays you have Math, Health, History, and Skills. Tuesdays English, Science, Maths and Biology. Wednesdays Social Studies, Technology, Sign language, and Health. Thursdays English, Biology, Sign language, and Skills. Fridays Technology, Social studies, History, and Science."
Then someone rang the bell.
"I called a student who goes to your same class to the office. His name is Kennedy, he's the class representative and will show you around the school," he explained. He leaned forward and whispered. "He's also my nephew if you didn't know." he then looked up at the door. "Come in!"
When the door opened, Astro recognized the boy. He used to be a classmate of Toby.
"Good morning, teacher!"
When Kennedy turned to Astro with a wide smile on his face, Astro felt a bit bad about the situation.
What must he be thinking about me? Astro thought.
"Good morning! Astro, this is Kennedy. Kennedy, this is Astro. Please show him around the school, Kennedy," Mr. Mustachio said, friendly.
Kennedy nodded. "Come with me, Astro."
Astro nodded and left with him the office.
"It's him!" a boy with big glasses and a colorful propeller hat cried out and ran over to them. "Impressive!" he gasped and took a closer look at Astro. "But not much has changed since last time."
"Last time?" Astro asked, confused.
"That's Alejo, he's just messing with you," Kennedy said, awkwardly. He turned to Alejo. "Don't make him feel uncomfortable, please."
"It's nice to meet you, Astro!" Alejo said and shook Astro's hand. "As you already know, I'm Alejo!"
"Uh, nice to meet you, Alejo," Astro said and scratched the back of his head, nervously.
"Isn't it unfair having a robot with programs in a human school?"
Astro finally noticed the blonde chubby boy with blue eyes, standing behind Alejo like a bodyguard.
"No, it isn't! Astro can learn just like human children!" Alejo said.
"Oh yeah? Why don't you let him talk?" he asked, crossing his arms and looking down at Astro.
"Oh, uh. All I have are memories," he explained.
"Memories?" he asked, confused.
Kennedy laid his hand on Astro shoulder and smiled. "That's Abercrombie," he told him and turned to the blonde boy. "Please be nice to Astro."
"Uh, it's nice to meet you... Abercrombie," Astro said, holding his hand forward, hoping for a handshake.
Abercrombie looked at his hand and then back into his eyes.
"Nice to meet you too," he said, arms still crossed.
Astro dropped his hand and smiled.
Kennedy took a quick look at his own mini-phone.
"Okay guys, let's go to class, it's 9:56," Kennedy said.
They nodded and started walking.
"I'll show you around the school after class is over, yeah?" Kennedy asked.
"Mhm," Astro replied with a smile.
That went well, Astro thought.
Before they entered the classroom, Kennedy stopped Astro and handed him a white flower.
"Lay it down and act like nothing happened, alright?" he pushed him into the classroom.
Astro was extremely confused and out of old reflex looked over to Toby's old seat. There he saw a picture of him and a few flowers lying next to it.
With a face of realization, he gazed down at the flower and then back at the seat. Without hesitation, he walked over to his seat and laid the flower down. The students stared at him and Kennedy nodded with a sad smile. Astro smiled warmly at the picture and sat down on another seat. The two desks in front of him were empty and a blonde girl sat down next to him a few seconds after. He didn't pay any attention to her and checked if he hadn't forgotten any of his USB cards.
(USB cards: basically just a modern version of USB sticks which are often used for school, but also other things)
Mr. Mustachio entered shortly after and the students took their seats. "Good morning students!" he greeted and looked over to Astro, "Today we have a new student. Please stand up and introduce yourself."
Astro stood up nervously. "Uh, hello! I'm Astro," he looked around the room full of kids staring at him. He couldn't read out their emotions. There were negative, positive, and mixed ones. "I'm happy to be able to study with all of you," he quickly sat down.
"Do you have any questions?" Mr. Mustachio asked and regretted it shortly after as everyone raised their hand. Mr. Mustachio looked around with widened eyes and Astro looked down with an embarrassed look on his face. "Uh, yes Vanessa?"
"Why is a robot here at our school? That's cheating!" she said and gave Astro a disgusted glare.
Here we go again, Astro thought.
"No, that's not cheating. Because all he has are memory data," Mr. Mustachio explained.
"I bet those are Toby's memories!" a boy said.
"Uh, if you want to say something, Louis. Then please raise your hand," Mr. Mustachio said.
LOUIS! Astro exclaimed in his mind.
The boy raised his hand with an annoyed look on his face.
"Yes, Louis?" Mr. Mustachio asked.
"I bet that robot has Toby's memories!" he said loudly and turned to Astro, standing up. "GET OUT OF HERE YOU FREAK!"
Astro froze up and stared at him. He's the boy from the car this morning. He's in Toby's memories.
"Louis! Calm down and sit down again!" Mr. Mustachio demanded.
Astro's head started aching as he recalled fuzzy memories.
Kennedy stood up. "As the class representative, I-"
Louis balled his hands into fists and hit him in the face. Kennedy grabbed his nose and stumbled backward.
"Ken!" Alejo cried out and sprinted towards him.
"Louis! Detention!"
"NO!" Louis yelled and ran over to Astro to attack him.
Next to Astro's seat, the girl stood up and grabbed Louis before he could even lay a finger on him. Astro stood up and took a few steps backward. He was very dizzy and leaned against the wall to not tip over.
Louis had used Toby to make him do his schoolwork. Toby always agreed. Toby was afraid of Louis. Louis and his friends would hurt Toby, Astro remembered while staring at him.
"Louis! Detention! Now please leave the classroom!" Mr. Mustachio demanded and pointed at the door.
Louis started crying. "You're just a replacement for the last one!"
"What?" Astro whispered to himself in confusion.
"Louis, please calm down. You need to get over him," the girl said.
"You don't understand!" Louis cried and tried to free himself from her. "Let me go!"
The girl let go of him and he ran out of the classroom. After he left, two students ran inside and huffed.
Astro stared at the floor. He hates Toby. He used to bully him.
"Astro, are you okay?" Mr. Mustachio asked, worriedly.
It took Astro a few seconds to look up and get a response out of himself. "Yeah."
Astro slowly sat back down and grabbed his aching head.
Those memories are really fuzzy. Just like they've been erased or at least it has been tried, he thought. All I know is that Louis played a big role in Toby's life.
But if he played a big role in his life, then why can't I remember? Astro stared at his desk.
Mr. Mustachio turned to the two students that had entered the classroom. "Cora, Zane! Thanks for showing up, please sit down."
Astro's eyes widened when he heard their names. He pushed his thoughts away and smiled at them.
"My bus was delayed," Zane explained. "The guards at the entrance of Metro City were taking very long."
"My mom accidentally took my backpack with her to work, but I have it now," Cora explained.
"It's alright, now sit down, please. We have a new student who's sitting right behind you," Mr. Mustachio said.
They looked over to Astro. They smiled at their robot friend and sat down in their seats.
"Kennedy, are you alright?" the teacher asked.
"Yeah," he responded and sat down, pressing a tissue against his bleeding nose.
"Alright, homeroom shall begin," Mr. Mustachio said, awkwardly.
The girl that had held Louis back sat down again and handed Astro a note. Astro looked at the note and then at her. She had dark blonde hair with flipped ends and light-brown eyes. She smiled at him and looked back at Mr. Mustachio.
Astro unfolded the note and read it. "Are you okay? Sorry about what happened."
He took a pen and wrote something under the sentence before he gave it back to her. She smiled and unfolded it. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking. :)"
She took her pen, wrote something under his answer, and passed the note. Astro unfolded it and read it. "By the way, I'm Daisy. It's nice to meet you! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ Do you like Science?"
He smiled at the little drawn bear and returned it after writing something on the note. She unfolded it and read his answer. "It's nice to meet you too, Daisy. :) I find Science quite interesting, but it's not my favorite subject. What about you? (ᵔᴥᵔ)"
She wrote something on it and gave it back to Astro. "Not really a fan of it either. My favorite subjects are Biology and Health. What are yours? :)"
He took his pen again and wrote something on the note. "I think social studies because sometimes I'm confused during social interactions."
She read the note and smiled softly. "What about now?"
"Right now I'm not really confused. I'm actually pretty okay."
"That's great to know :) What's your favorite food?"
They continued it until it was time for the first break.
"What do we have now?" Astro asked.
"Health," Daisy replied with a smile. "One of my favorite subjects."
Cora and Zane turned around.
"Dude, why didn't you tell us that you're going to school?" Zane asked.
"I just found out yesterday in the evening," Astro explained.
Cora looked over to Daisy. "Hi, Daisy."
"Hi," Daisy replied with a smile. "You two are Astro's friends, right?"
"Jup," Cora said. "We've known this nervous mess ever since the day after he was born."
"Last April?" Daisy asked.
"Of course," Zane replied with a slight laugh.
"Well, I didn't know you could read," Astro said.
Zane smirked. "I've been taking some extra classes."
"Me too," Cora said. "The others too."
Zane looked at Astro and Daisy. "Are you two friends?"
They both looked at each other.
"We are," Astro replied and looked at Zane and then back at Daisy, smiling softly.
"How's your old man?" Cora asked.
Astro chuckled. "He's doing better," he exhaled out of his nose. "Or at least it seems like it."
Then the health teacher walked in. "To your seats, students."
Astro noticed that it was the same teacher from the gate who talked to him that morning.
"But miss," a girl stood up. "You're way too early."
The teacher looked down at her watch. "You're correct, but we will start a bit earlier today."
The class groaned and Alejo and Kennedy who were about to get to Astro sat back down.
Finally, the bell rang again and the students left the classroom.
Astro followed them into the cafeteria, the students looked confused when he stood in line to get his food, but he shrugged it off. After he got a hold of a tray and his lunch, he left the cafeteria and went into the school's backyard where Kennedy, Alejo, and Abercrombie were already waiting for him.
They were sitting at one of the picnic tables, the others were empty.
"Hey, Astro! Come sit with us!" Alejo invited.
Astro nodded and sat down next to Kennedy.
"Sooooo, what's new?" Kennedy asked.
Alejo shrugged and Abercrombie continued eating his lunch.
"Why does Louis hate me so much?" Astro asked.
Alejo looked up. "Hm, probably because he also-" he locked eyes with Kennedy. "Well," he nervously looked back at Astro. "He hated, you know who."
"Toby," Kennedy said.
"But why does he hate him so much?" Astro asked.
"Don't you have his memories, robot boy?" Abercrombie asked with his arms crossed above his chest.
"I mean, I do, but..." Astro sighed. "I feel like a good part of my- I mean HIS memories have been erased and it's definitely not a recent problem. I'm pretty sure it's been like this since the day I was activated."
Kennedy swallowed the piece of ham sandwich he was chewing on. "Did you tell your creators?"
"I haven't told my dad yet," Astro explained. "It's not really something he would want to know right now."
"But why? It's about you," Alejo asked.
"No, it's not about me, it's about Toby," Astro said and looked down at his lunch. "They're his memories and I shouldn't even have them in the first place."
Nobody looked at the other person and kept quiet.
They started to silently eat their lunch.
"Hey, Astro!" Daisy exclaimed and broke the 10-minutes lasted silence.
Astro turned around and faced her with Cora and Zane.
"We've been looking all over for you," she said and they sat down at the picnic table next to them.
"Hey, it's the chaotic couple and the quiet kid," Abercrombie said.
It took Zane and Cora quite a few seconds to get what he just said.
Zane tilted his head slightly and squinted his eyes, thinking hard. "Chaotic coupl-"
Their eyes widened in realization.
"We're not a couple!" Cora exclaimed, loudly.
"I could never be in a roman-" Zane gagged. "A romantic relationship with THAT!"
"Exactly! He's disgusting!" Cora said.
"And Daisy is quite talkative," Astro said.
"The first time I heard her voice was right now when she greeted you," Abercrombie said.
"That's not true," Alejo said. "We have heard it before and you know it."
"That was about a year or two ago," Abercrombie replied. "Then she missed school for two months and returned like a completely different person."
"Hey, now you're just being mean to her," Alejo said and looked over to Daisy. "Don't listen to him, he's dumb."
"Who are you calling dumb?!" Abercrombie exclaimed, insulted.
"Can we please calm down?" Kennedy asked, irritated.
Abercrombie and Alejo looked away from each other with their arms crossed and huffed. Kennedy sighed.
Then out of nowhere sirens started crying loudly. The kids stood up and looked around. The principal spoke through the speaker: "Everyone, this lockdown is not a drill! This is an emergency! Drop everything and lock yourselves in your classrooms! I repeat this is an emergency!"
"What happened?!" Alejo yelled.
"I don't know, but you better get inside!" Astro said.
"What about you?!" Cora asked, barely being able to be heard through the loud sirens.
"I'm going to see what's happening!" Astro said. "Get yourselves and others in safety!"
A loud explosion followed that made the floor shake violently and black smoke raised from afar.
Astro didn't waste another second on the ground and rocketed up into the sky towards the noise.
That's it with the fourth chapter. ^^
I hope you enjoyed it!
