LEGO LOVE
Chapter One
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- somewhere in the corridors of Silveris Girls' High School -
"What?! WHY?!?! I don't want to join Robotics!!!" Jeni wailed as she found her name under the Robotics section of the Multi-Media Club board. Due to certain changes in the system of the club, students were placed randomly into sections such as Video Editting, Digital Art and Robotics. And Jeni had wanted so badly to get into the Digital Art section.
"You're not the only unfortunate one, I'm joining you too," a voice said from behind her. It was Leona, a fellow Multi-Media clubber whom Jeni had made friends with during the MMC camp. (A/N: MMC Multi-Media Club)
"Hey!" Jeni greeted her friend, "Oh...Hannah's joining us too."
"Yeah...so is Tasha. We'll be so totally suffering in there." Leona said as she leaned against the wall beside the MMC board with her arms behind her head. Jeni watched silently before replying as positively as possible, "Well, at least we won't be the only ones suffering tomorrow."
"I guess..."
Just then, the second bell rang and the both of them followed the crowd into their classrooms.
>>>
- in the classroom of Sinclair Boys' High School -
"Yo! 'sup?" Tala greeted as Kai entered the classroom and sat next to him.
"Nothing much...had a pretty boring week so far. Anyway, when are the robotics guys getting back together again?" Kai asked as he took out the necessary materials needed for the class. In response to his question, Tala shrugged before answering, "Tomorrow I guess...We've still got to prepare for the National Robotics competition coming up in September. I won't be going for the meeting though." The last statement caused Kai to smirk. Tala hardly attended any of the IT Club meetings, and because of that, he had gotten into a lot of trouble with the teacher-in-charge, Mr. Dickinson.
Just then, their literature teacher decided to grace the class with his unwanted presence. "Good morning class," greeted Mr. Teh. The class stood and greeted with soft moans and mumbles of "Good morning Sir." Well, the whole class, except Tala that is. He continued to lean backwards on his seat, with his legs resting on the desk.
"Tala. Stand up." Mr. Teh ordered as he walked towards Tala's desk.
"Why should I?" Tala asked, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Because I am the teacher, and you should show respect to me!" Mr. Teh said angrily as he slammed his hand on Tala's desk, just next to his feet. Tala only shrugged and closed his eyes, pretending to fall asleep. Quivering in anger, Mr. Teh stood where his was for a moment before taking huge strides out of the classroom.
The entire class began cheering, and shouts of congratulations erupted as they crowded around Tala and Kai.
"That was totally awesome Tala!"
"Good job Tala!"
"Whoa! You're brave dude!"
For the next hour, the class began chatting and making as much noise as possible. Meanwhile, Kai and Tala started talking about basketball and robotics.
"Ha...no way will I be able to join the team. Anyway, I'd rather focus on robotics." Tala said, replying a question Kai had asked him while changing his position to sit on the desk with his feet resting on his chair.
"Oh come on...you're better than some of those fools in the Basketball team! Join us." Kai said, trying as hard as he could to persuade his best friend.
Smirking, Tala shrugged and said, "I'll think about it."
"If you say so." Kai replied, leaning back against his chair.
Just then, the door of the classroom slammed open, and in stomped Mr. Angus, the discipline headmaster. Steam was practically pouring out of his ears as he commanded with a finger pointing at Tala, "OUT! Now!"
The entire class stared numbly as Tala obeyed the order and got up to walk out of the classroom through the backdoor. As he left his seat, Kai stood up, "Want me to follow?"
"It's okay. I'll be fine...he's just angry 'cause Mr. Dick bitched to him about my 'absence'..." Tala said, half-jokingly. He then continued to walk out of the classroom as Kai watched with a worried expression.
>>>
- the next day in the IT resource room of Silveris Girls' High School -
"Any of you girls done Robotics before?" a plump middle-aged man asked the group of girls as his colleague, a fair and slightly slim lady prepared green boxes of lego.
The group of girls replied, "Yes..."
"But the trainers were boring." Jeni mumbled under her breath. She was not keen in building 4-wheeled robots ever again after the school's science department had organized a post-examination activity the year before, where two men had came in to show them a picture of two robots and ask them to choose one to build for a race. The robot built by Jeni's group had failed miserably, and she didn't exactly learn anything at the end of the activity.
"Okay...anyway, I'll just go through the basics with you again..." the trainer, Mr. Oliver, continued. The small group of MMC girls listened attentively, and even Jeni admitted to herself that robotics actually sounded quite fun now...
"Today, we're going to construct a robot that can catapult this..." Mr. Oliver said as he held up a white object from the box of lego. Everyone then started to build a robot, having in mind what they had learnt about levers.
Jeni paired up Leona and they started work, estimating how long the lever had to be, and where the pivot should be. With the help of Mr. Oliver and his colleague Ms Wendy, the groups soon finished and were ready to compete against each other out in the field.
Everyone placed their robot on the ground and each group had three of the white object that was normally used as a wheel. Leona placed the object on their robot while Jeni pulled an elastic band across the robot. It would give the tension needed to catapult the piece of lego. Jeni then turned the robot on and pressed the "run" button of the RCX when they were asked to start.
The lever was released from a hook that was controlled by a motor and the white piece of lego went flying across the field. Next to it flew many other white objects from the other groups, but none of them went as far as theirs. 10 more minutes and the friendly competition was soon over.
"Yeah! We won!" Laughing, Jeni carried their robot back to the IT resource room (the ITR in short)
"Yup. Hey, it's not as bad as we thought huh?" Leona replied, running beside Jeni.
Jeni gave a shrug in reply, "Maybe."
>>>
- in the corridors of the boys' school -
"Yo! Tala! Where were you the whole of yesterday after you left with Angus?" kai asked, placing a hand on Tala's shoulder as he caught up with him.
Turning around, Tala smiled and replied, "I went home after Mr. Angry and Dickie threatened to kick me out of robotics if I didn't attend the meetings again."
Eyebrows raised, Kai asked, "Kick you out?"
"That's what they said." Tala said, now looking straight ahead.
"They might as well take robotics out of IT Club. Hell, you're our best programmer!"
"Hey...chill. It was just a warning. And I doubt they dare to do so." Tala replied as they walked into class.
"Hn...why didn't you tell me you were going home? I could have left with you instead of enduring Miss Tanya's boring lessons."
"Haha...you could have left anytime you wanted to."
"I was waiting for you, fool."
"Aww...did Kai miss his buddy?" Laughing, Tala ducked to avoid a flying folder.
"You better join the basketball team if you get kicked out." Kai said, retrieving his folder from the floor.
"Cursing me already?" Tala smirked before taking his seat in the classroom.
"Hn."
Author's Notes:
This story is a collaboration done by...us
Okay, a short introduction as to what robotics is about...
In robotics, we have the programmer, the constructor, and sometimes a researcher.
- The programmer programs the robot to complete a certain given mission using software such as 'mindstorm' or 'robolab'.
- The constructor builds the robot using lego pieces. Usually the robot would be constructed such that it can complete a given mission.
- The researcher does research for the team. A researcher is only needed when a competition requires the team to do a presentation of a particular subject.
That's about it, if you have any questions, you can post them in the reviews or send us an e-mail.