Chapter 39

Mackenzie woke up felling that today was going to be a good day. Then again, he always felt that today was going to be a good day, so it would probably be better to say he felt today was going to be a great day. But it was doomed not to be. As today he was going to school, a new school. Absolutely criminal. He was awake before he had to be. Which was a good thing; as getting Mackenzie out of bed when he didn't want to do so was a gargantuan task. He dressed himself and hurried down stairs to eat breakfast. "Good morning, Kenzie," Mackenzie nodded with food in his mouth. "Ready for school?" Mackenzie gagged.

"What?"

"Today's Monday, school today. Have fun, make some friends, I got to go now. Have fun." He ruffled Mackenzie's hair and left the room as quickly as he arrived. Mackenzie frowned and activated the room's internal computer. "Yes?" The computer asked in Mackenzie's voice code because he'd played around with it the day before. Mackenzie returned to his food. "What day is it today?"

"Monday. The first day of the working week. Would you like more information?" Mackenzie shook his head and computer deactivated. He didn't feel like eating anymore. Wondering back to his room he found a uniform for his school laid out on his bed. He scowled at it. "Not going." He told the servant who was just coming out of his wardrobe. The woman smile and shook her head.

Mackenzie frowned at the mixed message. Then he sat next to his toys. "I don't like you." The woman smiled again and shook her head. She turned and walked away from him, "Hey! Get back here." He yelled at her, she stopped, smiled and shook her head. Going quickly from annoyance to confusion to anger Mackenzie grabbed one of his toys and held it up. "Talk, if I talk to you, you should talk back."

"You are Mackenzie Hawthorne?" Mackenzie nodded, not sure why that mattered. "I know a boy who would have threw that toy at me without reason. You do not scare me, Master Hawthorne, but I'd prefer if you put the toy down." Mackenzie blinked, his arm slowly dropping.

"Who?"

"Hmm, his name is Casimir Rowe, you might know him." Mackenzie shook his head.

"Never heard of him," The woman seemed surprised, but with a face like hers Mackenzie wasn't sure.

"Well he's like you, I suppose. Are you going to get dressed?" Mackenzie nodded, thinking. In what way was the boy like him? He would have asked but the woman smiled and shook her head. Mackenzie stood picking up his new uniform, the woman left. He was ready to leave when asked and arrived at school early.

It was settled in the inner city. A few blocks away from Mackenzie's new house. The city was placed on flat land, no mountains for miles around. He wondered if that meant no night lights. The car pulled up to the great stone walls, the gate was lined with gold. Amongst the towering skyscrapers and the tall villas the school was a collection of small white washed buildings surrounded by grass and roads. It was like a small included village, population 500 of the richest children in District 1, and 200 teachers to teach them things like; self-defence, social skills, art and the all-important performing pursuits of musical instruments and theatre. The schools motto was imprinted on the top of all entryways; Learning to achieve. Learning to live.

Stone pulled out the appropriate card and the gates opened. The car pulled up and Mackenzie got out, looking around at the cluster of buildings, a carved wooden sign told him that this was the Locum: Principalis Doctrina; there was no translation. Many children were already at the school, most of them older than Mackenzie. Stone hovered around, next to him one of the new staff members held the card with all Mackenzie's school information. They walked to the main office, thankfully marked so they could understand.

Administration officers all sat at clean, dark wood, desks. All computers were stored with stark efficiency. One of them stood and greeted them with a practiced smile. "Hello, Mister Hawthorne, yes? I'm Rhine Gleam, welcome to Agnieszka Universal School, and, as I understand it, Adiamonda," Mackenzie smiled, he'd dealt with people like her before, and while Stone was annoying and that servant who smiled and shook her head was confusing; Rhine was simple and Mackenzie was thankful for it. Mackenzie nodded, grinning.

"Well, I can bring you to your class or I can give you a tour, whatever you want to do first." Mackenzie glanced at Stone and then outside, his eyes finding the gate again. "Tour," He announced simply, turning to leave. Another administration officer stepped up and brought over items to Rhine. They talked quickly but Mackenzie didn't listen, ready to go exploring, and to have some fun.

They walked out from the Prinicipalis Doctrina or as Rhine explained; the main learning areas. They passed a dozen classrooms, twice the size of the classrooms Mackenzie was used to. No one was inside first but it was clear which grade occupied which. Rhine brought them over to a row of small, light buggy cars; they climbed in, and drove off. Mackenzie realised what the roads were for.

They drove to the auditorium, a large stone building with a dozen other smaller, personal buildings around it. Those rooms were for the older students pursuing a career in music. The theatre was down the road, just less than a hard walk. Along the road a few students lazed around the grass, one was playing a saxophone, the music drifted up the hill and Mackenzie listened as they drove away.

They when into the theatre which could seat about five hundred, the school held a school wide performance every three months, and a dozen minor performances in between. There were people already in the building, but none of them were practicing. One girl noticed the group and pointed. "Hey, new kid." Then she called out to Mackenzie, "Hey, kid, what grade are you going into?" Mackenzie smiled and made his way down to the students. There were seven of them, a few sitting on the stage, the others on the first row of seats.

"I'm almost in grade 5." A boy at the back whistled. "Look out people, Mackenzie Hawthorne's is a smart one." There were a few glances and a mutter then the first girl stood and walked over, putting her hand on his shoulder she announced with theatrics of a drama student, "This, my friends, is a momentous occasion, we welcome the height of our social class, into the folds of our school. We must claim him as our own." There was a series of claps. The girl looked at Rhine and her demeanour changed, "Are you showing him around?" Rhine nodded, "Good, you can stop now, we will."

Rhine sighed held out a computer to Mackenzie and said, "If you get lost, and please return it by the end of the day." Mackenzie nodded and Rhine left. Mackenzie gave the computer to Stone. "Be useful and hold this, thanks." Stone closed the gap and took it, moving way.

"Oh, you don't need him. They got more security here than the government." The girl said. "My mother was paranoid about, had me followed around by this stupid body guard, I mean. Nothing is going to happen, why would they want to hurt me anyway?" Mackenzie shrugged, realising he wasn't the only one with an annoying shadow; he was liking this girl more and more.

"What's your name?" He asked her, she smiled. "Thea, over there is Marius." She pointed at the boy who'd recognised Mackenzie, "Then there is Amelia, Darius, Kyra, and Harry, short for Helen." They all waved, a phone beeped. "Ou, time to go. Come on, I'll show you back." The girl named Thea said, steering him up the theatre steps and outside.