The day went by pretty slowly, yet Joan found herself savoring each hour that passed by.
There are all kinds of things that could happen later in the day and there's no telling what is going to come next.
At lunchtime, she sat in her usual seat. Harriet and Confucius sat beside her. Right now, she's trying to 'educate' her boyfriend, JFK. Who she made him sit across from her for once.
He had argued for a little bit about taking his usual seat, but he had to be reminded that arguing with her of all people is never going to end well for him. She is always in the right.
Of course, nobody is really going to go ahead and say this. Anger the Maid of Orleans at your own risk.
"Okay, the simple way of explaining what they believe is…" Joan takes a moment to compose herself before continuing.
"It's this ridiculous conspiracy theory that white people are on track to no longer be the majority of voters. Immigrants… non-white people… will end up electing leaders and pass laws they don't agree with. Harriet, am I explaining it right?"
"You're explaining it like it's supposed to be explained." Harriet doesn't look up from her phone. Confucius is doing the same.
She then continues Joan's explanation.
"Their theory is racist as hell. Because they view non-white immigrants as inferior."
This is when Confucius began speaking. "It's not just people in the United States who believe this, JFK. It's spread all throughout Europe. Germany, France, Hungary… ESPECIALLY Hungary! And don't get me started with what happened in New Zealand!"
JFK exhales while scratching the back of his head. "Er uh… What happened in New Zealand?"
"Some guy… Some guy… I don't wanna talk about it!" Confucius took a sip of his green tea. He looks troubled. Harriet then patted him on the back.
Nobody is in a good mood. All because of the reality unfolded bit by bit through this subject.
But with education, comes growth. A familiar voice makes itself known by the group of four.
"If you don't wan't to talk about it, I will."
Now Abe Lincoln is taking his seat at the table. It's become clear that he had become invested in the subject for a while.
JFK was quick to point out the change he made to himself. "Hey Lincoln… You uh, you have something wrong with your face, bud?"
While Abe is still wearing his usual attire, the entire lower half of his face is covered by a black face covering. The kind that is tucked into the collar of his shirt; hiding his neck.
"It helps to not spread disease, Kennedy." Abe said in a flat tone.
"Before the global pandemic, New Zealand made international news. Some A-hole with a rifle drove around and killed more than fifty people in two mosques. Live streamed the whole thing online too. All because he believed in something that he thought was the truth. It didn't matter if he really did know the truth. That nobody was trying to take anything from him. I think he just wanted an excuse to kill people he didn't like."
Joan looks at JFK. Now that Abe said what he needed to say, it's her turn to speak. "Moving forward, we just need to be careful."
Abe then cuts her off. It turns out that he isn't done speaking.
"To the New Zealand government's credit. After the shooter got locked up, they acted swiftly by passing new gun control laws. Making sure that kind of shit would never happen again. On the other hand, I look at this country and… god."
Joan made a mental note to herself to try to get her points across sooner. If Abe hadn't mentioned gun control, she most certainly would. She'd need a bit of time to get her thoughts in order first.
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Abe. There are people in positions of power that do have blood on their hands."
Standing up from his seat, JFK spoke up.
"Okay, I think I've heard enough! You guys… you, er uh, are worried that somebody from this rebellion group or whatever is going to barge into Clone High with a hunting rifle and start shooting at whoever is unlucky enough to be in the halls!
Well it's not going to happen! I mean what are the odds? We're Clone High! Have you all forgotten!? You're all being paranoid!"
"The hell we are, Kennedy!" Abe raised his voice. At this point, everyone else in the lunchroom stopped talking.
"Do you remember when we were eleven years old… and our teacher told us of a terrible event that happened in Colorado… at a high school not that much different from this one?"
Joan sees JFK look down at the floor before deciding to answer for him. "You're talking about Columbine."
"Oh yeah. I've heard about that." Said Harriet. "That was SO long ago!"
"It wasn't THAT long ago." Abe's voice is now softer. "There was a lot of stuff that didn't happen long ago."
JFK lifts his head up. "April 20th, 1999. Columbine High School. Twelve students and one teacher." His voice lowers to a whisper. "Rachel Scott."
He then snaps out of his thoughts. "You're not changing my mind, Lincoln. Now I gotta walk around and clear my head because of what you made me remember."
He then faces Joan. "Joanie, you coming? Heh. I said come."
Joan crosses her arms. "I'm staying here, thank you very much. I'll call you later."
"I'm looking forward to it." Said JFK before he went on his way.
"Well that could have gone better." Abe sat back down.
Confucius points at him. "If I could just say something real quick, I really love what you've done with yourself, Abe. You're working on your brand!
At this point, Joan could tell that Abe is smiling even though she can't see it. His eyes explain it all. "My… My what?"
"Your brand." Confucius continues. "How you sell yourself to people. Everyone has their own brand. It's how we stand out. You have a face covering. Joan has her hair dyed red. Frida has her trademark unibrow. Need I say more?"
"The mask… is my brand." Abe found himself absorbing every word Confucius had been saying to him.
Joan, witnessing all of this, made the decision to just listen to others for the rest of the day. She has to admit: despite everything going on right now, Abe does look good with a face covering. He just won't hear her say it. Now isn't the time for talking. As she couldn't help but wonder what happened with Abe that's making him act like this.
It has been a while since somebody made her feel this excited.