~Chapter Eleven~
It had now been a month and a half since the Benson children had moved in with their maternal aunt. The summer had been spent getting to know Alexa as well as befriending their young neighbor. Nearly every day was spent at the Lovelace's house and many slumber parties were thrown. Being around the Lovelaces so often caused a slight English accent to slip into the siblings' speech, which Alexa found endearing, and everyone noticed Marbles gradually becoming more flustered around Ada. (Except for, of course, Ada herself.) By the end of the summer, Melissa and Marbles were well adjusted to their new living situation. Now here they were, about to start their first day of school...
Marbles and Melissa were being looked over by their aunt, the bluenette woman making sure that their school uniforms were not wrinkled or moth ball ridden in any area.
"Alright, looking good..." Alexa started to say before noticing something, "Oh, Melissa. Students aren't allowed to wear jewelry in school. Its part of the dress code. You will have to remove that."
Melissa held her silver heart-shaped locket in her hand. Inside was a photo of Eileen to the right and Clyde to the left. Amongst the burnt debris left from the fire back at home were only a few recognizable items. The locket was one of them along with a few photographs, toys, some of the parents' clothing, and Eileen's diary. It was in this diary, that investigators found an entry in which Eileen had written that the locket was to be an upcoming birthday present for Melissa. Since it was delivered, the little bluenette cyborg never took it off her neck. Melissa felt as though they were still there when she wore it.
-There had been no funeral for Clyde and Eileen Benson as their will requested there not be one and there was no burial for there were no bodies to bury. Eileen's body had completely dematerialized and Clyde's body was so burnt to ashes by the fire, not even so much as a sock from the outfit he wore that night could be found in the debris. Instead, Sir Dalhart had a Memorial built for the late couple in the place that was once the Benson household. However, the children were not to attend. The cyber-government was going with the lie General Biff had told to Abaddon: Melissa and Marbles had been caught in their attempted escape back in the Forever Forest and were shot and killed. Because of this, the children could NOT be seen under the public eye until further notice, just as it had been for their aunt for over half a decade.-
Melissa sighed as she took off the locket and gave it to Alexa.
"Don't worry, sweetheart," Alexa said, "I'll keep it safe while you're gone. In fact, I'll give your teacher a call later today about the significance it holds. Maybe then, she'll let you wear it."
"Thank you, Aunt Alexa," Melissa said, "I appreciate it. I must admit I am a tad bit nervous about my first day of class."
"Me, too," Marbles said.
"Don't worry, kids," Alexa said, "Saint Mary's Private Seminary is a wonderful school and the teachers there are very kind."
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
"Oh! That should be Ada now," Alexa said as she walked to the door, opening it to find she was right.
"Good morning, Mrs. Lan," Ada said, "Are Melissa and Marbles ready to go?"
"They most certainly are," Alexa said, "Melissa! Marbles! Your 'chaperone' is here!"
"Good morning, Ada," Marbles said shyly as he and his sister came to the doorstep.
"The Cybersquad is all here now," Alexa said as she handed each of the siblings a bag lunch and gave them a kiss, "Now remember, stay on the path and don't talk to strangers. That goes for you too, Ada."
"Yes, ma'am," the three children replied, Melissa and Marbles starting to pick up on the manners their neighbors upheld.
"Have a great day, kids," Alexa said, "I'll see you when you get home."
"So Marbles," Ada said as they walked to school, "You have Mr. Dell this year. Correct?"
"Yes Ada," he replied.
"My friend Alice also had him when she was in first grade. She said he was very nice and had a great sense of humor."
"That's nice to know," the boy replied as he straightened his glasses, "I suppose that makes me a little less nervous."
"My goodness!" Ada exclaimed, "Neither of you have any need to be nervous. It is only school and Mother says you are both very intelligent."
"Not as intelligent as you, I bet," Marbles said shyly, "Seeing as you were moved up two grades."
Ada blushed. The three were silent as they continued walking. Then Melissa noticed something different about her younger brother.
"Marbles," she said.
"Yes sister?" he said turning to her.
"I believe I see something growing from your head little brother," Melissa replied as she brushed her hand over his scalp, "It seems you've inherited Grandfather's light bulb."
"Light bulb?" Ada asked confused.
"Yes," Melissa replied, "In photos of our grandfather, he had a light bulb coming from on top of his head. Our aunt told us it started growing out when he was thirteen years of age, but it would appear that Marbles' is growing in even earlier."
"Perhaps it is a sign," Ada suggested, "It must mean that you are more intelligent than you think, Marbles!"
Now it was Marbles' turn to blush. He couldn't figure out why he was getting so nervous around Ada. She was so beautiful that, if he didn't know better, Marbles would think she truly was the Princess of parallelograms.
"Well," Ada said as they approached the school building, "Here we are! Saint Mary's Private Seminary for Elementary Students. Or just Saint Mary's for short.
Melissa and Marbles turned pale with anxiety. Ada saw it right away.
"For the last time you two! Don't be so anxious! Remember, we are the Cybersquad! We can do anything!"
The two siblings felt an immediate boost of confidence upon hearing their group name. With that, the three walked up to the doors of the school with their heads held high, prepared to face anything and everything that should come across them that day.
In Mrs. Wilson's third grade class, Melissa and Ada took their seats at the desks with their name tags on top of them. In one corner of the classroom, two girls stood talking to each other when their eyes landed on Melissa.
"Who is she?" said the girl named Francesca, "I don't think I've seen her around before."
"She's probably the new girl that little-miss-genious' nerdy neighbor took in," answered the other whose name was Lauren.
"She certainly is beautiful!" Francesca said in enviously.
"She is not!" Lauren snapped, "Just look at her skin. Its blue!"
"And?" Francesca replied, "I'd say that makes her quite unique. Not many cyborgs have blue skin anymore."
"Whatever! Beauty or no beauty, if she's been hanging out with the Lovelaces, she's probably just as much of a spoiled kiss-up as Ada."
The bell rang and everyone else sat at their designated seats. Mrs. Wilson, a tall ravenette cyborg, walked into the classroom.
"Good morning class!" the teacher said with a smile, "My name is Mrs. Wilson and I will be your teacher this year. All of you are new to my class, however we have a student here that is new to the entire school."
Mrs. Wilson gestured to Melissa to get up and stand beside her. The girl hesitated but got up and stood by Mrs. Wilson's side.
"Girls and boys," the teacher greeted, "This is Miss Melissa Benson. She and her younger brother have just moved here from another cybersite. I expect all of you to help her feel welcome in this school. Melissa, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"
"Well," Melissa began, staring at the class of twenty nervously, "I have been home schooled for most of my life..."
"Lucky!" Francesca mouthed to Lauren.
"...I really like reading and I'm very fascinated by computer technology. That's about it."
At the back of the classroom, Lauren and Francesca began to laugh hysterically over the statement.
"Young ladies!" Mrs. Wilson snapped getting their attention, "Do I need to keep the two of you in during recess on the first day of class?"
"No ma'am!" the girls answered simultaneously.
"Good." The teacher turned to Melissa, "Thank you Melissa. You may take your seat now."
Melissa gave a small smile and went back to her desk.
"Alright class," the teacher said cheerfully once Melissa was seated, "Let's begin the day with a pop quiz."
The entire class groaned at this.
"Now, now class. This won't count as a grade," the teacher replied as she passed the two-paged quiz out, "This is only for me to see where everyone is in their academic skills so that I may know your strengths and weaknesses. Then I will be able to help you in your weaknesses so you may be the best student you can be. When you finish, you may place the quiz on my desk."
There were 25 questions on the quiz: 5 correct the sentences, 5 define the word, 5 multiplication, 5 multiple choice history questions, 4 science questions, and one short answer question asking the student to write as much as they know about computers. Upon receiving the quiz, Melissa finished it within fifteen minutes and was the first to turn it in. Mrs. Wilson was uneasy about this at first. She knew students sometimes rushed through their quizzes and ended up failing as a result. But the teacher decided to check the quiz while she waited for the others to finish. Her eyes went wide when she looked it over. Every question had been answered 100% correctly and the short answer question... well...
"How did you know all this Melissa?" she asked dumbfounded, "Especially with the computers?"
Melissa shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it's just my strong point."
"You are a very intelligent child," Mrs. Wilson replied.
In Mr. Dell's first grade class, a similar situation was going on. Marbles had received the same introduction from Mr. Dell as Melissa had received in her class and, when asked to talk about himself, had given pretty much the same answer.
"Alright class, why don't we start the day with some arithmetic?" Mr. Dell said as he started to write a problem on the blackboard, "25+15: Who can tell me the answer to this question?"
Marbles was the first to raise his hand. The teacher, therefore picked him to answer the problem.
"Fourty..." the boy answered.
"Correct," the teacher said smiling as he wrote the answer on the blackboard.
"...Which squared is 1600, which cubed is 4096000000 whose square root is 64000."
Mr. Dell dropped his chalk in shock. How could somebody so young know all that by heart? The class was also in shock as they stared at the boy in silence. Finally, another boy simply said:
"What did he just say?"
"Something you're too stupid to understand!" the girl sitting beside him answered snobbishly.
At 3:00 P.M, the bell rang for everyone to go home. Melissa and Ada met up with Marbles at the entry door and began to walk home when Lauren and Francesca stood in their way.
"So Ada," Lauren said to the younger girl condescendingly, "I see you've made yourself a posse of nerdy bookworms!"
"Yeah," Francesca stated and then turned to Melissa, "So Miss-Female-Einstein, tell us. Who were you and your four-eyed brother living off of before you flattered your way next door to the Queen's palace?"
"Pay no attention to them my friends," Ada said, in her prominent English accent, as she dragged her two friends away from the bullies with her head held high.
"Oh," Francesca yelled back at her, "Already teaching them that they're too good for us!"
"Yeah," Lauren shouted and threw a balled up piece of paper at Ada's head, "We're just second-class next to Queen Ada, aren't we?!
Ada continued to ignore the girls as the three walked on home.
"Who were they?" Marbles asked the two third-graders once the children were far away from the school.
"Two girls from our class," Melissa answered.
"Their names are Lauren and Francesca," Ada explained, "Whenever they say anything to either of you just ignore them. They are just a pair of jealous bullies who take the 'helping' out of Helping Hand Land!"
The three were silent again as they continued walking. After a while Ada asked Marbles what he thought of his teacher.
"You were right," Marbles said blushing as he spoke to the girl, "He is very humorous. And he told me with a mind like mine I would go far in life."
"That's the same thing Mrs. Wilson told me," Melissa replied in her developing English accent.
"Me too," Ada added, "Looks like the Cybersquad is the next generation of geniuses!"
"I hope so," Marbles said, "I really want to be a computer technician when I grow up."
"As do I," said Ada, somewhat flirtatiously, "That and a poet."
Marbles and Ada turned to Melissa expecting her to add to the conversation, but she seemed to be deep in thought about something.
"Melissa?" Ada said.
"Huh?"
"What about you?" Marbles asked, "What do you want to be when you're older?"
This was what Melissa had been deep in thought about. She knew she definitely wanted to do something that would help prevent what happened to her parents from happening to someone else. And she also wanted to be involved in politics the way her mother was. In fact, she wanted to be just like her mother. She always had.
"I'm not sure," Melissa finally answered, "All I know is that I want to change the world somehow. I want to help everyone in Cyberspace live happier lives."
And that she would. That all of them would.
Someday...