Second Draft Chapter 16

Everyday at lunch I usually tried to meet David and Helen at the cafeteria. Most days it was the only time I saw either of them. I was so busy with Cadet training, and they were so busy with…. Well, they were busy with each other. They always spent their evenings together. I had trouble remembering when I last saw one without the other.

One Wednesday, a couple weeks after classes had started, we sat down at our table together as usual. David was talking about how he and Helen had gone back to his house during the weekend for Sunday dinner. I think they made a point of going home every Sunday.

“What about you Jon?” Helen asked. “When’s the last time you went home?”

“I haven’t gone back home since we moved into the University,” I answered.

“Not even for Sunday dinners?”

I shrugged. “What’s the point?”

“Don’t you miss your family?” Helen asked

David glanced up from his food and gave me a look. It was just a quick look, but I knew he understood why I didn’t like going home. Helen either didn’t see the look or didn’t pick up on it, because she pressed the subject. “You know Jon, I don’t think I’ve ever met your dad.”

To my own surprise, I laughed at this. “You’re not missing much”, I said. The words escaped from my mouth, and immediately I felt embarrassed by my bitter tone. I quickly looked down at my plate so I wouldn’t see Helen’s expression as I shoveled food into my mouth. I wasn’t sure whether she would look shocked, or pitying.

“Hey, isn’t that Simon?” David pointed across the cafeteria, and I followed his hand to see Simon alone in the corner. I had almost forgotten Simon existed. During the last couple years of school I had seen very little of him outside of class. He had spent most of his time with Joshua and Leda. And now at the University I was so busy with Cadet training I didn’t give him a second thought.

David managed to get Simon’s attention, and then waved him over to our table. “You guys don’t mind do you,” David said as an afterthought after Simon had already picked up his tray and started heading over.

“I have no problem with Simon,” I said. I was fully aware that David wasn’t really listening anyway to my answer, but I wanted to say it anyway. I really didn’t have any problems with Simon anymore. The arguments we used to get into as children seemed so distant that I couldn’t remember why I had even disliked Simon in the first place. Somewhere inside I’ve always known that the reason I argued with Simon so much wasn’t because I hated him, but because he reminded me too much of myself. No one likes to see themselves reflected in other people. It shows you things you don’t want to know.

Simon put down his tray and sat down. Friendly greetings were exchanged and everyone was smiling at each other, but there was underneath the awkwardness of old friends who have grown apart. Everyone felt guilty for not having made more of an effort to keep the friendship going, and, although no one mentioned it directly, the undertone of all the small talk felt like one elaborate apology.

“I heard you’re in the Cadets now,” Simon said to me.

“Oh come on,” David said. “You always knew that’s where he was headed.”

“I don’t know,” Simon said. “I knew that’s where everyone wanted you to go, but I always figured you could go either way.”

“Either way?” I asked. “What was my other option?”

“I don’t know. The opposite of the Cadets. Whatever that is.” Despite the vagueness of this answer, there was a sincerity in Simon’s voice that I don’t remember being there before. He seemed different to me.

“What about you?” I asked Simon. “Are you spending all of your time with Joshua and Leda?”

“I still see Leda from time to time. No one’s seen much of Joshua since he dropped out of the University.”

“What? Why would he do that?”

“Didn’t you know Jon?” David asked with a mouthful of food.

“No. I guess I’ve been so busy with Cadets that….” I let my voice trail off, and then turned to Simon. “I don’t get it though. Why would he drop out now? It’s barely even the first month.”

“He said University wasn’t for him,” Simon answered. “I don’t know. Sometimes you can tell in the first month if something’s not for you. And then what’s the point of staying?”

“Well, what is he going to do now? Without a University degree what does he plan to do? Just work in the factories?”

David threw a piece of bread at me. “Hey, look who’s talking Jon.”

“What? I’m at the University.”

“Yeah, only because your father made you come. And if you’re so concerned about your future, how come you got us into trouble so many times when we were in school?”

There was no point in arguing with David. Some people get an idea of you stuck in their head, and however much you change you’ll still be stuck in their brain as the person they used to know. Childhood friends are the worst for this. In David’s mind, I was stuck at fifteen. And it was no wonder really. That was the last year we had together, before I started spending all my time with the Cadets, and he started spending all his time with Helen.

“Joshua didn’t say what he was doing,” Simon answered. “I don’t think he knew. He just knew University wasn’t for him. The last I heard he just left to go on some kind of trip.”

“Where?” I asked.

“I don’t think he knew that either. He just left.”

“Well he must have been going somewhere. How many horses did he take?”

“Don’t be silly Jon,” Simon said. “Joshua’s family doesn’t own any horses.”

David launched another piece of bread at me. “You think everyone has a team of horses at their disposal just like your family, don’t you?”

“You mean he’s just wandering on foot? Like a bum? That’s what he left University for?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Simon said.

I looked at David for confirmation of this, but David just shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “Doesn’t make sense to me either, but what are you going to do?”

“Why would he do that?” I wondered aloud. “He seemed normal enough.”

“You never hung out with him,” Simon said quietly. “You used to say he was boring.”

“That’s just Jon,” Helen said, smiling at the others and　giving a wink to me. “He thought everyone but David was either boring or a jerk.” David and Simon laughed. “Didn’t you Jon,” she said, leaning forward and smiling at me. I realized I was the only one not laughing, and so I tried to smile.

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As it turns out, Joshua wasn’t the only one from our old class who didn’t finish the year at University. The other one I didn’t hear about until half a year later, during the spring term.

The time from fall to spring term went by quickly, possibly because I was so busy I rarely had time to think about it. Once Cadet training started, Orion no longer practiced with me everyday. Only when I was having trouble with something did he keep me after for extra practice. Although the normal hours of Cadet training were exhausting enough, Orion made it clear that he also expected me to train on my own time. I did my best to make time for this.

Christopher was my only serious competition for a leadership position. Ajax, Hector, and Teucer were all bumblers. Ajax was the only one of the three that had any aptitude at all. Hector loved combat practice with a bully’s love for fighting, but he was dumb as rocks when it came to anything else. He was fairly muscular, and did well at anything requiring simple brute force, but I was always able to outwit him on the field. And the big idiot could barely run either. It was always a laugh to see his big uncoordinated body try to do the obstacle course every morning.

As for Teucer, he had been shielded under Ajax for far too long, and now couldn’t do anything by himself. He was agile enough that he could do the obstacle course reasonably well, but he just wasn’t used to one on one fighting. Three on one was more his style.

Christopher may not have been the strongest Cadet in our year, but he was a lot better athlete than I ever imagined. All this time I had thought he was only concerned about books, but I never realized what a good runner he was. And I would never have guessed he was such a good shot with a rifle either.

But what really made Christopher stand apart was the way he had somehow managed to completely commit to memory the entire Cadet rulebook within the first few weeks. Whenever Zeus had a question about anything, anything, Christopher knew the answer. Zeus tried not to show it, but I could tell he was impressed. And unless I could beat him to it, Christopher was always the first to volunteer for anything.

What’s more, Christopher was just naturally a leader. Whenever there was any confusion about anything, Christopher automatically took control and started directing people. I think he did it without even realizing it. A leftover habit from all his years as class president that had just gotten hardwired into his brain perhaps.

I was really worried about Christopher for a while. But in the end I was simply just faster, stronger, and better than anyone else in our year. All those evenings of training with Orion had paid off. My grades weren’t as good as Christopher’s, and in theory University marks are supposed to be taken into account when deciding Cadet ranks, but everything else I could do better than Christopher.

At the end of the Fall term, Zeus appointed me the leader for the first year Cadets. Christopher was directly behind me, and Ajax was third. Teucer and Hector didn’t make the cut for leadership positions.

Orion was top of his year of course, and there was no doubt in anybody’s mind that when Orion became a fourth year student he would be head of all the Cadets. Zeus had even begun to hint from time to time that the decision had already been made.

I did reasonably well in my University subjects, although I still hadn’t decided what subject I wanted to go into. I took basic classes all through the first year. I saw David everyday for lunch but David spent all his evenings with Helen. And so in my free time I found myself hanging out more and more with Hermes. Once I got to know Hermes, I really liked his sense of humor. And he liked mine. He would actually laugh at my jokes, instead of groan and roll his eyes like David and Simon used to do. He seemed genuinely happy to share my company, and so I enjoyed his. Occasionally he would even talk me into attending more art guild meetings, although I never got over the feeling of not really belonging there.

One afternoon during Spring term I met David and Helen for lunch as always. This time Icarus and Simon joined us as well. I remember everyone was gossiping about something. “Did you hear about LJ?” Simon asked me.

“What about it?” I answered.

“I don’t know what you’re asking him for,” David said. “He’s always the last person to hear about anything. Don’t ask him unless it’s something about Cadet practice.”

“I heard all about it,” Icarus said proudly. But we all knew that every second Icarus talked about the subject was a second that would tell us nothing and most likely add to the confusion. So Simon jumped in quickly.

“I heard he was expelled,” Simon said. “But I don’t know why.”

“Expelled from the University?” Helen exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise.

“I heard he was causing trouble in some of his classes,” David said. “Asking the wrong kind of questions and arguing with the professors.”

“Can you get expelled for asking questions?” Helen asked.

“Well not usually,” David answered. “But you know what LJ was like. He was always questioning the Duke or asking about the history books. You can get away with that at school maybe, but this is the University. It’s right in the heart of the city. This is where they train the Cadets. Flash gives most of the money to keep this place running. Flash has even got his own office in the University.”

“Is that all this is?” I asked as I reached for the salt. “I don’t see what the big deal is. Does this really surprise any of you? We all knew LJ was going to get in big trouble sooner or later. He never could keep his mouth shut. He’s lucky they just expelled him.”

This response angered David, and he turned on me with dripping sarcasm. “Oh yeah, everyone always knew LJ was going to get in trouble. It was LJ who used to deface the Restoration posters, or steal Police hats. If LJ’s father was a Restoration hero instead of a Gibeonite, maybe LJ could get away with whatever he wanted to also.”

“Are you saying LJ was expelled because he was a Gibeonite?” I asked. “Gibeonites wouldn’t even be allowed at the University if it wasn’t for Flash, so I don’t see where he gets off criticizing Flash all the time. Maybe he’d like it better in the days before the restoration, when his father would be stuck in the Ghetto with the rest of those Gibs instead of practicing law in Flash’s courts.”

Simon stood up so quickly he knocked his tray down onto the floor. “Calm down Simon, he didn’t mean that,” David answered. “That’s just his father talking. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

Simon sat back down, but his eyes were breathing fire. David was calmer, but he his tone of voice showed he was slightly disgusted with me. And even Helen had a shocked look on her face. I wasn’t quite sure what everyone was upset about, but I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as I realized I had lowered myself somehow in Helen’s eyes. I tried to recover. “What did I say?”

“Well first of all,” David answered, “no one says ‘Gibs’ in polite conversation these days.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is. It means the same thing.”

“No, I don’t suppose you would,” David said in his most patient tone, “But Simon and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t use that word in front of us.” David had forgotten to include Helen, but I could tell from her face that she was just as upset as the rest of them. (Icarus as usual was hard to read. I’m not even if he was paying attention.)

“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Secondly,” David continued, “You do realize that LJ and his family are extremely lucky. Most of the Gibeonites are still in that Ghetto, working for starvation wages in Flash’s factories.”

“Now you sound like LJ,” I said.

“Maybe he had some good ideas,” David answered.

“Well it doesn’t matter now anyway,” I said. “Now that he’s expelled, the University doesn’t have to worry about him anymore.”

David raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing.