Chapter 6 #3
She looks away, embarrassment plain on her face.
Patron Lenon walks to the front row with a banging step and throws off his coat, flinging it to the Sachi girl.
He strokes his dark hair backwards, picks up an air chalk at the tip of his fingers and flings it to the red-haired boy I met at the pods, who is apparently called Lerod Quan. I keep my head down.
“Okay, Crispy Crabs, Patron Lenon here.” His aura instantly causes the entire class to shudder, fear filling the atmosphere. “Mr. Brink is your teacher. Not me. Obviously. Take a look at the papers and internalize the information.”
Mr. Brink enters the classroom from a small door in front of us. He stands inches away from Patron Lenon, smiles at the class, and begins to hand out our syllabi for the O Test. The Sachi girl assists him. I look at my paper with my call time as Patron Lenon continues to speak.
“Mr. Brink will give you a few clues on how to pass the O Test. Mr. Brink?”
Mr. Brink steps forward to speak to the class.
“Yes, hi, Commoners. So, for one part of the O Test, you will stare at a wall and simply talk. The wall is a computerized deflector mirror. It will reflect everything you are saying in real time backwards to throw you off from your speech. You will be required to talk for five hours straight on the same subject with the same tone and mood.”
“Good job, Mr. Brink. Tot Tot to the back.” Patron Lenon directs the teacher to stand behind him.
Mr. Brink steps back with a humble smile and seats himself on his desk as Patron Lenon continues to speak in a lofty tone.
“I will conduct your tests with another Patron. You will receive a letter grade, and most of you will make an A, some a B. No one in my class makes a C. No one is good enough.” He smiles.
Zavish’s friend, Tin, raises his hand. I hear Zavish whisper to him, “Put your hand down, what are you doing, dumbhead?”
“He’s toast,” Zia whispers.
“Yep.” Zavish sinks into his chair with a slight chuckle.
Patron Lenon looks at Tin with a clenched jaw and an intense, staggering stare.
Tin begins to speak. “So, say we manage to pass the O Test with Common Distinction, do we get to select what major under the Oratory fields that we want to specialize in for the rest of our time here at The Commons?” Tin’s voice cracks, realizing what he has just done.
Lenon chuckles in devilish delight, then he licks his lips and eyes the entire class. Suddenly, he speaks in a terrifyingly low tone. “Why is it that you think you can ask me a question or interrupt me while I am speaking?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disrespe—”
“Oh, you didn’t. I know. Or I would be sending you to the dark dungeon for days. But since you didn’t, you’ll just have to be okay with breaking up with that girlfriend of yours for the next three years. In fact, come up here.”
Tin stands up and walks to the front of the class with a slow shudder, terrified. Zavish chuckles silently in front of me, covering his mouth to hide his laughter.
“You too, Blondie.”
Zavish turns, his eyes wide open, panic-stricken.
But Patron Lenon is pointing to Tin’s girlfriend.
Oh my gosh, Tin’s girlfriend is the Oblivion girl—I just now realize.
Goodness, she acclimates with the elites easily.
She stands up and walks up to the front.
The entire class stares, faces pale, anxious for their fate.
I try to hold my foot with my hands to stop it from tapping repeatedly on the floor from my infuriation at Lenon’s dictatorship.
“If God was to appear in front of you and start speaking, would you talk while he was speaking?”
“No, sir.”
“I don’t like sir. It’s Patron Lenon.”
“Yes, Patron Lenon.” Tin’s voice quivers; he is petrified.
Lenon turns to Tin’s girlfriend with a sneer. He flicks lint off her shirt, blocking her view completely. He says so softly, one has to pay attention to realize how cruel his words actually are.
“Blondie, I am going to ignore your horrible taste in men, and ask you to redeem yourself from being associated with this Tin. You have the whole day to break up with him. But first, I want you to tell him everything you hate about him for the rest of our time in this class. Start with the face and work your way down. And then, work your way inside. I expect gruesome details as though you were taking the O Test right now. And if you fail, I can transfer his punishment onto you, or even better, ascribe you a partner for the next few weeks, or even years. The floor is yours.”
I am beginning to hate this guy with intense passion. Dread consumes the room. She gulps, her hands shake. Terrified, she looks at her boyfriend.
She begins to speak slowly. “I hate your hair.” Her voice cracks, but she raises it up against its shaking tone and continues.
Tin stares at her with tears in his eyes, yet numb to emotion.
“It’s so unkept, it’s like little worms are running around everywhere with no decency. I hate your head. It’s disgusting the things you think about. The fact you think about me is repulsive.”
Oh my goodness.
“I like where this is going. Continue,” Patron Lenon interjects, but not with a slimy smile as one would expect.
He relaxes against the wall, his hands folded, looking away like he’s bored.
These Patrons do get bored easily, don’t they?
It’s almost like he’s doing this simply to test their limits and perhaps even our reactions to it.
She exhales, her face turning red, her hands shaking.
“Your eyes are like a muddy pool of pollution, and your nose protrudes like a horrible horn. I hate when you ask me if you should cut your hair, like obviously you should cut your hair, like you would look better bald, but then if you were bald, you’d look like an ugly ball of…
well an ugly ball, because that’s what yours is. ”
“I said go in order. We’ll get there,” Lenon responds like he doesn’t like any human who deviates from order, and yet the entire class chuckles silently, taking it as a joke and he examines them with narrowed eyes as though reading every one of them. Yep. He’s doing this to read us.
And I don’t even give a hoot why he’s doing this. I’m so triggered. Disgusted, hands folded, I clench my teeth together, eyes focused on a single point to avoid showing my growing anger toward Lenon. How is this even humanly acceptable?
She gasps, inhaling, and exhaling a huge breath, then she continues to dehumanize her boyfriend until she reaches his feet. Her boyfriend’s hands quiver in humiliation.
Patron Lenon glances over to see tears fall down Tin’s cheeks. “Good job, Blondie. What’s your name?” He turns to Tin’s girlfriend, somewhat with a frown, somewhat like he doesn’t care. Strange combination. Now I understand what they meant when they said this Patron enjoys destroying people.
“Ciaro,” she stutters, stating her name.
“No, it’s Blondie. That’s what you’re gonna go by from now on, so every day of your time in this school, you will remember to teach any boys who try to date you how to respect a Patron, am I clear?”
“Yes sir. I mean, Patron Lenon!”
“So, what’s your name?”
“Blondie.”
“Good. And you,” he says to Tin, “since you decided to cry, go to Mr. Brink after class and he will restrict your dating privileges and assign you to the dark dungeon detention for crying in class. Get out of my sight, the both of you!”
They return to their seats, and Zavish, along with the rest of the class, me included, look at them with eyes of empathy. We are all petrified.
Patron Lenon begins to speak, and we all turn to him instantly. “Now, for next class, you will all record yourselves speaking on Blondie’s poor choice of mates. Class dismissed. Report to the Oratory Test according to your call times.”
I shiver, shock-striken, still horrified by what we just witnessed. I can’t imagine how Levon would deal with someone so arrogant. Maybe she did something that caused her to lose favor with a Patron of this sort. And what exactly is the dark dungeon detention?
I decide the only way to find out is to be sent there.
Since Pesh won’t help me unless I’m completely honest with him, I have to go with another plan—I will disrespect Patron Lenon in the Oratory Test. I really hope this does not backfire and he kills me or something.
If I can disrespect him just a little by maybe breathing heavier than others, perhaps he’ll give me the same punishment as he did that guy.
I hope. At this point, where else am I going to look for Levon?
I mean, what could they have done with her?
My brain feels flushed against a sigh that foams out of me.
This is getting so dangerous. There’s not much I know right now, but if there is one thing I am convinced of, it’s this: facing Patron Lenon—This will be my greatest nightmare.