The Awakening

Dodging Detentions

"What's wrong?" I asked Zachariah worriedly, staring at the red glow of the coffee table.

"There are four colours that your coin can light up as. Green, which means you are a good student, you haven't done anything bad lately. Blue, minor corrections, maybe a detention or two, but a generally good fellow," Zachariah explained, sipping on his tea. "Yellow is for someone who is a bad egg, needs watching over, someone whose name is synonymous to detention like Sylvester Zackermann; though I think even he rings up a blue. As for red..."

"Your coin reports your every action, but they can't be viewed unless placed in this coffee table, Mr Exodus," Iuvenus continued. "The exception to this rule is a Red. A person who has a red mark has their every move recorded. If you sneeze, or even brush your toe against the line, your actions are reported."

"So, I am under heavy surveillance, is that it?"

"Not quite," Jasmine said. "A Red Coin means every Professor at Hallufias is going to treat you harshest. They already have an opinion of you being a mastermind nuisance, so anything you say or do is going to be scrutinized in the worst of light."

"Why?"

"I am not sure Mr Exodus," Iuvenus said. "This school is older than I am, and most of its traditions as well. The story is that the entire system was placed after a student ran away. They had been grappling with a lot of issues and they were orphaned and they were acting out a lot. Vandalism is where it started but the child reached a point of self harm. Unfortunately, no one noticed until it was too late. In a fit of concern and disappointment at the circumstances, Nicholas Flamel kept this system; to find anyone in such a position ever. With time, the system has changed a lot, and now it's used to find problems with a student and use it as a tracker. It's not all good though, I have known some of my colleagues to base of the marks of students using it and not what the students have learned."

"The entire system changed from being to help students to being something to weed out the bad eggs, essentially," Zachariah added. "Nicholas may have actually been hoping to watch out over you keeping you under the red radar, but he has ended up making things worse for you due to the change of system use."

"Damn." I gestured towards the coin, "Can't you change it? Make it blue or green or something?"

"Nicholas Flamel is our superior, Mr Exodus. He can override anything we keep, but we can't do the same the other way round son," Jasmine said, her eyes heavy with an apology as she grasped my hand in support.

"I suppose this means I have to know what rules I have to stick to. If this is as old as you say, sir, the rules must be archaic yet still on the rosters and any slips I make will be recorded and reported on. Can't have me stuck in detention all through the year sir," I said, trying to be serious.

"Before the rules, I will have to go over the consequences Jason," Zachariah said. "I was kinda hoping I would not have to, and you would learn it all on your own, but seeing that I will be stuck with you in almost all your punishments.... Well, don't have much of a choice."

"What do you mean, you will be punished for anything I do wrong? Why?"

"I am your mentor, oh and shit," he said, face-palming himself. "I forgot all about Mohatta and your trip this weekend."

Professor Iuvenus rolled his eyes, "The visit isn't a common field trip but rather your semester examinations. Get on with answering his questions about his more pressing problem Mr Hades."

"Wait, wait, wait," I said, raising my hands up. "Hold up, are you trying to tell me that I have an examination this weekend when I have barely been here a day?"