Their day started early that Monday morning; Of course, Brayden’s one mandatory class was during the first day of the week, first thing in the morning.

  Zain popped his neck, stretched his back, and patted his hip. Without wasting a second, he pulled out his phone and immediately opened his note app in order to write: ‘Buy mattress topper’.

  The shitty mattress he had been given would not make mornings any easier to wake up to, and Zain simply accepted that he would not be able to get a good night's rest for some time. It might have been wise to ask Brayden if he had something to help, but it felt kind of weird relying on him for every single thing so Zain chose to keep this problem to himself for now.

  They were waiting in the classroom now; it reminded Zain a little bit like the classrooms in his highschool, which was not underfunded in his time, but considering that this world was more futuristic…it made Zain question how far behind this classroom was.

  Waiting along with him was Brayden, who sat directly next to him. The spectacled boy was keeping busy as he was reviewing a few of his notebooks that he had brought with him. There was also a textbook he seemed to be looking through, but it was one Zain had not received yet.

  Letting his eyes wander around the room, Zain looked at his other classmates. There were three other people in the classroom waiting for the teacher to arrive: One was a balding old man, who was tapping his finger impatiently on his desk with a severe scowl on his face. He sat with one leg crossed on the other, bouncing his foot on the floor as anger seemed to radiate from him. The next person was someone who was already asleep even though the lecture hadn’t even started yet. To be honest, Zain could not really tell if they were a man or a woman because they slept with their head down and a hoodie over their head. They were using their textbook to shield themselves from the front of the room as it sat upright like a small partition being used for their privacy, however, what they were doing beyond the folds was obvious. The last was a frail looking woman with frizzy hair. She sat all the way in the back, and when Zain was turning around to look at her, their eyes accidentally met. She nervously looked away, as if she was fearful of him.

  What a group….

  Judging people he had never met was not his style, but, other than Brayden, none of the other students looked approachable.

  All that Zain had brought was a single notebook and a pencil. That single notebook had cost him 10 credits, which made him understand why Brayden had stressed the importance of budgeting to him. Hopefully he could scrape by with just that but, surely, college students needed more supplies to attend classes…

  The teacher finally arrived, about ten minutes late. He was a young looking man in his late 20s, by Zain’s estimation, who wore an untucked shirt and had slight bags under his eyes. His expression was hard to read, as it remained deadpan as he addressed the class.

  “I apologize for my tardiness, étudiant·e·s…” He slowly looked at the classroom as he opened the briefcase he brought with him. Soon, he met eyes with Zain, then narrowed his eyes slightly as he seemed to be processing something in his mind.

  From his briefcase, he took out a small laptop and wordlessly tapped away at the keyboard. It was after a few minutes of him silently reading his emails, that he finally continued. “Ah…We have a new friend joining us. Class this is Zain. Zain, how long have you been in Merverre? Is there anything you want to say to the class?”

  Eyes were on him now, not something Zain really wanted but it’s not like he had a say in it. He stood up for some reason, probably out of habit, and began to talk vaguely about himself. “I’m Zain McArthur…I came here 2 days ago…Um…I’m 16 and…I guess it’s nice to meet y’all…”

  Zain ended up sounding like an elementary schooler giving a show-and-tell presentation, except there was really nothing of substance to tell them. Not really knowing what else to say, he just awkwardly sat back down in his seat. He glanced at Brayden, who was giving a reassuring thumbs up, but by the way he was biting his lips to prevent himself from laughing, told Zain all he needed to know.

  Thankfully, only Brayden and the teacher were the only ones paying any attention as no one even spared him a glance after he introduced himself.

  The teacher rubbed his chin, “You came here only two days ago? And now you are here?” It seemed as if he wanted to say more, but he quickly moved on. “I see… Well, since you are here now, you will be keeping up with the lessons. My name is Mr. Boudreaux. By the end of class, you will need to check out a book with your ID, so remember to remind me. For now, you will share with Brayden.”

  With that prompting, Brayden courteously pushed their desks together and placed his book in between the both of them.

  Mr. Boudreaux turned around, then tapped the whiteboard a few times. A few screen prompts came up as it became a big interactable screen. With his laptop in hand, he folded it in half, making it take on the appearance of a tablet. Bringing it to the side of the whiteboard, they both lit up as they synced together.

  Tapping a few more things on his screen, he began to write on the laptop which was automatically projected on the whiteboard.

  ‘Monday, Marsday, Merciday, Juperday, Venuday, Saturday, Sunday’

  Are those the days of the week?

  Only three days out of the week were recognizable. As for why the other days were different…he hadn’t the slightest clue.

  Mr. Boudreaux continued on to another column, listing more things that Zain didn’t recognize.

  ‘Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, Niv?se, Pluvi?se, Vent?se, Germinal, Floréal, Prairial, Messidor, Thermidor, Fructidor’

  “Okay, now open the textbook to page 58.” Zain didn’t have time to guess what these new French words were. His translation stone was of no help as it just said things like ‘flower’ or ‘windy’. It was difficult to write them down with it on, so he decided to take it off until class ended, making sure to put it in his backpack so he wouldn’t lose it.

  The page that he indicated had a chart with the things he had written down. It was next to calendars from other nations, with a dedicated column to compare the different dates. There was a bar-like bookmark that Brayden had placed in the middle of the textbook, which lit up slightly as the teacher tapped a few things on his screen. The text that he was going to reference highlighted itself and a few footnotes appeared at the bottom of the page. The bookmark seemed to transform the book into an interactable hologram. Brayden got out a stylus and hovered over the footnotes which gave little infographics and blurbs which explained certain terms in greater depth. Zain’s eyes shined at the new technology and he was excited, for once, at the prospect of receiving a textbook.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Today we are going to learn the days of the week along with the history behind the calendar system…”

  A loud snort sounded from the front of the room. It came from the older man who occupied the seat closest to the door; his textbook remained unopened and his chin jutted out slightly in irritation. “Now you’re teaching us the days of the week like we’re some goddamn children. This place is a joke. What is the point of learning this crap at my age?”

  The man huffed, then turned his face away from the board, unwilling to learn the material for that day. Mr. Bourdreaux looked at the curmudgeon, his facial expression not changing in the slightest. “These topics are selected to help you on your citizenship exams vieux- ahem - Mr. Coulis. I am aware that you may know some of these topics given that you have lived here for some time. However, others have not lived here as long as you and they have to review this material.”

  His eyes gave a quick glance at Zain who, obviously, did not know these things yet.

  The old man hit the desk he was sitting at, causing the pencil that was atop it to fall to the floor. “What is wrong with the calendar system I use?! Don’t tell me to erase the things that I know! I’ve done things my way, the real way, for 60 plus years! Why should I learn this shit?! It's fucking stupid making us learn this crap and you're a fucking idiot for trying to make us!” The man yelled, gesticulating in anger after each sentence in order somehow to emphasize his point.

  The woman who sat in the back let out a tiny yelp as she shrunk into her seat, covering her ears as the man shouted. The hooded classmate shifted a bit at the commotion, but lazily got some headphones from their pocket, then placed it in their ears in order to ignore the dispute.

  Mr. Bourdreaux did not flinch or cower, he just stared at the man with tired eyes. “I’m not asking you to do that. You can continue to use the way you have always used. This is just something that a test might ask you, that is the only reason I am teaching you these things. Whether or not you assimilate, is completely up to you…” He placed his tablet down on his desk, not breaking eye contact from the man, but also not changing the tone of voice he spoke in. “If you continue to disrupt class, I will have to call security again. Both you and I do not want that. Having you go to the psych department would not be desirable for either one of us.”

  The old man narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. After a few tense moments, he grabbed his notebook and pen then stomped outside, slamming the door as he left.

  A tense silence remained in the room, with everyone quietly staring at the door.

  “Mr. Coulis is going to cool off in the hallway. For now, we will continue with the lesson.” Mr. Bourdreaux continued on, unbothered.

  It was almost admirable how unshaken the teacher was, but it wouldn't be surprising if this happened on a regular basis.

  “He likes to write in the hallway to cool off.” Brayden whispered, “He usually rejoins us after an hour. He’s got anger issues, if it wasn’t obvious.”

  “Y-yeah, got it…” Now Zain definitely wasn’t going to talk to Mr. Coulis.

  Class continued on for one and half hours before they took an intermission.

  Mr. Coulis had joined them at some point and he was now eating some jerky he had bought from the school convenience store. He had calmed down substantially, and now he was writing something in his notebook, donning some reading glasses to help him read better. Even though he was no longer angry, Zain had no desire to talk to him, fearing he might piss him off somehow.

  I wonder what he's writing though, because I doubt its about the lessons...

  That was the extent of that thought however, because Zain wouldn't dare approach the old man anytime in the near future.

  Zain and Brayden were in the small convenience store located in the nearby common area, trying to buy a snack that they could eat before class resumed. Of course, since the snacks were stupidly expensive, Zain decided to starve.

  At least Brayden had taken pity on him and he bought a candy they could share. They sat at a small table, looking over their notes for the first portion of class.

  “Why name the months after the weather? We’re underwater…” Zain commented as he popped one of the candies that he held in his hand. It seemed pretty stupid to Zain, but he didn't want to openly criticize, like Mr. Coulis had done.

  Brayden popped one of the chocolates he had bought into his mouth, then chewed on the candy shell for a few seconds before he answered. “I think it has something to do with the founding of the city. I mean it used to be above water.”

  “Oh? So was that the calendar system for the continent above water? I guess that makes sense…”

  Brayden shook his head, still eating his candy. “The system was not that popular apparently, remember? That's what Mr. Bourdreaux said at least. It is mainly used here because of the creator of the city.”

  “What do you mean?” Zain didn’t remember the teacher mentioning anything about the founder...

  “Aimee loaned me this famous romance book about the creator of the city. I think it has been embellished, but it talks about how he fell in love with a Jengu. The story goes :'because she could not live above, he decided that he would follow her below'. He built a city so she could experience what it was like above, and he promised that one day their children would return to the surface.”

  “Oh. I wonder if that’s true.” Zain low-key wanted to read whatever book he was talking about, because it sounded interesting.

  “If there is any truth to it, then the book says something about how he used the months to remember what the seasons were because he missed the sky and the flowers.” His eyebrows drew together as he recalled the details. “At least I think it did…It used that flowery language and I am not the best at reading that stuff…”

  Oh…maybe I shouldn’t read that…

  Zain liked a little romance, but not the Shakespeare kind (more like the drama kind that you see in movies). Even though this folktale sounded interesting, he didn’t think he would enjoy reading what was probably a book that was assigned at the schools here.

  It’s okay, if this world was anything like ours, then there is definitely a movie adaptation. I’ll just watch that…

  Just then, Zain’s phone pinged and a small blue star briefly spun above it, disappearing after a second.

  “Oh, you can disable holographic notification lights.” Brayden said, crumpling up his candy wrapper.

  “No. I don’t think I’ll do that.” It looked cool, like hell he was going to remove it! If anything he might personalize it more! He was in dire need of personalizing his new phone, anyway.

  Zain opened up his phone, and swiped at the drop down menu. It was a notification from one of the job listings he had applied for the day before.

  “I got accepted for the Biologist housekeeper position. Wow…no interview or nothing…”

  “Yeah, see? I told you. They usually do a trial run for housekeepers, so there really isn’t a need for you to interview. As long as you don’t steal anything and you’re decent at tidying up, then you’re good.”

  “To be honest, I’m more surprised that they would need housekeepers that bad to hire me so quickly…”

  “Yeah, well, it’s an entry level position that doesn’t pay that well. Plus, it takes a while to get there because it is so far from the college. A lot of people cycle through so they usually hire often, especially because the facility is so large because biologists from all over come here to study.” Apparently, there was a large research station in this section of the city because of how deep it was underwater. Researchers could study marine life and oceanic activity in relative comfort so it was a national facility.

  “What days should I request? Later this week?” Zain questioned as he clicked the link the job listing had sent.

  “We can probably sync up work schedules for now. If you decide to take supplementary lessons, then you’ll have to adjust. I have one supplementary class during Wednesday - I mean - Merciday. I do cleaning during the first half of the week, then construction during the latter half. Trust me, you want to do construction later in the week…”

  “Hmmm....it says the soonest that I can come in is tomorrow.”

  “That should be fine. I’ll be there so I can show you around. I am going to work there today, so I won’t be back until 11.”

  “That’s cool. I’ll just make dinner for us then. What do you want to eat? Fish or more fish?”

  “Ha ha. Very funny. Maybe we’ll be able to afford chicken or beef with us both working. Take a look at my schedule, just in case they ask what hours you can work.”

  Zain looked over the calendar on Brayden’s phone.

  Ah…Maybe I shouldn’t follow his example.

  Brayden was working from morning to night most days, his schedule was completely packed except for the weekend.

  “I would work weekends but the biology facility is closed then and the city permit does not allow for construction on the weekends…” Brayden replied, as he lamented not being able to work all the time. “Maybe I should get a third job…”

  “Please don’t do that. You’ll die from exhaustion, buddy…”

  “I’m joking. I go to the library and research on the weekend.” He waved Zain’s worries away, but this really didn’t make him feel better. Zain made a mental note to make sure that Brayden fed himself properly…