Abbott Chronicles
Betsy made her way to her fourth-hour class. She was new to Abbott High School and so far she hadn't really had a chance to meet any of her new classmates.
She sat down at a table with four chairs around it. Her other classes had a desk assigned to her, but it looked like this one was going to be group seating.
Several other students began entering the classroom. One of them, a blonde girl with long braids and a white cheerleading uniform chose to sit down next to her.
"Hi," said the girl.
"Hi," said Betsy.
"I'm Carrie," said the girl.
"Betsy," said Betsy and then she cleared her throat.
"Carmen and Melissa should be here any minute," said Carrie.
A small door opened on the side of the classroom, and the teacher stepped through.
She was a blue-eyed woman with greying, brown hair. She had colorful blouses of a traditional teacher and wore a scarf around her neck.
She made her way to the desk at the front of the room and set some books down.
The rest of the students quickly finished pouring into the classroom.
Then the bell rang just as a pair of long-haired cheerleaders, one blonde the other raven-colored, hurried in.
The teacher motioned the girls to be seated immediately, and they hastedly found their way over to Carrie and Betsy's table and sat down.
"Good morning class," said the teacher, "I am to be your English instructor, Mrs. Hyson. If everyone here is in the correct class then I'll begin taking roll."
She began to read from an alphabetical list and the girls started whispering to each other.
"Julie's in honors English this year," said Carrie, "so it's just the three of us. This is Betsy," she added.
Betsy smiled shyly and nodded.
Once roll call was out of the way. There was a knock on the large door. A smiling, pretty, young woman with big, brunette hair let herself in and waved to Mrs. Hyson.
"Come in," Mrs. Hyson said and greeted her with a smile in return.
"Hi," she said to the class, her smile unfading, "I'm the coach of girls' gymnastics and the varsity cheerleaders. Most of you know me as Mrs. D."
"This year there's going to be a trip to San Francisco for the cheerleaders convention," she said, "so girls, if you haven't thought of trying out for the squad, you really should."
One by one, she handed pamphlets to all of the girls in the class.
Betsy felt herself get nudged gently by Carrie next to her after Mrs. D had put a pamphlet in her hand.
"This is your chance to make Abbott proud girls! Go-Bots!" said Mrs. D. With that, she waved to the class, then to Mrs. Hyson and made her way out the door.
Mrs. Hyson smiled and waved in return to Mrs. D.
Betsy smirked.
The school mascot for Abbott high-school was a rock-em sock-em robot knock-off. That meant that the athletes here were known as "The Bots".
The classroom erupted with chatter.
Carrie turned to Betsy.
"Why don't you try out for varsity," asked Carrie.
"Me??? Hmm-mmmm!" said Betsy.
"Why not?" said Carrie, "you look athletic enough to be in gymnastics. "What do you guys think?" she asked the girls on the other side of the table.
The two girls looked Betsy over.
"I dunno," said the girl named Carmen. "We've all been on the squad since junior varsity and besides; look at her arms. Can she even lift any of the rest of us?"
"She's no different than Melissa there," said Carrie, "she just needs more exercise probably."
Melissa's eyebrows suddenly merged together, making her look like a vampiress wanting blood. The girl was about to protest when Betsy interrupted.
"I'll think it over." said Betsy as quickly as she could.
"Yes!!!" said Carrie as if satisfied with her response.
The noise in the classroom died down as their teacher called for order, and then began the lesson.
In the basement of the gymnasium, unbeknowest to any of the faculty or students, a giant computer began calculating the next move.
"All seems to be going smoothly," said the basement's lone occupant while typing in the last bits of information on the keyboard.
A wall in front of him slid open and the woman known as Mrs. D joined him.
Her smile from earlier had vanished and her face was cold with purpose.
"Park yourself in the programming booth, Mrs. Dion" he said.
"Thank you, sir." replied Mrs. D.
She put her hands upon the sides of her head. With a small click and a whoosh of air, she removed the upper-back portion of her head and set it on a stand. Then she entered the booth and pulled down a helmet connected to the computer and fastened it into place.
Even with the abscense of her hair, she was still quite a beauty. Her face was very lovely and she had the most seductive blue-eyes ever constructed.
"All of the classes have been visited, sir," she said. "I shall now upload all of today's findings."
"Good, Mrs. Dion. Sometimes I think I built you too well."