Chapter 2

    I walked into the class room and sighed, Another boring day with Mr. O’Brian.
    I took a quick glance around the room, looking for a familiar face to sit with. I saw Veronica and a rare smile creped onto my face. She looked up from her homework and she met my gaze and smiled back. She motioned for me to sit by her so I began walking over to her.
    Veronica was the closest friend I had.  I met her in preschool, we both spent most of our time in the music section of the class room, so we became friends very quickly. She also shared my views on the set up of our government.
    “Ello, ow are ew today Mr. Callen?” she said in a foreign accent, probably sector 31.
    “ Ello, Miss. Veronica. I am very gud, thank ew.”
    We both let out a huge laugh that made everyone else around us stare in fear. Laughter is always considered disrespectful in public, but me and Veronica decided it would be a good way to show others free will still existed.
    Mr. O’Brian staggered into the room. Me and Veronica shared a worried glance, she gave a swift head shake that said drunk… again. Me and Veronica made our own form of sign language a few years back so we could communicate in situations where speech is limited or restricted.
    “Okay”, he started  “Today we’re gonna talk about the first recorded country that had a Monarchy government, England”
    Me and Veronica locked eyes. I twirled my hair with a serious expression or in English, he already taught this last week. She gave a nod of agreement.
    “Who knows what sectors now exist where England once stood?” he asked cockily, thinking no one would know where it was. I did though. It was sector 31, but he said sectors… I didn’t want to answer but no one else was and I didn’t want any extra homework for lack of participation. So I raised my hand.
    “Mmhm?” He grunted.
    “It’s sector 31” I spoke.
    “What’s sector 31?” he asked with a confused look.
    “The question you just asked,”, I said slowly, “What sector now exists where England once stood.”
    “Are you mocking me, Mr., umm… uh… what’s your name again?” he asked still confused.
    I looked over at Veronica. She held up one finger that signaled she would distract him. She raised  her hand.
    “Yes?” he asked politely.
    “What sector exists where England once stood?” she innocently asked. I stealthily slipped back into my seat while his attention was diverted.
    “Sector 31... I think” he spoke slowly.
    “Oh, okay” Veronica said sounding disappointed.
     “I’ll check on that” he said soothingly as he walked behind his desk and got a massive book covered in dust. He sat down and began fingering through the ancient book.
    I looked at Veronica. She gave a fist pump and twirled her finger with a sarcastic questioning look. She meant, “Are you excited about tomorrow?”
    I snickered and gave a thumbs up then lifted my shoulders and did a fist pump my self while shaking my head. It said, “Who wouldn’t be excited?”
    She lifted her finger to her temple and smiled while slightly tilting her head, or, “I know, right?”
    Then I heard it. I whipped my head towards the front of the room, where I met another humungous snore.
    Oh no! Who ever feel asleep is going to regret it. Maybe if I can wake them up befor-, but relief cut my thoughts short when my eyes fell on Mr. O’Brian fast asleep, head centered into the book’s crease. Veronica simply rolled her eyes.
    I looked around the room and everyone seemed to be frozen with fear and then turned to panic. They didn’t know whether to wake Mr. O’Brian up or let him sleep. Regardless, someone was going to get yelled at when he woke up. One girl began hyperventilating.
    I returned my gaze to Veronica. For some reason she was smiling. I gave her a questioning look.
    She pointed at me and her, then made a cutting motion with her hands, then balled them into fists and banged them against each other, then she shrugged. What she said was, “We need to break the tension, right?”
    If we could break the tension of the class, just for a second, they might realize they always have control over what happens on the inside. I nodded.
    She then pointed to Mr. O’Brian’s mind board then pointed to the pull down screen.
    I instantly caught on to what she was saying. The mind board is a tool used to show a picture of what an instructor is thinking to increase understanding of a particular person, place or thing. But if we hooked it to him while he was unconscious, we would be able to see his dreams. I was sure a man like O’Brian had some interesting dreams. I was certain two-thirds of the class hadn’t laughed in the past three years, and I was sure all thirty-two knew it was “wrong”. If we could get them to laugh in public, our life goals would be completed.
    I then pointed at her then O’Brian,  followed up by pointing at myself then the screen. She nodded, we both stood up and began walking to the front of the classroom. Every eye was on us, expecting us to wake O’Brian up. I snickered, They'll never guess what we’re planning.
    I was now in front of the screen. When I pulled it down a few people gasped. I looked over to Veronica and saw she had already hooked the board up to his head and was now turning the power on. The screen began to flicker, then what came on screen no one would have ever expected. The girl who was earlier hyperventilating finally passed out.
    On screen was O’Brian walking across a rainbow above a beautiful valley filled with flowers, trees, all kinds of woodland creatures. There was only one problem, no one was laughing. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone was just staring in shock. At least shock is better than fear, I thought. We had  to do something to make them laugh. I ran over to Veronica beside of Mr. O’Brian. I had a plan.
    “Just follow my lead.” I whispered as quietly as I dared. She nodded then I leaned into O’Brian’s ear.
    “Rabid, fluffy, pink bunnies are climbing up the rainbow behind you.” I spoke softly but in a solid tone.
    And sure enough, about twenty rabid, pink rabbits ran up the rainbow toward a now motionless O‘Brian. I looked around and most of the class had broke into smiles. But Veronica’s was the biggest of all, then she whispered, “Hurry! You have to skip away from them as fast as you can!”
    I returned my gaze to the screen and saw O’Brian moving in a way I had saw no one ever move before. Almost every single person belted out in laughter.
    I looked at Veronica and cried, “We did it!”
    “Yes! I always knew we would!” she replied happier than I had ever seen her before.
    But before we could celebrate any more, the control force broke through the classroom door.