Chapter 1- Tuesday at Four A.M.
"So, Dave," Karkat glared furiously at the blonde, in the way he looked at everything, "if I may," he emphasized. "How do you expect we go about this project, since you seem to be so fucking up-to-date on what seems to be everything?"
"Well, my proposed solution still stands." Dave said calmly. "You shut the fuck up for two full seconds and the rest of us come up with more helpful ideas."
"I agree," grinned the girl behind a pair of sharp red glasses beside Dave. "Can we put Mr. Grumpus in the corner?"
"Hey!" Karkat snapped. "You shut up! And for the record, no one puts Mr. Grumpus in the corner. Absolutely no one!"
"Guys, we only have twenty minutes before Dirk comes back, so let's actually work on stuff here, ok?" Proposed the raven haired boy behind a pair of glasses politely. "KK?" He smiled at Karkat.
After a pause Karkat sighed. "Fine. Just... Fine. I'll shut up."
"Blessed be God." Dave ironically clasped prayer hands.
"May I have the talking stick?" Kanaya politely asked.
"By all means." Dave invited her, tossing her a blue pen, which she clicked avidly, signaling the transferral of power from the blonde boy to the well-dressed female.
"So," Kanaya began. "For the sake of exposition I will state our current situation and dilemma. Our four teachers have brought together our small classes to a group of sixteen, plus them making twenty, for the purpose of a six-month trip to the cities of Atlanta and Decatur, ending along a beach coast in northern Florida. While it seems like a ridiculously long and well-deserved vacation, it is no such thing, for there is a well placed catch!"
"There's always a fucking catch with Professor Asshole." Grumbled the purple-haired pompous jerk face at the corner of the table made by their joining desks.
Ignoring him, Kanaya continued. "The catch is that during this half-sweep period, we are to undergo multiple tests, trials and tasks concerning everything we have learned so far in these past fifteen years together. One of those tasks spans for the entire six months- which is following a scavenger hunt and taking care of ourselves alone together. Of course, our professors, Professor Dirk, Professor Roxy, Professor Jane and Professor Jake will pop up every now and then to make sure we haven't completely died out, but we'll have no emergency number to call them. If we are to, let's say, get horribly ill, we'll need to deal with the hospital ourselves. If that happens, we have failed and...well, I don't know what. Our dilemma is making sure that we don't do that. So. Any suggestions?"
Karkat raised a shy hand.
"It had better be constructive, Karkat." Kanaya tossed him the pen.
"A question." Karkat easily caught the pen. "What about budget? If we are to survive how are we going to do that without cash?"
"Good question, Karkat." Kanaya said. "That is one to which I have not the answer."
"May I?" Said the particularly bubbly girl next to Eridan.
"Sure, Fef." Karkat tossed the pen. Feferi leapt up and caught it like a whale harpooned in the chest with a glub.
"Miss Roxy actually slipped this to me when she was a bit more than tipsy." Feferi smiled. "Small, very well hidden envelopes of cold, hard coral will be left around at every checkpoint. They'll contain anyfin from one hundred to one thousand dollars inside, she said."
"What?" A chorus of confused voices sounded from around the table.
"How ith one hundred dollars suppothed to feed a group of thixteen?!" Sollux snarled.
"Well, I assume she expects us to save up and spend wisely." Feferi looked low. Sollux mumbled an apology for snapping at her and she sat down.
"Any more questions?" Kanaya silenced the titter of nervous fifteen year olds. Jade's hand raised.
"How are we supposed to, you know, not get picked up by the police? We are a group of minors traveling about with no adult supervision. Everyone here could get in serious trouble for that. Including our professors." Jade inquired.
"I assume," Kanaya answered, "that is part of our challenge." Titter filled the room again. Some was nervous. Most was excited. And suddenly Karkat's chair screeched across the floor as he leapt up suddenly.
"I have a solution!" He exclaimed loudly, silencing the titter.
"Please, do share." Kanaya smiled weakly.
"We need a leader." He said. "Someone to manage the budget, purchases, food rations and whatnot? We need someone to do all that! Someone sharp...and good under pressure...and very strong in his or her social skills. And we'll need other positions, too, but everything has to be run by the leader." There was a pause.
"To be honest," Terezi said. "I nominate Karkat."
"What? That's a terrible idea!" Dave protested.
"Think about it!" Terezi said enthusiastically. "He's such a grumpy asshole that he won't get all tangled up in personal matters, he'd be so obsessed with being the leader and ordering people around that there'd be no crazy shenanigans- he'd make a great leader, if not stingy and annoying."
"I'm with Terezi on this one." Added in Vriska slyly. "If there's one thing I admire about Vantas, it's that he's not a hypocrite. We can trust him not to serve himself extra big rations of food or keep a personal stash of cash. I nominate KK."
"I nominate Feferi!" Eridan added in loudly.
"What?! I could never!" Feferi blushed like a rose. "I can't handle all that pressure!"
"You'll be an adult soon, Fef! You need to grow up and start taking some responsibility!" Eridan scolded.
"Hey, leave her alone!" Sollux stepped in protectively.
"And another thing- you need to stop hiding behind this imbecile! Grow up!" Eridan glared.
"I am not hiding behind him!" Feferi shouted in offense. "And you have absolutely no right to-"
"Shut up, both of you!" Equius scolded, folding strong arms.
"Yea, you guys shouldn't be fighting right meow!" Nepeta chimed in quietly. "Professor Dork will be back any mewnuit meow!"
"Yes, indeed." Kanaya boomed sturdily. All in favor of Karkat as leader, raise a hand now." All hands were raised, save for Eridan's. "Majority rules." Concluded Kanaya.
"But wait!" Aradia piped up. "Don't you think we're going about this all wrong? I mean, for all our lives our professors have taught us to be independent and strong! Are you sure they would want us to follow a leader?"
"It's not about what they want," Glared Vriska. "It's about what keeps us alive."
"And, scene." In walked the tall Professor Dirk, armed with his shades and incredible good looks. "I hope you've got a good idea what you'll do, because time's up and we depart for Atlanta Tuesday morning at four a.m."
Teenage groans and moans filled the air in a cacophony of whining.
"I don't know what you expected." Dirk shrugged. "These are the mountains of Ellijay."
Rose's Journal. June 17th of 2019. Saturday. 10:47 p.m.
Dear Diary,
In the case that anyone happens upon this message, please know that what I am about to brave I likely did not survive. This message serves as my memory, for as the girl I am and the world I was born into, I will have no one to carry on my memory or to keep me alive in their hearts. Though this fact is saddening, I have come to terms with it long ago. I wouldn't have survived if I didn't.
My name is Rose Lalonde. It was a name given time by one of my professors, Professor Roxy. At the time this message was written I was fifteen. I was born into no parents but the four adults and fifteen other peers around me who raised me. I have felt no other loving embrace than that of my fellow students, for we have suffered through many hardships together that knit us tighter than the bonds around my wrists. As soon as we could breathe my friends and I have been learning and and growing and becoming more responsible and independent by the minute. When I took my first breath I was awarded a patch on my tapestry. That was my very first achievement. As I grew I reviewed more and more badges- among them the hedges for being able to walk on my own, to run, to jump, and to shoot a handgun without being blown over by the knockback. These badges all represent my slow climb to independence, for with each badge I earn I have shed a crutch, I have become less dependent. As I grew my badges got harder and harder to achieve. The last one I received was at twelve when I could maneuver a stick-shift car. At fifteen my friends and have received almost all the badges there are. But there's one more left- titled the badge of independence. We have no idea how to receive that badge.
My friends and I were all born and raised high in the mountains of Ellijay, Georgia, a redneck township that I have never set foot in. In fact, I have never seen another human being in person. I was born into what is formally known as the Independence Project (although we all just call it Ellijay). It's a small society focused on raising kids to be strong and independent and to one day release them into the world with a fake identity, fake personal papers, and education certificates- or so I think. To be honest, no one here has the slightest idea why we were born.
What I am about to brave is a six month test, releasing us to make it on our own. And I don't think I can.
-Rose Lalonde, aged 15.