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"Bad trip," he said
Cynthia gave him a wary look "What kind of trip?"
"The one where I battle it out with volatile religious nuts to protect the way you live Ask Mae She’ll tell you" He started to trudge off down the hall and then noticed Tessa in her maroon school uniform He patted her shoulder "Good luck today, sweetie You’ll do great I can’t wait to hear the recap tonight"
She gave hih Tessa could understand Justin’s e a forht she could absorb just asat home with the stream She spent hours on it every day, amazed at what she learned from both its entertainment and reference options She had yet to find a topic the strea--but she loved it
Still, she had to remember that the whole reason she’d been allowed to co at home was a valid option in Panama--the only one, actually, for ladies of her class--but here, the country’s standardized education system was the path available to her
"No private schools?" she’d asked Justin when they’d toured their suburb’s high school last week There were fledgling public schools in Panama, but New Money and the upper htly more elite choice, if they could afford it
"None that would let you in But don’t worry--public education’s outstanding It’s standardized across the whole country, even for castals and plebeians Builds the national identity"
That identity was beco more and more apparent Even someone like Mae, who’d been raised in a unique cultural environ sense of national pride instilled into her that had existed long before her s responsible for the Decline: biological ion, and cultural separatis way toward staroup solidarity, and the loose Greco-Roman models the country had adopted had provided a new, all-enco culture that everyone could be a part of
Tessa still wasn’t sure she agreed with all those principles, but it was hard to overlook the fact that the RUNA had become the most advanced country in the world
The school had still been on holiday when they’d toured it last week, and Tessa grew nervous as she iotten better about dealing with the crowds in the city, but sometimes, claustrophobia still kicked in The principal hadinto the school on her day off Tessa quickly realized that was because of Justin’s profession People weren’t afraid of servitors the way they were prætorians, but there was definitely a lot of respect and awe
"We’ve never had a provincial in all the ti Tessa as though she were so Tessa had learned was that all things non-Ge terht "I’ experience for the other students…though I worry about your ability to, uh, fit into the classes here, dear"
Tessa had picked up on the subtext Like Justin, Ms Carmichael believed Tessa’s education had involved "insipid reading and remedial math" After some assessment, both Justin and Ms Carmichael had been surprised to learn her literary and corin, her math skills were indeed remedial
Now Tessa’s first official day had finally arrived Both Justin and Cynthia had offered to escort her, but Quentin had informed her that would only attract more attention and was e, he hadn’t yet led her astray, so she followed his advice
Ms Caruide for her first day Melissa was bright and beautiful and seeirl Although she was polite enough, it was obvious that she too regarded Tessa as some kind of freak of nature She also seemed to think Tessa was five years old and deaf
"This is a locker," Melissa said, speaking more loudly than necessary, even with the din around theerated and slow "It holds your stuff You have to open the door first Put your hand over the lock, and it’ll read your chip That’s the thing that’s in your hand"
Tessa had already learned locker operation on her tour Although there was nothing coure out Still, she smiled at Melissa and said, "Thank you"
"What did you say?" asked Melissa
"I said, ‘Thank you’" Melissa kept asking Tessa to repeat herself, clai the accent was hard to follow
"You’re welcome," Melissa practically shouted
Despite the condescension, Tessa was glad to have Melissa taking her to classes The halls were as crowded as Tessa had feared, and the unifor it difficult to pick out points of reference