A New Style of Education - Year Five

by Karen Page

Part 4

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Part 4

As David reluctantly moved away from Helen to get a shower, he heard the ting of a status update on his phone. It wasn't one of the urgent chimes, so he knew it would wait. For the first few years, he'd become a slave to the updates on the phone. Dr Ruiz constantly reminded him that he thought about an answer in her sessions, so why should he respond instantly to a message which wasn't urgent. When he did look, it was from Mr Hobson for a chat just before lunch.

At breakfast, Mr Hobson made his morning announcement, and then added. "It has been brought to my attention that next Thursday is bonfire night. For various reasons, we haven't marked this important event for the last few years. Rather like we done for other events; this is something that I feel should be a school effort.

"Items to be done. An area on the far side of the back lawn, the large flat area, needs to have the lawn removed. Fire and grass aren't a good mix. A small digger and dumper truck will be provided, though some use of a shovel will be needed. Training for the digger will be provided. This is open for all years.

"Wood needs to be collected. There will be fallen branches in the woods near the shooting range. There has been some minor felling where a few trees where dangerous from last week's storm. There will be a few dumper trucks, or pickup trucks to bring the wood to where the bonfire will be. Anybody who has passed the Hayfield Driving School can drive the vehicles. I believe that is anybody in year three upwards, though I heard there are three in year two who are about to take that test. Equipment such as axes and chainsaws won't be used by students, but Mr Yates has that training and will wield his axe where needed."

A few sniggers broke out at that and by the look of Mr Hobsons small smile, that had been his intention.

"I estimate it will be a few days work for a large bonfire. Can I have a show of hands for those willing to forgo tomorrow's trip to Milton Keynes to aid in our bonfire night preparations?"

Hands shot up, and the silence was broken by several excited conversations about what they wanted to do.

"I always seem to do this the wrong way. Hands down, and anybody still wanting to go to Milton Keynes tomorrow, put up your hands."

There was none.

"Excellent. Tomorrow morning, after breakfast we shall divide up. Make sure you wear appropriate clothing. Sturdy footwear must be worn."

* * *

David coughed slightly at the open door to Mr Hobson's office. It was late morning.

"Come on in, and shut the door," said Mr Hobson, getting up from behind his desk.

Sitting on the settee that Mr Hobson indicated, he continued "Thank you for sending the information on the mystery woman. To tell you the truth, I was quite sceptical, but we've had no other leads, so sent it to the relevant people. The results came in late yesterday. Luke was right, it was the same person. The CCTV didn't show she was interested in anybody there, so might have just been a coincidence, but has raised a few warning flags."

"Hence the cancellation of tomorrows trip to Milton Keynes?"

"Exactly," responded Mr Hobson, not attempting to hide the details from David. "The other thing raised was how did Luke recognise your photo. Had he seen it before?"

"No, that was the first time."

"Interesting. I've been shown a research paper published earlier this year on something called Super Recognisers. This is something quite niche and a new field. Some people have the perception to remember faces. Would you be willing to take Luke to see someone in London who will test his skills? Luke has never been to London, hence why I thought it would be good for you to accompany him."

"Sure. When and where abouts?"

"Next Tuesday to University College. One of the lecturers there is one of the people who co-wrote the paper on Super Recognisers. They have some tests which should indicate if Luke has this skill."

"I've never heard of this Super Recogniser thing before," David admitted. "I was a bit sceptical myself, but he was so earnest, I couldn't not inform you."

"I'm glad you did. Sometimes we are so sceptical and only think that what we know can exist."

Mr Hobson paused, and seemed like he wanted to say something else, but after several seconds looked like he decided against it.

"Moving on, but with a similar strain, you handled Luke finding out about his sister well, including the no contact rule. Well done."

"Rachel did the majority of the work. I just spotted that the conversation was needed. Has Tina been to London?"

"No, I don't believe she has, but I don't think this would be a good opportunity. I'm sure most in year three suspect something about the beta program, but I don't want to single them out yet."

* * *

"It's great to see you are all dressed down for today's event," boomed Mr Hobson before the breakfast bell rang. "Everybody should be wearing sturdy footwear. The support person on your table will make sure you are appropriately attired. If not, you will be requested to change. When breakfast has finished, you will find boxes of gloves in the entrance hall. Please take one left and one right glove. We shall start at 9:30, so everybody can enjoy their breakfast without worrying. It is the weekend, after all.

"As I mentioned yesterday, there will be use of some mechanical equipment. We are lucky that two members of year five are skilled with diggers and dumper trucks. Emma and Paula will be your experts who will give training to those who use that equipment. Please listen to them as they do know what they are doing. During breakfast an update with groups should appear on your phones. Each group will have a leader. Leaders might not be in the top year, and they may not be year leaders. So, if you are assigned a leader's position, then use that time to learn. The sign of a good leader is to involve those they are leading, and an easy start is asking advice if unsure."

From experience, the top year knew that the leader roles would go to the lower years. Mr Hobson knew how the upper years handled leadership.

Towards the end of breakfast, the ring of notifications sounded within the hall as the assignments arrived on the phones. As expected, none of pupils in the top two year were leaders. They were mostly there to do heavy lifting and give extra supervision. The way the support staff were dressed, they would be helping too.

Events like Halloween and Bonfire Night were always celebrated at mealtimes, but setting up a bonfire was something different. The only other major event, other than concerts was Christmas. This was a time where all they students could pull together for a single purpose. At Christmas there was decorating the school. Bonfire night was different, and this was something none of the years had done before.

Manual labour wasn't something they were used to, and after an hour, the pace slowed. There wasn't any pressure from the staff involved, but there were suggestions to rest and have a drink. The kitchen staff had set out a large table with all sorts of drinks ranging from water, and orange juice to tea, coffee and hot chocolate.

As they traipsed back to the woods, Mr Hobson broke out in singing. After a few glances more joined in and soon the woods were filled with the sound of song. This raised their spirits, and the loose wood was carried, dragged, and generally manoeuvred to the edge of the woods.

"Tell me about your sister," David asked Tina, as they wrestled with wood, glad the gloves were protecting them from splinters. Ben in year zero had taken off his gloves and was now being treated for grazed hands. For some reason he thought the gloves made him weak.

"I have two. Caroline and Ashleigh, though the sister I mentioned the other day was Ashleigh. I thought my file would have had all that information," she said slyly.

David smiled at the fishing and said, "I was asking you and yes, I was referring to Ashleigh. You knew her. Lived with her. You said she had a boyfriend who got mistaken for a girl? There sounds to be a story there."

"You really want to know?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't interested."

"Ashleigh was," Tina paused and then reiterated, " is my sister. Even though she was quite a few years older than me, it never stopped her being kind. She always looked out for me. Yet, I never told her my secret. I didn't want to lose her trust. And then when she brought home her friend. I could see he was a boy, but my parents thought he was a girl, and Ashleigh called him Becky. I thought my parents were accepting, so let down my guard, and I was caught wearing Caroline's clothes."

"Oops."

"Indeed. I then made it worse by explaining that I was really a girl. My parents went ballistic when I mentioned that Becky was really a boy, and they had no issues with him. How little did I know. They banned Ash from ever seeing Richard again."

"Richard?"

"That was Becky's real name. The only reason Ash called him Becky was because my parents thought he was a girl. I overheard him come to talk to my parents a few weeks later. He'd had a delayed puberty and he got his GP to give him a testosterone injection. He said he wasn't trans."

"If he wasn't, he must have got a lot of stick from other kids if he looked that much like a girl."

Tina looked horrified. "I'd not thought of that. Poor kid. There was I upset because my parents wouldn't let me see my GP about being trans. But apart from being grounded for six months, things didn't really change that much. Caroline thought I was a bit strange, but she always thought I was strange because I preferred playing in an orchestra than playing football or rugby."

"And Ashleigh?"

"She's done well in her exams. She shut herself away and became a bit of a recluse. It's like she lost something when they weren't allowed to see each other. She'd planned to go to the same university as Richard, but he asked her not to. He didn't want her to become estranged from her parents."

Not once had Tina cried or got upset. It was something she'd cried herself out of many years ago. Now, it was just something that happened. A troubled time in her past, that she'd moved on from. Not that she hadn't forgotten, and in some ways hadn't forgiven her parents for what they'd done to herself or Ashleigh.

"I'm sorry," David murmured, giving Tina a gentle hug. "I hadn't realised you'd gone through all that."

"There are others here that have been through much harder times. My parents weren't physically abusive. They thought they were doing the right thing to help me."

"Yes, but it wasn't right that they didn't listen to your needs."

She shrugged.

"To them they were trying to protect me from what they thought was a bad choice. They presumed I was too young to understand and was just mistaken. We email each other and that's good. Obviously, nobody outside the school knows I've transitioned. It's like a truce. Anyway, enough of that, we are lagging behind with our wood moving."

David didn't think he'd have been that forgiving. He thought about his parents. They hadn't been the best of parents. During the week they seemed to be in their own world, not seeming to be involved. At the weekends they were always around, but as he grew up, David never seemed to have anything in common with them. His life, he knew, would be nothing like theirs and he wondered what he could do so the reunion in almost five years time would be something he could look forward to.

* * *

There had been various discussions if the trip to London with Luke should be done in commuter time. It would have meant leaving before breakfast and would probably have led to less questions from his year. But it would have meant hanging around. Plus, it wouldn't have been a nice first experience for the trip to London.

"So, what did you tell your year?" David asked, as Helen drove them to the railway station.

"The truth. Some researchers wanted to test me. They didn't ask about what. I was surprised how accepting they were."

"How much did you suspect about the Beta program before you were invited to join?"

"Some. Not the whole thing, but there seemed to be more going on with the concerts. But it was still a shock to find out the rest."

"But you didn't say anything, like you don't say anything to your parents about Mix Up Mondays."

"Ah," Luke uttered, nodding slightly. "So, they didn't ask because they didn't feel it was right to ask. Just like we don't ask about other things."

"It's up to you what you tell your year about today."

"Just not about that lady?" Luke confirmed.

"Yes. We don't want to worry them. We have no idea who she is. The train I was on continued to Milton Keynes, so it could all have been a coincidence. We were followed from the station, so there was some surveillance, but it might not have been her."

"The rest of the year did query about me not shaving for the last few days, but I've got to admit I do think I look a bit older. Tina wasn't too keen but understood why. I think using an alias though is a bit much."

"Perhaps, but if you do have this Super Recogniser skill, it isn't something you probably want generally known."

"Yet the school will know. I know that they think they are doing this for my own good, but sometimes I think they are too paranoid."

Helen spoke for the first time on the journey. "Perhaps, but Mr Hobson's job is to keep us safe. He tried to resign when he didn't think he'd done a good enough job. I'm glad his resignation was refused."

"So am I," agreed Luke, surprised at how open Helen and David were being. This was the first time he'd heard about Mr Hobson nearly resigning.

The conversation tailed off as they approached the railway station.

"Have fun!" called Helen as David and Luke got out of the car. "Give me a call when you're on the way back and I'll pick you up."

The train journey to London was painless. It was after rush hour, and the trains were quiet. It meant they could get seats with nobody nearby. At first the conversations were about the upcoming concert, and the pieces they were playing. When that dried up, David moved the conversation onto what he thought Luke might have wanted to talk about, his sister.

"How are things going with Stacy?" David asked, as a starter.

"Good; I think. She said she was glad I knew. It would make our chats easier."

"And has it?"

"At first, it was hard. I was unsure what to say. However, as the emails flowed it has become better. We were emailing once a month, and now it is every other day. Haven't you talked to her?"

"Sure. However, I was asking how things were going for you. I know how they are for her. She is an ex-pupil, so knows what you're going through. She is also family, so you have a shared past. Just as Helen and I have a past that extends to before we started at Hayfield. There aren't many that occurs with."

"There are others?"

"Yes, but as I said, not many. Each have their own story, which it isn't my place to talk about. You know that. You aren't the only person that I know with another pupil who is family; you are just the only one at Hayfield."

"So, what's this sister school like?"

"I've never been there, but when they stayed with us for a few months, they were just like us, but talked with strange accents." David looked across to see Luke in thought and decided now would be a suitable time to drip more knowledge he would need later. "They're an S.P.A school. We’ve never had contact with any of the other schools."

"How many more secrets do you have?" Luke asked. He'd wanted to ask about the other schools but thought that now might not be appropriate.

David knew the question was rhetorical, so just smiled.

"As we mentioned the other night, there are things that you and Tina will need to know about that others in the school don't. Not because it's bad, but because it isn't relevant for them."

"Do you know any more about the testing today?"

"All I know is where we are going. They will run some recognition tests; we get told the results and then we leave. We'll soon be at Euston. It's stopped raining, so we will walk to where we're going. We can go on the tube later."

Luke's face lit up. This was something he was excited about. "Will we get chance to see other things in London too?"

"Yes, but not everything. London is huge with plenty of different things to see and experience. Today will be about knowing where some of the important places are. There will be other opportunities for you and Tina to visit in the future."

"Why just us and not the rest of the year?"

"Oh, you all will be doing things. It's just that you and Tina are the only ones in your year that have never been to London. Also, both of you lived a more restricted life. So that you can operate in more areas, you need to know how to socialise at different events. We'll see what comes up to help with that. I needed that help too. When I joined Hayfield, I'd never been abroad and never eaten out."

The train pulled in, and they followed the small stream of passengers down the platform, through the gates and into Euston's ever crowded concourse.

"This is even busier than some of the airports," muttered Luke as they made their way out.

"You think it is bad now, try it at rush hour."

The walk to Alexandra House didn't take long, and they were soon being directed to the testing lab. David was surprised that he was going to be tested too. They were left in the hands of Mary Hilliard, a research assistant.

"Liam, you have this computer," said Mary to Luke. "Peter, you are on this one."

David moved over to the one that Mary had pointed to for Peter.

"You will see a picture of a face for a few seconds. You will then be shown a series of blurred pictures. Choose which matches the original."

Twenty minutes later, they had both completed the test. "Well done," said Mary coming into the room. "Peter, you have an above average result. Your mouse and eye movements seem to indicate that you hesitated over the correct answer but went for something else. You might improve as you get older, but you aren't a Super Recogniser."

David smiled and gave a small shrug. "I didn't think I was. I was just here to accompany Liam."

Mary nodded and turned to Luke. "Liam, you answered all the questions correctly. Would you be willing to do a slightly different test, to confirm?"

Luke gave a quick look at David and, not seeing any dissension, agreed.

"Is there anywhere I can watch?" David enquired.

"Why don't you come into the observation booth," Mary offered. "You can then see what we are seeing."

David agreed and followed her out. The observation room was simple. It had a computer that was monitoring not just what they had chosen, but eye and hand movements. How they made the choice was just as important as the right answer. Luke was watching videos of busy streets and being shown pictures of faces and being asked to choose who had been in them. As with the initial tests, the pictures were slightly pixilated or different positions.

"Who are you?" asked Mary, as they watched Luke's test progress.

"What do you mean?" David responded. "I'm Peter."

"No, not that. There was a request for today's test directly from the ethics committee. Once the test is done, we are to print out the results which won't have anything identifiable and give you the hard drive which will have the raw data."

David nodded. "Liam is under eighteen and your studies are only authorised for adults. Yet your university is the best in Europe for this research. Without anything identifiable, you get the chance to add to your research. You win, as you get your anonymised data, Liam wins as he gets the results and doesn't have his details in the system."

"You don't sound as young as eighteen," Mary remarked.

"How is Liam doing?" David asked, ignoring Mary's comment. He was only seventeen, which she would find even harder to swallow.

"I've only seen two people perform like he's doing. He's got three videos left, but even if he got all of them wrong, he would be identified as a Super Recogniser."

When Liam finished, Mary printed off the results, and showed them to Luke and David. "Liam, you got all but one right. So far only one person has got that one, but they got a few different ones wrong. Therefore, you are tied in first place with two others."

Luke shrugged. "I'm not in a competition. It's good to know I'm not unique with the skill. Thank you for helping me today."

She gave a small smile in response. "It's a new area of research, so thank you for your help today. When you are older, if you want to come back to aid this research, I'm sure they would be more than glad to have your help. Peter, if you want to clean up."

Luke looked a bit puzzled as David pulled a USB stick out of his pocket. After validating that the data hadn't been copied to the network, he purged the hard drive that overrode the data several times. Finally, once finished, he took out a screwdriver, removed the hard drive and put it into his rucksack.

"That was a bit extreme," said Luke as they wandered away from Alexandra House. "Was taking the hard drive your idea?"

"No. It was part of the agreement in having you taking part in their research. They could have the anonymised results, but no raw data. Removing the raw data was what they agreed to for you to take part. I was just a bonus."

"So, where are we going?"

"That building there is The British Museum. No time today to visit it. We are just strolling past some sights. We'll go down Oxford Street, through Marble Arch, across Hyde Park. There is a café there we can have lunch. Afterwards, we can go visit Harrods before heading home. Unless there is something you want to see?"

"I'm not really interested in Harrods. Could we go via Parliament?"

"Sure. We can walk from there to Embankment tube station and get it back to Euston. How does that sound?"

Luke shrugged. "I'm in your hands. I've never done London before."

"We are just skimming it today. There will be other times where it will be you and Tina. She's never done London either, so I don't want to spoil things too much so you can discover things together. Today is just a highlight so you are more comfortable when you come next time."

"It sounds like you are planning my life." It was an observation, not a complaint.

"Not really. You probably have noticed, that as you get older, there is more leeway at the weekends. London isn't far, and there is a lot more to do than in Milton Keynes or Luton."

The walk through the unlit Christmas lights on Oxford Street was a major distraction. The switch on had been done two days earlier by Jim Carrey.

"I know we went up to see the Blackpool Illuminations a few years ago," said Luke. "Have you ever been down to see the London ones?"

"No, and if we did go into London on a Saturday, we would have to head back before they switched them on in the late afternoon. We're doing something around Bonfire Night this year, so it isn't something I expect will occur. Perhaps you could ask Mr Hobson if they plan to do it next year?"

Luke gave David a doubtful look.

"Are you still nervous around him?" enquired David.

"A bit. I mean, he seems okay to talk to, but he is the headmaster and I've seen how he can be-" Luke tailed off, not able to say more.

"You mean what happened between Ryan and Robert? That was eighteen months ago when you were in year one. They were chasing each other and went onto the main driveway. A car being driven by Keith Thompson was coming up and Ryan ran in front of the car. I'm not surprised Keith was furious with them as they could have been knocked down if he hadn't taken emergency action."

"Tina and I were there when they were called into Mr Hobson's office. He never once raised his voice or threatened them. Yet when he'd finished talking to them -" he shuddered.

David didn't say anything, as he knew Luke had more to say. "It was the visit the following day. It wasn't just them, but all of us. We went to the Bedfordshire police training centre where the traffic cops train. Seeing the consequence of accidents and talking to some of the police who are often first on the scene-". Luke tailed off again and then quietly. "It wasn't nice."

"It wasn't meant to be nice. Mr Hobson seems to work by trying to show the consequences of actions. It didn't stop you playing, but you thought more about where to do so. So why does that make you nervous about seeing Mr Hobson? You've had plenty of interaction with him since?"

"Sure, but he always seems so distant, it's hard to relate."

"His job is to make sure the school is run well, and we are all safe. Step back and look at how he works and not just what he does."

"You're just like him, so cryptic."

"Not really, I just don't want to influence you. I've just pointing something out. Only you can judge and make up your own mind."

When they reached Hyde Park, they passed Speaker Corner which David pointed out to Luke. As they went towards The Serpentine, they saw an area cordoned off by police tape. There were several police officers patrolling, making sure that nobody entered the closed off area.

"I wonder what's going on?" wondered Luke aloud, as they continued along the still open section.

"A murder," remarked someone who was watching at the cordon. "I'd heard that the body had been drained of blood."

"Sounds like a vampire," laughed David.

Luke joined in. "If they existed, draining the blood would be just their M.O."

This led to a discussion on vampire films while they walked to the café next to the Lido.

Luke was quiet as he slowly ate his sandwich. David watched wondering what was going through his mind. Luke hadn't looked at him, but just stared out at the swans swimming gracefully along the serpentine, not flustered by the police activity on the opposite bank.

After ten minutes of silence, David decided to find out. "What's up?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why was I chosen for the school? Why was I chosen for the other thing? Was it because of my sister?"

"No, it was nothing to do with your sister. Some children are earmarked and pegged to join the school. I didn't find out until later that I'd been trained for a few years before the entrance exams. They knew a lot about me before I took them, and a lot more once I had. You on the other hand weren't pegged."

"So, she didn't put in a good word?"

"It doesn't work like that. The tests are done, and whoever the school seems to be able to help are put into a pot. Then matching is done to see who would be best together as study partners. You can imagine there are more than ten pupils who the school could help. When I started the other years had eight pupils. My year was the first with ten. It started with eight and two joined because the school became the best option."

There was more to it than that, but David knew that describing what had happened to Anna and Jill wasn't his place.

"So, why did you do a concert at my school if it wasn't for me? We've never done a concert like that since I've joined."

"There was someone at your school that was 'pegged'. They played an instrument but were thinking of giving it up. By playing at your school, it was hoped they would continue to play."

"Who?"

David wanted to close his eyes, but knew he needed to see Luke's reaction. He said quietly, "Sarah Smith."

Luke's eyes opened wide in horror, "Oh. She was murdered walking home from an after-school violin practice. Will Sanchez."

William Sanchez had killed six school children. Sarah Smith was his fifth victim. The attacks had been in the news for weeks as he went on his killing spree. His habit of tearing the limbs off, led the press the name him the 'School Child Ripper'.

"If we hadn't gone up, would she have stayed playing the violin? If she hadn't, would she have been saved? Would someone else have been murdered instead?"

"The press said there was pictures of her at Sanchez's house. She seemed to be someone he obsessed over. Therefore, her playing would probably have made no difference."

"Psychohistory isn't a perfected science," David muttered.

"Asimov?"

David nodded.

"You do know that someone labelled a way of looking at history as Psychohistory?" informed Luke. "Not maths, but I suppose they wanted a catchy name."

With lunch over, they walked out of Hyde Park and down Constitutional Hill.

"How can I have ended up at Hayfield playing with such a great orchestra? I'm just a kid from a poor neighbourhood."

"If that's what you think, then that's all you'll ever be!"

"Huh?"

"It's a quote from The Last Starfighter."

"I've never seen it."

"Well, I suppose I never saw it until I was in year one. It's the story of a boy who lives in a trailer park in the middle of nowhere. He plays an arcade game and wins which gets him recruited as a Starfighter on an alien planet. Someone from nowhere ends up saving thousands of worlds."

"Yeah, but that's just a film."

"Sure. Okay, take Mozart. Five of his elder siblings died while infants. So, for him to survive wasn't easy. By the age of five he composed his first pieces. He was nine when he composed his first symphony."

"But am I defective because I remember faces?"

"Am I defective because I don't know if I'm a girl or a boy? Are some of the people at the school defective because they aren't in heterosexual relationships? Are some defective because their brains don't match their souls? I tend to think that different is good. It keeps humanity from stagnating and moves us forward."

Luke gave a small chuckle. It wasn't bitter, but really was one that he was facing up to things. "We certainly are different."