Westbrook Academy for Metahumans: Forums

Sitting in math class, waiting for the bell to ring and start the lesson, Laura perused her report card for what seemed like the 100th time that day.

She had PASSED history? She shouldn't have even pulled a C, let alone an A. Her eyes moved down the page, taking in the other grades.

Of course, she couldn't remember exactly what score she'd gotten on her tests and projects, but she was pretty sure she shouldn't have been acing ANY classes.

Or failing them.

...well, except history.

She was brought out of her thoughts when someone lowered themselves into the seat next to her...

Lorne plopped down in the seat next to Laura. He had a look of panic on his face. He was almost visibly shaking. He tried to get his books out of his bag but couldn't remember what class he was in. He kept muttering to himself, "This is a mistake. It has to be." He looked up at Laura, "Is there anything wrong with your grades? I got all F's and I know that's not right. It's not right, is it?"

Cadence looked at her report card yet again...and she knew that something was wrong there. She'd been busting her butt for a couple weeks now, trying to get caught up to the rest of her classmates. Transferring in part way through the semester had left her at a disadvantage when it came to tests and quizzes, and while she was just now sort of getting her head above water on her studies...there was no way this was right. She'd received straight A's. Oh sure, she was always one to think pretty negatively of herself, but Cadence knew that there must have been some sort of mistake. Especially where her math grades were concerned...she'd NEVER gotten an A before, not in that class...

She glanced up as Lorne took a seat in front of her, then immediately ducked her head a little...almost in a guilty manner as she heard him state he'd failed all of his classes. She fidgeted a moment or two, before saying awkwardly, "I...well...I mean...I think that maybe something's wrong with mine..."

She turned her card over and held it out so Laura and Lorne could see. "There's...yeah...there's no way this can be right..." she said, her voice sort of trailing off into a mumble towards the end.

Trev wanders in, looking fairly stunned.

"Okay, I think someone's messing with us. I was sort of expecting a lot of A's, but not in Trig, and the...it looks like someone tried to spell ALFALFA with my report card. Has anyone seen Ar? I just KNOW this was him."

"Not it," said Arthur, walking in as if on cue.

He took a seat like a conquering nation takes a colony, spreading to occupy all available space, legs and arms draped for maximum comfort and coverage. "Near as I can tell, no one did it, but this crap is system-wide. All A's and F's for everybody."

He didn't volunteer exactly how he knew these things, preferring to let his reputation do the talking. Really, it was kinda cool that someone might actually think it was him, even if Trev was probably kidding. If Trev joked about it, you knew there were at least five other people who seriously bought into it. Half of being awesome was believing it yourself -- totally covered. The other 50% was getting other people to believe it, too. And to think, his dads said high school would be hard.

"Well, isn't that just great." Zach lifted his head, his face bright red. "I really hope they get all this figured out before they get sent home; the old man is going to freak when he sees this." He balled up his report card and sat back, biting his bottom and quickly breathing in through his nose, trying to hide a sniffle. He lowered his eyes; if he didn't make eye contact, no one was looking at him, right?

Etienne walked into the class shortly after the bell rang, clearly angry. Pausing to look around the room, he took a path to his desk that led him past Zach, pausing to rest a reassuring hand briefly on Zach's shoulder before sitting down. After a moment, he stood and went to the teacher.

"I am sorry for what happened on de report cards, Monsieur. Let me know what I have to do to earn dat grade proper."

Cadence looked over as Trev and Ar entered the classroom, and it seemed that the issue wasn't an isolated one. She didn't know much about Arthur Rawlings, and certainly didn't know why Trevor would think that he was responsible for the messed up grades. She started to voice her questions, when another boy (one she had yet to really introduce herself to) spoke. He was clearly upset over the grades. She felt so sorry for him, but she was reluctant to say anything. It was hard to sound genuinely sorry for someone's situation when you don't even know them afterall. Etienne walked in, and after offering a bit of quiet reassurance to the upset teen, he approached the teacher with his report card. She gave the others a sort of questioning look as he apologized for his grade. What had he got on his report card??

She'd been pissed, of course. Who wouldn't be? There was the momentary thrill when that expected B in Biology turned out as an A. But then the arbitrary nature of card became apparent. And the less savory marks along with it.

Finding herself trying to remember who she'd irked lately with a probing article or glaring truth as she walked between classes, she did discover that she wasn't the only victim. She caught bits of aggravated discussion as she passed groups of other students.

Her list suddenly included everyone again - not that it had been too far from that, anyway. To narrow the list a bit, she tried to figure out who had the means to do this. Unfortunately, in this day and age, the answer was any jerk skilled with a computer. Or any jerk with a fifty who knew a jerk with a computer.

Luckily, she mused to herself with a smirk, the rest of us jerks have ways of finding out. She texted Toshi to meet her in the B-Wing restroom before lunch. Toshi could probably, at the very least, determine if the grades had been hacked.

If that wasn't it, it left the much simpler, but altogether less likely option: someone with direct access.

If nothing else, her disappointing grades would leave her with a good article next week.

"Oh my god!" Seth walked into class yelling at his report card. HE had recently opened it only to find it full of F's. Just F's,

"Did you guys get this? This is bull shit! I know I got AT LEAST a C in Trig! And anyways, how is it even possible to get an F in LUNCH!? This has got to be a joke. We are getting graded on lunch now!?"

Seth looked around, everyone was clearly angry. Once he was done yelling, everyone proceeded to tell their stories about what they should have gotten in their class and what should be done about it.

"Oh man, my dad is gonna freak out when he sees this..."