Mission Accomplished

    

As field day approaches, I start crunching my genius plan. Lee and Geronimo keep resisting my efforts to analyze their handwriting, thinking I’ll clone it or save it to a database on my computer. I sneak back upstairs to the classroom to get more pictures from the table.

“Wow, the 8s look really weird here,” I think to myself. Then I notice something else—another number. I quickly snap a picture, along with some shots of the seat itself, and wait. Over the next few days, I watch the class doors and the clubs that come and go. I activate my agents on the inside as well.

“Special Agent Nathaniel, could you tell me who sits here?” After vowing to get me the information, he marches back into his classroom. Sure enough, I’m soon equipped with a list of people who sit in that particular chair and around that area. Back at HQ, I search the web for handwriting analysis but come up dry. Then I start looking up the second phone number, which was written in pencil rather than pen.

I observe the 11th-grade class and notice that Molly is sitting in the chair. “Molly? Is this your number?”  

“Yes,” she replies.

Interestingly, although we had ruled out a GCAM connection for targeting Hazel, it’s more likely they would target Molly. Then she confirms, “I wrote it down.”  

“Oh, okay.” This does mean that Molly could be the one targeting Hazel, which doesn’t make sense. Neither Molly nor President Allison would be against her, as far as we can tell. In fact, traditional geopolitics would suggest that Molly might lean a bit more pro-Hazel, being anti-GCAM and prone to getting into trouble.

Meanwhile, President Allison and the student government were still working on getting a prom plan approved—on top of getting prom itself approved. Our last event, the wildly successful scavenger hunt, where I had the entire middle and high school traverse the school in search of clues, going from the school capitol to the GNN studio, had cost us $10 in prize money.

And while the President was undoubtedly working on a plan, she confessed to Vera that no matter what she picked—colors, theme, whatever—GCAM would block it. Inwardly, I thought this meant my suspicions were true. GCAM had immense power, a supermajority even, but they just hadn’t activated it yet—until now.

In the shadows, Vice President Geneva ran around the school, working with teachers to secure a prom. Up and down the halls she went, talking to teachers, even during the free break period. It went on for days until it finally paid off.  

“Good work on getting a prom for the school, Geneva,” I said.  

“Thanks, Ethan.” The next day, we walk into the Capitol as the teacher announces the good news.

“Alright, student council, you’ve been working very hard, and prom has been approved.” The class cheers.  

“Okay, don’t forget to put that in GNN, Ethan, and also, field day is coming up this week,” the teacher adds.  

“Okay.”  

“Thank you, Mrs. Scott,” President Allison says before taking the floor. “Okay, guys, field day is coming up.”  

“Yeah, it was in the last GNN video.”  

“They did it early this year because it’s cooler outside, and then it leads into spring break. Now, prom has been approved, so we need fundraiser ideas.”  

“We could do a car wash,” someone suggests.  

“That sounds interesting,” Allison replies. “Now, for Easter, this would be free, but we could do an egg hunt—you know, for fun.”  

“Like the scavenger hunt?”  

“Yeah.”

    When field day arrived, the school was buzzing with excitement. Everything was set up, and we were about to play some fun games shortly before heading into break. I wondered what the kids were going to do over their time off. The school was feeling a bit more stable—new wars hadn’t started, and SSA’s new policy of essentially allowing preexisting relationships to exist and keeping them stable, while trying to monitor and prevent new ones, was working. We just needed one more thing before we could start focusing on Project 2024.

    However, the world had other plans. My parents were coming to help out with the students today, and as nice as that was, if some member of GCAM—or another student—leaked what I said, it could put Project 2024 in legal jeopardy before we even got it off the ground. As I scanned the terrain, I noticed GCAM on the far side of the field. While they did make contact, they just yapped about planning for prom, which the Vice President had gotten approved. At lunchtime, to avoid another Christmas “miss an episode of GNN” debacle, Clarissa and the VP stood by a blank wall so I could green-screen and announce the news to the school.  

“Geneva, can you say this line?”  

“Why would I say that?”  

“Just say it—it’s important.”

“Action!”

“Good morning, GCA, and happy unofficial National Write an Eight Day! Today is a great 70-degree day! In school news, student government has gotten prom approved. Congratulations on all their hard work, and make sure to buy your tickets at this link! I’m Geneva for GNN—God bless and Go Hawks!”  

“We did it, Ethan!”  

“The greatest VP in Glory High history! Mission accomplished!”

    I started editing the two videos as we went home for the break. National Write an Eight Day would fall later in April, but I was sure of one thing: this video would help solve Hazel’s case, and SSA would lead the way. Mission accomplished! For God, for Glory, and—for the first time—actually wielding power with GCAM, we had achieved political victory. Now, hopefully, by “partnering” with jVn and the President in the last two episodes, GCAM would be more open-minded about Project 2024 and the Babbling Brook Mall Excursion.