23 – Lady Callahan’s Lover (1)

 

Maple sat in history class, taking an open-book test. And not just any open-book test, but her final test of the year. Of her life.

She gritted her teeth at each answer she wrote down, knowing they were wrong. But they were the answers the teacher taught them. That the textbook stated. It was either write wrong answers that would get marked as correct, or write the truth and fail.

Then again, did it really matter if she passed or failed this test? Did it matter whether or not she graduated high school? Her future was already set by her brothers. Once Neil was well enough to go home, Maple would have to live with him. She’d have to marry him. Her only hope was his potential infertility. At least then she’d be spared from raising children.

But how would she spend her days? Discovering more lies she had been taught?

Maple read the next question. How did the 2064 Riots start?

The “correct” answer would be the bit about congress passing the “Keep the Right Silent Act.” But that was made-up propaganda. She knew the real answer. She wanted to write the real answer. So what if she got one question “wrong?”

The 2064 Riots started when Germain won the 2064 Presidential Election against Kalinsky…

Next to her, Kyra clutched her stomach, flinching. She stared down at her test, face still twisted. A moan escaped her, followed by an attention-grabbing yelp.

The teacher looked up from his desk. “Kyra?”

Kyra kept her hands over her stomach, and cried out again. “It’s…. happening. The baby’s coming!”

Maple spent her last day of school, forever, walking home by herself. An ambulance had shown up to take Kyra to a hospital. Other than that, she hadn’t a clue what was happening with her friend. Was she still in labor? Did she have the baby? Did the baby live? Did Kyra? Childbirth deaths weren’t common, but they weren’t exactly rare either. One of the many reasons Maple didn’t want children.

Hopefully everything would go well. Annoying as Kyra could be on the subject of marriage and babies, Maple didn’t want anything to go wrong.

It was just a shame this meant Maple couldn’t walk the stage at graduation with Kyra. If Kyra could even graduate at all after this. Her grades in history weren’t the best, and an incomplete test could fail her. But maybe the teacher would let her retake it.

Maple stopped at Pieway to reward herself, and also to see Jake. He usually worked around this time.

She walked inside. The place wasn’t busy at all. Jake stood at the register, talking to Axel. The sound of the door closing behind her caught their attention. Jake smiled as she approached. “Hey there, high school grad.”

“I haven’t graduated yet.”

“You will. I take it you want your usual?”

Maple nodded, and Jake got to work making it while she stood awkwardly next to Axel.

“Is today your last day of school?” Axel asked.

“Yeah.”

“You still stuck marrying that cop?”

“Probably.” Maple sighed.

“I heard he’ll never be able to work again. Since he got shot in the head.”

“That’s what the doctors told us.”

“I wonder what new asshole they’ll hire to replace him.”

“Maybe Sebastian,” Jake said with a laugh, as he slid Maple’s pizza into the oven.

“They’d never hire someone like Sebastian,” Axel said. “Besides, he loves his new job.”

Jake walked back over. “Seriously? Working for Barry?”

“Yep. He says it makes him feel motivated. And he likes having his own money.”

“As long as he’s happy, I guess. Do you know if he has next weekend off?”

“He usually does.”

“I thought so.” Jake ran his fingers through his beautiful locks. “Since you’re both here, I might as well say it. My 21st birthday is on Friday. I was thinking of having a small get-together with my closest friends on Saturday, if you can both make it then.”

“Sounds fun,” Axel said, smiling. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”

Maple would have to make up some lie, or sneak out. But she wouldn’t miss it either. “Me too.”

“Great.” Jake turned to Axel. “And I guess since Sebastian’s available, I should invite him.”

“That would be nice. I’ll text him about it later.” Axel leaned in. “So, what do you want for your birthday?”

“You don’t have to get me anything.”

“But I want to.”

“Me too,” Maple said. She couldn’t imagine showing up to a birthday party without some sort of gift. There was just the problem of her getting money for a gift. Her brothers gave her a bit of money here and there for basic necessities, but they’d never give her extra to buy Jake something.

“It’s not a big thing or a big deal,” Jake said. “I don’t want any presents.”

“Your room needs presents,” Axel said.

Maple agreed. She’d never seen a room so empty. It needed some sort of décor. “Just something small to bring life into it.”

Jake let out a sigh. “Maybe you could get me a book.”

“I don’t think another book is going to make your room more interesting,” Axel commented.

Maple recalled her trip to the bookstore the previous month. How she searched the store for a book with a woman protagonist but came up with nothing. “There’s not even any good books here. I actually meant to ask you if you had anything good with women protagonists.”

“None physically, but I’ve got plenty of ebooks I could send you later.”

“Sounds good.” Now that Maple wouldn’t have school to keep her busy, she’d need something to entertain herself with.

 

~~~~~

 

Maple laid on her bed, reading a book Jake had sent her on her secret phone. A really good book with a strong female protagonist, as promised. It was about a girl her age, living under an oppressive regime, secretly working to overthrow it. Maple wished she could do the same.

Someone knocked at her door. Maple shoved her phone under her mattress, then grabbed her regular phone off her nightstand. “Come in.”

It was, of course, her brothers. They wore identical frowns and crossed their arms.

“What?” Maple asked.

“We just got a call from your school,” Walker said.

Weird, given school was out and her graduation ceremony the next day. The only reason they’d call would be if she failed a class and couldn’t graduate. But last she checked, her GPA was a 3.2. Even if she failed a final, all her grades were high enough that she’d pass all her classes anyway. “Okay?”

“They said they want us to go down there to discuss your history final. We told them we’re leaving now.”

 

For the first time in her life, Maple sat in the principal’s office in front of his desk. Her brothers sat on either side of her, while the principal and her history teacher, Mr. Eaves, sat at a desk across from them.

“We’ll get straight to the point,” Principal Johnson said, Maple’s history exam in hand. “Mr. Eaves found some of these answers very interesting, and after reading them, I find them very interesting as well.”

Maple swallowed a lump in her throat. Did they know they were teaching everyone misinformation? Why had she thought it a good idea to answer a few questions with the actual truth? Given her teacher had been taught history in the FSA, she assumed he’d have been taught the same misinformation he’d been teaching. That he wouldn’t know the truth, and just mark them wrong. “There were a few I had to guess the answers on. I got a bit creative with them.”

“I’d say,” Mr. Eaves said. “I was impressed with the details you included. And how they’re not even close to the correct answer.”

Maple didn’t respond. What else could she say?

To her surprise, Carter came to her defense. “What’s so strange about that? Kids make stuff up on questions they don’t know all the time.”

Johnson and Eaves exchanged glances, before Eaves continued. “Because her answers are suspiciously close to how history is taught outside the American Union.”

Walker’s eyebrows shot up, and Carter’s jaw dropped. Maple forced a gasp, and covered her mouth. “History is taught differently in other countries?!”

“Don’t play dumb,” Mr. Eaves said. “Where did you get your information from?”

“I made it up!”

“The 2064 riots happened because of a presidential election between,” Johnson glanced at the paper, “Germain and Kalinsky.”

“Two political figures we don’t teach you here,” Mr. Eaves added. “How do you know about them?”

“A different teacher mentioned them one time,” Maple mumbled, though now Walker and Carter had their eyes on her. Eyes filled with suspicion.

“You haven’t been hanging around that Jake kid, have you?” Walker asked sternly.

“No!”

“Who’s Jake?” Johnson asked.

“Some liberal communist from the ES,” Carter said, “who Maple isn’t allowed to talk to.”

Mr. Eaves shook his head. “She wouldn’t have gotten this information from him. If so, there would only be one detail changed. Not… everything.”

“How do you know all this?” Maple asked. “Have you been purposely teaching us the wrong information?”

“Of course not!” Mr. Eaves raised his voice. “Our version of history is the correct one. I only know this because I once went on vacation in Italy. I, uhh…” He glanced away, rubbing the back of his head. “I met a girl there. We got into the subject of history, and compared what we were taught. This…” He tapped on the exam on the desk. “These answers. They align with her version of events.”

Maple steadied her breathing. “Coincidences happen.”

“I’d say this is a big one,” Johnson said. “Again. How did you come across this information? Who are you in contact with?”

“Nobody!”

“Give me your phone.”

“I don’t have it.”

“Maple…” Walker warned.

Maple scoffed, reached into her pocket, and handed over her phone. They wouldn’t find anything incriminating on that one anyway.