《The Cookie Jar Academy》 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The Cookie Jar Academy, a renowned school in Quebec known for its prestigious education. The name sounds pretty silly to me though, I''m really not sure what the government was thinking. Though, it could be a reference to something I don''t know about. I woke up at 6 AM, yawning and constantly shifting my body towards one side to the other, similar to. I wasn''t exactly used to the school-routine yet. The sunlight gazed upon my room with its glorious beams of light shining through my window. I intentionally keep the blinds open just so I can witness the beauty of the sun-lit room. I got up from my bed, rubbing my eyes frantically. My hair was a complete mess, and I wasn¡¯t able to see anything from afar due to my horrible eyesight, so I grabbed my glasses from the cheveret table right next to my bed, they were thin and had a sleek appearance. Personally, I prefer thin glasses to the thick ones that make you look like a nerd. Seriously, you¡¯re just asking to be bullied. I did the ordinary morning routine, making sure that I was well-fed and clean before I ran off to school. It would be a bad first impression if I came to school looking like a slug. The academy had their own unique school uniforms for males; the attire consisted of a white-collar-buttoned shirt that had open-sleeves and black fabric pants that were relatively comfortable. There was an optional belt that could be bought too, though I didn¡¯t deem it necessary to buy it. Nor did I think the price was actually worth it. As for the shoes, you were allowed to wear whatever you deemed comfortable, as long as they were professional enough for school. I wore my blue-tie and I was off. In case you were wondering, I live in a small apartment that¡¯s a good distance away from the academy. The academy doesn¡¯t offer free housing, so if you¡¯re going to the academy in the first place, you have to live close. International students have to find someplace to stay within a 10-mile radius. It¡¯s nothing special though, it¡¯s your typical apartment that you¡¯d find in any country honestly. Montreal isn¡¯t rich by any means. It contained 1 small living room and a kitchen that was connected to it, a bedroom and 2 bathrooms. This is what most apartments looked like around this neighborhood. Believe me though, I wasn¡¯t lying when I stated that this school was renowned for its prestigious education. All students are required to take a standardized test before entering, there are 4 sections in total. For each subsection, you¡¯re required to score 130 or higher. In case you¡¯re wondering what the subsections consist of, it measures nonverbal ability, verbal ability, working memory and processing speed. However, you can receive an admission even if you fail the standardized test. The academy looks for undergraduates who have talented abilities in sports, leaders who have been involved in numerous extracurricular activities and so forth. Basically, you¡¯d have to have some sort of gifted feature that makes you stand out from the rest. Personally though, I¡¯m not sure if I agree with standardized testing, they offer good predictions for academic and life success, but there are exceptions, just as there are exceptions to everything. I¡¯m looking at you Feynman! What I¡¯m trying to say is that true intellect cannot be measured, what do I deem true intellect, you may ask. Well, if I were to create a standardized test... The subsections would measure: creativity, intelligence, and wisdom. These 3 attributes are what I believe equates to true life success, and grit too. I arrived at school at about 8 o''clock. I looked around the school as I witnessed hundreds of students everywhere, it¡¯s nerve-wracking when you think about it. All of these students have some sort of exceptional ability that makes them stand out in some way, and then there¡¯s me. I¡¯m not exceptional in any way, I was only brought to this academy because my father paid enough money to get me in without any examination whatsoever, just like any Ivy-league school, they only care about the money you deposit. Actually, I have no talents at all, unless you consider playing mediocre Chess a talent. I have poor social skills and struggle with cooperation, so I can¡¯t lead a club, let alone joining one. I¡¯m not intellectual or creative, at best, I¡¯m average. I¡¯m no physical prowess either, nor am I good at sports. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. So why the fuck am I in this academy? Oh right, money! There¡¯s a saying that goes.. If you can inherit a lot of wealth then you won¡¯t need to work hard at all. I guess that can apply to me to a degree, though my father isn¡¯t a multi-millionaire. In fact, I¡¯m not sure why I continue to search for something in the first place. Whether you want to believe in the word privilege, it exists. Like I said before, I am not intelligent or gifted with godlike genes, however, even though there are some things that can be honed, you can only modify them to a certain extent. Well, most people are the same way right? No human being is perfect. I can agree on that statement, we all have our differences and whether or not a human can actually become perfect.. Well.. maybe centuries from now. However, being a south-asian teenager with a horrible appearance, and trust me, I assure you it¡¯s really bad. I faced criticisms from my previous school on a day-to-day basis. In fact, it became such a big problem that my father thought the solution was to bring me an academy for the excellent, yeah definitely no bullying and teasing here! The hallways in the school were big, and the size of the walls made them look intimidating, it was like those abandoned school hallways you see in video games, but bigger. Gosh, I can¡¯t imagine being in here during the night. I¡¯d be scared shitless. The hallways were well-complemented with a silver-coloured palette, they appeared to be made out of bricks at a glance. To be honest, I couldn¡¯t really tell just yet. Entering the school gave you a good idea of what the school was like, two large staircases that led to two upper floors, a large water fountain, and large glass panels that appeared to be at the upper floors only, showcasing the magnificent beauty of the hallways. The floor was made of vinyl tiles which were completely black. Surprisingly, I didn¡¯t see any lockers. I wonder how storage is supposed to be deposited? The first thing that caught my attention upon entering the school though was the glorious female uniforms that I have dreamt about during the summer, they were just like how I envisioned them to be. The uniforms for males and females appeared to be the same, however girls were required to wear very short skirts. It was extremely-arousing, not going to lie. Luckily, my penis was still flaccid and I tried to divert my attention to finding the gymnasium, and it seems like that is what most students were trying to find as well. After a couple minutes of searching, I had finally found the gymnasium. I¡¯m not sure why it¡¯s been designed to be so far from the entrance. The amount of students in the gymnasium had completely overwhelmed me, it seems like there were also a lot of the staff members trying to aid students with what they were trying to do. Many laptops were set up across the gymnasium, rolling my eyes over to the one of the screens, it seems like they were attempting to create a profile. The lines were huge, and based on the facial-expressions of the staff, they were overwhelmed and stressed, they probably weren¡¯t expecting these many students to arrive this year. Then again, it¡¯s not really an ordinary school, kids of any age can enter. Looking around the gymnasium, I noticed that there were students who were surprisingly quite small, and also the bigger ones which could easily be identifiable as the upperclassmen. I stood in line for about half an hour before I was finally able to use the laptop, it asked me to register a username, create a password, and insert a brief description about yourself. The username I entered was ¡°RO¡±. And with that said and done, I was off to my morning class. CHAPTER 1 END SS KAZE CHAPTER 2: SS KAZE I awake in a cold restless sweat twisting and turning, but contrary to what I¡¯m used to I didn¡¯t wake up with any sinus headaches, nausea, or anything at that matter. The instant I wake up, I feel the taste of regret from playing video-games all night. When I moved to Canada recently it was almost like a dream, a final escape from the boring and dreary Oklahoma. Fantasizing about what could happen now that I left and advanced to a far more superior school for the pretentious. I don¡¯t know if I was really joking with that because I saw pictures of this school, and all I could say was whether or not it looked really prestigious and important? After dwelling in my bed for a good thirty-five minutes, I launch myself out of my silky pressed cushions landing on the soft angelic-like-carpet. Unlike the one I had prior to moving to Quebec, this one was relatively clean and didn¡¯t stink of dried mustard. It felt like absolute heaven to walk on the carpet like I was walking on clouds! Almost made up for the fact that I didn¡¯t sleep very long today. I step into the clean aesthetically pleasing bathrooms, I knew that my father finding a job in Canada would¡¯ve opened many doors! There were three mirrors and a fake potted plant on each side, It almost looked like a hotel¡¯s bathroom. The table was made out of pure marble, everything else stainless-steel with a texture on it. Maybe being pretentious wasn¡¯t even that bad at all; If coming home to a beautiful house every day at the cost of being called pretentious for the remainder of my middle-school life, then sure why not? I placed the conditioner into my hair, massaging it into my hair; stepping into my shower and entering into a nice steamy-shower. The feeling, the sensation of taking a relaxing shower wasn¡¯t new to me but it was an inviting feeling. After thirty minutes, I exit out of the shower fully grooming myself for my first day at school at the Cookie Academy? Please, don¡¯t ask me about this name I beg of you. I wish to believe that the government officials specifically tailored for approving schools like these were drunk or something because this is ridiculous. Well, how bad could it be I¡¯m not back in my old school where everyone is so bitter at each other and ready to tear everyone down when they¡¯re even slightly vulnerable. Schools aren¡¯t all the same, right? I find my school clothes pressed and dry on a rack, I¡¯m not used to wearing a uniform, but I am very thankful that now I at least have something to wear every day without being looked at funny. It¡¯s not that I¡¯m ¡®stylistically challenged¡¯ or anything, I¡¯m really just lazy when it comes to how I present myself. I put on a wife-beater/undershirt before wearing a black crewneck with a superimposed cookie-school logo tag on the inside of the shirt. I slip on an unbuttoned school-jacket, indirectly and unknowingly looking like a jock. I pace downstairs, grabbing my bag and waving my family goodbye. I ran to my bus-stop, seeing multiple unfamiliar faces. A lot of them are really- Okay, I¡¯m going to say it here and now I¡¯m a very judging person but not in the ¡®you look fat in that¡¯ or very nitpicky. Usually, my intuition is very very vague in the back of my mind and I suffer for not heeding any warning. I keep quiet like my casual introverted self, my mouth being completely SHUT. I didn¡¯t want another Harry 2.0, or someone to have a reason to act like Harry. It was very tense, a tense six-minutes in the beautiful scenery of Quebec. The sleek, state of the art bus arrives stopping in its tracks. The door automatically opens in such a graceful motion, this was an innovative masterpiece I was in total awe. I was the first to board, seeing all of these even newer people as anxiety death-grips my heart, pumping as if it was about to leap out of my chest! My throat choked up, as I was a major oddball on the bus. You see, nobody really looked like me! And the people who did pretended like they didn¡¯t.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The students stop their gossip and stare at me, staring deep into my soul. I pace further into the bus, sitting in the back. I may sound irresponsible with my life in general writing this, but I¡¯ll riddle you this. I¡¯ve come here to succeed, I¡¯ll beat everyone in my grade level; then once I¡¯ve done that I¡¯ll push on to the even higher levels of education! I arrive at the school, fully intact gazing upon the beautiful sight that is the campus. What I instantly notice, which is surprising to me is that the women at this school are wearing really skimpy clothes for some reason? Is this some test of maturity, or if I view women as objects..? I kind of don¡¯t see it that way, It¡¯s a pretty primal instinct that every man on this planet has. I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m really attracted to many of the girls since I¡¯m still in awe about this school. On second thought I won¡¯t try anything, yet. I make my way through the main hall, heading to the gymnasium for the weekly assemblies. The loudness, the wake-up call, the white noise really hit him. But he was used to this, he was used to people always insulting him, eyeing him down or even threatening him whilst walking up the bleachers. By the grace of God, I land myself a great spot on the top bleachers surrounded by calm and collective people. I can¡¯t really lie, I feel out of my league. My parents, no my entire family, always talk about how cunning and manipulative and brilliant I am, but It just doesn¡¯t feel like that. I feel like I¡¯m the only one in my family that knows the truth, myself better than they do. Though I still should keep to my core values. The assembly ends, as hundreds of people rush out of the gymnasium for orientation. I sat down on a computer desk area, easily logging in and creating an account with a thorough description about myself; or so I thought. I always appreciated anime and the cool sounding names they had, so since I¡¯m not really bound by any creative restrictions... I had full liberty to do exactly what I wanted, I dubbed my name as¡­ Kaze, ¡°The Fierce Wind¡± The class began, and I was ready to learn. SS FLAME CHAPTER 3: SS FLAME RO¡­.. RO¡­. The name sounds awfully silly, but I wanted to keep it short and simple. A name that people wouldn¡¯t have trouble pronouncing or typing, it was convenient. Immediately entering the class, I already faced a dozen faces shift towards my direction. I kept my posture and head low, I didn¡¯t want to divert attention to myself. I think I¡¯ll just remain inconspicuous for the year. I took a seat in the back row, there weren¡¯t many students that were sitting near me. However, there was one student in particular who sat right next to me. He glanced over at me before returning his attention to his phone. This was awkward, I wasn¡¯t sure what to do. Should I try to initiate a conversation? The person looked older than I was, not to mention, he was taller as well. He didn¡¯t really seem approachable from the presence I felt from him. It took a while, but after a couple of minutes, he decided to talk to me. ¡°Yo.¡± He said, turning his head over to me. His voice was low-pitched and he had this stern-expression on him. I turned my head over to him, raising my posture up so I could look a bit more presentable. ¡°O-Oh.. hey.¡± I stuttered on my words, damn it. The first words that come out of your mouth basically set up most of your persona, so I wasn¡¯t doing a good job at this. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± He asked. ¡°Uhh, nothing much... Just waiting for class to begin... What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Flame.¡± ¡°Cool name, my name¡¯s Ro.¡± Flame sounds like a name that a fourth-grader would pick, wonder what was going through his head when he made that name. Maybe usernames can be changed though, who knows? Though, in the gymnasium they made it clear that once you select a username, it cannot be changed. I¡¯m not sure why.. But ok. ¡°Ahh, cool name bro.¡± He then proceeded to turn to his phone again. I didn¡¯t respond, I wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Shortly after, the bell rang. The students turned their attention over to the front of the classroom. It gave off an eerie vibe for some reason. Our teacher walked in, she was a beautiful young woman who seemed to be of French origin. She had long, silky brown hair and a gorgeous face and a well-endowed body. She was wearing a pink dress with cauliflowers imprinted all over it and beautiful red heels. a good summer-aesthetic, she has a good taste of fashion. The male students were stunned and in love with her already, you could tell just by looking at their faces. Flame had an erection that I could see with my peripheral vision, oh boy. The teacher walked to the front of the room, right in the center. Everyone¡¯s eyes followed. ¡°Good morning class, I will be your homeroom teacher for English. Pleasure to meet you! My name is Agn¨¨s Estelle, but you can just call me Ms.Estelle. I¡¯m 24 years old, and I was recently admitted to teach talented students such as yourselves.¡± She had an awfully lovable-vibe that I just couldn¡¯t seem to explain, she was cheerful and didn¡¯t stumble on any words. Not to mention, her beauty complemented her even more. Flame gently touched his crotch to relieve some of his pressure, yikes. He made a gentle moan that most students in the back row were able to hear, they let out a small chuckle and proceeded to listen. I was tempted to do the same, but for the sake of my reputation, I won¡¯t. ¡°We¡¯ll begin with a little game so we get to know a bit about each other.¡± She grabbed a small plastic ball that was on the counter. ¡°Here¡¯s how the game works. You throw a random classmate the ball, and then that person will have to say their username, age, their interests, and their dislikes. I¡¯ll start with myself, I love reading, writing, and I despise people who pick on others.¡± She then threw the ball to a random classmate in the back row. ¡°My name¡¯s Raysen and I am 14 years old, I love playing video games and I hate horny people!¡± He turned over, smirking towards Flame and throwing the ball to him. Flame was unable to catch the ball, it almost seemed like Raysen missed him intentionally. Flame got up from his seat, and then proceeded to grab the ball. He faced the class¡¯s direction, and looked slightly awkward. He wasn¡¯t in a good position here, the students at the back row were trying to hide their laughter. Ms.Estelle looked confused. ¡°Uhh, so my name is Flame. I like playing video games, and I hate losing.¡± He then tossed the ball towards me, sitting down on his chair and hiding an embarrassed expression. ¡°Hello, uhh.. My name¡¯s Ro. I¡¯m awesome at sports, but I will only play with you sometimes because uh.. I am really busy usually. I also love anything related to Math and Science, and I am very talented at these subjects. I hate bullies.¡± I threw the ball to a random person, I think I nailed it. These were all blatant lies though, in reality, I¡¯m nothing. The class continued to play the game, and then we proceeded to do some basic grammar overview from last year. Class was over. In case you¡¯re wondering, this school does not have many periods. There are 4 in total. 1 for your homeroom class where you¡¯ll learn about the subject you registered for. Before entering the school, you can select 1 course you¡¯re primarily interested in. The class will teach you the majority of that content, while it covers a small amount of the other courses. It may seem like a stupid idea, but remember, most of these students are extraordinarily-gifted. In the end, these students are learning much more content than an average high schooler. Also, based on your FSIQ, you¡¯re assigned to a specific class that suits your abilities. I didn¡¯t take the test so I was automatically placed in the 130-135 pair. There are roughly 6 rankings in total:
ENHANCED 130-135 The lowest of the bunch, don¡¯t get me wrong though, these students are still in the top 2 percentile of intelligence.
TALENTED 135-140 Exceptionally bright, a good percentage of the school would be placed in this category.
ELITE 140-145 About 20% of the school¡¯s population would be placed here or higher.
PROFOUND 145-150 Less than 10%
NEAR-ABSOLUTE 150-160 Less than 5%
ABSOLUTE 160+ Less than 1%
I¡¯m not sure how many students are enrolled at this school, but if I were to guess, probably 2,500 or so. If that¡¯s the case then 125 students would be considered near-absolute or absolute. These students are the ones who run the school, and even if you¡¯re some sort of weirdo like me, you¡¯d be able to gain immense popularity just by having the status of near-absolute or absolute next to your name. There¡¯s a large list online on the school registry that displays all the names of the students, if you look right next to their name, you can tell what their status is. If you¡¯re a near-absolute or absolute student, it wouldn¡¯t take very long for you to become popular. You could practically get any girl you want, assuming that their status was lower of course. Vice-versa applies. It¡¯s not just girls though, let¡¯s say you want to start a school club, your club would easily be able to gain recognition if you were a near-absolute student as compared to an enhanced student. The staff also takes your status into account when creating clubs, or well, just in general. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. To sum it up, your status is a good predictor of how successful you will be in this school. Almost everything correlates to your status in some way, that being said, it¡¯ll be very difficult for enhanced students to become popular. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m interested in becoming popular anyway though. Period 2 is lunch, I walked into the massive cafeteria. Holy fucking shit¡­ There was a large stadium, 4K flat TV screens near every table, an arcade, a scoreboard that displayed the scores of live school games, over 30 different fast-food chains, restaurants, and other facilities that were built in the cafeteria. Heck, was this even a cafeteria? How much did they spend on this academy? There was a live performance that was going on as I walked in, a beautiful orchestra with the cafeteria being completely dark, the light was radiating from the restaurants. I noticed Flame was sitting alone with some blue-haired teen with pale skin and acne, he looked slim and frail, and his hair looked like a bowl, they seemed like they were the same age. I¡¯m assuming they must¡¯ve known each other. I decided to walk towards them. ¡°Fuck that nigga bro, he missed the ball on purpose, wallah!¡± Flame seemed to be venting his frustrations, his use of language though, even for a teen, it was inappropriate. I was younger and I knew better! He saw me walk towards his direction, immediately he had shut up. ¡°Yo, you want something?¡± It was apparent to me that he was irritated from my presence. ¡°Uh, nah.. I just wanted somewhere to sit.¡± I placed my lunchbag on the table, pulling out a small bag of Cheerios. It wasn¡¯t as delicate or exquisite as the other foods that the students were eating, but I didn¡¯t really care. They were all eating from plates though so I am guessing it was purchased. There were massive lines around the fast food shops. ¡°So uh, who¡¯s your friend?¡± I asked, rolling my eyes towards the blue-haired teen. ¡°His name is Saike.¡± Saike kept quiet, it didn¡¯t seem like he wanted me here either. I probably should have just left, but my intuition was telling me to stay. ¡°Nice name, sounds pretty badass.¡± I tried to compliment him to enlighten the mood, though he didn¡¯t seem to like the remark. I noticed that there were a bunch of cards on the table, they looked hand-made and the drawings were rubbish, the dim-light made it difficult to see what was labeled on the cards. ¡°Nice cards, are they bought or-¡± ¡°We made them together.¡± Flame jumped in. ¡°Cool hobby, I think the artstyle could use some work though.¡± Instantly, Saike jumped up and had left the cafeteria. ¡°Shit, did I say something wrong? I really didn¡¯t mean to. My bad bro.¡± ¡°Nah, it¡¯s all good. No worries.¡± ¡°What are these cards for?¡± Surprisingly, I was doing okay.. Somehow. ¡°Nothing, we just make monsters and shit and we battle.¡± It sounded like a fun hobby, you could pretty much make your own deck and there would be endless possibilities. ¡°So basically like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, I would love to try that. By the way, I overheard your conversation from earlier, I¡¯m really sorry about the people who laughed at you for no reason.¡± ¡°Nah, it¡¯s chill. Dude¡¯s a dumbass.¡± He laughed it off. ¡°Oh alright, mind if I make some cards with you?¡± ¡°Nope, not at all.¡± He chuckled. We began sketching the artwork for our monsters, we weren¡¯t artists but they looked okay. Though, while we were making the cards.. The bell had rung. I guess it¡¯s time for orientation to begin. All students gathered in the gymnasium, we were required to stand still for the entire orientation. For such a prestigious academy, not a good way of presenting your orientation. Me and Flame talked about our hobbies while walking to the gymnasium, surprisingly, we had similar interests. We both stood next to each other amongst the crowd. A south-asian man appeared on the stage, a well-shaved beard with a strong masculine look, his jawline was developed and his posture was firm and intimidating. He seemed pretty handsome. ¡°Good afternoon everyone, my name is Mr.Abraham and I shall be your principal for this year. For those of you who came to this academy last year, you are well-aware of who I am. I look forward to being your principal, newcomers and seniors. It¡¯s my job to provide you all with a quality education, and support you in your pursuing your dreams. It¡¯s obvious that all of you have the potential to do so, and it is our job as educators to help you unleash that potential.¡± He took a short pause, catching his breath and drinking his bottle of water before continuing, there were a few murmurs that I could hear around me. ¡°This academy has a strict set of guidelines that must be followed, if you fail to cooperate, you may be expelled from the school, depending on the severity of your consequences. I¡¯ll keep it short and simple. First, there is absolutely no bullying of any sort allowed. Secondly, there must be no sexual intercourse on campus. These are all basic guidelines that all of you should know, most schools employ these rules. However, there¡¯s one particular thing that sets this academy apart from the rest.. And no it¡¯s not the status roles. Soon enough, you¡¯ll find out that this academy has a peculiar way of doing things and assessing it¡¯s students. Every day, a new challenge shall arise that you must all surpass.. Based on your ability-level, aka your status, you¡¯ll be assigned challenges that we think suit your intellectual abilities. Our challenges have been deemed so difficult that many students have attempted to drop out, kill themselves, break school guidelines and fail on purpose. Do keep in mind that we''re here to support you in your academic career, our guidance counsellors are here to support you. I promise the benefits of graduating will outweigh your temporary difficulties, rest assure, everything will be alright.¡± Instantly, the expressions of the students next to me have changed into utter horror. Just how difficult were these challenges? Shouldn¡¯t the routine be the same everyday? No, I think most students must¡¯ve realized this when I saw their expressions change. ¡°These challenges will be extremely-difficult, students. But if you work hard enough, you¡¯ll be able to survive, and if you do make it.. All colleges and universities across the world will take you in, depending on how well you do of course. That is all, good luck.¡± Mr.Abraham proceeded to the exit, the gymnasium quickly sprung into panic. I looked over to Flame, and he looked just as worried as the others, no, he looked terrified. His pupils were dilated and his legs were trembling. ¡°Sorry bro.. I-I have to go.¡± He walked to the exit of the gymnasium, I couldn¡¯t help but feel bad. But this wasn¡¯t the time to be worried, I had to strategize and somehow get myself out of here. After all, I don¡¯t belong here. Shortly after, the bells had rung, and it was time for the students to head home. My, my, what will tomorrow hold? CHAPTER 3 END