Chapter Twenty-Six: The Moment of Consequence
James Paddington, aged thirteen, is not popular. He’s more interested in learning the how and why of everything than he is in sports, and the rejection of the other children and the disapproval of the adults is like a knife to his stomach.
He is, however, not alone. Lisa Tanner is even more repellent than he is. Bookish and inquisitive, she isn’t even a real Archian, a fact highlighted by the metal on her teeth: some new Mainland contraption. Her feet turn inward, as do her shoulders, and her long hair knots and catches in her teeth.
The omegas of the school, they originally became friends so they weren’t completely alone, but Lisa has taught James to ask questions and James has taught Lisa how to cut off her emotions.
One week ago, breath frosting, they shared their first kiss behind the lunch shed.
Today, they are to receive an award in front of the whole school at the end-of-year ceremony. Over a thousand students and teachers are here and one of the older boys – Will – has told James how he can become the coolest kid on Archi.
On the stage, Principal Baldwin speaks of the rewards of hard work, waves a hand at Lisa and James as they stand beside him – the brightest of the primary and high schools respectively, according to a test the Mainland forced them all to take – and says they have done Archi proud. James feels hot sweat roll down his neck as he watches the back row of the hall, where the older kids sit. Will nods to him.
The principal wraps up his speech. The pivotal moment approaches, and soon it will be past. With a smile, Principal Baldwin picks up Lisa’s framed certificate off the carefully-ribboned table. Lisa smiles a mouthful of metal, unable to contain her joy. And James knows without a doubt that he shouldn’t follow through with Will’s plan. That it is wrong.
But Principal Baldwin is handing Lisa her award and shaking her hand and if James doesn’t act now, the opportunity will be lost forever.
And forever is a long time to be alone.
In terror, as if watching from outside his body, James sees himself grab Lisa’s skirt and lift it high. She flashes butterflies at the entire school.
Pandemonium breaks out. Children point at Lisa. Teachers yell for quiet. The older students stop cackling once the shock wears off. The younger ones keep laughing. James looks over them all, to the very back of the hall, where Will never even smiles.
Lisa tears her skirt away from James. As she tugs, her award drops from her hands and tumbles through the air. James lunges for it. His fingers knock its frame, sending it into a spin.
It shatters at his feet.
Rough hands drag James away. Stern words bounce off him, unheard, as he watches Lisa kneel on broken glass to pick up the pieces of her award.
And to James, the future opens.
Either his peers will accept him or they will continue mocking him. If they mock him, he is their fool; he vows never to be so again. If they accept him, it is for what he has just done, and he hates himself for what he has just done.
And he doesn’t like them. He realises that he never did.
Suddenly, James doesn’t love Archi. He hates its petty-mindedness. He cannot stand its backward values. Contrary to his mother’s repeated trifle, Archi has done nothing for him and he owes it nothing.
So he rejects it and everything it stands for and promises that he will never follow blindly. He will find the reason for everything, always question, never submit, never accept popular opinion. He will do things his way.
Behind him, tears roll from Lisa’s ice-blue eyes down her red cheeks, and the last joy in James Paddington dies.