Vox Mentis

"You never told us to write down the food we saw in the videos - the only instruction you gave was to write."

Say it with enough conviction and she might actually buy it!

"You will be shown a series of rapidly changing images. One of the images will be of a type of food. You are to write down the name of the food."

We haven't broken any of the rules we were given. We watched the videos. One of the images was a type of food. We wrote down the name of the food. We haven't gone off grounds, or used the phones.

If you want to add MORE rules, or if there's a reason we shouldn't use all of our skills to pass these tests and take advantage of this amazing opportunity, as she says; well, we're listening.

"Well, you should have said that using alternative methods was wrong. You should have said, 'Actually, we have three rules here, and the third one is don't copy off other people.' I did exactly what you said, and didn't break any of your rules."

"You think that 'don't cheat' bears stating?"

"That guy in San Francisco who sent me here, Lee, he knew I cheated people. That's what I do. I'm a hustler. You bring me here based on my skills and then suddenly I can;t use them? You never said that."

"This isn't up for discussion," Jane says. "A driver is coming to collect you. Please pack your things."

"Well," you say, "fuck."

"You may have been promised compensation for your time here. Unfortunately, that will not apply, due to the cheating."

"You bitch."

Jane's face doesn't change. You had expected some kind of reaction, from someone so nunnish. You assumed Jane was quietly furious, the way people get when you break one of their made-up rules, but the truth is Jane doesn't seem to care. "You may go."

"Forget the driver. I don't want anything from you." You get up.

"The airport is twenty miles. The driver-"

"Fuck your driver," you say.

~

You go to your room and stuff clothes into your Pikachu bag. Until this point you've felt nothing but anger, but abruptly you're heartbroken and shaky with tears. You throw the bag over your shoulder and bang into the corridor. "Hey!" It's the curly-haired boy. "What happened? Where are you going?" But you don't answer and he doesn't come after you.

There's no sign of a driver and you begin to trudge down the driveway. About a thousand windows look into your back, and you imagine eyes in each one. But that's silly; the fact is, nobody will care. You'll be gone five minutes and they'll forget you existed, because the place makes more sense without you.

Halfway down the driveway, a car crunches up behind you. "Elise Jackson?"

"I don't want a driver."

"I'm not..." You hear the hand brake crank, the door open. "I'm not a driver." It's the tall man you'd seen through the glass during your test. "My name is Eliot. Please come back to the house."

"I've been evicted."

"Hold up a second. Stop."

You stop. The man scrutinizes you. He has a stillness about him, which makes him hard to read.

"You cheated. Your defense is that nobody said you couldn't. I agree. Go back to the house."

"I don't want to go back to the house."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not going to make it, okay? It's pretty clear that everyone here but me is incredibly smart and knows, like, the names of poets, so... thanks for the opportunity." You start walking again.

He matches your pace. "There are two types of exams. The first tests your ability to withstand persuasion. The second measures your ability to persuade. This is more important. And from what I've seen, you have a good shot at those."

"Jane said-"

"It's not up to Jane."

You look back at the school. It's kind of tempting.

"It would be a shame to never discover what you were capable of." He shrugs. "My opinion."