Blind Gladiator

A month into the school year I'm still wondering why the hell School system is so old fashioned? we live far into the future in the biggest space station in the galaxy, humanity rules the galaxy from end to end and we shoot lasers at each other as well as genetically modifying humans. all this and we're here answering questions in text books and paper like it's the 21st century. while raving about this in my mind my form tutor gave my form an announcement, a new student had been assigned to my form. Odd, how quickly had this kid tried to expel themselves from another school? It's the very start of secondary school for all of us in this tutor do they really hate school or something? This was what I was thinking when I heard my name called out by my tutor.

"Philip, you will be the one to show the new student around the lessons, help them move in cleanly and work to their best potential," Mrs Omar said.

I sighed.

"Really? I'm gonna look like a weirdo if I must hang out with the new kid. My reputation will be in tatters now," I thought.

I finally saw the new kid and I immediately thought something was off. She wore a long dress, it had a few flowers and birds on it but was mostly a plain white. Odd, no one wears dresses like that, no one wears long dresses that nearly hide their feet. In fact, most girls were being told off with their sense of clothing.

"Fashion is weird," I mused then analysed her physical features which were odder.

She was really pale, nearly white. It was creepy like she was a corpse, I couldn't see her eyes, and they were hidden underneath a blind fold.

"Oh, great she's blind, I'm now a guide dog," I cringed.

Other than those weird quirks she would look like the average girl, but she now looks like a walking target for ridicule… and now I'm also included, yay!"

Everyone was looking at her while she walked to the seat next to me. Surprisingly, she walked and sat on her seat without any difficulties at all, she's blind and walk with better perception than anyone in the class room. I made myself look like I was distracted however she abruptly jabbed me in my left upper arm to get my attention. I turned around (a bit annoyed) and saw her hold out an outstretched hand.

"greetings, my name is Sylvia," she spoke fluidly, contrasting her pale and scared looking appearance.

"h-hi I'm Phillips," my voice cracked it was in fact I who was more nervous than her.

"what lesson do we have next? My timetable hasn't been turned into an audio version, she indicated to a journal she was holding. I laughed. The blind girl has a book which needs eyes to see.

I quickly stopped "sorry, we have uh English in room 2.31," god, I'm a terrible person at laughing at that.

"first I need to go to the support centre to obtain a blind tablet," she explained "do you know where that would be?"

"yes, I believe I do, follow me," I grabbed my bag.

I was going to help her leave her chair however she left the chair and naturally tucked it beneath the desk. I then led her to the support centre in fact, along the longer route. The longer I'm away from the English the better.

"so, what do you do Phillip," Sylvia broke the silence.

I looked left then had to look up, she's very tall. I'm average height however she's incredibly tall. She looked down at me which fractured my sentence.

"I uh do normal stuff you know, play games."

Her face twitched at the sentence.

"which games do you play?"

"I play swords and shields for example and,"

"really! You play swords and shields?" she jumped in excitedly and had a big grin.

"ye-yes," I replied before Sylvia slammed her hand onto my shoulder.

"Hey what the hell," she began to rapidly talk.

"That is my favourite game that I own I really love the character you can roleplay and the fighting and the landscapes and the," she wordlessly continued.

What the hell is up with her? She acts like I'm the first person she's met and ow, that hand slam was vicious; doesn't she know not to do that. Her hand is still on my shoulder and holding it in a vice-like grip. She's stupidly strong for an eleven-year-old.

"Ow ow ow!" I exclaimed while grabbing her hand "why would you do this you jerk?"

She tilted her head to the side and pulled a confused face.

"What's a jerk?" she asked while relaxing her arm.

"How do you not know? Someone who acts offensive for no reason, be it insulting someone or hurting them."

"is it bad to be a 'jerk'?"

"Yes, most people don't like to hang out with jerks because they don't want to deal with physical or emotional pain," I recall what my dad stated to me before my first day.

I don't quite grasp it, but it seems to have stuck with me. I released her arm and she moved them behind her back.

"I'm really sorry, all this is new to me," she apologised.

"Are you home-schooled?" I asked

"Yes, for all my life up to this point my mother and father taught me," she stated.

"Is this your first time outside?"

"yes, and you're the first person I've talked to around my age."

Huh, no wonder she doesn't know how to interact with people her age. If anything, I need to teach her how to talk to people or else loads of people might have broken arms by the end of the school year.

"hey, let's go to the support centre and get the tablet, just make sure to calm down a little and don't shatter my arm," I indicated her to follow me.

"alright," she smiled.

"Oh, by the way how come you don't have difficulty walking around? Your blind after all."

"my other senses are stronger, I can picture the objects and you around me through smelling, hearing and the vibrations emitted from objects," she summarised.

I was taken a back with the way she spoke. She was childish but sounded smart. It's like a childish inventor that you would see in a movie.

"That's pretty weird but seeing as you're a muttling all cards are wild," I said

"What's a muttling?" she asked.

"Oh, it's a kid born from certain parents. They have weird powers you know like being stronger or smarter. They usually have black eyes and a white pupil," I replied.

She indicated to her bandage on her eyes "I wouldn't personally know but my dad's really strong."

"Oh yeah sorry," I messed up "shall we go?"

"Yes, I don't want to be too late to my first lesson!" Sylvia exclaimed.