Chapter 9: The Mandate

When we arrived at school, Major Johnson excused himself to use the restroom. He’d already witnessed a demonstration of my self-defense skills, so he knew I could take care of myself if the situation called for it. I assured him I’d be fine standing out in the hall for the few minutes it took him to “do his business.” My father had been training me in martial arts sparring for years and, even though I didn’t particularly enjoy it, I still learned how to defend myself well enough to keep him happy.

I was waiting by my locker for the major to exit the restroom when Principal Hayden strolled by.

“Good morning, sir,” I said in my cheeriest tone of voice.

“Not for you, I’m afraid,” he replied.

“Oh, why is that?” I asked, already suspecting his answer.

“It has been brought to my attention that you did not appear for detention Saturday morning like you were supposed to. Failure to show up is an automatic three-day in-school suspension,” he boasted.

“Sir, did you happen to check your mail slot this morning?” I inquired.

“No, why?” he questioned.

“I think it’s best if we speak in your office,” I suggested.

“There’s nothing for us to discuss. You deliberately skipped out on your Saturday detention, thereby earning yourself a three-day in-school suspension. End of story,” he replied gruffly.

Just then, Major Johnson emerged from the restroom.

“What’s going on, Joe?” he asked.

Before I could answer him, Principal Hayden jumped in with his own question.

“And just who might you be?” Hayden asked while eying the suspicious-looking gentleman dressed in military fatigues.

“He obviously hasn’t checked his mail,” Major Johnson noted, facing me.

“I’m afraid not. By the way, this is Principal Hayden,” I replied.

“Sir, perhaps it would be best if we spoke in your office,” Major Johnson proposed, repeating my earlier suggestion.

“As I’ve already stated to Mr. Covington, there is nothing to discuss. This boy didn’t show up for Saturday detention, so he now has a three-day in-school suspension and, if he’s not in his seat in the next five minutes, I will add an additional day for every minute that he’s late,” Hayden said smugly.

“I’m afraid you won’t be doing that, Mr. Hayden,” Major Johnson replied forcefully.

“And just who are you to tell me how to run my school?” Hayden demanded.

“If you’d read your mail, you’d already know who I am,” Major Johnson said.

“Why don’t you just enlighten me?” came Hayden’s response.

“Very well, sir, my name is Major Johnson, and I have been assigned as security detail for Mr. Covington,” Major Johnson stated.

“That’s ridiculous! What would a fourteen-year-old boy need with a bodyguard?” Hayden challenged.

“The mandate sent to you this morning explains that Mr. Covington is now considered a person of special interest to the Consensus. He’s also a volunteer,” Major Johnson explained.

“That still doesn’t excuse his absence on Saturday,” Hayden argued.

“Yes, it does. Like I said, it’s all in the mandate. Mr. Covington was giving a presentation to the Consensus on Saturday morning. That is why he wasn’t able to attend your detention. He was working on that same presentation when his calculus teacher accused him of not paying attention in class. Both incidents have been excused.

“After going through CIP testing, it was determined that Mr. Covington is far too advanced, academically, to be wasting his time going to high school. Therefore, you are to immediately approve him for graduation and put a rush on his paper work so he will have his signed diploma in hand no later than this coming Friday. In the meantime, Mr. Covington has agreed to continue going to classes here this week, solely for the purpose of choosing some of his fellow students to serve as his companions. By the way, he is allotted twenty-two of them, so he has plenty of slots that need to be filled,” Major Johnson confirmed.

“That’s preposterous. There is no way I’m accepting any of it,” Hayden firmly stated.

“You don’t have a choice, sir. That is unless you feel comfortable defying an officially authorized Consensus issued mandate, and I highly recommend you not do that,” Major Johnson warned.

“I don’t care what your damn paper states, I’m not about to have some clown dressed as GI Joe come into my school and start dictating orders, and I’m certainly not going to let any anyone student attend classes here just so he has an excuse to get into our companion selection quarters!” Hayden exclaimed.

As the two of them were arguing, vice principal Harriett Morton and Mark Tipton, the head of security for the school, walked up to greet us.