The Test School - Ch. 01

Raven gazed out the window in a state of near comatose boredom. The landscape flying past the bus consisted of nothing, but flat fields that stretched to the horizon. She found herself idly wondering if the fields had already been harvested, or if there was some lonely flock of sheep or herd of cattle hidden somewhere in that endless expanse.

The bus began slowing, interrupting the hum of wheels on asphalt for the first time in many hours. The change electrified the passengers as heads along the length of the bus leaned into the aisle to see what had liberated them from their tedium.

Ahead of the bus was a massive chain-link fence that seemed to grow in height with each passing moment. The sight of it filled the passengers with a sense of dread, whispering began about what kind of school had a fence like a prison. The bus continued to slow, finally stopping at a small hut by the side of the road. Raven was too far back in the bus to hear what their driver was saying but she offered up a silent prayer that their driver had made a mistake and they would be sent away. Unfortunately, it went unanswered and the bus soon continued towards the now towering fence.

They passed through a sliding gate in the fence, entering a security airlock where a man in uniform circled around the bus, pausing to look underneath the vehicle. Raven tilted her head as she looked out the window, the fence surrounded the bus to a height of almost four stories with a y-shaped peak that would prevent anyone climbing the fence from entering or leaving. The security guard finished his careful sweep of the bus, before they were allowed to pass through another gate and into the facility beyond.

Faces were pressed to windows along the length of the bus, as Raven and the rest of the passengers gazed out at the world they'd just entered. They were approaching a series of two- and three-story buildings built in the modern style of crisp white and shiny black walls, straight edges, and floor to ceiling windows. The bus turned slightly, heading into a courtyard in front of the central building and Raven glimpsed a figure standing in the courtyard, as the bus came to a halt and the engine stopped. A collective sigh went up from the bus as they experienced motionless for the first time in many hours. The front door of the bus opened with a pneumatic hiss and a figure moved quickly up the stairs, shaking the driver's hand before taking position just behind the driver.

She was a tall, thin woman in her mid-thirties with bronzed skin and long blonde hair that rested gently on large breasts. She had a gorgeous body that was only enhanced by the tight-fitting white blouse and dark skirt she was wearing. Raven stared enraptured at the woman for what felt like whole minutes, before wondering if maybe she'd spent too long on the bus.

"Hi ladies," the woman said, revealing a loving smile and slight British accent. "I'm Ms Smith and I'll be one of your teachers here. We're going to have a short assembly to get you all orientated in just a few minutes. For now feel free to hop off the bus and relax, bathrooms are just inside the doors to your right." She turned and pointed at the nearby set of sliding doors and what looked like a reception area. When Ms Smith turned back, a hand towards the front of the bus was up.

"Ms Smith, where are we?" a voiced asked.

Ms Smith paused a second, before turning to the questioner, "Everything will be explained in the assembly, including any questions you have. Short answer, a new school for you ladies." With that answered, Ms Smith hopped off the bus before any other questions could be asked.

Raven stood up from her seat feeling stiff and joined the queue of people following Ms Smith out of the bus. Leaving the bus she was hit by a blast of cool, fresh air and Raven stood still for a few seconds enjoying both, before looking around at the rest of her fellow travellers. Despite sharing an enclosed space with them for so many hours, none of them had really interacted with each other; the driver had been quick to shout down even the mildest hint of noise. Raven had turned eighteen, months ago and as far as she could see, everyone else was a girl around her same age, maybe slightly older.

She walked over to a group of girls, regardless of Ms Smith's use of the term ladies Raven still considered herself a girl. Most of the group were doing simple stretches, lunges, and one was pulling a leg up behind her back. A few were taking it easier and simply walking around to get the blood flowing again. Raven preferred to put the effort in, bending at the waist and stretching out her arms to reach for her toes.

On the far side of the courtyard, separated by a fence from Raven's group, a second bus had arrived and after a presumably similar speech from Ms Smith, was beginning to unload its occupants. Raven continued stretching for a good minute, bending as far as she could whilst shifting her weight from foot to foot and wiggling her hips to loosen them up; letting the blood rush to her head before slowly raising her arms and straightening her back.

As the other girls re-entered her view, she was surprised to see she'd become the centre of attention. She felt her face begin to flush as she looked over herself to see what had grabbed their attention, sliding a hand along her backside to find any tear in her skirt. A noise grabbed her attention and she spun around to identify the source. A group of young boys, men her own age really, were lined up along the fence, most were staring approvingly at her while a few broke into applause. Her face became red and her head began to spin, breathing going into overdrive as she realised the show she'd been putting on for the audience. She turned away and walked past the stretching group as quickly as her legs would carry her to take shelter behind the bus.

A few of the more adventurous girls decided to take advantage of the moment to become the new centres of attention. One began stretching their back inwards as a thinly veiled excuse to stick out her chest. Another quiet, flexible girl was lifting a leg above their head to allow a small glimpse of panty to the enthusiastic audience.

Raven made sure she was out of view before letting out a deep breath and resting against the side of the bus, eyes closed in horror. A girl, Raven hadn't noticed before, walked up slowly with a friendly smile and leaned next to her. This new girl was in many ways the opposite of Raven, with long, curly brown hair, wide hips and breasts that were easily in the D-cup range. Raven had often thought of herself as a late bloomer, though she had long since stopped 'developing', as her mother put it. She had short black hair angled to one side and was skinny. She still struggled to completely fill the AA-cup bras her mother had bought her in the early years of high school. Raven was wearing her usual loose fitting, pink polo shirt; a knee length dark blue skirt; and a small, pink bow in her hair. The new girl was showing off her figure with a sleeveless top that stopped just below her belly button exposing a thin stretch of flawless skin above her tight-fitting jeans.

"They can't help themselves, can they?" the girl asked, gesturing at the girls now holding arms behind their heads and jumping, bouncing was probably the more appropriate term, to the delight of their audience. "I'm Cassandra, but call me Cassie" she added, maintaining the friendly smile.

"I'm Raven; and I wasn't exactly bringing glory to the sisterhood, either."

"You were fine," Cassie responded reassuringly, "nothing wrong with showing off the goods," she added, slowly waving a hand over her body. "It's all about what you're revealing."

Raven didn't really want to think about what she'd just revealed to a pack of horny boys.

Cassie saw the face Raven was making and her smile widened, "You showed them you have a good ass and you're not a slut, if you'll pardon my French, unlike some ladies I can think of." She used the maximum possible amount of sarcasm on the word, ladies.

Raven laughed nervously, but felt herself begin to relax. "My ass doesn't compare to Ms Smith's," she finally countered.

It was Cassie's turn to laugh. "I know right!" she said, with the enthusiasm of an expert commentator, "and did you see those boobs? sure puts mine to shame!" She cupped her own breasts, pushing them up to try to replicate the physique.

"I'm an F, but only just," Ms Smith said as she walked up to them, having suddenly appeared around the corner of the bus, "but, I've always thought my ass could use some work."

Raven and Cassie looked sheepish, but Ms Smith moved away from the pair without further comment, heading towards the doors to the building. "Alright everyone," she announced, holding up a hand for attention. "Please follow me and we'll move to the assembly hall now." She waited a second for everyone to start moving before heading through the door and into the building.

Raven walked with Cassie through the glass doorway and down a hallway behind Ms Smith, looking around as they walked through the building. It was new and unused; the walls were smooth and white, while the floor was a dark grey carpet that had been relentlessly vacuumed in preparation for their arrival. Signs on doors and glimpses through windows indicated they were passing classrooms, computer and science labs, a gym, infirmary and a teacher's lounge. They arrived at a set of double doors that Ms Smith held open for the rest to pass through. "Just sit on the right side please," she said, as they passed into the hall.

The hall was large enough to seat hundreds of students, but today there were only a few rows of temporary seating at the front, split evenly in the middle. Raven took a seat next to Cassie in the front row, looking at an empty stage as they waited for the rest of the group to take their seats. Looking back, Raven noticed that the doors were already closed, evidently the boys from the other bus were not going to be joining them.

The quiet chatter was suddenly silenced, and as Raven turned back to face the stage she saw a man walking across the stage. He was tall and reasonably fit, with short brown hair. Raven thought he looked middle-aged, though that translated to early thirties at most. He was wearing a pair of silver framed glasses, black pants, and a grey short-sleeve shirt, with the whole look topped off by a headset microphone.

The hall darkened and the faint hum of a projector fan started as a crisp photo of their building was projected onto a screen that had been lowered onto the stage, below the image were the words ALBERT-03 TEST SCHOOL. "Good morning, ladies" the man began, speaking with an accent that Raven couldn't place. "Welcome to the Albert zero-three test school" he continued. "I hope you're all feeling okay from the trip, I know the commute is long."

The trip had taken the better part of two days, and Raven hadn't seen anything she would even consider a town since late on the first day.

"I'd like to begin this assembly with a bit of a history lesson and then I'll go through the structure here before I answer any questions." He continued, using a device in his hand to change the projection to an image of a pair of young people smiling in graduation robes. "Forty years ago, the education system of this country was a respected institution with a ninety-eight percent success rate in educating young people to a passing grade at the end of their school program. Well over half of those students would then go on to finish a university-level program. That's more than nine out of every ten students who entered pre-school, successfully completing their education, and almost fifty percent of all students going on to complete a university degree." He paused to change the slide to a downward trending graph.

"For almost the entirety of the last four decades that statistic has been dropping. Ten years ago, the typical student had a less than fifty percent chance of passing their end-of-year exams, with only ten percent of students completing a university degree." He was emphasizing each statistic as he went to drive home the point. "Six years ago, it was decided to extend the time a student spent in school, with the age for final exams moving from eighteen years to twenty-one years old." He made a hand gesture and the declining curve was extended, showing a brief climb before once again resuming a downwards trend.

"This only had a temporary effect and the decline in education standards continued. As a result, the government has decided to re-evaluate the entire education system." He changed slides to show a map, dotted with multiple black circles with 01 to 08 written above them.

Raven was falling asleep, she'd heard similar speeches from her father, a principal at their local high school who'd made similar remarks over the dinner table. She realised with frustration that she'd missed the chance to visit the bathroom before the presentation and was regretting her choice as she crossed her legs tightly.

As the man changed the slide and carried on speaking, Raven realized she hadn't heard his name yet. "This facility was originally destined to be a new Department of Corrections rehabilitation facility, their fancy name for prison," he said. The fence around the building suddenly made a lot more sense and there was a murmur of discontent from the assembly hall. The man on stage gave them a few seconds, before holding up both hands for silence. "Fortunately for everyone here, they only managed to complete the perimeter fencing before the area was handed over to us for use as an experimental test school. I know it sounds bad, but rest assured, this is a school," he said, emphasizing school. "The designers worked hard to provide a quality educational facility here."

His face changed to an embarrassed smile, as he switched to the next slide with an enlarged image of his own face with an obscenely friendly smile. "If you've ever had difficulty with public speaking, you should try having to make one of these," he said with a small laugh. "My name is Dr William Clark and my role here is Headmaster of the facility, but I'll also be one of your teachers. I have a background in science and engineering. I've been lecturing at universities for slightly over eight years and I've been working in a consultant role with various organizations for the last five years."

"Almost two years ago, I was invited by the government, along with hundreds of other participants to submit a proposal for an educational program that would address the declining educational levels. My proposal came in third and as a result I now have the privilege to welcome you to the Albert-Zero-Three Test School" He paused but Raven could see he was excited, even if his audience were already losing focus again. "For those of you still paying attention, I'd like to go over a brief overview of what the structure here is and how I'll be helping you get through the last few years of your education," he looked at his audience. "For those of you not paying attention..." he quietly inhaled and pulled the microphone closer to his mouth...

"OI!" he shouted.

Raven flinched at the sudden change in volume, as did most of the assembly. Behind her, a girl who'd actually dozed was startled awake, banging into the back of Raven's chair before almost falling into the aisle.

Mr Clark looked amused at the reaction he'd caused and saw his opportunity. "Thank you for volunteering young lady," he pointed as he spoke, and Raven was terrified he meant her, before realising he was after the girl behind her. "Can you please come on stage."

The girl hesitated, but Mr Clark wasn't looking at the audience as he walked to fetch something from off stage; and she had no option, but to slowly make her way to the stage.

Raven could see she was a thin girl, with long black hair. She was wearing a pink shirt and a pair of tight jean shorts that were short enough they didn't quite cover the entire curve of the girl's bottom. The girl put on her best confident smile as she walked up the stairs. Mr Clark had returned to the centre of the stage holding a box in his hands. He gestured at the girl to join him in the middle of the stage, handing her the box.

"You are Ms--" he paused as he tried to put a name to the face, "Ms Margrie, correct?"

The girl smiled and nodded, "Heather Margrie."

"I hope you had a nice nap, Ms Margrie."

Raven watched as the smile twitched, before increasing in intensity.

"It was lovely, thanks," Heather answered, trying a flutter of eyelashes while locking eyes with Mr Clark to put him on the defensive.

Mr Clark was evidently unfazed and moved on with his presentation. The projector clicked and a new slide showed a graph with a series of rising lines.

"Ladies, my proposal for your educational program was based on two observations, the first being this graph." He waved an arm towards the projected image, "This shows the rise in the consumption of pornographic materials by people your age."

The hall was silent, Heather was struggling to maintain her innocent smile in front of the assembly.

Mr Clark continued, "The second was an analysis of the causes behind every expulsion, suspension, and other disciplinary action taken against people your age for the last twenty years." He turned back to Heather, "Ms Margrie, can you please explain why you were expelled from your last school."

Heather was evidently uncomfortable with the question, she was also put off by Mr Clark's constant use of her last name. She hesitated, trying to think of a way out before reluctantly speaking.

"I slept with my science teacher." The smile stayed on her face, though it seemed to lose a lot of its innocence.

Raven felt a chill, as she began to realise why she'd been selected for this school.

Mr Clark was evidently unsatisfied with the answer and waved his hand for her to go on. Heather didn't speak, dropping the cheery smile.

"You had sex with your teacher and filmed it Ms Margrie; you then blackmailed him into giving you a passing grade." Mr Clark was evidently fully aware of what had occurred, and Heather blushed at being so publicly exposed. Mr Clark turned from her to face the audience.

"As I said, this school is about finding a way to reverse the declining levels of education and I believe this problem has come about, in part, because of the rising levels of enthusiasm for sex among the youth." The entire audience shifted uncomfortably and tried to avoid eye contact.

"I know," he continued, "that none of you young ladies are virgins. That was a very deliberate choice on our part. We needed students with the right background, to help explore if my proposal for education with a sexual reinforcement structure will help you all improve your academic performance."

Heather was finding it harder to maintain any kind of aloof demeanour as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Now, I don't want you to think that I'm singling out poor Ms Margrie here. All of you, every single student in this room, failed to complete your education. In every one of your cases, your sexual activity was a determining, if not the deciding, factor. We have in this room, more than one student who tried to blackmail through sex," he gestured at Heather, "a student who failed to attend more than half their classes because they were using the school storeroom for sexual endurance events. One of you is a quite famous cam-girl; and one of you was caught in the gent's bathroom, legs wrapped around your boyfriend in the middle of one of your most important exams."

Raven shifted uncomfortably and her stomach dropped. She tried to make herself invisible, but only ended up feeling like she was making herself more obvious. The hall was filled with an uncomfortable silence, and Mr Clark turned back to a nervous Heather, before quickly checking his watch.