Veiled Truth

'Ah...damn it!' Andrey who had been barely able to pay attention to the class till now thought to himself.

It was only now that he realised that he could have avoided Miss Jane's minutes-long admonishments if he would have rewound the time at the moment he had collided with her.

Alas, his mind was too preoccupied after his interaction with Lisa and he lost his ten-second window to get away with it.

"I should pay more attention to these things from now on..." Andrey muttered to himself and decided to keep a lookout for any opportunity either small or big to use his powers in order to benefit himself.

"Yes, this student...you seem to have something going on your mind for a while now, do you want to share it with the class?"

Andrey who had been talking to himself realized that the teacher's voice was directed towards his direction this time and looked up to confirm it and soon got his answer by the gaze with which his 40-year-old history teacher, Mr Thomson, was staring at him.

'Perfect' Andrey thought to himself and used his powers.

"Time Rewind"

Andrey saw things go back to the way they were ten seconds before with his own eyes in a flash and was back to the period where he wasn't caught by Mr Thomson.

Andrey couldn't help but feel smug after successfully escaping an imminent crisis and decided to actively use his ability for his benefit such that using the ability would become second nature to him and the likelihood of him messing things up when he needed to use this ability the most would become negligible.

"Now, who all know the year in which the confederation came into existence?"

Mr Thomson's words echoed in the room.

Almost everyone's hands were raised as this was a basic question that almost every citizen of the federation was supposed to know.

Mr Thomson nodded seeing the raised hands and continued, "Now, who is going to tell me the first point from the preamble of our constitution?" he gave a cursory glance to all the students around and picked someone from the bunch.

The guy who was chosen was Alex and he was the second most good-looking guy in our class and was a combination of both brain and muscles. 

After adjusting his spectacles he told Mr. Thomson and the class in a confident manner, "WE THE CITIZENS OF THE CONFEDERATION, solemnly vow to treat each other as our KIN and NOT discriminate each other on the basis of COLOUR and ETHNICITY,"

"Very good Alex, you can sit now," The teacher nodded and allowed Alex to take his seat as he continued with his explanation.

"Until now, you all have been reading the preamble like mere words and not taking it seriously and it's quite understandable given your age but now since only six more months remain until you will choose your preferred universities it's time for you all to know the greater truth..."

Mr Thomson's words raised the curiosity of everyone present which included the exhausted Andrey and all the last benchers who were busy with their phones. Mr Thomson was about to tell them about the "Subject" which had been kept secret from them until now.

This was a rule created by the Confederation to ensure that the youth would get to grow till they were adults with peace of mind and the enforcement of this with the Confederation's advancement in technology was not at all difficult. 

Even the parents were supposed to not inform their wards about it 'directly' as a result the students at most only had a slight inkling that something was being kept hidden from them.

The right to disseminate this knowledge was only given to the School Authorities and the time chosen for it was the last semester of the final grade students.

"...We humans are born for conflict and with such varied groups of people belonging to different ethnicity and colour it's fair to question how we are still managing to avoid conflict with each other. The answer to this question is a very simple one, a common enemy. It's true that the Confederation came into existence for the better and more efficient functioning of the world and this is something you all already know but the reason and need for becoming more efficient had been kept hidden from you all right until now. The common enemy that I speak of is..."

Mr Thomson kept on saying without a stop but unlike before everyone was listening to his each and every word with rapt attention. His words sometimes invited a series of gasps from the students and sometimes grim silence and by the end of it, almost everyone was filled with a deep-seated conviction, a conviction to fight for the survival and glory of the human race.

The sudden influx of all this new knowledge was too much for the students and Mr Thomson understood this but since according to the schedule he had to explain everything in brief to the students by today so Mr Thomson continued on and the 1st period of the day, after the homeroom period, which was supposed to be for an hour lasted for a whole 3 hours.

"That's all for today. By around 1800 hrs, your IDs will be able to access all the information on the Confederation's net regarding the aliens and our former planet, earth. So, the curious ones who can't wait till the next class can seek knowledge from there." With those words, Mr Thomson left the class and the moment he left numerous discussions among the different groups in the class began.

"Those bastards! We'll avenge the deaths of our fallen!" Jacob said with clenched fists.

"They deserve a fate worse than death, Ughh just hearing about it makes me want to cut them into pieces." Jenny chimed in as she banged her desk in frustration.

It was only Andrey who was lost in his own thoughts, his father was in the military and a common question Andrey used to ask his father as a child was that whom the military was protecting them from. 

His father always used to smile at him whenever he heard this question and reply with the following words, "You'll know when you're supposed to so focus on your studies and having fun for now."

He always felt frustrated by this answer but there was always a tinge of melancholy hidden in his father's voice whenever he answered him, something which he was unable to make sense of until now.

"Andrey, what are you thinking about?" 

Andrey was soon brought out of his zoned state by the concerned voice of Jacob.

"Nothing, was just trying to process all this," Andrey said with a sigh.

"Understandable man, it feels like our whole life until this point was a lie... I even feel guilty for enjoying myself and thinking only about myself throughout this time after knowing the truth," Jacob replied with a guilty conscience.

"Maybe that was the reason they kept this secret from us. The adults wanted us to not take in such a huge burden when we were young so that we could enjoy to our fullest..." Jenny gave her opinion.

"That might be true," Andrey replied thinking back to his father's words.

It would be too much to let the children know that their previous generations almost suffered extinction and were made to flee from their home planet, earth, by the aliens and the ones who failed to do so were ruthlessly slaughtered by them. 

The Confederation was doing its utmost to make sure that aliens were dealt with on the front lines and as citizens of the Confederation, they who were now 'aware' of the happenings were obligated to fight for their survival. In short, the time to enjoy their lives was now over.

"I suddenly feel like I'm a grown-up all of a sudden," Jacob commented.

"Yes, come to think of it, this was similar to a coming-of-age ceremony for all of us," Andrey added in his thoughts.

"Ooo that makes sense!" Jenny exclaimed and continued "What are your thoughts on the Warrior Academy? Are you guys planning to apply for it?" 

"Of course!" Jacob exclaimed.

"So am I," Jenny replied with a smile.

"What about you Andrey?" Jacob looked towards Andrey with expectant eyes.

"Since you two are applying I have no reason to refuse," Andrey said in a helpless manner. 

He had earlier planned to become an automobile engineer but it was only a thought. He didn't mind trying his hands on the Warrior Academy aswell. The exam was quite tough and the chances of getting selected for the academy were less than 10% considering the fact that almost all the 18-year youths of the confederation would be taking part in it.

Growl~

Andrey touched his stomach and said a bit embarrassed "I'm quite hungry,"

Both Jacob and Jenny wanted to laugh at him but they too realised that they were quite hungry. The two of them brought their phones out to check them.

"Holy fuck..." 

Both their eyes bulged as they realised that Mr Thomson had taken the class for three hours straight and it was now time for lunch.

"Let's hurry! Otherwise, the cream bun would be all finished!" Jenny exclaimed as she rushed towards the door like a crazed animal. Similar scenes also played out in other groups thanks to Jenny's outburst and within the next couple of seconds the whole classroom became empty.