Miss Critchlow was a tall, slim woman with a commanding demeanor. You could tell from the way she spoke—as if she was judging us subconsciously.
After introducing herself, she pulled out her laptop, hooked it up to the projector, and began presenting something on the whiteboard: "An Introduction to the International School for Cheaters."
As she flipped through the slides, she gave us an in-depth introduction to the school, outlining what we could expect and what the school expected from us. Most of what she said was standard, but she did point out that conventional learning was possible at the ISC. The school paraded itself as an institution built for cheaters; however, a person could attend and still graduate without cheating at all.
In other words, students could complete assignments and take tests the traditional way and still earn the qualifications needed for university education.
Considering this was a school focused on training students to catch cheaters, I wondered if there were any downsides to choosing to do things "the right way".
After the introduction, she explained the purchasing system.
"Go to the app store on your phones and download the ISC Status app. Use your ID to log in, and the password is 'ISC2025,'" she instructed.
I quickly downloaded the app and logged in using my ID and the preset password.
A status window popped up, similar to the one I saw yesterday on Jasmine's phone—the girl I met on the ferry.
"If you look at the top of the screen, you'll see your academic standing. Everyone attending the ISC for the first time starts with Excellent Standing. Your academic standing will determine what items you can buy and how many. This school bases your academic skills on how well you cheat."
She didn't go into great detail, but from what I'd already observed in the campus shops, the academic standing system was broken into five levels:
Excellent Standing ← Currently here
Good Standing
Fair Standing
Bad Standing
Terrible Standing
I wondered if this meant we had all done well on the preliminary tests we took before being accepted. It would explain why we were all here—apparently, we were already good at cheating.
Miss Critchlow continued, "Additionally, every month the school awards you 1,000 Purchasing Points to buy all your necessities or anything available for sale on campus. One Purchasing Point is equivalent to one Barbadian (bds) dollar."
That made sense—but still, giving students the equivalent of $1,000 BBD per month? That felt like a lot. I had never held that much money in my life. Hopefully the school offered financial guidance or counseling for spending. But maybe it was bad that I though my classmates were discipline enough to spend wisely.
"So I could buy those new shoes I saw in a store yesterday with this?" a boy blurted out, practically glowing with excitement.
"Yes," Miss Critchlow replied. "Like I said, anything available for sale at this school can be bought with Purchasing Points. Nothing costs actual money within the confines of this institution."
"I'm gonna buy those shoes the moment this class ends!"
"Don't those cost, like, 500 points though? Can you survive on 500 points for the rest of the month?" another student asked.
"Yes! And I get a fresh 1,000 next month anyway!"
The class erupted in excitement. I liked the idea of being able to buy whatever I liked at my own discretion. But I couldn't help feeling a little pessimistic about the whole point system. It sounded too good to be true.
What was the catch?
Would the school really give us that amount every month, like clockwork?
For now, I decided it was best to spend cautiously and try to conserve some of it—just in case something unexpected happened before the next allowance.
"However," Miss Critchlow added, "anything you buy on campus cannot leave the school. It must be left at the admin building or the port."
That rule made sense—maybe it was to discourage reselling or trading off-campus.
"But that's all I have to say on the purchasing system. Any questions before I move on?"
A boy sitting in the front row raised his hand.
"Yes, ma'am—what's that?" he asked, pointing at the digital display above the board—the same one I'd noticed earlier while surveying the class.
"That's the number of students currently enrolled at this school," she explained. "As you can see, there are 1,547 students enrolled at the ISC."
Oh wow. That's a lot of students. But... isn't it supposed to be 1,800? Doesn't this school boast a 100% enrollment rate? And if anything, our class was over capacity.
Miss Critchlow kept going.
"Oh, and that reminds me—any student who has an overall score of 49.9% or lower by the end of the semester will be expelled."
That probably explains the drop in enrollment. Students get expelled frequently, it seems.
"And before you ask—yes, when a student is expelled, the display updates automatically to reflect the new total. Now, if there are no further questions, I'll move on to the actual lesson for today."
I was surprised to hear she'd be teaching on the very first day. Normally, the first class is an introduction and some small talk then classes officially begin the next day.
However, the session soon came to an end. But just before we could leave, Miss Critchlow spoke up again.
"Just a minute, students, I have something important to announce."
I wondered what it could be. Maybe she forgot to mention something in the introduction.
"As you know, this class has more students than it should—and it's the same for the other first-year classes. The school deeply apologizes for this oversight and has already outlined a solution."
That was good news. The extra students did make the class feel overcrowded.
"The board has decided that ten of you will have to be expelled from the ISC."
What?