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It all started with Anakin achieving the highest score in mathematical sequences. Ever since he started school two years ago, math has been one of the easiest classes he’s ever taken. The Jedi put him in class with his agemates leaving him trapped in a curriculum he could probably teach. In Watto’s shop, he spent every single day designing and creating mechanical projects that required math ten times harder than the shit his peers learned. He used to love math and solving problems, but the fifty minutes spent in Master Caro’s class were pure agony. If boredom wasn’t putting his brain to sleep, his legs were bouncing like they were itching to run right through the door and never come back. Instead of listening, he imagined himself practicing light saber drills or he would sketch out models for his future ship. Anything was better than watching minutes tick away like hours, forever trapping him in his seat.
He wasn’t even trying to do well in his midterm examination. He spent half the exam thinking how he could upgrade the mouse droid he stole from the pilot's wing and the other half he sort of answered the questions before writing the most basic algorithm to solve the problem. Despite his best efforts to fly under the radar, he ended with perfect marks and Master Caro calling him to the front of the class to praise him. Now don’t get him wrong, Anakin wants nothing more than to be praised by the Jedi masters. In fact, warmth spreads through his insides the minute a grown up compliments him. But the other padawans ruin every accomplishment he’s ever made. In the two years Anakin has been here, he has only made two friends, Tru and Darra. At first, the others strayed away from the new kid from the outer systems because he was different. Then they thought he didn’t deserve to be in the same program, since he had no training and no skill. They thought he got special treatment for being able to grow up without their morals and still be trained. It didn’t help that he became a padawan right off the bat at nine, when they would not be picked until a minimum age of eleven. Anakin managed to match their abilities in a short time which only made them hate him more. So standing in front of his peers who already couldn’t stand him as the master expressed his ‘excellent study habits’ and ‘impressive accomplishments despite a rough upbringing’ was not how he wanted to spend his day. Hell, if this was one of the kids on Tatooine, he too would feel the urge to beat that kid up.
Not that jedi younglings beat each other up. No. They choose to isolate, manipulate, prank, or humiliate anyone they deem an outcast, but nothing ever turns physical. Since they all have the same upbringing and personality, Anakin will give you one guess who is victim to those tactics the most.
Until Anakin arrived, Ferus Olin held the highest grades in every single class. That loser. He made flashcards for math and had his nerdy little friends quiz him during meals. He acted like the world was ending if he didn’t get top marks on every exam! Anakin spent most of his time sneaking around the temple with Tru. His ‘study habits’ didn’t deserve to be praised, and the whole class knew it. His eyes traveled from different sets of daggers staring back at him. The only slight reprieve was the mountain of pity Tru was sending him. Anakin felt like dying. This master was trying to get him ostracized for the rest of his Jedi career. Anakin did that easily enough on his own, he didn’t need her help.
Once the master finally shut up, Anakin almost acted on his fantasy and ran out the door. The only thing that stopped his was picturing Obi-Wan’s reaction to him cutting class. He decided it was best if he just sat down next to Tru. Anakin was already on thin ice this week after he was caught on the temple roof at two in the morning. In Anakin’s defence, the roof was the safest spot to launch the rocket he developed. Instead of the gym getting set on fire, it was the roof, which has better airflow and access to the water supply. Anakin and Tru were given three weeks of archive duty for that one. Anakin was not going to add any more time by cutting class.
Not one youngling was listening to Master Caro’s lecture that day. Olin and the nerd brigade were too busy planning their revenge on Anakin to focus, and Anakin was too busy trying to learn how to disappear into the force. That was possible right? To fully immerse oneself into the force and avoid his problems? He’s pretty sure he read something about that once. He’s confident, if he focused hard enough, he could do it.
He had to. Anakin didn’t have any other ideas besides completely avoiding all of his problems and peers.
****
“It wasn’t as bad as you think.” Tru lied to him on their way to their next class. Anakin didn’t understand why they even switched classrooms since their class stayed the same ten kids, but no one asked for his opinion. He’s not sure how normal schools work, since he’s never attended one before he came here, but here babies are split up into different groups in the creche and basically grow up together. They live in the same rooms until they’re chosen to be a padawan and they all have the same schedule until they take higher up courses. Two or three of the groups were paired together for most classes to make normal class sizes. Despite never living in the creche, Anakin was placed in the smallest group of his age; the Krayt group. The Krayt’s were all Anakin’s age and consisted of Tru Veld, Darra Thel-Tanis, Zaria Nolan, and, of course, Ferus Olin . The good news was that meant every class was with Tru. The bad news was that meant every class was with Ferus. He and Darra were sort-of friends. They rarely spent time with just the two of them, but when they did, they had fun. She never treated him differently unlike everyone else. He and Zaria have maybe said five words to each other in the past two years, but hey, Anakin would take what he could get these days. Ferus… Ferus was Anakin’s enemy since the day he got here and that was not changing anytime soon.
The four of them still lived in the creche together, and Anakin would stay there when Obi-Wan went on solo missions. Anakin has only physically fought Ferus once during these stays, which is goddamn impressive if you ask him. Ferus practically begged Anakin to hit him once a day.
“Tru. She told you all to aspire to be me.” Anakin sighed. He’s going to have to fail the next three exams to erase this damage.
“Yeah, you may have to wear a mask and change your name forever.” Tru looked at him with the most serious expression he’s ever made. Anakin felt fear rush through him. Tru grew up here, he knew a lot more about Jedi culture than Anakin did. If he seriously believed he needed this, Anakin would start looking for masks tonight. Then Tru smiled and pushed Anakin slightly. “You need to relax. Will everyone hate you? Yes. But they’ll get over it like they did when you beat them all in lightsaber training.”
That was a memorable day. One by one, Anakin sparred all of his agemates and won. It was the first time he felt like he truly belonged here. He wasn’t good at reading, he couldn’t meditate, and he was never calm. But he could fight. He remembered how proud Obi-Wan had looked at him and how good it felt. He also remembered how badly the other younglings treated him after that. Anyone that already disliked him just hated him more. Anyone neutral to him, suddenly disliked him. Only Tru and Darra spoke to him for three weeks.
“Yeah.” Anakin agreed with absolutely no confidence. “It’ll be great.”
It was as if the force itself heard Anakin’s words, because the second he sat down at his desk, he felt it; cold, squishy, liquid. He looked down to see bright red paint on his chair and now his robes. Obi-Wan was going to kill him. This was the third set of robes he ruined this month. It was never his fault exactly, but Obi-Wan never believed him. Anakin was probably going to spend his night meditating over the misuse of laundry services. Fine. if he was going to be tortured regardless, he was going to get it for more than spilled paint.
“Ferus!” Anakin yelled to the boy in the front row (of course Ferus sat in the front row). The boy turned around and smiled at him. He felt safe in front of a master, but he should know better. Anakin didn’t know what he was going to do yet, but he definitely did not care how much trouble he was about to get in. Payback’s a bitch and it’s about time Ferus learned that.
“Padawan Skywalker.” Master Noah cut him off. That wasn’t fair! He didn’t do anything yet! They should at least let him get one punch in before punishing him! “Master Koon would like to see you.”
“I didn’t even do anything!” Anakin did not whine. He was incapable of whining, and his mother would chastise him for hours if she knew he was talking back to a teacher. So, whatever sound came out of his mouth was not a whine.
Master Noah looked at him with a warning stare she probably used on actual missions worthy of a Jedi master. Anakin stood up allowing each and every one of his peers to see his red stained pants. Laughs and smiles filled the room at the sight of him. He made sure to glare at Ferus on the way out.
He walked to Master Koon’s office fuming. Ferus would pay and Anakin would be there to collect. He could program a trail of droids to follow him or put paint in the shower until Ferus was nothing but bright pink. Maybe he’ll put bleach in his shampoo or ghost peppers in his food.
“Ah! Padawan Skywalker! Just the young man I was waiting for.” Master Koon greeted him.
“I didn’t do anything!” Anakin defended. He will do something, but there’s nothing to punish him for now. Anakin was ready to fight his case. A normal master would barely listen to his side of the story and immediately make him meditate. After the day Anakin’s had, meditation might just send him over the edge.
Master Koon surprised him though. Instead of lecturing or spouting out some Jedi philosophy, Koon laughed. It was a nice contrast. He had a warm, slightly tired, laugh that reminded Anakin of mom. Or Obi-Wan.
“You aren’t in trouble, Anakin. You’re here because some of your teachers wanted us to chat. I’m going to play some games with you, ok?” Koon said. Anakin eyed him. His teachers wanted them to talk? About what? Obi-Wan always said good things about Koon, but he never mentioned anything about the master pulling students away. What could his teachers possibly say about him to make a master on the council want to talk to him?
“Why?” Anakin couldn’t help but ask. If he wasn’t in trouble, then what was this? Koon wasn’t lying was he? Trapping Anakin with a sense of comradery before ratting him out to the council with all his wrongdoings. He didn’t think the Jedi played dirty, but he’s been wrong before.
“We’re going to do some mental puzzles, so that I can get to know you better.” Koon explained without actually explaining anything. That, Anakin learned, was Jedi standard.
“Why?”
“You are a very suspicious young man. How about you trust me for one moment then I can explain, ok?” Koon’s face scrunched and Anakin believed that meant he was smiling. With all the masks, it was hard to tell. Master Koon was nice, nicer than other masters have been, so Anakin stayed quiet. How much damage could one puzzle do? “Perfect! Now you can look at this picture for sixty seconds, then I want you to tell me everything that’s wrong with it.”
Master Koon held up a large image of a driver in a speeder in the first person point of view. Anakin glanced at it. Was this it? He got pulled out of class to stare at a picture? That couldn’t be all, the master must be tricking him. Koon brought up a stop watch and pressed start.
“The man only has four fingers.” Anakin said and pushed the image down. Surely, an image with errors was not the biggest dilemma in the jedi world.
“That’s right!” Koon stopped the stopwatch, “but this time I want you to really take your time and really loo-”
Anakin cut him off. He was tired. He’s been humiliated by Master Caro, painted on by fuckwad Olin, and glared down by Master Noah. He was not going to walk through the ten million riddles of Master Koon just to go back to a boring class still covered in paint!
“The car shadow’s the wrong way, the steering wheel’s on the wrong side, there’s no brake pedal, the words in the mirror should be backwards, the guy’s watch wouldn’t say 1200 hours if he’s looking at a sunset, and I have red paint on my ass. That’s right! Red paint! All over my ass!” Anakin was panting by the end. Koon was staring at him. His hand was still on the stopwatch, but his covered eyes were locked on Anakin.
Well. So much not getting into any more trouble.
****
The good news was that Obi-Wan wasn’t in the apartment when Anakin came in with red robes and a note from Koon. Anakin didn’t know what Koon wrote, the master sealed the letter shut, so Obi-Wan would know if Anakin opened it first. Koon made him take five other types of tests before letting him go. There was calculus, logic skills, out of the box thinking, and other fun things. By the time he was done, class had been over for almost an hour. Anakin was barely able to change and hide the note before Obi-Wan came home. It was a temporary solution, but it bought Anakin enough time to think of something better.
The even better news was that Obi-Wan came home with Vos and Garen, which meant Obi-Wan would be so distracted trying to host his crechemates, he would not notice anything different.
“Ani!” Vos and Garen cheered when they saw Anakin. Anakin loved Obi-Wan’s crechemates. They were loud, funny, and absolutely crazy. They made Obi-Wan crazy too, which was always fun to see. Anakin smiled as he greeted the other knights. Finally, there was something good today.
“How was class today, Anakin?” Obi-Wan asked, just as he asked every single day. Anakin immediately shrugged to avoid any suspicion.
“Fine. Same as every other day.” Anakin pretended there were not any stained robes or sealed letter in his room. Instead, he grabbed a juice from the fridge and the circuit board he was currently programming for fun. His goal was to make a device to write his assignments for him if he spoke the words out loud. Typing or, force-forbid, writing by hand took way too much time out of his days.
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to respond, but thankfully, there was a knock at the door.
Horrifyingly, it was Koon and Caro. They were out to get him, Anakin was confident.
“Masters! To what do I owe this visit?” Obi-Wan asked. Both masters glanced at the young knight confused and Anakin’s heart dropped into his gut. He turned all of his attention to his circuit board like nothing else was going on. The two other knights noticed him immediately. Curse the Jedi and their mind tricks.
“I apologize for being early, but I do hope you had time to read my letter.” Koon explained. Fuck. In no time five sets of eyes were on him. Anakin looked to his master. Obi-Wan looked pleasant and calm as always. Anakin was screwed.
“Anakin.” Obi-Wan spoke like nothing was new or different. Anakin had no idea how he did it. “Is there anything you would like to add about your day today?” Everyone was watching him. Anakin was incredibly quick on his feet until it came to words. Basic just didn’t flow easily for him.
“Yes… I was reflecting and realized just how lucky I was to get you as a master!” Anakin smiled and spread innocence through the force. Obi-Wan’s eyes narrowed.
“Try again.”
Anakin sighed. Koon and Caro flooded into the room at Obi-Wan’s command. The knights stood up straighter as the masters walked through the room. There was no escape.
“I was called out of class so that Master Koon could give me a bunch of tests.” Anakin explained. As far as he knew, he could avoid bringing up the math exam and the red paint for the time being if he stuck with the main conversation topic. He just prayed Caro didn’t go full reprise on her earlier lecture. Anakin doesn’t think he could stand listening to that twice in one day.
Obi-Wan looked… confused. Anakin supposed confused was better than mad, but now Anakin couldn’t read him. Anakin has seen Obi-Wan mad, resigned, tired, and frustrated a lot, so he knew how to handle that. Confused was rare. Too rare for Anakin to guess what would come next. Thankfully, Obi-Wan turned to Koon.
“I thought he was done with placement exams.” Obi-Wan asked a question without actually asking a question. He did that a lot.
“This was not a placement exam, but an intelligence test.” Koon clarified. An intelligence test? That’s what the picture and the mind games were for? To learn that Anakin was just another kid? Why would they do that? To waste all of their time?
“Since when do we give intelligence tests?” Vos asked the group. Anakin was wondering the same thing.
“For the last semester, Anakin has been struggling to stay focused in my class.” Caro started. If she came just to pinpoint Anakin’s shortcomings then maybe Anakin did prefer the humiliating speech. Obi-Wan looked defeated. The two of them have had countless talks about Anakin’s abysmal attention span. Anakin was trying to do better, he really was, but that class was so easy! He couldn’t help it if his mind wandered! And so what if it did? Who was this master to come to his home and shit on him after hours? Could she do it during class time like every other master? “And despite that, he’s received perfect marks on every exam! I spoke with some of his other teachers, and they had similar stories. So I asked Master Koon to perform an intelligence test.” Caro explained.
“Anakin scored a 162, which is in the ninety ninth percentile for age and species! In light of this, we will be changing his course schedule right away! I have all the details here.” Koon pulled out a datapad. He and Caro spoke back and forth about the details of the tests and what everything means. Anakin stopped listening. He would be moving classes? That means he would have to leave Tru! His agemates hated him for being better than them, how would older kids feel if he entered their class? He was practically begging everyone around him to hate him!
There was no way he was moving to the first row freakshow because he did well on a math test. No way!
****
“No way!” He told Obi-Wan after Koon and Caro left.
“Why not? You are bored in all of your classes, you spend your time doodling or working on droid projects. These classes can finally teach you something new! Instead of avoiding homework by building droids, you could build droids for your homework. This is a good thing Anakin!” Obi-Wan sighed in his resigned way that Anakin was all too familiar with.
“Oh it’ll be great! I’m sure the older kids will love being in class with someone five years younger than them! More people are just going to hate me.” Anakin stressed. He was not going to take nerd classes and that was final.
“It’s not all your classes, you’ll still take literature and history with your agemates.” Obi-Wan tried, but Anakin was not delusional to think that would be better. Sorry I can’t walk with you to the next class, I’m going to special ‘I’m better than you’ classes.
“Oh good, so two groups of lifeforms will hate me!” Anakin argued
“They will not hate you.” Obi-Wan countered.
“Well…” Vos tilted his head towards Anakin, and Garen hit him. “Come on! You can’t lie to the kid, they just said he was a genius. When we were eleven, if some kid joined my class then immediately got moved up a few levels, I’d be pretty pissed!” Vos explained, and Anakin thanked him. At least one person here understood him.
“But, we would get over it. It may be a rough transition, but I’m sure it will feel normal in no time.” Garen said.
“Exactly, Ani. It will just take some time to adjust.” Obi-Wan said. Anakin scoffed.
“It will take no time, because it’s not happening. I’ll just fail the next test and everything will go back to normal. Honestly the masters are making a big deal over nothing!”
“Oh it’s nothing is it?” Obi-Wan asked.
“That’s right.”
“Anakin, what’s seventeen multiplied by forty-two?”
“Seven hundred and fourteen.” Anakin answered without hesitating.
“What’s the square root of that?”
“Twenty-six point seven two.”
“And what’s that to the fifth power?”
“Thirteen million, six hundred and twenty two thousand, one hundred forty five point nine six.” Anakin said. He turned his head to see Vos and Garen staring at him with wide eyes and mouths open. Fuck.
“You’re changing classes and I now have two witnesses who agree and two masters.” Obi-Wan said. He left no room for argument or rebuttal.
This is the worst day of Anakin’s life.