August- By the time

By the time it was eight thirty in the morning, Zach had already showed, had breakfast, and explored the school's library. The top floor, as always, was eerily empty (perhaps because it was eight thirty in the morning, or that it was the top floor, or possibly a combination of the two) and in dire need of modernization. The air conditioning, for example, sounded like Darth Vader with bronchopneumonia.

Zach found a book he liked and took it to the lower levels with him (although some people may compare library to hell, Zach wasn't one of them. At least, not normally. Over crowding during finals season was another story). He found it difficult to concentrate with what sounded like an entire horde of Darth Vaders breathing down his neck.

And if his taste in books was a little odd...well, people very rarely accused Zach of being normal, which was just as well because Zachary sometimes found it invariably tiring to try to keep up with the current culture, which accelerates roughly at the same speed as Newton's apple on a free-fall.