Noah, 12.

7:20 a.m. Noah eats cereal standing up at the counter while his dad scrolls news on a tablet and does not say anything. The school bus comes at 7:42. Noah does not have his French textbook in his bag. He decides this is not the day to go back upstairs for it.

On the bus, two grade 8s are arguing about whether French immersion is going to continue. One of them says her mom heard the federal Official Languages funding is gone. The other says her dad said that's not how it works. Noah, who is good at French, listens and does not pick a side.

First period is social studies. The textbook is from 2019 and the chapter is called "Canada: A Country of Many Peoples." Madame Roy looks at the chapter for a long moment, closes the book, and says — in French — that they will be doing current events today instead. She does not pass out the worksheet she had photocopied. Noah sees her slide the stack into a drawer.

Recess. The boys play wall-ball. Noah's friend Adi says his older cousin's hockey tournament in Saskatoon at Christmas is cancelled because the league doesn't know yet whether Alberta teams can travel without paperwork. Noah, who plays defence, thinks about his own December tournament in Lloydminster, which is half in each country now.

Math class is normal. Fractions. Madame Roy's colleague, Mr. Ouellet, runs the class the way he always does. For forty-five minutes Noah does not think about anything except common denominators. He is grateful, in a way he could not yet articulate, for the existence of math.

Lunch in the cafeteria. The milk program — federally co-funded — still has cartons today. The lunch supervisor, who is usually chatty, is quiet. A grade 8 girl is crying at a corner table. Two of her friends are sitting with her and not saying anything. Noah eats his sandwich and looks at his shoes.

After school is hockey practice at the community rink. The coach has them line up on the blue line and says, "I'm not going to talk about it. We're going to skate." They skate. It is the best Noah has felt all day.

At home, Noah's mom asks how school was. Noah says "fine." He goes upstairs and opens his laptop and types "can you still go to university in Ontario if you're from Alberta" into the search bar. He reads three articles, none of which agree, and closes the laptop without telling anyone.