The 3rd Step: First Class

In the school building, everything seems normal to me, despite it being emptier than my wallet...if I could afford one.
Heh, nice one. Stings nonetheless.

Maybe I am getting used to this empty hallway. I know I shouldn't, but...
It feels much more comfortable this way.

'Knock knock' - more like dun dun, but whatever.

I enter the classroom and-
Yup, I knew it.
Couple kids talking, couple kids writing and listening.
And now: everyone is looking at me.
Great, just what I and everyone else in my position would want.

"Mr. Zander. Do you have any idea how late you are?!"

Yes, I do. But she probably doesn't want me to answer seriously.

"Sorry, Ms. Raw. I'll try not to let it happen again."

As if.

"Oh, I bet you do. Isn't this like the 100th time you've said that, but here we are, still waiting for you every monday. And I don't even want to know how you disrespect the other teachers."

I bet you don't. Also, you don't exactly wait for me, and it's not like I missed much either.

"Can I sit down now?"
Let me just get this over with, quickly.

"You can sit down after you solve this question on the board, young man!"

Just what I needed. Although, it probably wouldn't be too bad to get my brain to wake up. I said some embarrassing things to her a couple minutes ago.
That's right, I blame it all on my tiredness.

Hmm, quadratic formula. Not that hard, not in the slighest actually.
I grab the chalk and start writing.
I'm actually much more nervous about my writing than about the answer. Well, nothing much I can do about it. Except practicing and stuff, but I'd rather not.

As I put the chalk down I look into Mrs. Raw's face.

"Can I sit down now?"

She looks so surprised everytime she wants me to solve something they just learned when I wasn't there.
Shouldn't she know by know that she wouldn't catch me that easily? Not that it matters too much, but it's still annoying to go through all of it everytime. Maybe I should just arrive in time. Then again, I wouldn't have met her, if I wasn't late. So I guess it's 1-1 on my pro-/con- list.

"Dude, you're the best!
"I want your kids!"
"Damn dude, just look at her face bwaahahaha"
"He just don' miss"

As head to the back row, to my seat, some dudes always cheer for me, it's much more embarassing than coming late or if I couldn't have solved the equation.

A sudden slight bump to my shoulder pad surprised me as I sat down.

"Nice one, dude, did it again, yo."

Dustin Ray Adams - one of my closest friends and the one I called when I missed the bus.

"Thanks, dude"

Our loud fist bump was heard across the whole classroom. A sign of our friendship...or so I guess.

"'Four Boys' is on me for that. Her face was priceless.
Though I would totally pay a lot of money for it!"

Nice. He probably knows I don't have any money on me today anyway.

"You're still poor, so that's the only way I could bring you to come anyways, besides begging on my knees, maybe."

Just like I thought, although he could have phrased it a little friendlier.

Huff...I am still dozing off a little, maybe I should sleep longer, then again, it would hurt my student record for sure.

Hmm, just who is she...and how come I never noticed her until now?
With that shining, beautiful appearance nonetheless.
Will I really get to see and talk to her again?
There's just so much going on in my head right now.

"Hey..."
What am I saying?

"Can I talk to you about someone later?"
Seriously what am I saying

"She caught my interest, I guess..."
Oh no, I didn't just-

"WHOA!", Ray shouted as if he wanted the whole class to hear.

Where did that come from?

"MR. ADAMS, WOULD YOU PLEASE KEEP IT DOWN?!"

"Sorry Mrs. Raw, but it's about to get hot in here and I bet'cha, you don't want to become Mrs. 'Medium Rare' after having "the talk", right?"

Did he-
he just stole my joke.
On top of that, the whole class laughs

"NGHH! MR. ADAMS, OUT! AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL CLASS IS OVER. I'LL HAVE A SERIOUS TALK WITH YOU AFTER THAT!"

"Heh..."
I force a smile at Mrs. Raw, so I wouldn't get the same treatment.
She looks away, so I guess it worked, somehow.

"psst, pack your things, 'mr. adams'."

"Not funny, man. Anyways, see ya at 'Four Boys'. I'll have to 'Smackdown' Mrs.'Raw' 'till then"

We really do think similarly sometimes, huh.

Chapter 3: End