Superhero

Chapter 21

"Since almost half of our time was wasted for my introduction in the hall, let's just spend today's class with an ice-breaking session," Mr. Galante said, his beady blue eyes sweeping across the hall. "Let's start from the back now, shall we?"
Addison and Jordan both groaned. They were sat three rows from the back.
"Great..." Jordan scowled. "I thought we wouldn't have enough time to introduce ourselves if he started from the front. But now..."
"No, no, wait," Galante suddenly said. "I'll start first. My name is Giuseppe Galante, I'm from Sicily, Italy. Okay, now you guys can start."
The students started looking at the boy sitting at the far corner. The guy next to to him decided to nudge him.
"Oi, you're first," he said with a smirk.
It was a little strange that he was having an ice-breaking session, considering that none of the lecturers in Alford did that. Except Mr. Giuseppe Galante.
"Uhh... my name's Aaron?" The boy said, standing up. "Aaron Carson. And I'm from... here."
"Here, where?" Giuseppe asked, a slight smirk on his face.
"Spring Valley," Aaron said. "My home isn't far off."
"I see..." Giuseppe nodded. "Next?"
"I'm Cody Cross, and I'm actually Aaron's neighbour," Cody smirked.
One by one, the students introduced themselves. Soon, it was Addison's turn.
"My name is Addison Parker," Addison began after a gulped. "And I'm from Petal Valley."
"Petal Valley?" Giuseppe repeated thoughtfully.
"Uh... yes?" Addison said, not sure what else to do.
"I used to live there before moving here," Giuseppe said, much to her surprise. "Hey, which part of Petal Valley are you from?"
"Maple Street?" Addison said with a gulp.
"Oh, I used to live in Riverside Road," Addison sighed in relief. Maple Street and Riverside Road were far from each other. "It's not near, right?"
"No, sir," Addison hid a smirk.
"Okay, next is you, Ginger," Giuseppe said, referring to Jordan. "Introduce yourself, Capelli Rossi."
"The name's Jordan," Jordan deadpanned. "Jordan Anderson."
"And where are you from?"
"Green Valley," Jordan said sulkily.
"Thank you, George," Giuseppe nodded curtly. "Next?"
"The name's Jordan, you dork," Jordan scowled as he sat down. "And I said it twice so that your fathead wouldn't call me Ginger."
Addison snorted. "Hi, Ginger! Or should I call you Capelli Rossi?"
Jordan glared at her.

Addison went to work and to her surprise Jeff was typing something on his laptop, a serious look on his face. He looked up when she came in and sighed in relief when he saw that it was only her.
"Hey, Addie," Jeff greeted. "Luckily it's only you. I thought you were a customer!"
"What are you doing?" Addison asked, going closer to see what he was doing. To her surprise, he was typing something that looked a lot like a scientific report. "Is that your assignment?"
"Yes," Jeff sighed. "It's the one that has been killing me."
"Poor you," Addison snorted, going towards the snack section to grab something. "Meanwhile my classmate, Jordan, is suffering because of Academic Writing. The new lecturer is Italian."
"Italian?" Jeff repeated in surprise. "That sounds fun."
"Yeah, and he keeps calling poor Jordan 'Capelli Rossi' because of his hair," Addison chuckled.
"What's that mean?" Jeff asked without looking up from his laptop.
"Red hair," Addison smirked. "He's a ginger."
Jeff snorted. "No wonder."
"Are you too busy to scan my stuff, or are you good?" Addison said, returning to the counter with a pizza bun and yoghurt. "Because... never mind, I'll just scan it myself."
Jeff pushed his laptop aside a little and let her scan her things. Addison paid and Jeff helped put it in the cash register.
"Hey, my change!" Addison said when Jeff proceeded to just lock the register and go back to his laptop. "Oi! It's like forty bucks!"
"Who asked you to give such big money?" Jeff asked, opening the cash register again with a groan. He handed it to her and went back to his laptop. "Here. Happy now?"
Addison noticed that he gave her a dollar note extra and just kept her mouth shut about it, going to the table by the window to spend the next twenty minutes before her shift started.
"Are you sure the due date is next month?" Addison asked, ripping open her pizza-flavoured Itchy-Bun. "Because you're acting like it's tomorrow."
"It's course work," Jeff explained. "If I finish it now, I'll have plenty of time to edit."
"Oh wow," Addison chuckled. "Well, good luck for that."
"Yeah, well, you take Writing or something, right?" Jeff asked, looking past his laptop screen to see her. "Can you help me edit this?"
"Am I really that good in writing?" Addison frowned. "I mean, even Jordan is requesting extra classes from me."
Jeff shrugged, going back to typing on his laptop. "I don't know, you're always writing something whenever you're free. Even last week. When you came too early for your shift, you actually sat here, writing."
"Oh..." Addison said sheepishly. "That was a due assignment..."
"When was it due?" Jeff asked with a smirk.
"Today," Addison answered.
"When was it given to you?"
"Last Monday?" Addison sighed. "Fine, you win. Is it that obvious?"
"Yes," Jeff nodded. Then he furiously hit the backspace button. "Darn..."
"What happened?"
"I accidentally typed yes instead of yeast," Jeff grimaced, retyping the word. "That's what happens if you do work while talking."
Addison took a bite from her bun. "What's your assignment even about?"
"I'm writing about the fermentation of yeast to make beer and wine," Jeff explained, briefly glancing at her before going back to his assignment. "You do know that beer's main ingredient is yeast, right?"
"I do," Addison nodded. "And wheat, right?"
"Yeah," Jeff said, typing away. "Vegemite is made of yeast too."
Addison took a sip of her yoghurt. "Your assignment actually sounds really interesting."
"It is, actually," Jeff agreed. "I'd be enjoying it if wasn't so hard!"
"Well, you seem to know what you're doing," Addison shrugged, seeing how he didn't even pause much.
"That's because I read up a lot about this," Jeff smirked. "I guess that's what comes from studying during your free time."
"Yeah," Addison said. She suddenly thought about her new lecturer. "Hey, Jeff? Did your lecturers have an ice-breaking session at the beginning of this semester?"
"Nope," Jeff shook his head. "I don't even know who my classmates are. Too many."
"Exactly!" Addison laughed. "This Galante guy actually had one when he came in! Isn't that strange?"
"It is..." Jeff said, seemingly thoughtful. "But hey, at least the guy seems fun."
"Yeah, I guess he is," Addison shrugged. "But boy, is Jordan worried about his funny accent teaching Academic Writing. He thinks that he'll never concentrate now that our lecturer has a funny accent. He wasn't even so good at it before, and now he's asking me for extra classes at home. Just because we live in the same house."
"Then why don't you move out?" Jeff smirked. "I mean... your place is quite far from Alford, right?"
"Not really," Addison said. "Two-minute drive, ten-minute walk. Besides, Mrs. Kennedy is a really nice landlady."
"That's nice, I guess," Jeff shrugged. "She must be awesome if you're getting free food."
"Yeah, and the room comes with a tv," Addison smirked. "Just a plasma, quite old."
"Wow," Jeff said, not in the least sounding awed. "I got one too. It's plasma too, but quite new."
He definitely saw through her bragging.
"Sweet!" Addison said, quickly finishing her bun and yoghurt. She got up and straightened her shirt. "You know what? I think it's almost time for my shift. I need to get changed. See ya."
Jeff shook his head and continued typing away on his laptop.