The Loner Girl

Part 18

It was Monday, and I got my math test back from a student aide. 

57

What the heck?! I studied for this! My mind shouted in frustration, as I look over my paper that had over half of the wrong answers, written and checked in red ink. Only one of those I had the answer right, but somewhere I had written out the steps wrong, and they were correctly written in red ink.

"There are only four students who passed this test. The rest of you, keep up with your studying, and let's see if we can make some improvements. For now, we are going to dig into The Chain Rule. The Chain Rule explains that...." I tried to concentrate on what was going on in the classroom, but my mind was beginning to go somewhere again. I watched as the kid with the hair was looking at me, then turned his attention back to the front of the board, as the young and hot Mr. Omega was explaining The Chain Rule using his iPad that was projecting to the front. I tried to copy to the best of my abilities as the teacher kept swiping his notes, and at the same time, rapid talking. 

Like he was some kind of a shady used car dealer that was fast talking, just to make a cheap sale to an unsuspecting buyer.

The lights kicked back on again, and some students groaned as they rubbed their eyes to the sudden brightness. I also did the same, and blinked as well, trying to adjust my eyes to the sudden light.

"Remember, the midterms are in 2 weeks. And what we just discussed today will also be in that test. Also, there will be a two-question test coming next week, so I want this done and turned in by Thursday, if possible." Soon, the bell rang. "Alright. Class dismissed."

I watched as the kid filed past the other kids as they made their way to the door, his bag strap hung on his right shoulder, and had his head held high, like he owned the place. I remembered Tristan talking about Jesse, and I tried to remember who he was, then it hit me. He's this kid who constantly picked on Tristan back in middle school, and our freshman and sophomore year. I was surprised Jesse actually talked to Tristan, but I knew he's using Tristan to set me up with him.

"Now what lunch was he in? Come to think of it, I hadn't seen him this school year, so far. But Tristan has him in Algebra, and this kid doesn't look anywhere near like Jesse. 

Now that I think of it, who are my "admirers", besides Jesse, Rae, and this kid here?

I decided to buckle down on my homework once more, especially my math.

***********************

Sequoia sat at her usual table, playing her card game by herself, and as always, she had nothing next to her. Not even her bag, or her large binder. I carefully make my way to her table.

"What's up?" she asked, looking up from her card game, as she was ready to flip over another card.

"I got a low score."

"Let me see." I hand over my paper, and she looked it over.

"I see what you did here. All your answers are correct, for some reason, but your steps are, how shall I say, all messed up." She looked at my paper, all the while not looking at me.

"Since this has already been worked on, here's the solution." Sequoia wrote the correct answers on my paper, in blue ink. Soon, she handed me my paper back, and smiled.

"Here you go." She moved her shoulders in a playful manner, while still smiling, until a strap slid down her shoulder, but she made no note of fixing it either. She moved her shoulder, making the strap slide up and down her slender bicep, as if she knew what she was doing with her shirt, while looking at me.