The Problem Child

You're Late

"Damn it, Charlie. We are going to be late for class" Joshua cursed under his breath as he hurried towards room 128. He kept muttering prayer words as he dragged Charlie behind him.

"Come on Josh. Mr. Goodman is not that bad of a person. He would let us in without making a show. Also, we are not that late to start with. It's only been six minutes" Charlie said as he tried to keep up with his best friend's speed walking.

"Yeah. He wouldn't yell at you. He would never! Because you are the 'golden student'. But he is gonna sue me. Because I am just an average guy who score average grades. Now, stop talking and hurry up!I don't want this to be my last words" Joshua yelled throwing his arms up in the air, all furious and Charlie couldn't help but chuckle at how tensed up his friend seemed.

He was right. Charlie always manages to get straight As. So, none of the teachers really bothered what he did in class, or if he even attended them as long as he kept up his grades.

After another few moments of walking in a hurried pace, they reached room 128 and Joshua started taking deep breaths getting himself ready for the doom that awaited him.

"Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exh--"

Before he could finish his breathing exercise, Charlie knocked on the door.

"Hey!" Josh whisper yelled and Charlie gave him a cheeky smile.

Josh cursed under his breath as he prepared himself to face the wrath of the filthy animal who just happened to be their history teacher.

A grim "Come in" was heard from the other side of the door and Charlie opened it.

"Carlton. You are late" Mr. Goodman said with a warm expression and gestured for him to go and have a seat.

He was not at all angry. It was almost as if Charlie had come after winning a championship in a football tournament.

Josh tried to sneak in with Charlie, hiding behind his back. But it turned out Mr. Goodman spotted him.

"Carmel! You're late!" Same words. Different tone.

Joshua stopped in his tracks and bitterly turned around to face the angry teacher.

"Sorry, Sir" Josh muttered out.

"Sorry? Do you realize you are late by..." Mr. Goodman checked his watch for the time and then continued "six minutes and thirty seven seconds? Do you even have an excuse, Carmel?!" He roared. Josh looked down at the floor. He never realised the floor could be  something so interesting to look at. Not until now. He mentally cursed himself as thinking of an excuse to come up with never occured to him. It would have saved him a lots of trouble if he just had thought of a perfect excuse.

As if of cue, he heard a familiar voice speaking for him.

"Sir, it-- It was my fault, Mr Goodman. He was helping me with a little something" Charlie stepped in interfering the conversation.

He was lying. In reality, It was Josh who decided to spend a little more time hanging out in the basketball court until he realised it was too late.

Mr. Goodman's expression softened and he heaved a heavy sigh. "Please, go ahead and get seated" he said in a low and calm voice, gesturing to the rest of the class and turned to his desk. Charlie and Josh went to the only pair of empty seats in the class, which unfortunately happened to be the ones in front of their proclaimed enemies, Trevor and Conner.

Conner was glaring at the duo, threateningly stabbing his table with his pen.

Oh, how he wished it was them in the place of that wooden table...

Trevor kicked Josh's chair as soon as he sat down. Josh turned around on his seat and glared at him, hissing his hatred.

"Class! I'm distributing the papers of last month's test. Be quiet" Mr. Goodman ordered and Josh turned his back on Trevor. He noticed him stick his tongue out just before he did so.

Asshole. Josh thought as he drummed his fingers on the desk, while nervously waiting to know his scores.