Slow and Speedy Win the Fight

17. Question

Haresa

The week was almost over but I knew I wasn't going to relax on the weekend any time soon.

My eyelids felt heavy as I attempted to pay attention in class. Ms. Lemming's words slid out of my mind the moment I heard them. I couldn't even focus on my work properly since I forgot my contacts.

I blinked a few times and squinted at the board.

"Psst, Haresa."

Rudra waved a hand in front of my face. I rubbed my eye and stifled a yawn.

"Mm?"

Rudra handed me a stack of papers. "Handouts."

"Ah, right. Thank you." I took a sheet before passing it to the person behind me.

"You've been off since Monday. Something happened?" He folded his sheet in half before putting it into his folder.

"No... I'm doing alright." I flipped the sheet in my hand to see if it was double-sided.

"Is it about Mia?"

The sheet fell to the ground. I hastily picked it up and shook my head.

"No, no. I haven't really talked to her outside of GSA..." I smoothed out the handout on my desk.

He frowned. "I thought you guys were a good team. You haven't been able to talk lately?"

"You could say that. It's just... complicated now."

"Everything alright here?" Ms. Lemming stood over us. I didn't even realize she was walking around.

"Yes, miss." Rudra gave me a side-eye.

I mumbled what Rudra said and Ms. Lemming nodded her head.

Her eyes caught sight of another student's hand and she looked back to us. "Alright, if you need any help just let me know."

He formed the okay sign with his hand. "Will do."

Rudra turned his head to me the moment that Ms. Lemming walked away to talk to the other students.

"Is it more hero stuff?"

I stayed silent.

"It is. Isn't it?"

I wiggled my nose in annoyance. "Yeah, just another hard case this week. It's driving me nuts."

"You really should take a break. Heroing sounds hard and you don't even get to enjoy the fun parts."

The corners of my mouth attempted to form a weak smile. "Well... I guess it's on me that I don't like the fun stuff."

"How about we meet up this weekend?"

"Ah, well..." My voice trailed off.

"Don't tell me you're busy."

His dark eyes bore into me and I lifted my hands to form finger guns. "Yeahhh."

His mouth formed into a thin line. "The case isn't done yet?"

"Nooope. Still got lots to do."

"We'll let me know when you're not busy because I really want to–"

"Haresa? Can I have a word with you for a moment?" Ms. Lemming called out.

Ms. Lemming was now at her desk with a pen in hand. She probably was done with her rounds and was doing other teacher things.

I wordlessly nodded my head and stood from my desk. The handout fell from my desk and I let out an exasperated sigh. The class continued to chat amongst themselves with fits of laughter exploding

"Don't worry I got it." Rudra leaned down and grabbed the paper. "Go talk to her."

"Thanks."

I made my way to the front of the classroom. Not too long after, I found myself standing next to Ms. Lemmings' desk with my hands folded behind my back.

"Yes, miss?"

"I wanted to ask over a class assignment I had planned. I tried to talk to Sheldon as well but he's been refusing to talk to me."

"Ah... he's probably not very familiar with authority. He's starting to warm up to Mr. Dunson, I think?" Granted he only attended one club meeting so far. It was something nonetheless.

She lowered her voice. "Well, I'm going to be asking the class to do a presentation about everyone's ethnic background and I wanted to verify that you two are... Have any strong ties to your heritage."

If we were human. She wanted to verify that we were human. Even if I looked Asian, there are people that still questioned if I was just a realistic robot or some kind of alien.

"Yeah, of course. We were both made in labs but you can't make babies out of just anything. Pretty sure it's the same case with Sheldon too."

"Great, okay. Thank you for verifying. I wasn't sure."

I shifted from foot to foot and tried to keep a smile on my face. "Yeah, I get it a lot."

Ms. Lemming frowned. "Is something wrong?"

I waved my hands. "No, no. Just tired. Didn't get enough sleep."

"Well, make sure to do that. Thank you again, Haresa."

"No problem, miss."

I walked away with my shoulders hunched up. My eyes briefly fell onto Sheldon. He seemed zoned out as he stared at his empty desk.

My hand wiped my seat off any eraser shavings before I sat down.

Now that I thought of it, I haven't seen Sheldon's dad lately. I should've by now. I wonder what happened to him.