Converting the Bad Boy ✔

Chapter 2

^^ Picture of Damian (Tim Borrmann)

I reread this chapter as well, and I liked it the way it was xD also cause I'm too lazy to edit, imma leave it like this. Enjoy ;)

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"In the beginning, there was nothing. And then BOOM! Universe," Mr Newton's sudden burst woke up the majority of sleeping students, which was pathetic really since the lesson had barely begun, and people were already dozing off.

"Didn't we learn all that last year?" Denise questioned, not even bothering to put her hand up. She was the type to just speak what was on her mind directly to the teacher. Only she could pull it off, though. If I did that, I'd just be drawing unwanted attention to myself. And I already had enough of that with my hijab and all.

"Yes, but I just wanted to start this year off with a bang," Mr Newton grinned, and those of us who weren't asleep groaned at his pun. "And since the majority of you are already dozing off, perhaps this image will wake you up." He clicked to the next slide, which displayed a gif of how the "big bang" had supposedly looked like. Yes, Mr Newton used gifs in his PowerPoint presentations. And yes, it might be one of the reasons why he was my favourite teacher.

"So, to further elaborate, about 14 billion years ago, this universe as we know it came to exist. How, you may ask, can something just begin from nothing? Well, that's what we're going to investigate, guys. Our first topic for this year will be solely based around our universe – the origins, the planets, the stars and - and this is my favourite part – the possibility of life on other planets. Who's excited?" Mr Newton held out his hands, one foot out and eyes twinkling as if he had just performed a show and was waiting for the applause. There was no applause.

"Are we going to learn about aliens, Mr Newton?" Damian asked, his deep husky voice almost startling me. I had almost forgotten he was sitting on my left. I was doing a good job of almost forgetting his existence when he decided to do the one thing he was good at doing for the past five years of high school – annoying the teacher.

"I prefer to call them extra-terrestrial beings, but no, we won't be covering that this unit," Mr Newton said dismissively. "Instead, we are going to focus more on the cosmological aspects of the universe, but I just threw that in there as a teaser." To our absolute horror, he winked. Even though he was my favourite teacher, he really did not have to traumatize us all with that petty attempt at a wink.

"Do you believe in aliens, Mr Newton?" Damian pressed, taking the opportunity to steer the class away from the actual point of the lesson. I didn't even know why Damian was doing physics – he barely passed last year. And every year before that. It was people like me who worked hard and deserved to be in this class, not slackers like him.

"Well, I'd hardly say I believe in them, but there are theories of possible life forms on other –"

"I believe in aliens," Damian interrupted. Everyone now had their attention on him, and not just because he was speaking. Seriously, I thought girls doing physics would have higher standards than this egotistical jerk.

"Damian, I really must move on with the rest of the introductory slide," Mr Newton was slowly losing his patience with this boy. In fact, he had probably lost his patience years ago, but for some reason, was still intent on listening to what he had to say.

I felt Damian's eyes on me, and from my peripheral vision I sent him a glare. He had that look in his eyes like he was about to do something bad. Not bad as in something he'd regret, because a guy like him had no regrets. But bad as in mischievous, humiliating and detention worthy.

"You know why I believe in aliens, Mr Newton?" Yes, Damian was one of those guys who said the teacher's entire name. There was no 'sir' or 'miss' or nicknames. He did the opposite of what would be expected from guys like him, and I had to applaud him for his irony.