Unusual

Chapter 5

We had Mathematics and then History and lastly Sport. Mathematics was boring and I just sat there, half listening, half sleeping. As usual.

But History was a bit different that day. Our class shifted to the Homegroup class, and Kevin and I sat together.

As the teacher was writing stuff on the board, something hard hit me on the back of my neck. I turned around. A couple of my classmates were snickering behind us. I turned back around and opened my exercise book.

"You good?" Kevin asked, whispering. I nodded and started copying from the board. There was just the quiet sound of pens on paper for a whole ten minutes, which was somewhat relaxing.

"Mr Gelber, would you like to explain to us the cause of the American Civil War?" Mr Lawson, the History teacher said after most of the class finished copying the board.

I watched Kevin from the corner of my eye. He glanced at his notes and started explaining to the class, loudly and clearly, "The main cause of the Civil War was sectionalism. This was when the Southern states and Northern states were very separate. The states disputed over the issue of slavery. The Southern states wanted it to continue, while the Northern states wanted it to end. The main trigger though was the election of Abraham Lincoln, who led the war and won it in the end."

"That was very brief and clear, Mr Gelber, well done and thank you,"Mr Lawson said and nodded at Kevin. "Now, Mr Gelber mentioned a key figure in his explanation. This key figure was Abraham Lincoln, whom you all know about. Miss Peterson, would you like to tell us some important information about Mr Lincoln?"

"Lincoln was one of the greatest figures in American history and he was the 16th president of our country. As Kevin mentioned before, he won the Civil War. Lincoln was also very kind and was very influential on Americans of that time." Georgia Robertson smiled and twirled her long, blonde hair with her elegant fingers, as she gave Kevin and me her evil eye.

"Thank you, Miss Robertson. All right class, hopefully, you've been listening well because that was a short recap before your quiz on the American Civil War. Please put away your books and workbooks and only leave your pencil case on your desk. I will pass out your quizzes and you may begin."

Shit. I totally forgot today was the quiz and I obviously did not revise. I wrote my name on the paper and read the questions. As I wrote the answers I knew, I thought of how confident Kevin sounded when he spoke. His voice was loud and clear, and there was no uncertainty in it.

I wished that Kevin was not my friend. Not because I'm jealous or anything, just because he is too good for me. He deserves more than hanging out with an introvert (a.k.a. me).

Or maybe I am a little jealous.

No.

Perhaps.

Okay, I am jealous.

I wish I was like Kevin sometimes.