Edison

Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Geekfest (September)- Christina

When I was a freshman, being a senior seemed like the coolest thing ever. My brothers, Jake and John, walked around as if they owned Southton High, their varsity letters covered with shiny pins. No one ever bothered them about homework, or gave them detention for being late to class. The crowded noisy hallways transformed into neat orderly rows as teammates and fans greeted my brothers and stepped aside to let them pass. They're identical twins and incredible soccer players, so they got attention no matter where they went. I thought it would be cool to go to school with my brothers, but after a month, I was sick to death of girls asking me to introduce them to Jake and John. By the end of the school year, I was relieved when they graduated. I actually thought about changing my name so people would stop asking me about them. I love my brothers- they're the best- but a girl can only take so much.

My first day as a senior was nothing like that. No ticker tape parade greeted me in the hallways. No adoring fans followed me or offered to do my homework. Some kid's backpack threw up all over the eagle mascot painted on the floor of the foyer. I slipped on a notebook or something and felt a pen crack under my shoe. A few teammates shouted out greetings as we passed each other in the hall on the way to class. It was way too hot to wear anything other than denim shorts and a t-shirt that read "Soccer is life." I wanted to cut my hair off and save myself the trouble of combing it, but the last time I did that I made my mom cry.

"Your beautiful hair! Oh, Christina, what have you done?"

"Mom, Jake dared me! And my hair was making me crazy!"

"But with your father's electric razor? What were you thinking?"

I was thinking I could be like my big brothers, who got buzz cuts every six weeks with Dad like clockwork. I was only ten. The guilt ate away at me until I promised not to do it again.

Instead of a buzz cut I settled for a messy bun.

My day was pretty uneventful, until I went to physics. I had a monster schedule, including English literature, physics, American history and trig. I had to pass all three with a 3.0 to bring up my GPA and earn the scholarship. Getting a 3.0 was going to be like climbing Mount Rushmore in my flip flops on a pogo stick. With my eyes closed.

I'm not stupid. It just takes me longer to read things, and everything in school involves reading. I don't have the patience for that, so I don't understand most of what's going on in my classes. All the words start running together and looking like alphabet soup after a few lines. Who wants to read The Grapes of Wrath when you can play soccer instead?

I only made it this far with help from my mom and bribes from my dad and a few nice teachers who didn't want me to get kicked off the soccer team. But now I was a senior, and I couldn't avoid the hardest classes any more. Not only did I need them to earn that scholarship; I also needed them to graduate.

Still brooding about how much school sucked, I sat down at a lab table in physics. Out of all my classes, physics was going to be the biggest challenge. None of my friends were in the class with me, which was the first thing I noticed as I glanced around. If I had to rank my classes by levels of difficulty, physics would be the worst. It combined my two least favorite things, reading and math. Across from me at the table was a kid I hadn't seen before, wearing a green checkered shirt. He had a head of curly brown hair, and he was reading from a textbook.

"Hey!" He looked up at the sound of my voice. He was even younger than I first thought, with big brown eyes and pink cheeks. He had to be a freshman. What was he doing in a room full of juniors and seniors?