𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧

vii. practice

c h a p t e r s e v e n
___________________

"Ronnie honey, you really need to work on your anger management issues when you're driving," I told my best friend once we were inside the pizza parlor. Instead of spacing out in the car, Ronnie was having a road rage while we were heading to the pizza place. He drives at a minimal speed but damn, he honks at everyone. And he runs on red lights. That bitch really ought to get his driver's license suspended.

He batted his eyelashes, "Girl, I'm the best driver in town."

After ordering, our food came in shortly. We had the mozzarella and chili pepper pizza. I almost drooled at the sight. It had eight big slices, enough to quench our hunger. As I chomped on my slice, I spoke to Ronnie, "Hey Ron, you're good at Math, right?"

"No?" He answered, more like in a question form.

I glared at him, "I saw your score on that Calculus quiz the other day. An 18 over 20?"

"Ugh, I said I'm not good at it! I got two wrongs!"

"And you think getting a zero is not worse? I'm totally gonna slap you with this pizza, you multi-brain celled bitch."

"Okay, fine," he admitted.

"So, you'll help me with the lesson."

"I thought Asians were super smart in Math."

I deadpanned, "Ronnie, that's an awful stereotype. Just because I'm half Korean, doesn't mean I was instantly born with good mathematical brain genes."

I emphasized the word 'half,' because like I said, my dad's American. Even though I'm only half, I knew where to stand. There are many stereotypes about Asians that are flat out lies. Not all Asians are good at math. The more accurate statement is: many Asians are good at math. "Oh, sorry bestie," He smiled at me apologetically which made me shrug in return.

"Chace hun-ney, why can't you ask for Ms. Huntington's help? She's the teacher."

I didn't answer him. The thing is, I think I can't trust myself when I'm around Ava these days. Especially when she and I were alone.

"Tell her to drop by your apartment so you can have a one-on-one with her," he grinned evilly and wiggled his pizza at my face.

I rolled my eyes although I could already feel the heat creeping up from my neck to my cheeks.

Then Ronnie tucked an invisible long hair and said out loud in a high-pitched voice, acting as if it was me, "Hey, Ms. Huntington, want to squeeze my theorem while I poly your nomial?"

I choked on my pizza and stared wide-eyed at my perverted best friend while he broke into a fit of laughter. "God, you're so annoying."

"Oh? And you haven't laughed at your own jokes?" He kept laughing and I wished he'd choke on his pizza.

Finishing my last bite of pizza, I rubbed my palms together and groused at him, "Ronnie, do I have to fucking beg? I really need your help on this or else she'll fail me."

"Then let her fail you. Tell her to punish you," he winked.

"You're never gonna let this go, are you?" As much as I enjoyed his jokes and sexual innuendos, I badly needed to ace the tests and quizzes. I didn't want to look stupid and brainless in front of Ava.

Ronnie's fits died down sometime later. He finished his pizza and spoke, "Okey dokey. But you better pay for the pizza."

"Deal."

-x-

I noticed that Ava was certainly fitting in and adapting well to our school's environment. She practically seemed like it's not her first time teaching in the school. Apart from that, I couldn't believe it was already the third week of September. Even I was surprised how September went by so fast that it was almost October. Some months felt like seconds, other months felt like years.