Coding And Corruption

Chapter 1 An Initial Lesson

The time was 2:45 PM. I sat hunched in my seat at my desk towards the back of the classroom.  I cringed, professor Baldimore, my math teacher, was in the middle of a full blown trigonometry lecture.  Math was never my strongest subject, in fact, I hated it. I always got so confused. There were so many numbers, and I never knew what to do with them all.  I rubbed the back of my neck where the Collar  of my school uniform was itching up against it, and irritating me.

  It was a rather hot day. Cresting over 80°, which was unusual for mid September. When everything started to cool down, and the temperatures only got up to about the early 70s.   luckily, this was my last class of the day. Unfortunately, it was only Tuesday, which meant that I had three more days of this hell hole known as high school, before the weekend.   as far as high schools went, here academy wasn't that bad. In fact, it was one of the most prestigious schools in the entire county. It was a wonder I even managed to get accepted in the first place. 

  It's not like I had exceptional grades in middle school, or anything. In fact, quite the opposite. I was sort of known for being A procrastinator. All through middle school, and all through my freshman and sophomore years, my grades were never the best. This year was my junior year, and I knew, that if I didn't buckle down, and start taking my schoolwork seriously now. I wouldn't be able to get into the college I wanted to get into, greatly upsetting my parents. I would then, go down in history as the family Black Sheep, the disappointment.

  I didn't want that, so I started trying, really really trying. My efforts were not fruitless, either.  All the assignments I handed into my teachers this year, would come back with hi results. I seemed to be making them proud. I had all my teachers impressed so far, and I was doing great in every subject. Every subject, except for math. Like I said, math was never my strongest subject. It appeared even though I broke my procrastinating habits with every other subject.. Math was the one subject I still couldn't help putting off till the last minute. I knew I was doing poorly in this class. I knew my teacher was on to me, too. I was certain, that it would only be a matter of time before I was called over to his desk for a talking to..  apparently, that day, would be today.
 
The final school bell for the day had rung. We all began stringing together our belongings. I picked up my gray leather satchel bag from the floor at my feet, and began unceremoniously shoving my school supplies back into it. I forgot to mention, that up until this point, I was also not the most organized of a person. I had finally gotten my bag together, and  was just about to make a hasty retreat for the door, when all of a sudden, I was unexpectedly called out to buy my math professor. " Sakura, May I speak to you in private right now?"  I knew I had this coming. After all, I was pretty sure I was failing his class. I stood by his desk, waiting for the remainder of the other students to exit the room. A few of my friends, who were also in this class, looked back over their shoulders at me with concern.  Amai, One of my best friends, even went so far as to mouth the words. " do you want me to wait for you?"," no", i mouthed back. " there's no telling how long this could take. Besides, you've got a club to attend to." 

  She simply nodded, and exited the room with the others. Leaving me alone with Professor Baldi . " Sakura", he began when the last student had left the classroom, closing the door behind them. "We need to have a chat about your performance in my classroom. As you know, your performance in my class last year wasn't the best. It seems as though this year, you're going down the same road.  I'd just like to ask you, what is it about my class that makes you want to slack off? I've seen your grades in all your other classes for this semester thus far, and you are doing superb, much better than last year. However, when it comes to my class, and your performance. You're simply not up to par." He then picked up a thick stack of papers. I immediately recognized them as all the assignments I had ever turned into him for this year.