Chapter Text
I don’t care what any adult says, getting up before 6AM to do math will never be good for anyone. And it’s not just the math that sucks, it’s the too small desks that never have enough room, the zombie fluorescent lighting that buzzes and has dead flies inside it, the smell of kids who haven't put on deodorant, and the never-ending noises and everything else.
Mr. Gretch is up at his desk, a tall bald head with wisps of hair and a beard. He’s accompanied by a newspaper and a cactus; in about twenty seconds he’s going to take attendance. To my left is Jenna Rolan, who never shuts up.
Jenna was already talking: “- then she was like ‘My parents aren’t home you should help me study.” Jenna talks about everyone in school but never her family, or TV, or work when it's due, or the ins and outs of procuring concert tickets. Just things that will get Chloe Valentine to acknowledge her. Chloe is the Coolest girl in our grade and has ties with the seniors. She almost never looks at Jenna, who is leaning halfway out her chair trying to talk to Chloe. Jenna’s desperation just proves that Chloe is the Coolest girl, and Jenna is only worth paying attention to when she has a story that Chloe cares about.
“Ka-yur-uhhhh.” Mr. Gretch clears his throat from the front of the room. “Abbey.”
“Here.”
“Asu.”
“Here."
“Atborough.”
“Here.”
“Azu, not-Asu.” Mr. Gretch absentmindedly cups his cactus. This never seems to hurt him.
“Here.”
“Caniglia.”
Christine raises her hand. I glance at her. She’s reading a book and looks beautiful. “Here.”
“Duvoknovich.”
“Here.”
“Goranski.”
“Yo.”
“Heere.”
Oh yeah. Here comes the fun part, the part that has been stressing me out since they started taking attendance (since fifth grade). I can’t say “here” in response to my name. It confuses teachers. I raise my hand quietly and say: “Present.” Somebody snickers up by the front of the room. Are they snickering at me? Probably. I feel my whole face go red. Wonderful. I listen for more as Mr. Gretch finishes role.
Up front, he writes a k on the board - k sucks in math; once you see it you might as well ignore everything and save yourself. Mr. Gretch can't hear on account that he's, well, old, so Jenna tries to keep talking. But Chloe is still turned away from Jenna so clearly, she’s over whatever Elizabeth-Dustin drama Jenna was trying to talk about. But that won't stop Jenna.
“I heard that Madeline had sex with Jake.”
Chloe’s head turns so fast I thought she might have broken her neck. “Tell me everything.”
“Ok so Madeline told Jake she’d only have sex with him if he beat her at pool and then she lost at pool. Deliberately.”
“What does he even see in her?” Chloe is practically purple in the face.
“She’s easy and she’s French.”
“She is not French!” Chloe spits. “She only pretends to be for attention.”
“Well then Madeline was all like, ‘Where can we go? I don’t have a car like you…’ then Jake was-”
“Miss Canigula would you care to solve this problem since you clearly know enough about the material.” Mr. Gretch’s voice cuts through the room. On the rare occasion that he bothers to turn his head away from the board he’ll usually call out some poor schmuck who wasn’t paying attention and pull them up to fail in front of the class. Today Christine has fallen victim.
Christine appears to have been reading again and probably has no idea what Mr. Gretch is talking about. The whole class is sending her their sympathy. We’ll all be pulled up to the front of the class before the year's over. But you have to admire her calm demeanor as she skips up to the board and takes the marker out of Mr. Gretch’s hand.
No one would miss the opportunity of watching someone fail so every pair of eyes is on her. Christine takes a deep breath and starts writing. After a tense moment she says, “The answer’s eight.” The class is so quiet you can hear a pin drop as we all wait for Mr. Gretch’s reaction.
He waits for what seemed like forever before he says “That is correct Miss Canigula. But eyes up here and stay out of your book!”
Christine is sent back to her seat in triumph, the whole class happy that she managed to politely shove it in Mr. Gretch’s face. As she walks back, we all smile at her and try to telepathically tell her how proud of her we are.