Tracy, Charlotte, and Gerard, by some twist of fate, had been placed one in front of the other in the third row. Ms. Provence was about to pass out the tests when the door to her class opened and Mr. Marcus was standing there. "Can I see you for a moment Julia?"
She walked out of the room and as soon as the door closed they went into a chatting frenzy.
"I hate math," Charlotte said.
"Me too, too bad it's necessary..." Tracy sighed.
"Why would Mr. Marcus have to talk to her?" Gerard wondered out loud.
"I don't think he wants to talk," Tracy said.
"We have a theory," Charlotte said,"That he and Ms. Provence have something going on."
"Alright, disturbing images," Gerard said.
"She can't be getting anything," Charlotte said.
"Yeah, I mean, come on, she's a bitch. And Mr. Marcus is old and can be ditzy half the time, he'd be easy to over-power."
"Besides, his wife isn't too much of a looker."
Gerard just stared at the two of them for a few seconds with an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, we notice things," Tracy said.
"But why them?"
"Because, once, we didn't see them for about half of a period, and then, we saw them walking down the hall, and she was fixing her hair and make-up and his shirt was half-way untucked."
"More disturbing images," Gerard said, flinching slightly.
"You asked."
The doorknob began to turn and everyone turned in their seat and faced the front. Ms. Provence started passing out the quizzes.
"You have fifteen minutes, begin."
"Not nearly as bad as I usually do," Tracy replied,"You?"
"Meh, just about as bad as I usually do. What about you Gerard?"
"I think I did okay."
"Lucky you."
"I'm so getting a C in math," Charlotte complained,"My dad shall murder me."
"But a C is still passing," Gerard said.
"Yeah, but he gets disappointed in a B and I'm cursed with being a perfectionist too. He doesn't talk too much but the disappointment in his face and him saying,'You could do better then a B, but it's still a good report card Hon,' is enough."
"Didn't he get mad at you for getting a C on a math test in Fourth Grade?"
"Yeah, I said it was still average and that I'd still pass, but he's all,'You're not average, you're above-average! You can do better then this.'"
"Social Studies, bye," Tracy said, walking into her class.
"English," Charlotte said,"See you next period."
"'K, see you," Gerard said, walking down the hall towards his English class.
Gerard sat down next to Bob and said,"There wasn't homework last night was there?"
"No."
"Good."
Mindy was sitting at her desk a few rows ahead of them, chewing bright blue gum. The teacher did nothing about it, for some unknown reason Mindy and all her friends seemed to get away with things like that that no one else ever got away with. She smiled as the head of the football team stood in front of her and started talking to her. "Oh, no I can't I have to practice my cheers for the lacrosse game," She said.
"K, well, I'll be in the crowd watching you cheer."
"You've got to cheer with me that's the point."
"Alright."
"Jocks make me sick," Gerard said. It wasn't just because Mindy talked to them too often.
"Me too," Bob agreed,"Croquet for me."
"Yep."
"MINDY! Can I copy your Chemistry homework?" Lila, a cheerleader that was friends with Mindy said, taking the seat behind her and fixing her short blonde pigtails.
"We don't have the same teacher."
"But I have to turn in something."
"Lila-Godzilla, the head of all dumb-blondes," Bob said.
"Don't say that about Frank's true love," Gerard said smiling. Lila had a crush on Frank and no one seemed to be able to guess why. The most bazaar theory yet was that her mind had been probed by aliens that had been looking for a cow. And they found one.
Once that period was over Gerard walked down to the Chemistry Lab and took his seat. He'd honestly tried the homework, but was confident that he'd gotten every answer wrong.
He glanced at Frank who gave his assignment to Mr. Marcus non-chalantly as he walked by. Charlotte yawned and gave him her homework as well.
"I'm certainly looking forward to this," Mr. Marcus said sarcastically, collecting Gerard's homework from him. "Oh, this too," He said, collecting Lila's homework. He glanced at it and said,"This looks strangely like what Mrs. Parkson gave to her class for homework last night."
"Isn't that strange?" Lila said.
"Spit out your gum Lila."
She went to the trash can and pulled half of her gum out of her mouth and threw it away, still keeping the other half in her mouth.
Another mystery about Lila that they couldn't solve. How the Hell was she passing her classes? She had to be in order to cheer.
"Today we will be watching a film, I expect you all to take notes."
When the video was playing Gerard didn't pay too much attention. He mostly doodled in his notebook. When class was over he put the notebook away and left the classroom.
When they were outside they sat on the steps like they always did. It was March and there was no more signs of frost anywhere from winter that had just ended. That's why students could now sit out on the grass and in the courtyard. Before, everyone was packed into the cafeteria, especially the girls with their skirts they had to wear.
Tracy and Charlotte walked past them like they always did and sat in the grass on their knees.
"You ever notice that they never eat anything?" Bob said, glancing towards Tracy and Charlotte.
"Maybe they think they're fat, girls do that."
"But neither of them are fat."
"Girls don't have to be fat to think they're fat."
"Girls are confusing."
Mindy walked by and stopped in front of Charlotte and Tracy.
"I like the way you did your eyeliner today, what, are raccoon eyes the new Goth fashion statement?"
"No, sluts are, can I tie you to my wrist?" Tracy said.
"I don't have the time and you don't have the money."
"Yeah, I suppose some people would think I'm over doing it, bitchy sluts aren't the statement after all."
"The only statement you're making is,'I'm depressed, feel bad for me, some day I'm going to slit my wrists.'"
"No," Charlotte said,"Veins creep me out, and your veins are right there in your wrists. Just the thought of slitting them freaks me out. Besides, the statement you're making is:'I'm a slut who spent $500 on a purse and some day I'm going to get raped, but why should I care as long as people think I'm hot?'"
"You're just jealous."
"In the sixteen long horrible years I've lived next-door to you, I have never even considered being jealous of you."
"Cat fights are fun to watch," Frank said as Mindy turned her heel and walked away.
Tracy and Charlotte stood up and walked to the front of the stairs.
"Did you enjoy the show?" Charlotte asked.
"We saw you all watching."
"Um...."
"It's okay. Mile in PE today."
"Oh, boy I can't wait for that," Charlotte said sarcastically.
"Gosh, I know, what could be more fun?" Tracy said.
"Maybe afterwards we can go get a root canal," Charlotte said.
"I forgot all about the mile," Gerard said,"I still haven't done my report on swimming. And Coach Travis wants me to turn it on Monday."
"That sucks for you," Charlotte said.
"We'll see you in P.E."
"Trust Me"