Note: All characters in this series are above eighteen years of age.
I've always been a smart guy; I knew it, my parents knew it, and most of my teachers knew it. Which was basically where I screwed myself over: I know now that I should have played stupid right off from Freshman year.
But I didn't have the foresight to realize how it would have helped me, and the abnormally high scores on my placements exams and on standardized tests from pervious years had pretty much put a sign on my forehead: "I'm real smart."
So, having the mental capacity to do well in school, everyone expected a lot out of me.
They weren't going to get it. The Catch-22 is that I'm lazy. Laziest guy you will ever meet; I hate to work, I hate to do anything that isn't simply for the hell of it. Schoolwork was low on my list of priorities.
I made it through ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade with average grades and the minimum amount of work. C's and low B's were the norm for me, and I was fine with that. As long as I wasn't failing, I didn't care. I wasn't all that interested in college. As long as I got into one, it made no difference to me.
Senior year, however, was very different.
I was rolling as usual, straight C's in all of my classes, or so I was led to believe. "Senioritis," as they call it, was going around. I started skipping a lot of class time to see movies with friends, or get high in the park.
My grades dropped severely, but it didn't mean much to me, until my counselor called me to his office one afternoon.
"Trey. Trey, please have a seat." I shrugged, giving the little man a once over before sitting down. He was nothing special. Your typical 'I'm not good enough to be a teacher, so I'll get paid for pretending to listen to kids talk about their shitty ass lives instead.'
I think he may have noticed the disdain written on my face as I looked at him, because he smiled, all wicked-like. That made me nervous. He opened a sliding drawer and pulled out a file of papers (mine, I assumed.)
"Trey."
Yeah, good job fuckface. You got my name right.
"Yes."
"I understand that you have always been, in the past, a relatively decent student."
"Yeah, sure."
"Do you realize how much your grades have dropped this year?"
I obviously don't care, dumbass.
"
Uh, dono."
"Then let me tell you." He waited expectantly, as if this comment elicited a response. I didn't say anything, which made him squirm slightly. I smiled.
I cut a pretty intimidating figure, and I know it. I like it. Six feet and one or two inches of heavy muscle and lean, wiry figure. A head of dark hair, and these intense brown eyes. Yeah, I think I was making the little guy nervous. Usually I'm pretty easy-going, but in this case, I didn't mind, because he was a prick.
"Your English grade remains an A, which has always been your strong point. Do you like English, Trey?"
Just say what you have to say, and let me leave.
"Sure."
He nodded, and shuffled his papers. "Anyways. Your english, science, history, and psychology grades are passable. It's your math grade we need to talk about."
I grimaced, because I knew what was coming.
"You're failing. Missing assignments, poor test grades, if you even take the test, and what class time you put in, your teacher says you're not paying attention."
I frowned, putting a confused expression on my face.
"Who teaches that class again?"
It was all I could do to keep from falling on the floor laughing at the look on the guy's face. Shock, mixed with horror and disbelief. Classic.
I knew perfectly well who the teacher was.
"Mr. Atwater teaches your calculus course..."
"Ohh, right." I acted as if it was a revelation to me.
Mr. Atwater was not a presence to be trifled with. I'd play games with most of my other teachers; mess with their heads, disrupt their classes, but with him...? No. I tried to keep a low profile in his class. He was my height, maybe a bit taller, with intense blue eyes. I didn't like it when he looked at me, because I swear to God that it was like he could read my mind.
I shivered.
"So?" I asked, regaining composure.
"You must know that it states clearly in the school handbook that if you fail any classes your senior year, you must postpone college education until you redo the course with a passing grade."
We have a school handbook? ...wait, what did he just say?
"What the hell?" I yelped, forgetting where I was. His eyes bulged again, but it wasn't funny anymore. "Wait, you're telling me I'm going to have to do one stupid class instead of going to college?"
"Mr. Carmichael, please, calm down. You can simply do the course over the summer!" He said it like it was something to be excited about.
I took a breath, attempting to count to ten. I made it to four before asking, "What are the alternatives?"
"Well, there is the option of summer school. Or you can simply try to bring that grade up! You do have almost a full quarter left. I suggest you talk to Mr. Atwater about this. Please do what you can to rectify this. A letter has already been mailed to your parents."
I left at his dismissal, without a goodbye.
Fuck. Double fuck.
I glanced at the clock ticking madly on the wall. I still had three periods left before the end of school, and I honestly didn't need to go to English, so I braced myself, wound up some courage, and headed to the mathematics hallway.
Atwater taught in 402.
I passed 399, brushing my hair out of my eyes with one hand. Why was I sweating?
400.
I did not want to talk to him. He made me nervous as hell.
401.
I wanted to stop walking right there, but it was like his room was one end of a magnet, and I was the other. My feet kept moving.
402.
I stopped in front of his door, and looked inside the room.
He was teaching.
I sighed, wondering why I had gotten so worked up. I should have known he would have had a class right now.
I watched him write something on the blackboard, his numbers (which made no sense to me) arching across the board like some beautiful, foreign language.