Seven

For the first time since the sixth grade, I actually enjoyed my classes.

The teachers remained boring and annoying, but unlike other days, I wasn't forced to listen to their long lectures alone, for the entire period, all thanks to a very chatty lady seating beside me, who took pleasure in distracting me regularly with her complaining.

Claire and I sat at the edge of the classroom in the middle row listening to our calculus teacher, Mrs Hayden.

"... If Sam were to do a jump off a twenty-meter building and his friend, Alex, decides to take a video of the jump. Alex then asks Sam 'how fast will you be falling after a second?'. What formula do you think Sam will apply to provide the correct answer to the question?"

Numerous hands flew up "Ashley." Mrs Hayden called.

A girl stood up and I recalled who she was immediately, the girl Tyler introduced me to, last week. I had no idea she took calculus and then again, I knew nothing else about her, except that she was Tyler's friend.

"Oh my God!" Claire groaned. "Can this class be over."

I looked away from Ashley and smiled at Claire "You've said that in every class, since the first period."

"You can't blame me for that, the past two classes have been really boring and this one is only..."

"Jason! Help us out with the next question please." The voice of Mrs Hayden cut Claire off.

"Yes Mrs Hayden." I replied, standing up.

"Very well. Ashley," Mrs Hayden said, gesturing toward where Ashley sat with her right arm "provided us with the correct formula to derive how fast Sam will be falling after a second which we used to calculate the answer to be five meters per second. Now, Alex points out to Sam that his answer is an average speed and insists on finding out the speed at exactly one second, how do you think Sam will provide an answer?"

"Well." I began slowly. "I'd advise Sam to invent a time so short it does not matter, for example, 'delta t' and then derive the difference in distance between 't' and 't plus delta t'. After deriving the difference in distance, he should then divide his result by the time to derive the speed at exactly one second."

Mrs Hayden didn't look too impressed, I must have disappointed her by providing the correct answer to her question.

Ha!!

"Can you come to the board..."

"The answer is ten meters per second, Mrs Hayden." I said before she could complete her sentence.

I needed to let her know that she was not the only one who could cut people off.

The sound of the bell echoed through the classroom, it was lunchtime.

Everyone was hurrying out of the classroom, eager to get to the cafeteria and even more eager to get away from Mrs Hayden's calculus class.

"So, how did you enjoy your little showing of?" Claire asked, as we walked out of the classroom.

I smiled. "I should be asking how you enjoyed it."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I enjoyed it just fine."

"Good to know."

* ~* ~* ~

"Hey guys!" Claire greeted as she settled down beside me with a tray containing her lunch. "This is a great table."

"Why do you say that?" Tyler asked.

"Because it is as far away as possible from those disgusting cheerleaders." Claire replied making an irritated face.

"Really? So you think the cheerleaders are disgusting?" I asked.

"Yes. Very disgusting." Claire replied, stuffing two potato chips into her mouth.

"So, that means you have never, for once, wished you were part of them?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I am not going to answer that." Claire said avoiding my eyes and that of Tyler.

Tyler snickered. "So, when did you try out?"

"What makes you think I ever did?"

I could see her cheeks reddening.

She had actually tried out!

"C'mon Claire, just..."

The arrival of a very familiar group of boys, interrupted me.

It was Jake Kellen, Allan Rey, Dave Harvey, Michael Cole and Kelvin Ramirez, the guys from the basketball team.

"It's the cave man guys." Jake said, earning him loud laughter from his friends.

I felt someone stand up beside me.

What was Tyler doing?

"What did you just call me?" He asked firmly, glaring at Jake.

The smile on Jake's face widened "Whoa! The cave man is losing his temper. What's he gonna do?"

Tyler's gaze didn't flicker, "Are you sure you want to know what I want to do? Because I'd be really glad to show you."

This was definitely not going to end well.

"Hey, Tyler," I said rising to my feet. "just ignore him."

"Yeah, better listen to your girlfriend." Jake snickered.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" I said turning to Jake in anger.

"Better don't get yourself into this." Micheal Cole said stepping forward.

My last encounter with him was still very clear in my memory, and I was not ready to get a fresh one.

"C'mon Tyler, let's go." I said turning to leave. I had taken about three steps before realizing that Tyler was not with me. I turned around swiftly. "Tyler! C'mon!"

"Go on Tyler, you do not want to find out what these fists can do." Jake said, giving Tyler a threatening glare.

"Neither do you want to find out what mine are capable of."

Violence has always been a great source of entertainment to most people, so I was in no way surprised when the little crowd that had gathered around Tyler and Jake, started chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!...". The only thing that surprised me was Tyler throwing the first punch at Jake.

As Tyler's fist made contact with the right side of Jake's face, Jake's head swung violently to the opposite direction and when it returned to its original position, Jake had a bloody lip.The menacing look on Jake's face should have prevented Tyler from his next action, but obviously, Tyler had a lot of surprises in store for everyone. His fist made contact with Jake's face again, but this time he didn't stop there, he went ahead to punch Jake's abdomen twice. Jake groaned and staggered backwards, pushing some people gathered behind him.

Tyler went after him, but was intercepted by Jake's friends who had definitely had enough. But before they could take any action, Mrs Gloria appeared from in between the crowd of students surrounding us.

I said a silent prayer of thanks, to God on Tyler's behalf, for the arrival of Mrs Gloria at the scene.

"Both of you!! Report to the principal's office now!!" Mrs Gloria yelled. "And for the rest of you, I believe the bell for the fourth period rang a minute ago!"

I watched Tyler walk slowly toward the direction of the principal's office for a few seconds before joining the rest of the students to hurry to class.