1 Normal schoolboy life

"Sebastian! if you keep sleeping in my class, you probably won't even get a C with me!" Furiously, the man who seconds ago was writing moles and electrons on the board yelled at the student 'sitting in the last row.

And 'sitting' is between quotation marks because the boy was audaciously lying on the table with a pillow. Perhaps even the word 'lying' falls short, all his upper body was extended over the cotton surface.

The entire class laughed. Even the most 'disciplined' prodigious kid was holding back a giggling.

But the center of attention was barely awake, still with saliva marks in the corner of his mouth, the sleepy guy tilted his head to the side.

"Huh?"

"I said! You won't even get a C with me!" The teacher was furious. The cap of his marker ejected and flew off as his thumb pressed the white plastic tube.

"So, I can get over a D?" Sebastian genuinely asked, kind of impressed in fact.

"..."

"They said your class was easy, but never thought it'd be this easy."

"...."

The teens in the class laughed even louder.

After a productive participation to the class, the barely half-open eyes of Sebastian closed again and laid his head on the pillow.

But Mr. Bercic was not there to appreciate the good humor. He was in fact paid to bury into your head that carbon can form a stable, sturdy backbone for a large molecule and that methamphetamine was not a viable source of income (So stop harassing your teachers about you knowing th business and he the science).

"Out of my class!"

Sebastian obeyed. The boy shrugged and walked toward the door between applauses. But seconds later he stopped and turned back.

"What are you doing?" The teacher asked the question that the whole class had.

Sebastian shrugged again. His hands reached his backpack.

"No... No! This is not lunchtime." Mr. Bercic yelled.

But the student was gone.

...

The cafeteria was slightly empty but not exactly deserted.

Sebastian was one of the few souls wandering around the dining room.

It was 11:28, still half an hour sooner than the lunch hour.

Seeing that there was not much he could do, he opted to sit at an empty table and wait for the minutes to pass. As that happens, the teenager started solving math problems from a thick book. Those aren't homework, but after the last class of today, they will be.

Against likely prognostic, Sebastian wasn't any kind of trouble student, in fact, if there was a rank in his grade, he would be between the three with the highest marks.

English, math, physics, social, PE, biology, art, no matter what class he took, he could always endure a high concentration to obtain his desired 95+ grade.

Failing a course? It had to occur a real miracle for Sebastian to get less than 90.

Then...

...a miracle happened.

The nation of chemistry attacked.

Nobody knows what was the magic behind it, but Sebastian was massacred by the ionizations, the energies, the masses, and weird-named French chemists. Lavoisier, Sebastian hated that son of a bitch.

At first, seeing the problematic exam results, Sebastian determined for a change: asking for notes of classmates, watching YT tutorials, ferociously doing the exercise found on the Internet, and even asked the back then patient Mr. B.

But in the moment of the midterm, while looking at the paper, holding a black ink pen, he only remembered that 'F' is to pay respect, 'O' is for the only one I see, and 'V' is very, very... extraordinary.

Only half of the answers ended up right.

Sebastian has no explanation for his own low performance in the course, but when the year ends, he can and might blame Mr. Bercic for being a bad teacher, a destroyer of interest in science, and a reckless educator that taught only for the half-decent salary.

"Hey, did you watch that video I sent you?" A pair of teens not very far away from Sebastian started to talk.

"Which of the thousands of videos you sent me?" The guy that looked submissive and breedable asked back.

"The one in where they caught a girl flying on camera!" His counterpart, dominant and fertile, exclaimed.

'Are we in 2010 or something?' Sebastian couldn't help to question. 'Flying… on camera…why he didn't say UFO?'

Indeed, his friend shook his head to responded a 'yes', but his eyes were looking at the DingDong addict like a fool.

Then they started a conversation about special effects and after edition.

Not gonna lie, the S&B guy knew things.

...

The time free of chemistry class passes incredibly fast. Without even noticing, the day had ended.

3:02 p.m., the cage of kids opened its doors and freed the wild prisoners.

"Sebas, do you wanna hang out?" On his way out, a group of students interfered with him. Except for the guy leaning on his shoulder, which name was Michael, the rest stayed walking behind them.

There was of course no hierarchy between young friends, but for the underlying causes, the seven teenagers liked to let Sebastian take decisions since he's the smart one.

Also, because he is always responsible and open to share, they respect Sebastian for the homework's sake; the interpersonal relationship of high school students was really that simple.

Sebastian slightly shook his head and looked at his friends who were ready to perform their classic 'Pa' to' lados menos pa' la casa'.

That last term was brought by the Mexican interchange girl named Diana, who is also in the group.

Her name would be pronounced as D-ana instead of Die-ana.

"Nah, I pass." Sebastian impassively responded.

"What are you gonna do alone anyway? Let's go watch a movie. So you and Samantha can start with your 'Oh, this is not logic blah blah blah' argument."

"Come on, I only do that when the movie looks nothing like the original work." Samantha intervened, having a displeased expression on her face.

"See?" Someone asserted.

"Gosh!"

"Oh, I read the book and the original comic, look at me, I'm Samantha, the rest of you are inferior to me. Beg! Or I won't tell you what the original plot is like!" Victor mocked, with his natural gift of never missing a chance.

Everyone chuckled, even Samantha herself. She sincerely wanted to be angry, but the embarrassment was bigger than anything else. Blushing, making a face shield with her hands, she had to admit that some of that was true.

Less haughty of course.

"I'm out of town this weekend, as we don't have class tomorrow or Monday," After a few laughs, Sebastian spoke again retaking the topic. "My sister won the state competition, so my family is-"

"Another one?" The crowd interrupted.

"Yeah, another one, this time on female basketball. Anyway, we're having a family vacation to celebrate."

"Wow, that's cool. Where are you going?"

"I found a nice camping spot on an amateur website, it's around 30 miles from here. The reviews online said it is very cozy with amazing nature and vegetation."

"Wait, you chose it?"

"Hmmm... yeah?"

"My dad would never let me or my brothers decide where to go on vacation, he just shows up like: we're going to this place, pack your stuff, now!"

"Same."

"Yup."

"In my house, my mom decides that."

"Sebas, I got tired to say this, but you might be the only teenager on earth who can say 'I have good relation with my parents' and not get interrupted by a 'that's bullshit!'. The rest of us just pretend to not have a so shitty family, but yours is like... man, I'm jealous."

"Yeah, that trust level, damn. The other day my mom searched my entire room while I was out, maybe looking for drugs or something. She might have thought that I would never notice."

"Michael, that's mild, mine installed a camera in my room! IN MY ROOM! A FUCKING CAMERA!" The stereotypical blonde girl of the group, Miriam, exclaimed.

"Wow."

"Damn!"

"And what did you do with it? Did you cover it with something?"

"Hell no, I broke it and threw it by the window, duh," Miriam said, surprisingly proud. "But then we got into a fight, it lasted all night, even the neighbors knocked on our door because of my screams, thinking it was child abuse perhaps. Anyways, they took my phone away."

"Oh, that's why you didn't reply to my messages." Alexandra, who was quiet all this time, spoke, but despite she was using her habitual tone, the words sounded a little bit odd.

"Yeah, sorry bestie."

"Don't call me that, I told you already, I'm not your hypocrite bitch friends."

There was dead silence in the group.

Hearing that comment, Miriam did not get an iota of anger, instead, she chose to apologize.

"My bad, my bad, I just can't change old habits."

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I really have to go." Despite not being the best moment, Sebastian urged.

Alexandra and Miriam looked into each other's eyes and somehow agreed on something. By the time both turned to Sebastian, they were all smiley as if nothing happened at the last minute.

"Have fun."

"Have a nice weekend!"

"I will." Sebastian politely smirked back.

"Don't forget that we have a chemistry quiz, you need to study," Samantha advised.

"I will."

"Give my number to your sister!"

"Fuck off," Sebastian raised a middle finger to Victor.

"Why can't you just say 'I will' as the rest?"

"Not to selling my sister, idiot!"

"Tells us on Tuesday if something fun happens." This time, it was Michael who spoke.

"I will."

"Remember to send us pictures."

"Just give it up, Victor! you're not gonna get pictures of my sister by this way."

"Préstame a tu hermana!" Diana started booing too, in Spanish for some reason.

"I don't know what you meant, but 'hermana' is sister, so fuck off you too."

"Hahahaha!" The girl made her malicious laugh, like when as when a prank is discovered.

And in this way, he said goodbye to all his friends.