Chapter Three || Teamwork...

Hey, it's me again, Sonny, the wonk who would've been the first student to enter the Physics classroom if he hadn't just had a senseless discussion with his one and only friend.

Anyway, I and Lester entered the classroom and saw Mr. Helix sitting behind his desk, rubbing his goatee (AKA the nickname source), and looking at his "precisely timed" watch. I was happy to see that our regular desk was still free.

The desk was in the right corner in the back of the room. As in most Physics classrooms, the desks were a little higher than in other classes. The same with Biology and Chemistry. So were the chairs, they were more like bar stools. Four persons could sit at each desk, and that's the part I didn't like.

I once sat to someone else than Lester, and, well, that did not end up very nicely. Especially not for me. The guy's name's Kit Heidelberg, and just to say it friendly: he's a discomfort in my Heidelberg (if you know what I mean). He was known for the fact that he never brought his own supplies. That means: when you sit close to him, certainly know you'll have to bring a new pen.

Since that day, my organized butt sits in the right corner in the back of the classroom with Lester on my left. About Lester: usually, Jerry Click sits next to him (if he isn't "sick" once again), but that day, he suddenly had the flu (totally not at all because he had Gym that afternoon, or something) according to his twin sister Jenny, who sat on the fourth spot at our table. In other words: there was a student called Gap between her and Lester most of the time.

Anyway, I'm deviating. So, I and Lester sat down on our usual spots, so did Jenny. I put my backpack next to me on the floor and took out my book, notebook, and my pencil case. I spotted Lester doing the same in the corner of my eye. I let out a silent sigh when Abby and Chrissie entered the room. They sat down at their spots in the left corner in the back of the room. I leaned my face against my hand as I watched Lester sending Chrissie a friendly smile. She gently smiled back and sat down next to Abby. I chuckled and shook my head when Lester blushed. Bashful was just Bash in comparison to him at that moment. Do I look like that too when--

My eyes widened. Oh, yay. The fun had begun. I deeply sighed as soon as Taylor entered the room. "Why me, God, why the Toad me?" I complained to the ceiling.

Lester frowned. "Whassup?" he asked me. I pointed at the doorway. Lester followed my finger with his eyes and saw Taylor laughing with the boys behind him. He nodded. "Yeh, man, tha's harsh."

Taylor unexpectedly looked our way and smirked. Get the party hats. I groaned and Lester's eyes widened when he approached us. He stood in front of me and slowly leaned on our desk in an attempt to intimidate, and, well, it worked. He raised his eyebrows. "Well, Sonny-boy, have you received my little message?" he asked as if he were the most innocent person on earth (obviously not since the most innocent and simple person sat next to me).

I sighed. "Yep, yeah, I did, " I answered him. I sounded careless, but inside...

No, actually, I really didn't care.

Taylor nodded approvingly. "Well, good boy." I watched as he chuckled at his own words for a second. Oh, so now I'm a dog? "So, what do you say? You do it?" I remained quiet and shook my head, trying to send the most nonchalant look I could make up. He shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." He took my notebook, ripped out a page without looking if it was used or not (ha, as if he'd care), and slowly crumpled it in his fist. I gulped. "Wrong answer, " he hissed threateningly in a whisper.

Luckily for me, Mr. Helix (nah, screw it, I'll just call him "Goatee") clapped. "Okay, guys. Sit down, y'all." Taylor turned around with a maniacal smirk on his face, sat down on his usual seat, and ran a hand through his black, straight hair. I noticed he took the chunk with him. Probably for later. Asshole. "Take your book on page 39. Today, we'll talk about acceleration, " he spoke through the room over exasperated sighs and groans. He just ignored them. So did I.

The rest of the lesson, I didn't really do anything special, so we'll skip that part. Well, yeah, the only things I did were writing down what he said we had to write down, I took notes, sometimes looked at Taylor and Abby, and felt my cheeks heat up and heard my brain curse when she coincidentally looked back. She just looked back forward with a look like: "Oh, hey, my nerdy classmate looks at me multiple times. I don't care. Bye."

I watched again at the end of the lesson and sighed. Would she ever have had a boyfriend? Yeh, probably. I mean, look at her. Perfect face, dashing smile, twinkling eyes, cool attitude, pretty--

"--project that you will work on in teams." My dreamy thoughts were cut through by Goatee. My eyes widened. Teams? Me? Ha. Ha. Ha. You wish. Okay, no, totally not. You do not want me on your team. I can't work with others. Why do you think I have zero dot zero friends and one guy who constantly hangs around me for some reason? I am the walking definition of antisociality! I am the only guy in the whole wide world who would dance folk on his own!

Oh, wait, that's true, we still have aunt Carrie. That woman can't even talk to a hamster. She dances folk, though.

Anyway, I hated teams. Always the same, sad song: who was the one to do all of the work? Sonny-boy! Plus, they never even try to talk to me. They just use me to get good grades. Stupid mushroom faces.

Okay, back to Physics. Goatee turned to his leather sack and took out a chart. Probably the list with the groups. I heard Taylor shout from his seat in the front. "Oh, yeah, free grades!" He presumably referred to the teaming up thing. Half of the class laughed. I spotted Abby rolling her eyes. Chrissie laughed at her.

Goatee looked up. "Well, mister Greyhound, if you don't know when to keep your mouth shut, then keep it shut. Understood?" he snapped with raised eyebrows.

Taylor sighed. "Yes, sir," he answered reluctantly. I chuckled inside. K-A-R-M-A. Wow. If I don't get a job later, I'll become a cheerleader.

(Goatee didn't even mention Jerry yet. He probably expected him to be lacking.)

Goatee then coughed, preparing to read the names aloud. "Okay, so..." He looked up for once. "Oh, right, you guys have to record your project at home with your group, I want the videos on a USB in a month. Aaron, Vicky, Jenny, and Luke, you will be measuring the sugar content of a liquid with a laser pointer. Chrissie, Gladys, Ray, and Fleur, you have to examine simple, harmonic motion in a spring-mass system. Riley, Illinois, Jayden, and Bella, you guys get the fun one: rainbow fire. Next up: Lester, Abby, Taylor, and Sonny, you will make frequency-dependent sound absorption. And--"

Poof. My world collided.

Did he really just say that I, Sonny Flint, have to work with the biggest jerk in the whole freaking USA?

ME?!