Calm Before the Storm

"No way! Scott you got a B+?!"

"Yeah and it's for all the hard work that we did for the whole weekend."

"Scott, I knew you had the potential!"

They both half five each other.

Soon, Dwayne came running in.

"Guys guys guys!"

"Hey Dwayne! How did you do on your Geology exam?" Jim looked at Dwayne sweating.

Dwayne then showed them the paper. Both Scott and Jim looked at his paper.

"A C-?" Jim questions Dwayne.

"Yeah. The best score I've ever had thanks to you!"

Jim was still confused but Scott put his hand on Jim's shoulder.

"Jim. You know that school isn't for everyone, right. If he likes this grade then he'll like it."

"You're right Scott. I guess that my expectations are higher than his."

Jim looked at Dwayne again. "Good job Dwayne."

"Thanks Jim. It's all thanks to your tutoring."

Jim blushed a bit. "S-sure."

"So I heard you guys have been doing a good job." Troy came out of nowhere.

"What the!" Scott and Jim were startled as Troy was behind them.

"Troy?!" Dwayne is staring at him.

"Yep, that's me, the school's best football player who won against the Blue Buffalos."

"Troy, what are you doing here?" Jim looked a bit nervous when seeing Troy.

"Oh I just wanted to talk to you." Troy then walked towards Jim making him be cornered into the lockers.

Scott didn't like how this was going so he tried to hear what they were saying.

"Jimmy Wilson, you fucking nerd, what is this?" Troy showed his failed exam.

"Your exam?"

"Yes Jimmy. It's my exam. Why do I have a fucking F?"

"Maybe because you didn't study and plus you didn't answer a question. What were you even doing during that time? Daydreaming?"

"Don't act all smart just because you're a nerd. This is all your fault."

"My fault. What did I do?"

"What you are is my cheat sheet and you weren't there for me to copy your answers. So explain that to me."

"Damn it Troy. I'm not your damn puppet. You are responsible for your own grades, you meathead."

Troy then looked at Jim with anger in his eyes.

"You're lucky we're in the public. If we were in the chemistry lab like before, I would have snapped your neck instead."

Troy backed away from Jim. "Consider yourself lucky you dumb nerd."

Troy then walked away.

Scott and Dwayne towards him. 

"That Troy." Scott looked at him walking away.

"Always showing his pride." Dwayne is also looking at Troy.

"What kind of person is he? Threatening Jim like he was his punching bag." Scott then walked towards Jim.

"Guys what should I do? Even with a different appearance, Troy won't get off my back. All he cares about is nothing but his reputation on the football team." Jim was a little scared.

"I can't physically fight him. He's three inches taller than me and if I do get the chance, John will no doubt try to execute me."

"That's inevitable. But I can't hurt him either. I don't want to ruin my reputation in this town like I did in Des Moines." Scott being concerned for Jim.

"Yeah and if the school found out that me, a former football player, tries to take down Troy, then I won't even have a chance to go to college."

Scott tries to think about how to save Jim.

"Well guys we don't need to save Jim using physical violence. We need to instead find a way where he can stop using Jim. Jim isn't just someone to tease around with, but instead a human being." 

"Yeah but how can we do that? All he is is just a person full of pride." Dwayne looking down.

"Wait Dwayne, can you say that again?" Scott pointed at Dwayne.

"A person full of pride?"

Scott then has an idea. "Wait. So you're telling me that all he adores is mostly his pride?"

"Well yeah. He's the number one football player of the team."

Scott then found a way to expose Troy. "Guys I have an idea. But it's going to take more than one person for me to do it."

Right now, Scott and his friends now have an idea to put the truth on Troy's true identity.

Meanwhile at the newspaper room, Andrew was watching what Scott and his friends were doing from the many cameras around the school. Andrew was looking at his progress from meeting Ashley to now having new friends with Jim and Dwayne.

"What is that Scott guy doing? First he met Ashley and is now making friends. How can he be so damn resilient about this?"

Andrew got out of his chair. "I'm going to have a closer look at what on earth they are doing."

Andrew got his camera and walked out of the newspaper room.

In the hallway, Andrew found Scott and his friends discussing something that he's unaware of.

Since then, he took a picture of all three of them and snuck away to John's engineering class.

"Of course you can see how the electrical circuit works and as you can see."

John activated the code needed to turn on his electrical circuit.

"I made electricity from my computer to this light bulb on my breadboard." 

As John showed his light bulb go off, the whole classroom clapped as John showed something marvelous.

"Good job John, I think you'll be the next candidate to get into MIT." John's engineering teacher clapping at John.

"Why thank you. I plan to go to a good college next year and show off my awesome resume!"

Soon the bell rang. "Well that's it for class today. Remember to read page one twenty five for tomorrow."

John left the classroom as many people started to follow him with his cool popularity.

"Oh John, you're so cool."

"Yeah John, please sign my laptop."

John was fluttering. "Guys guys guys. I love how you guys are giving me much attention, but I need to head to my next class okay."

"Okay." Everyone stopped following John.

John then was heading to his locker until someone approached him.

"John John John." Andrew ran towards John.

"My favorite freshman. How have you been?"

"John, you need to take a look at this."

Andrew showed his camera to John.

"What is this?"

"It's Scott John. He just made more friends even after putting down Ashley. How is he doing it. It's like he can be resilient."

"Yeah Andrew. He is very resilient."

John then tries to get angry. "Why is it that he's not bowing down to me? Why is it that even though she's dead, he still tends to make friends."

John then gave his camera back to Andrew. "Keep finding out what you're doing." He then went close to his ear. "And maybe you can have the chance to see your dog."

"Right s-sir." Andrew then walked away from John.

"Daisy. Please be alive." Andrew shaking while walking back to the newspaper room.