Student Pairing

Shawn slowly opened his eyes, welcoming them to a dark view of his room as the lights were off. However, there seemed to be something wrong from the moment his eyes opened.

He then realized the alarm in his room wasn't responding. After a moment of thinking, he noticed the area of his bed especially where his head rested on–the pillow, was wet.

At that point, he turned his head sideways, spotting the figure standing in the corner staring at him with narrowed eyes and crossed brows.

"Good morning Mum." He said, gulping as soon as the sentence left his mouth.

"Oh, Good morning, son. I was just wondering when you would wake from dreamland to get your siblings ready for school as well as yourself" Emily said, her eyes resuming their stare.

Unable to take the might of it, Shawn managed to join the dots and understood that he had messed up, though it was obvious he wasn't ready to hear the next line.

"Owwwww!" He shouted, reaching one of his hands towards his ankle.

Emily's frowning face showed panic, and she was just about to say something but paused, then one of her eyebrows raised.

Taking the now-given opportunity, Shawn leaped off his bed and ran to the bathroom, leaving Emily alone, who simply clicked her tongue at his antics.

“You had me. Who taught you how to fake?” She chuckled.

Under the safety of his bathroom, Shawn immediately placed his hands on the sink and started using the water flowing from the tap to wash his face.

"****, what was I doing sleeping that long?!" He looked at the mirror with dread written all over.

He had missed his alarm for too long, probably an hour or so and his mom had to sprinkle water on his face to wake him up, “Is this a result of playing Creator Sim? If that is the case then I have to ask the system concerning what is happening." He muttered before throwing another scoop of water onto his face.

The day, he had to rush his morning activities to be ready for school. At the last minute, he ran out of his room and carried his bag with him as he had arranged it the previous day before running downstairs and into the dining proceeding to sit on the table and quickly eat his breakfast.

"You better don't stuff yourselves like a pig or else your father's gonna send you to the gym." Emily cautioned from the side as she had positioned herself with her phone, watching a movie on Netflix, "It's alright. At least I'll grow stronger and...."

"Mummy! Come feed me!" Stacy cried, causing her mum to pause her movie and turn.

Nick, who saw Stacy's antics, burst into frantic laughter.

"Sweetie. Don't you want your Father to feed you?!" He asked with a smile.

"It's mummy that Stacy wants!"

Fifteen minutes later, Shawn was carrying the little one right into the car outside.

Nick, all dressed up for work, sat down on the left and waited for the two siblings to arrive.

The moment they were settled, he turned the keys and started the engine, driving from the house to the main road and zoomed till he reached Shawn and Stacy's schools.

When they arrived they were a little close to the time for the bell to be rung.

After getting out and bringing Stacy out seat to the ground. "Bye-bye, Daddy!" Stacy turned to wave at Nick.

"Bye, sweetie, see you soon," Nick replied with a kiss and waved back at her before driving off.

“Now we can go,” Shawn said before he and Stacy headed towards Stacy's school which was on the opposite side of his when he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Shawn wait up!" Shawn turned his back and saw three figures approaching. Harry, Stephanie, and Charles were just coming to school.

"I am surprised to see that you are just coming here to school today when you come way earlier than the rest of us," Harry said.

"Must have been some late-night homework or something else," said Charles.

"Oh well, it's a long story," Shawn replied, rubbing the back of his head as the four of them walked together to Stacy's class and dropped her off. "Bye, sis," Shawn waved while he and his friends walked away.

Stacy just simply waved back and turned to walk into her class.

"What a snub" He scoffed.

The Quad entered their classroom just as the bells had rang, dropped their bags to their chairs, and took notes before dashing towards the hall.

In a few short minutes, they finally entered the hall to meet in the assembly with other students. By the time the assembly was over, all students of Class A proceeded to sit back in their chairs of their class for the beginning of the first lecture and that was mathematics.

The door opened as Roberts walked in with several books that showed equations and drawings of mathematical instruments.

He strode towards the teacher's seat and dropped the books on the table on top of the desk, "Good day, students. Hope you all enjoyed the night?!" He said, his lips expanding into a smile that seemed crooked.

"Good day, sir. Our night was a pleasant one." A few students replied.

Roberts sensed the tension, but he didn't bother, “So today, we're going to pick off right from where we stopped." He immediately got to teaching, taking a marker to use with a board.

When it was 10 minutes to the end of the class, Robert turned from the board and looked at the figures that were seated.

"Those who failed to submit their homework or got below half mark should stand up." He said, finally opening the hidden tension that clouded the classroom.

The students who had not submitted their homework rose along with those who got below the half mark which was two and a half out of five. Roberts stared at the students for a while, his hand tapping on the desk in light, timed moves, "I have a challenge for you all. Class Rep!” he called.

From the seats of those who had completed their homework, a tall figure whose name was Shay Medes, who preferred to be addressed by his middle name Tony, stood up in response.

"Record the names of those who are standing," Roberts instructed then shifted his head to their direction.

"The challenge I have for those of you who are standing is for you to be paired up with those who are sitting down and re-learn the topics that I taught you in class.

So as not to make you fail, there will be a test for you and another one which will be general. Pick someone to pair up with so that it can be noted by the class rep.

For those that you have chosen to pair with, you will have to receive lessons from them concerning topics which you do not understand in class."

He then pointed to one of the students who was standing, “Who do you pick as your partner to pair up with for reading?"

The student looked around before facing him and saying the name of a student who was seated. The course rep, Tony, instantly wrote the names down with his pen as the standing students called out the names of students who were sitting one by one. These students were going to teach their fellow ones to be better in Maths.

By the time that Mr Roberts pointed to Richard, the latter replied with a confident face, "Shawn Roland"

Shawn, who was flipping the pages of his note, felt nauseous that instant.

"Anybody but this guy. I do not want to be infected with his level of unseriousness," He thought.

“And to think that he got below two, did he do it himself or copy from someone who didn't do it well?”

Roberts hesitated for a moment and looked at Richard before asking, "Are you sure Richard?"

"Yes Sir. I'm sure." Richard replied.

“Tony record it."

After the round of calling names and students, Mr Roberts proceeded to talk about the consequences of this new engagement.

"Should you fail the test that I plan to give to you all, just note that the names of those you have called out will also have penalties in their test scores." He announced.

Shawn felt like he had just been sent into a volcano that was going to erupt anytime soon, "Sir!" He called while raising a hand.

"Yes, Shawn, what is it?"

"Is it possible for the student that teaches to change the student that has chosen him/her?" He asked.

"It is possible, only if the student has seen that you are not committed or worthy of teaching him/her or if you have noticed signs of unwillingness to learn. If, after consistent complaints, the test comes, then there will be no reason to deduct your marks." Robert answered.

"So for now, you will still have to wait before you walk into my office to change the student that you have been assigned," Roberts then started to pack the textbooks on the teacher's desk and left.

The Students placed their handwriting materials back into their bags and brought out a new one. It was time for the History Class.

Shawn could only feel that bit of annoyance welling up in him, refusing to be swallowed and go down his throat. He just wanted to avoid having anything to do with the bully of the class that many people were trying to suck up to as well.

The History Teacher, Mrs Pearl, a blonde, walked in and greeted the students, receiving greetings back.

"Today we shall be discussing the civilizations of the Nile." She said as the students pressed the button on their tables and their chairs began rotating to the screen at the back of the class.

Mrs Pearl connected the projector to her computer and played the videos she stored onto the screen from the projector.

The students listened intently to the videos and wrote down what they could process and record. By the time the class was almost over, they had watched three videos detailing the civilizations of the Nile.

"Now as homework. I want you all to further research this topic and prepare a write-up on what you managed to grab from these videos along with your extra effort. What methods were insightful," She said.