Toe Pick (Being Redone)

Comfort

"And when you multiply this exponent here by the value of two, you will eventually get 430," Mr. Tyson began from the front of the Algebra classroom.

"Oh dear Lord," Travis Watson thought to himself, "Please shut up already," Travis concluded as he switched his train of thought to the night ahead. Travis was the captain of the Pinewood Academy Varsity hockey team, as a freshman no less, and his first game was coming up tonight. The Pinewood Academy Hawks would be taking on the Aspen High Mountaineers, a set of bitter cross town rivals. Not only were Pinewood and Aspen High bitter rivals, the game would be played at Crombeen Arena, Pinewood's home rink.

"Mr. Watson, would you even care to offer up a guess?" Mr. Tyson called from the front of the classroom.

"Hmm?" Travis questioned as he was pulled from his daydream.

"Care to answer the question?" Mr. Tyson continued, knowing he had caught Travis not paying attention to the lecture.

"Six squared plus B," a voice whispered from Travis's right.

"Six squared plus B, sir," Travis repeated.

Once Travis has given his answer, Mr. Tyson was clearly shocked. But, after he had quickly recovered, he continued on with his boring lecture.

"Thanks Jason," Travis whispered to the boy sitting next to him once he was sore the coast was clear.

"No problem man," Jason replied, "What are friends for?" He concluded, smiling.

That statement was very true for these two boys. Travis and Jason had met back in sixth grade at Freedom Grade School when Jason's family had moved to Aspen from Pittsburgh. They had bonded almost instantly over their love for sports. Travis enjoyed hockey and Jason loved basketball and football. Jason's move from Pittsburgh explained his black, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Steelers jersey.

Jason's black hair was cut short into a military-like crew cut which barley covered his head. His brown eyes were fixed on someone across the room.

Turning to see who it was, Travis saw that bit was Kenzie James, Pinewood cheerleader and resident fashion icon. Kenzie had long, curly black hair and almost black eyes.

Travis held in a small laugh as the bell ending the class finally rang, dismissing the class to lunch. Once the class was out of the room, Travis and Jason made their way to Pinewood's cafeteria. The cafeteria was filled with long, green tables for students to eat lunch. One wall of the cafeteria was all floor to ceiling windows that looked out at the Rocky Mountains surrounding Aspen, Colorado.

By now, Travis and Jason were in the lunch line. Pinewood's lunches were cooked fresh every day by volunteers so the choices were astronomical. Travis walked back to a table with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with tomato soup and side salad. Jason came out with a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a small granola bar.

"How can you eat all that food man?" Jason asked as he sat down across from Travis.

"I play hockey, gotta he able to hit hard," Travis joked as he began to eat.

Now, Travis was definitely not someone you would call fat or overweight, but he was definitely a bigger guy. He used this to his advantage when playing hockey however. Any chance Travis got he would hit his opponents and take the puck right to the goal.

"So, Jason, noticed you staring at Kenzie during that whole algebra lecture," Travis wittily said as he changed the subject.

"I was not staring," Jason snapped.

"Please, with the exception of the time you helped me with that answer, your eyes were glued on her," Travis laughed.

"How would you know, you weren't even paying attention to the class at all," Jason retorted.