Mr. Cheater and Ms.Valedictorian (20,000 words, English)

An Awkward Monday

Grayson walks in just as the Greenvale High Seniors are making their way to the gym for their whole day of boring detention— the same gym that bred contempt for Grayson, the same contempt that turned the Seniors into a mob, the same mob that surrounded him, the same incident which almost turned ugly had it not been for Erin. Grayson stops in his tracks, not wanting to walk alongside his fellow seniors.

The Seniors make their way from their classrooms to the school gym, they see Grayson at the hall. All of their eyes are drawn to him like a magnet. Many look down in shame. Some tentatively smile at him and nod in acknowledgement but the best thing is, no one is jeering at him anymore.

Grayson waits until the last of the seniors are no longer in sight before taking a step forward. He climbs the stairs with his bag on his back, making his way to the library where he hopes Erin would be. He wants to apologize to Erin in person.

“Good morning Ms. Teresa,” Grayson greets Ms. Teresa who smilingly greets back. It seems that she has already forgiven them for the raucous they caused last week.

Grayson places his bag on the library table and looks around. Erin is not there. In fact, he is the only one inside the library aside from Ms. Teresa. Grayson takes out his notebook, the review tests that Erin has prepared and his books. He starts studying alone. At lunch, he exits the library and finds a shady spot under one of the many trees in front of the school. He hunches down, opens his bag and grabs his lunch. He is hoping that Erin will surprise him by sitting next to him and eating lunch together, but she never came. Grayson finishes his lunch and drinks his water all by his lonesome.

*Ring!!! Ring!!! Ring!!!*

The school bell is heard throughout the Greenvale High campus, prompting the underclassmen to run to their lockers and their classrooms in a clear programmed response. The seniors, who were allowed to eat lunch wherever they wished, are now making their way towards the gym. Some of the students see Grayson under the shade of the tree as they run to the gym.

Grayson stands up, picking his red back pack from the ground and walks languidly up the stairs to the library. He says Good afternoon to Ms.Teresa sitting behind the library counter. He returns to the same table that he was using this morning, the same table that they were building the book tower on. Grayson smiles as he grabs a book from his bag and opens it on the table. He reads a chapter from his Physics book and answers the review questions at the end of the chapter. He gets stuck. He taps his pen on the question trying to think of an answer. He finally gives up and is about to move on to the next when he is interrupted.

“The answer is B, it’s the second law of Thermodynamics,” Erin says from behind Grayson.

Grayson doesn’t turn to look at the girl he’s been waiting for the entire day, with his head still buried in his book he answers, “I knew that.”

As Erin walks around the table, Grayson calls out to her.

“Erin?” Grayson says in a soft apologetic manner.

“Hm?” Erin answers.

“About what happened—” Grayson starts.

“Don’t.” Erin interrupts in a serious tone. “Let’s just study okay?” She continues with a forced but somehow sincere smile.

Grayson does the same. He smiles and they study.