Dragon Knights

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

            “ MARCUS BISHOP!”

Mark stirred from his afternoon nap to a nasal sounding voice. At first he thought the vampire from the cheesy movie he stayed up watching last night was finally out to eat him. Then, in his foggy vision, he sighed in relief to find it was just his equally scary math teacher caught him sleeping in class again.

            “ Marcus Bishop, since you obviously know what problem is on the board, why don’t you solve for X?” she accused as she handed him the old dry eraser marker.

            Mark sighed and took the marker from her clammy hands. God, what was with these teachers, he thought. Every time he just wants a little snooze, some community college grad is trying to shove their degree in his face by forcing him to solve a problem that obviously not going to help him in life whatsoever? Especially in math class, where the calculator had all but eliminated this junk. Still, if he solved this mundane math problem, it might get her to shut up long enough for him to finish his nap. He looked at the graying wipe board at the problem.

            It was a simple Precalculus problem, to find the minimum value of a parabola. “Jesus, she can’t even draw a simple line right”, he thought as he counted the amount of imaginary squares across the y section. “The minimum value is negative four, and for good measure, the maximum value is five. The next one, over there,” he pointed to the one next to it, “is six, with a maximum of two. And finally, your so called ‘Daily Challenge’ is a trick question,” he announced as he slid the next board to a massive squiggly line that spanned the entire width of the board. “Because the origin is zero and zero, then both the minimum and maximum must be zero as well. Now can I go back to sleep now?”

            Oh, how he loved staring at the expression the old hag gave him when he proved her wrong. The pale wrinkly face becoming beet red, her gray hair sticking up on one end, and the curling of her wrists so tight they shattered the marker she was holding.

            Wait what? He was puzzled. That old witch was as fragile as a twig, how the heck was she able to snap a reinforced plastic marker in half? He was about to ask, but instead he was given the old, tired response “TO THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE!”

            After grabbing his old blue backpack and started the long walk to the office, he was just about done with Mrs. Macintosh’s crap. He didn’t even understand why the heck he was in high school in the first place. The only reason he didn’t just peace out of this place was because most colleges didn’t like a GED, plus the fact he was probably going to have to do a few years in the community college like every other bumpkin in his town. Still, he gave tired wave to the secretary, Sheila, while she typed aimlessly at her keyboard.

            “The usual, Marcus?” she asked in her old tired voice. Mark didn’t even know how the heck this crone was still alive, let alone working a hellhole like this. Still, he held his tongue and walked towards the door marked for his visit.

            “Thanks, Sheila,” Principal Levoitch shouted out of his office. Mark took a seat in the chair he had come to know and love. “So I’m going to go on a limb and say that you’re here because you let out your smart mouth in front of the teacher again?” he asked in a friendly tone.

            Mark gave out a tired sigh. “You just hit a nail on the head.”

            Levoitch gave out a laugh. “Well, Marcus, between you and me, Macintosh can be more than a little high strung, but that doesn’t mean you should mouth off to her in class. Sometimes its best to keep that cakehole of yours shut.”

            “So solving a problem she asked for in class counts as smart-mouthing, huh?” Mark asked, with a hint of sarcasm. “I don’t even understand why I’m in her class. Most the stuff she teaches any kid can look up in a book!” He remembered the particular lesson he demonstrated took him a grand total of five minutes to memorize, plus ten more to do some problems.

            Now it was Levoitch’s time to sign. “Marcus, you are without a doubt a smart kid, and frankly, will probably will beat me in the paycheck department in ten years or so. When I see you, I see a natural born leader.” He stood up, his hands on his desk. “But unfortunately, there is a time to be in the lead, and a time to take the backseat. Collaboration has been the rock of human history.”

            Mark was outraged “Seriously?” He leapt out of his seat. “No, really seriously? That has got to be the worst excuse in the history of mankind, okay? One, mankind has committed it’s worst crimes when blindly following someone, example is Hitler, Stalin, and pretty much every cheap novel you can buy. Second,” he emphasized by holding a number two sign, “That’s just brainwash material so the one guy who didn’t fall for that crap can control the masses. You wanna know how I actually can do well in school? By learning on my own, by studying on own, and doing it because I WANTED TO.” He fell back in his seat, exhausted from that outburst.

            Levoitch was shocked. But he gave out a sigh. “That’s not what I said.” He now stood up, facing Mark in his chair. “I meant that you need to work together in order to achieve both of your goals. You want to get the best out of school, and she just wants to help you do that.” He sat back down and pulled out a final. “Now I’m going to give you a warning-“

            But when he looked up, Mark was already leaving, pushing the gray door in a huff. This school is a pile of idiots, he thought. And the last obstacle before my ticket from hell.