Innocent

Chapter 4: Dylan

Chapter 4: Dylan

Let the fun begin

Coming back to the table, Dylan decided to sit across from them. That way he could see if they were really just friends. Who wouldn't be suspicious in this situation? Digging in his pockets, he pulled out his phone and earbuds. He really didn't want to talk to the guy or listen to their ridiculous conversation. Before putting in an earbud, he felt the table shift from the uneven amount of weight and before he knew it Ryan was falling.
Being across from her, he didn't have time to react. Guess who did? Joel. That blue eye little player was able to grab his girlfriend and make sure she was alright. All Dylan could do was watch. Watch how she just said she was alright and went back to eating her food. Did she like him or something? Is this a new game that he was thrown into? Wait. Why was he so insecure about himself now?
As the bell rang to signal the students to go back to class, Dylan stood up and watched as Ryan exited the cafeteria in a blink of an eye. She usually walked with him to math, her taking off without any notice was completely out of the ordinary. Glancing across the table at Joel, Dylan noticed he was looking back at him with a satisfied smile.
"Where'd your girlfriend go?" Joel asked him with a mocked tone. He looked around and shrugged. "I guess you will have to lead the way, Dyl."
"The name is Dylan," he growled at him and slung his bag onto his shoulder. "Now come on newbie before I'm late."
He didn't wait for Joel to grab his bag. Instead he made his way swiftly to the door not worrying if the other was following. But to his dismay when Dylan looked back, Joel was right behind him. This kid was like a parasite that he couldn't get rid of no matter how hard he tried to shake him off. He had no choice, but to carry him around since his so called girlfriend left him with babysitting duty.
The math room wasn't too far away, thank god, but once there he noticed someone wasn't. Where the heck does she disappear to? He sighed and went to his seat next to hers. Joel wasn't too far behind him and sat on the other side of her empty desk.
Just as the bell rang for class to start, Ryan had appeared through the door and seemed a little flustered to him. He decided not to question it and only gave her a smile when she sat down in her seat. She seemed like she didn't want to talk about it and he wasn't about to push. Grabbing his notebook from his bag, he kept a close eye on Joel to make sure he didn't do anything else that he didn't approve of.
"Good morning class. Today we will be reviewing for next Monday's test," Mrs. Dodson said as she walked into class and started to write on the board. "Five points of extra credit will be awarded to the person with the most correct answers on the review."
With that announcement, a murmur went around the class as people started to sit up and pay attention. That definitely caught Dylan's attention. Extra credit would be nice to have considering math was not his favorite subject. He looked over at Ryan and with a smile leaned her way.
"Are you going to get that extra credit?" He asked with certainty in his voice. Dyan was pretty sure that she would get the extra credit. She always did and with that photographic memory, there was no way she couldn't.
She nodded. "Yeah. I'll try to. I could definitely use it," she said to him with a smile. That kind of surprised him. She was great in every subject. He was almost certain she at least had an A in the class.
Although he knew he wouldn't win against her, he was still going to try at least. He turned to talk to her again when he noticed she was whispering to Joel. Dylan clenched his fist and turned to the board. That kid was driving him insane. Did he not catch the hint that he was her boyfriend?
The teacher passed out mini dry erase boards, markers, and erasers for the students to write the problems out on and solve.
Once everyone had their board and made sure their markers worked, the teacher announced their question, "Okay. The first question: Find the area and perimeter of this shape." A rhombus was shown on the class whiteboard through the projector. They were given five minutes to complete the task and the first person with the correct answer got a point.
"The area is 16 feet. The perimeter is 24 feet," Joel announced from his seat holding up his dry eraser board in the process. Three minutes. And Dylan had just circled his answer! If he was just a second faster than he would have gotten it right. He glanced over at Joel when he noticed Ryan giving him a congratulations on getting the right answer. That was it. It was game on from this point.
Mrs. Dodson came around and checked everyone's answers to make sure they were all correct. Returning back to the board, she continued giving out questions. The rest of the class went a little like this:
Joel: 4,509,694.82!
Dylan: 2,607!
Joel: The square root of 568!
Dylan: 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197....8! 978!
Joel: Actually it's 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971...
The audacity he had to correct him. Memorizing pi was hard enough and being corrected was even worse. Joel definitely had it out for him. They haven't even spoken more than a few words and Dylan already knew Joel was wanting to start something.
After about thirty minutes of non stop questions and silent competitions, the teacher finally spoke up.
"Time for the challenge question," Mrs. Dodson said happily as if she were introducing the world's most famous celebrity.
"I bet I can get it right before you," Joel quietly said catching Dylan's eyes with a smirk. He wanted to strangle the guy right then and there. Wipe that stupid smirk off his face and tell him to go back to wherever he came from. Alas he couldn't because Ryan was right in between them. What would she think if he strangled Joel? She'd probably hate him. Or dump him. Or never kiss him again. Maybe even call the principal down. Weighing the pros and the cons in his head, he decided not to this time. But another move and he might.
"Really now? Twenty bucks says you can't," Dylan challenged with a determined look on his face. The challenge question was most likely a word problem and he was terrific at word problems. They came easily which sounds strange to a person who dislikes math. He had this in the bag.
"I bet one kiss from Ryan that I can solve it right first," Joel countered with a devilish grin. That statement crossed the line. No one bets a kiss from his girlfriend. But if he backed out now, he knew he would never live it down.
"Stop it, you two!" Ryan whispered at the two of them right as Dylan said, "You're on." They reached across her desk and shook hands on it and awaited the question. He had to win this. He could not let that slimy, scumbag kiss his girlfriend.
After a brief countdown, the teacher presented the class with the rather long word problem. This time they weren't allowed to use calculators or refer to their notes. Since it was the last question it shouldn't be too difficult after all.
Dylan read the paragraph in five seconds tops and was already onto solving the problem. Slowly the sound of markers on erase boards filled the room as everyone tried to get this question right. It didn't matter to him if anyone else got the answer first as long as he could beat Joel.
Looking at his work, Dylan was about to circle the answer he got before second guessing himself.
'Is the answer 13?'
He thought about it and went back through his work. To his dismay, he got a different answer the second time around. His leg started to bounce as he looked over at Ryan. She looked up at him and gave him almost a look of disapproval. Like he was doing something wrong in trying to out do Joel. Dylan wanted to tell her that he had started it, not him.
He didn't have time to ponder over it too long, when he noticed Joel had already finished and circled his answer. His heart started to hammer as he looked down at the two different answers he had.
13. 12. 13. 12. 13?
In a panic as the time was running out, he circled 12 and sat back in his chair to wait for the teacher to reveal the answer. All he could do now was wait and hope that his math skills didn't fail him now.
Dylan felt sick to his stomach. The answer that showed in red on the board was no other than the stupid number thirteen. The answer he got the first time. The one he second guessed himself on. The one number that set him between winning and losing.
Turning in his chair to look over, Joel was wearing the biggest grin he had seen since Cole, his older brother, got accepted to the Indiana University Jacobs school of Music. The most impressive and diverse music school in the entire world.
As he leaned in to kiss Ryan, Dylan looked away and quickly erased his board. Stupid bet. Stupid question. Stupid school. Sinking back in his chair, he heard a chuckle coming from his left. Knowing it was Joel's, he balled up his fist and waited with anguish for the school day to end.