The Revision [EDITING]

3: Test Scores and New Friends

<<Chapter 3: Test Scores and New Friends>>

"How'd you do on the math test?" A girl, Allison, from my math class asks me as I walk into homeroom. I'm not particularly her biggest fan, since... Well, she's kind of a bitch. She's nice (I guess) to me, but not any of my other friends.

"94 percent. You?" I try to hold back a smirk when her jaw drops to the floor. It was the final and hardest math test of the semester, and the majority of our class failed.

"H-h-how did you--w-what?" She stutters, causing me to stifle a laugh.

"I guess you can say that math is my favorite subject..." I chuckle, "how about you?" I ask again.

"I got a 96," Finn walks over to us and tells Allison before she gets a chance to respond, flashing her his classic grin. Save by the bell (or in this case, the talkative Finn), I guess, since I bet she did awful on that dumb test. Sometimes I wonder how this school decides on course placement... But hey, not my problem.

Wait, wait, holdup... Did he say 96 percent?! Ugh! That asshat always seems to somehow do better than me!

I guess, though, if you think about it.... his desire to do well in school is kind of admirable in a way. I mean, as obnoxiously picky as this may sound, I can't ever picture myself as being with a guy who isn't smart.

"Congrats," I look over and smile genuinely at Finn, but he doesn't even glance my way. Am I really that invisible? Well yeah, I guess so--judging by how he didn't even apologize for smacking right into me in the mall yesterday. What a twatwaffle.

Finn and Allison continue to chat about their mathematical endeavors for awhile, or rather Finn talks about math and Allison nods as though she actually understands a word he's saying, followed by creepy giggling. After what seems like ages, the bell finally rings, signaling the end of homeroom. Well there you go: now this time, I was saved by an actual bell. One more minute of Allison's I'm-gonna-creep-on-you-in-your-sleep giggle and I think I might've lost it.

Finn waltzes on out of the classroom with Allison quick to follow suit, and I see Caroline run up towards him from an adjacent homeroom.

Oh, joy. Finn and his personal pack of hungry piranhas. (Or leeches, really, since they can't seem to detach themselves from him.)
- - - - - - - -
"Kate, would you mind doing problem 3 on the board for me?" Mr. Stein, my physics teacher, comes over to my desk and asks me. Not trying to brag, but I think I'm probably his favorite student. He's also the nicest teacher ever! A little bit of a creep, (too touchy-feely if you ask me), but he is a nice guy.

"Sure," I smile lightly, before picking up my physics binder and walking over to the whiteboard.

I've got to say, physics is probably one of my favorite classes. Not only is it easy, but it's also my only class with Finn. Not that we sit anywhere near each other anyways... Assigned seating is literally the spawn of satan.

I grab a whiteboard marker and begin the long process of writing out the problem. To be honest, though, I love writing on whiteboards. Not sure what it is, but they're just very fun to write on.

"Yes! Kate's writing out that really hard problem, thank god..." I hear Cindy, a girl in my class who I'm pretty close to, call out before sighing in relief. This is also followed by a "Kate should just teach this class, since she'd honestly be a better teacher than this idiot..." muttered under her breath. I chuckle lightly while Mr. Stein remains oblivious on the other side of the classroom.

Like I said, he's the nicest guy ever, but Mr. Stein is kind of unobservant and not too fabulous at explaining things in a way that makes sense. Not to most people, at least.

While everyone chatters amongst themselves and Mr. Stein walks around the room to check if people have actually done their homework, I continue to do the word problem on the board. It's a pretty long problem, with lots of conversions and multiple parts to it.

Before I know it, the class is over and I head to math, taking out my binder as soon as I take a seat.

I walk over to the whiteboard at the front of the classroom, grabbing a marker and starting to write out a homework problem. This is how our maths teacher, Mrs. Paulson, has us check homework from the previous night--People just volunteer and go up to do the problems on the board, then she checks them off after everyone is finished.

"Hey, do you know how to do number five?" Matthew asks me with an innocent, pleading look on his face. He's currently working on the problem next to me on the white board... Or should I say, he's written the number "5" down but hasn't gotten to the rest yet.

"Why'd you offer to do it on the whiteboard if you didn't know how?" I ask, chuckling and shaking my head. Matthew and I are fairly close at this point, since we're both a part of that 'musical people' crowd, and he and I both go to singing competitions together every year.

"I didn't realize until just now..." He grits his teeth and raises his eyebrows, shaking his head at his own stupidity. Matt is actually really funny kid, but he can be kind of sassy, which tends to get him in trouble with some of the less-amused teachers. He has curly, almost black hair and the most amazing blue eyes I've seen to date.

"Sure, just take my paper," I chuckle again, handing him the sheet.

"Thank you so much, Kate," he runs his hands through his hair, grinning wide and sighing in relief, "you're a total life saver."

"No problem, kid." I smile again.

I smile to myself before turning back to my own problem to complete it, then head back to my assigned seat. Matthew finishes soon after, walking past me and mouthing a quick 'thank you' as he hands me back my homework sheet.

Once everyone's settled in their seats, Mrs. Paulson begins to check off the homework. She's got one of those really proper, intimidating British accents and always wears a crisp blazer along with her glasses and hair pulled back into a tight bun. I honestly wonder how she isn't in a constant state of pain with her hair pulled back so tightly.

"Who did number 5?" She suddenly bellows out. Matthew timidly raises his hand, giving me a worried glance.

"Good job, Matthew," she says to him. She then gestures at the rest of us, "You all should take a lesson from Matthew. This was a tough problem, and he figured it out by reversing the methodology and working through the problem backwards. This is what the advanced level math is made up of, the rest of you need to step up your game!" She barks, then moves on to the next homework problem.

Matthew looks at me guiltily, eyes wide, contorting his face in a hilarious manner. I try my best to stifle a laugh.

"Is something funny, Ms. Stone?" Mrs. Paulson snaps her head from the whiteboard and raises an intimidating eyebrow my way.

"Err... No, nothing's funny," I respond quickly. I glance over at Matthew like a dear caught in headlights, and he wiggles his eyebrows at me. Upon me raising an eyebrow to that, he too is covering his mouth with his hand to stifle his own laughter.

"Okay then," she rolls her eyes in annoyance over being interrupted, "moving on. Everyone take out your notebooks and open up the textbook to page 567."

I guess.... Well, I guess I just made a new friend, maybe?
- - - - - - - -
A/N: Soo.... Team Finn or Team Matthew?

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-Alex