Primed: A Kayla Madison Story

Primed Part 24

 FOURTEEN: TODD PRIME: HOT OR NOT?

After hurting Jake...again, I felt like an unwanted termite in a wood house. No, I wasn't even worthy of that distinction. I was more like one of those microscopic protists that lived in a termite's gut. Or better yet, the bacteria that dwelled inside the protists that lived inside the termite's gut.

In spite of my current feelings, I needed to focus my attention on Todd.

Todd. I was too shy to speak to the Todd back home but here I had to convince his counterpart to help us. And, quite frankly, I was a bit upset I had to talk to him when I wanted to repair my relationship with Jake. Whoa! I had a valid reason to speak to Todd and I wished I could find Jake instead.

From a blog for stressed-out-teens last year, I had learned some breathing exercises because I thought I had been stressed back then. Ah, to be only that stressed again. I decided to practice what I could remember—which wasn't much.

I went to a small, partially hidden area of the courtyard. I found my center of gravity, closed my eyes, and moved my arms slowly up and down as I took deep breaths. In the distance, some students asked each other what I was doing. It must have been a bizarre scene to them, but I tuned them out.

Trying to focus on my breathing helped block out the reality of speaking to Todd—any Todd—at least temporarily. It also helped me to stop dwelling on my disastrous interactions with Jake.

The bell rang for class and my legs suddenly felt heavy as I headed toward math class. So much for the breathing exercises. I entered, sat in my chair, and mentally practiced in my mind what I would say to Todd—over and over.

"Miss Madison," Mr. Henderson said in a loud voice. How was it that he, on either world, always seemed to know when I was not paying attention in class? I was surprised he was doing any teaching in class until I saw the principal walk into the room. Nothing like getting observed to get Henderson motivated enough to actually teach.

"Huh? I mean, can...could you repeat the question...please?" I asked.

"What is the answer to problem four?"

"Y equals 42." I resisted the urge to snicker that, yet again, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy got it right. According to it, 42 was "The answer to life, the universe, and everything," which apparently also included Mr. Henderson's math problems in both dimensions.

"Correct." Mr. Henderson turned back to the board and wrote some more problems and explained in excruciating detail the proofs for something. I didn't think he cared if we understood what he was doing because he seemed so caught up in his own mathematical realm. He didn't even need us. He would have been content to have just the chalk board. He failed to notice when the principal left.

As Mr. Henderson continued to explain his math proof, I decided on my next course of action. I wrote on a piece of paper, "I have a question about your science fair project. Meet me at the center pine tree in the courtyard after class. Kayla." I folded the paper into quarters and, although I wished I had a better opener, I had to get the information from Todd. At least it wasn't the Todd from my world. This Todd had no idea how shy I was back home. Who knows, maybe I was even intriguing to him since everyone thought I was from back East. It wasn't like there was a speedy way to travel on this world so visitors from the other side of the country were a big deal. Somehow that strange logic gave me the courage to go forward with my plan.

I was relieved we used pencils in math on this world as it gave me an excuse to use the strange copper sharpener with oversized gears and hand crank located on the other side of the room. I made my way there with the note in my hand while Mr. Henderson continued to face the board. I placed the paper on Todd's desk and quickly sharpened my pencil before returning to my seat.