The Problem Child

Scores

"Josh, Josh! Mr. Goodman is going to chew me out" Charlie deadpanned as the him and Joshua made their way into room no.128.

"Come on, dude. Relax! It's you, afterall! How low can your scores get?" Josh tried easing up his tension a bit. He wondered if Charlie really messed up this time.

"I... I didn't study a thing that day, Josh! You--You don't get it!"

"Well... Maybe, Mr. Goodman would not do anything farther than fix you with a deadly glare" Josh tried his best to sound convincing. "Like you have told me once, Mr. Goodman isn't that bad of a person, you know" he shrugged.

"Oh, shut up, Joe. Stop using my own words against me"

"Dude, I didn't mean to tease you or anuthing. I was just speaking facts. He really isn't that bad of a person... Like, for real!" Josh said, throwing up his arms.

Charlie muttered something barely audible under his breath, as he turned the door knob to the class room and stepped inside.

The first pair of guys that Charlie's eyes landed on was Trevor and Conner.

Conner was enthusiastically waving at them and gesturing for them to go and occupy the empty seats in front of him, that he was most probably saving for them. While Trevor was just staring at them with a blank expression as he sat there with his legs on top of his desk.

"Yo, wassup, Char? Why the long face?" Conner asked Charlie, as soon as he sat down.

"Mr. Goodman most probably would bring the papers of the last test with him. He is afraid he would disappoint the teacher" Joshua answered for him with a shrug.

Conner mock-gasped. "Ooh, what happened to the Golden-boy of the class?!"

It actually gave Charlie an uneasy feeling. The fact that Trevor scoffed at it didn't help either.

It is because of you, why I'm like this, you arse!

Charlie just ignored him.

"Trust me, Char. It will turn out just fine" Josh said reassuringly as he saw Charlie shift in his seat uncomfortably.

Charlie wished he could find those words reassuring as they should. But he was such a nerd and he really hated to disappoint his teacher.

Another few minutes of anxious waiting and the teacher stepped into the classroom.

The formerly noisy class went silent in a matter of seconds.

Soon, the teacher started handing over the students their papers.

And Charlie anxiously waited for his turn as he drummed his fingers on the desk and tapped his foot in a fast rhythm.

•••

"Charles Carlton" Mr. Goodman called out in an unusually grim voice. He handed over Charlie his paper with a frown.

Charlie glanced into his paper and almost had a heart attack. A big 76/100 was circled in red ink on the side of his paper.

"Man..." Joshua was at a loss of words. He couldn't believe Charlie, a kid who scored full marks on every test he ever took, scored lower than himself.

"Gah!" Charlie dumped his head in his paper and cursed under his breath.

Josh pursed his lips and turned around in his seat to see Trevor and Conner fighting over something.

"Hey, what?" He encountered.

"This son of a bitch scored well!" Trevor whisper -yelled.

Josh gazed into Conner's paper and saw his score was 61/100. Decent.

"How much did you score?" He asked Trevor.

"32" Trevor shrugged as he pulled hard at Conner's hair, causing him to yelp.

The whole class turned their attention on the duo.

"Silence!" Mr. Goodman eyed the both of them angrily.

Trevor eyed Josh and gestured at Charlie, asking him about his scores.

Josh pursed his lips and Trevor almost understood why Charlie was being unusually gloomy.

He knew that the teacher was definitely going to call him to his office. Maybe, he should go and see what's up, he thought. Charlie was sure acting weird lately and if he could find a reason to bully him, that would be really great.

The fact that Charlie once made fun of him for liking yellow, still made his eye twitch.

Soon, the bell rang and the teacher got up from his chair.

Just as he was about to walk out of the door, he looked back inside the classroom.

"Charlie, come with me" he said with a grim expression and Charlie unwillingly got up from his spot and followed the teacher.

A little while later, Trevor too walked out towards the teacher's office, ignoring Conner who kept petering him about going  where the both of them went to smoke in peace.