The Wallflower of Parkview High

Chapter Twenty One

"Then you move the variable over to the right and subtract 12.2 from 32.75 and then divide this by blah blah blah and multiply your answer by blah blah blah..."

I sighed softly to myself as Mr. Moore droned on and on about numbers, and variables, and moving who knows what to who knows what and other things that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't use in whatever future job I wanted to have. Seriously, whoever thought of math and made it a thing must be the devil themselves.

I averted my attention from Mr. Moore's words and instead continued to doodle mindless shapes and scribbles in my math notebook. That was literally the only thing that kept me awake at this point.

"Noah, do you know the answer to this problem?"

I looked up from where I was busy with my current doodle (a mean looking person that I labled "Zander" with a speech bubble that said "I am so much better at sports than you losers, hahaha!") and up at the problem displayed on the smartboard.

½ π2x L2W

I just sat there and stared at it for a minute, not knowing what to do.

"Well?"

"I don't know-"

"Were you too busy drawing?" Mr. Moore asked.

"No." I lied.

"I saw your pencil moving when you were supposed to put it down and listen to the lesson."

"I-It-I don't-" I stuttered.

Then to my horror, Mr. Moore walked over to my desk and snatched up my math notebook.

"Let's see what your drawing is that is so important to distract you from the lesson." he sneered.

"Please give it back!" I begged. He ignored me and glanced down at my notebook, his mouth forming into a cruel smile.

"Who's Zander?!" he asked, shrieks of laughter ringing across the room.

When I didn't say anything, he made his way to the front of the classroom taking my notebook with him

"I'll take this, thank you very much!" he said, carelessly throwing my notebook on his desk.

"B-But-" I protested.

"You can get this back tomorrow after class, Mr. Barlowe. Now pay attention or there will be consequences."

~~~~~~~~~

Later that day, I was making my way to the front gates of the school when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Looking at the screen, I saw that I got a text notification from Dad. I clicked on it and read his text:

Noah, I'm running late after having a doctor's appointment today. Do you mind waiting at school until I get there?

I texted him back saying that I wouldn't mind and received a reply saying that he'll text me when he's there.

After I put my phone back into my pocket, I stood there and took a look around. There were less people in the school now, which was good, but I didn't want to sit directly in front of the gates looking like a fool. I looked around for a place to go and eventually my eyes landed on the library. Making my way towards it, I looked through the see-through door and saw that there was a small group of people inside, all talking to each other.

"Never mind..." I muttered to myself. I stood there for a bit longer, thinking of where else I could go while waiting for Dad that didn't have many people in it. After a few minutes, an answer popped into my head.

The bleachers.

Alicia had said that one time that not that many people go out to the bleachers during break and lunch, so why wouldn't it be the same after school?