Plastic

CH. 8

CH.8

Cody hesitantly raised his hands to tap Alejandro's shoulder. And right when he found the confidence to, the bell rang and it was time for lunch. He sighs, standing up defeatedly and walks towards the door, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Cody," He turns to Ms. Norbury who hands him a paper. "I need your parents to sign this so they know that you're failing."

Cody bit his lip and frowned, "Failing?"

His teacher leaned on her desk with her elbows, "You know what's weird about your quizzes, Cody," she started, "Is that all the work is right, and just the answers are wrong." Cody looked away from her, feeling uncomfortable. "Really?" Ms. Norbury nodded. "Cody, I know that having a boyfriend may seem like the most important thing in the world right now, but you don't have to dumb yourself down to get guys to like you."

How would you know? Cody thought. That woman was like... On her third divorce.

Ms. Norbury rolled her eyes, seeming to know his thoughts, "I know, 'how would you know?' right? I'm divorced and broke. The only guy that ever calls my house is Randy from Chase Visa..." She sighs and takes a bite from her lunch. "And you know why? It's 'cause I'm a pusher. I push people. I pushed my husband into law school, the worst mistake of my life... Pushed myself into working three jobs," She stared intensely into Cody's eyes. "And now, I'm gonna push you. Because I know you're smarter than this."

Cody had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes so far back into his skull that they'd stay there forever. Instead, he put on his politest smile, "Thank you, Ms. Norbury. And if there's anything I can do for extra credit, please let me know." He didn't wait for an answer before walking out of class, but he didn't miss his teacher yelling "I will!" behind him as he left.

-

"What took you so long? Gwen already left." Noah gave Cody an unamused look as he slammed open his locker and threw his math textbook in it. Cody groans, he felt like he was about to burst a blood vessel.

"Dude, that bitch is crazy! I hate her, it's totally her fault that I'm failing!" Cody didn't bother trying to control his volume, but at least everyone was mostly gone from the hallways. He sighs deeply in an attempt to regain his composure and glances at Noah, "But, I'm flattered you waited for me."

Noah ignores him and snorts, "You're failing? You're failing math?" Cody glares at him, "It's not funny." Which only earns him a chuckle. Cody scoffs and turns back to his locker to shut it, before noticing an envelope at the bottom. He reaches down to pick it up, seeing it's sealed with some tacky heart sticker. He giggles, being 'Plastic' did bring him a lot of attention, but this was new. He elbows Noah, "Check it out," Noah looks down at what Cody was holding in his hands and his eyes widen, "Is that..?"

Cody doesn't answer him, instead tearing open the envelope and pulling out a neatly folded piece of paper. He unfolded it, his eyes scanning over the paper, and it didn't take him long to start laughing.

"Dude, are you kidding me? This is so corny... I mean, seriously? Comparing my eyes to the ocean... How original." He shoved the paper in front of Noah's eyes, it was a poem. Noah lightly flushed and frowned at it, "Who do you think wrote it?" Cody shrugs, "Some random girl, probably."

Noah nodded slowly. "Anyway. I was thinking we could hang out tonight. Gwen's gonna be busy, but we could get some pizza and chill at my place." Cody pouts, "I wish... but I'm gonna be hanging out with the girls. Sorry. But I'll call you after." Noah nodded and told him it was fine, but there was something behind his eyes that Cody couldn't decipher.