When Heroes Fall

Chapter 21

When Heroes Fall

An Original Novella

CHAPTER ONE:

Matt glared at the geometry problem on the sheet of paper in front of him. It mocked him with a series of shapes and letters—all things that decidedly did not belong in math. The clock ticked with every second, and he had yet to even start the fourth problem on the unit exam. He flipped the sheet of paper over, skimming the next problem. It left him equally confused. Matt resisted the urge to groan and ran his hand over his face instead. Aiden had been right. He should have studied. He thought he could wing it, but apparently the one class period he missed was crucial to the test.

Matt looked up, glancing around the room. His teacher, an older, spindly man, sat rigidly in his own desk at the front of the room, looking over assignments from the previous period. Mr. Alvarez held a concentrated frown, red pen making quick work of the paper before moving to the next. Around him, Matt's classmates worked on their own tests with varying levels of focus. The smartest kid in class, Ross, ran over their test with an intense gaze, double checking their work and taping their stickered rainbow pen against the side of their plastic desk in an off-beat rhythm. On the other end of the room, another classmate sat with his feet on the desk and his hands shoved in his pockets. No one doubted that Dylan completed exactly zero of the questions on the test before handing it in. Everyone else fell in some place between those two.

Matt turned his head, stopping at the sight of a young man hunched over his test, pencil flicking back and forth as he worked through one of the problems. Andres. Pink flushed Matt's freckled cheeks as he watched Andres bite his lower lip and furrow his brow. His thick, dark brown hair was cut in a taper fade, highlighting his strong jaw. Andres sat straighter, sweeping a hand over his paper to get rid of eraser fragments. He glanced back enough to catch Matt's eye. A small smile tugged on his lips. Matt clapped a hand over his mouth, attempting to hide the burning sensation in his face.

Andres definitely caught him staring. Matt felt his stomach turn as if the butterflies that had lodged themselves in his gut were trying to fly out. Turning back to his test, he tried to focus on the problem in front of him. He would never hear the end of it if he flunked geometry, and he did not want to have to take the class again. Staring at the same question as before, he started scratching out an answer. Maybe Mr. Alvarez would take pity on him and give him points for at least trying. Any hope of a curve was dashed as Ross stood and placed their exam on the teacher's desk with a smile.

Matt sighed. Heavily. All the air deflated from his chest. Maybe he could just not bring home his next report card.

Matt moved to go to the next problem when the classroom door slammed open, banging against the wall hard enough to startle everyone to attention. Mr. Alvarez rose to his full height.

"Mrs. Oster, we are in the middle of an exam," he addressed the petite, middle-aged English teacher attempting to catch her breath in the doorway.

She stared at him with wide eyes, something wild and frantic in the way she looked across the room. Her normally neat bun frayed, stray strands framing her face. A tremor threatened the edge of her voice, "Turn on the news."

"What—"

"Just turn on the news, now," Mrs. Oster said. Mr. Alvarez frowned in response, his ever-present grimace growing deeper. The entire class now focused on Mr. Alvarez as he switched on the projector board. He typed for a minute, pulling up the local news feed. Their attention turned to the projector. A student close to the door flicked off the light as the computer lagged. The video stuttered to life.