Upside Down Magic : High School

Chapter 3

Pepper's POV

Science was........... pretty interesting. More interesting than I thought it would be. In my opinion, science isn't the funniest subject. Some things are really fun, but I'm more of a math and Language arts person. Mrs. Smith yelled at 3 more people because they refused to say 'excuse me' when they called her name. "Yo, Mrs. Smith!" A boy calls from the back of the class. "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THAT, YOU DISRESPECTFUL CHILD! SAY 'EXCUSE ME'!" Mrs. Smith yells. That's the fourth one. All of us are working on a review packet about things we learned last year. I look down at my paper. I then look over at Elliot, who's sitting on the other side of Nory. He's on page 6! I'm still on the 2nd page! I look at Nory's paper. She's on page 4. I groan. I'm not bad at science. I passed advanced on the SOL last year. I just forgot most of this stuff over the summer! "Pepper, do you want some help?" Nory asked. "Yes please!" I sigh in relief. Nory refreshed my mind and soon, I was on page 13. Nory was also on that page. "322 pages!" I hear Clyde yelp. Nory, Elliot, and I turn around. Clyde looks at us in shock. "This packet is 322 pages! How can anyone finish it today! We only had 10 minutes of class left after attendance!" he continues. "Maybe we should work faster?" Elliot suggests. "Bax? What page are you on?" I ask. Bax looks up, glances at Nory, then looks back at his paper. "I'm on the last question" he responds, casually. My jaw drops open. "You finished 322 pages in 10 minutes! There are like 10 questions on each page!" Elliot exclaims. Bax shrugs. "That's impossible! Right, Nory? Nory?" I turn towards her. She's staring at Bax admiringly with a dreamy look on her face. Wait, does Nory like Bax? I look at Bax. He's looking at Nory too. "Wha- oh, uh. Bax, you're really smart!" Nory says, snapping out of her trance. Bax blushes slightly and thanks her. Nory smiles and turns back to me. Her smile faded. "Nory Horace, you owe me an explanation after class," I say. Nory sighs and glances at Bax. "Let's hurry and try to finish this," she says. "We have 7 minutes left of class!" Elliot whines. "Just try to, Elliot. You might not finish, but at least you'll have less to do later," Nory said. I turn back to my paper. Let's see. I have 309 pages left. 7 minute left of class. That's about 41 or 42 pages per minute. That's a lot! I take a deep breath, pick up my pencil, and fill in answers like I never have before. Elliot and Nory are speeding up too.

The bell rings after 7 minutes. I fill in the last answer and relax. Nory rubs her hand. "That was so hard! And cool!" Elliot cheers. Bax smiles. "It was fun watching you guys rush to finish," he says. The rest of the class groans. "I didn't finish!" A fuzzy wails. "You can do it for homework and during class tomorrow," Mrs. Smith said. "What! Don't we have to finish it today?" Clyde asks. "No, why would you have to do that? 322 pages in 10 minutes is most likely impossible!" Mrs. Smith chuckles. Nory smiles while watching her. I catch Bax staring at her dreamily. Does he like her too? Gasp! I totally ship them! What should their ship name be? "What are we going to do tomorrow?" Elliot groans. "At least we don't have homework," I point out. "Good point," Elliot agreed as we packed up our stuff. Elliot, Nory, Bax, and I head out the door. "What class do you all have next?" I ask them. I have language arts next period.

"Language Arts," Elliot, Bax, and Nory respond at the same time. "I have that too!" I cheer. "So do I!" Andres says, popping out of nowhere. "Wah! Geez, Andres. Where did you come from?!" Elliot exclaimed. "Oh, I came from social studies. Just down the hall, " Andres answers very seriously. I try hard not to smile. The truth is, I've had a crush on Andres since 6th grade. 5 years! Nory smirks at me. I glare at her. "Don't give me that look. Remember, you still owe me an explanation about earlier!" I deadpan. Nory looks over at a clock. "We have 4 minutes till the bell rings," She sighs. "Nory and I need to discuss something. We'll be right back! You guys can go to class!" I call as I drag Nory towards the bathroom. When we got there, I turned to her. "Nory Horace, do you have a crush on Bax?" I ask. Nory looks around and nods slowly. My glare turns into a big smile, and I start squealing. "Eek! Since when!" I exclaim. "This morning......I think. He looked so cute and he's so nice!" Nory says, smiling. "Now, what about you and Andres?" Nory asks. My smile faded. "I, uh.......kind of like him," I mutter. "How long have you liked him?" Nory asks, excitedly. "Since the beginning of 6th grade," I answer. Nory's eyes widen. "5 years?! That long?! Does he like you back?!" Nory questions, surprised. "I don't think so. Anyway, we should go now. We don't want to be late for 2nd period. Come on!" I grab Nory's hand and pull her in the direction of the Language Arts classroom. Mrs. Reeves, the teacher, gave everyone assigned seats. I ended up right behind Andres. Ms. Reeves starts telling us what we're going to learn this year and starts handing out the syllabus. I sigh and gaze at the back of Andres' head. He's never going to like me.