Field - ★ - Brance

- Part Three -

The weekend had passed, it's Monday and Bruce had just woken up. He groaned as his alarm went off. He climbed out of bed and groggily collected all his stuff. He dressed himself in a nice white T-shirt with forest green accents going down the sleeves, and some baggy light blue jeans. He put his belt on and put all his stuff in his bag. Downstairs he grabbed some fruit and put it in his bag, along with a sandwich. 

He was normally the first to wake up, so it was regular that nobody was awake. He left the house and carefully closed the door behind him. He climbed onto his bike and made his way over to school. He liked being early so he could just sit on his bench while all the other people arrived in a rush. He liked to smile to them as they passed him and greet them with a friendly "hello!". 

He sat down on his bench and read through his notebook, trying to prepare a bit more for the test he was about to have. People started arriving, Bruce simply greeted everyone who seemed to recognise him. He glanced at the people walking past him, all on their way to the entrance. He suddenly saw a familiar face in the crowd. Vance Hopper.  They made eye contact and Bruce quickly looked away, perhaps a bit too quickly. Vance also looked away and walked right past him.

Bruce had been wondering about their weird interaction on Saturday, he had totally expected Vance to punch him after he said something so blunt to him. But instead he just opted to scare him off. He stood up and started walking towards history class, the class where he would have to make that test. He slowly entered the classroom, knowing that in this class him and Vance sat next to each other. He walked to the back of the class and sat down next to Vance, trying his hardest not to look at him. The teacher walked around the class, passing out all the tests.

He turned to speak at the front of the class after handing out all the papers. "You'll have forty-five minutes to finish the test. Anybody caught cheating will be send to the principal's office and will get an F as their score. You can all start now." The teacher sat down and Bruce scanned over his test. He recognised most questions immediately due to all the studying he did. He glanced over at Vance, whose eyes where glued on the test, and his brows were furrowed. Bruce turned back to his own paper.

Around ten minutes pass and Bruce is having quite an easy time with the test. He's focused on writing down his answers when suddenly from the corner of his eyes he sees Vance pass a note without looking his way. Bruce glared up at the teacher who was working on papers at his desk. He quickly took the note and read it.

"H elP mE ouT Or eLse"

Vance's handwriting was messy, quite exactly what you'd expect from a punk like him. Bruce inspected the note, kind of struggling to read Vance's handwriting. He read it and figured that he'd rather fail the test than have another beating from him. He glanced at Vance's paper to see which question he was at. "Question 5..?" Bruce was surprised since he found the first 10 questions more than simple, but he started copying down all the answers he had figured out so far. He made sure to cover the paper so the teacher couldn't see. After scribbling down his answers he slid the paper over to Vance carefully-

"Yamada." A stern voice echoed through the classroom and most heads turned their way to the sound of the voice. Bruce looked up in shock as the teacher grasped the paper from their table. He quickly read the note. "So," He loudly exclaimed. "Cheating on the test I see?"  The teacher's eyes darted from Bruce's face to Vance's. "You are both more than welcome to get up and go for a nice visit to the principals office." A few people in the class had a small chuckle which quickly died down as Vance gave them a death glare. Bruce was clearly nervous knowing he had just failed the test and gotten himself in trouble at the same time. Vance had a rather calm look, he didn't mind failing the test because he knew he would've regardless and getting in trouble was not an issue to him either.

Both boys stood up, Vance shoving his chair back. The sound cut through the air in the silent classroom. Bruce walked to the exit of the classroom, avoiding looking at anybody out of embarrassment. Vance walked behind him. They both headed to the principal's office, walking next to each other in silence. When they arrived the receptionist directed them to the empty office. "The principal will be there in a bit. Just take a seat in the office." She told the boys. They both entered the room and Vance let himself fall into the mental chair as Bruce closed the door and sat down on the other one.

A few minutes passed and there was no sign of the principal. Bruce grew more and more anxious, his knee bobbing up and down. He looked down at his lap, not knowing what else to do. "Nervous?" The silence was interrupted by Vance asking a question. Bruce looked up at him, but Vance was looking straight at the principals desk even though he still wasn't there. "Uhm, yes. I've never been here before." Bruce replied.

"I'm here all the time. They don't tell your parents." Bruce wondered why Vance was suddenly talking to him. Was it because he helped him?  His thought process was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Both of them watched as the principal walked in and sat down at his desk. "Well. Turns out you two were caught cheating." There followed nothing but silence. The principal awkwardly cleared his throat. "So. Hopper doesn't surprise me, but Yamada? I thought you where our star student." Bruce returned his gaze to his lap, looking down in shame. "There won't be a big punishment," The principal proceeded. "Except you will both have an F as your test score."

Bruce wanted to speak, but as soon as he tried to Vance muttered something up. "Yamada did nothing wrong." The principal looked over at Vance's, who's arms where crossed as he sat slumped back in his chair. "What did you say, Hopper?" The principal asked. Vance spoke up again in an agitated way. "Yamada did nothing wrong." The principal seemed to take a second to think. "Is that so?" He asked. "I forced him to write down the answers." Vance confessed. Bruce looked up in shock. "Why is Vance helping me? Is this some sort of joke?" His mind was racing while he watched the conversation unfold. 

"Yes. So give me that grade. But Yamada deserves to be graded fairly." He spat out. "I understand." The principal replied. He had already assumed something was up, since he had never expected Yamada and Hopper to come to his office together. "You can both leave now. I'll make sure to grade you an F, Vance." The principal said. Vance quickly got up and walked out the office, while Bruce sat there for a second processing what just happened. He then followed him out of the office.

(1247 words)