Miltic Episode One of Volume One

Tedious (Sandra)

Tedious

Sandra

My fingers thrum on my desk; chipping away at my black nail polish. A heavy sigh escapes me. I swear the hands on this clock tick backward. Last class of the day, and I couldn't be more bored.

Mrs. Linth's bug like eyes turn on me, the fluorescent lights glinting off her thick glasses. Layers of wrinkles pull her mouth down into a frown. "Since you seem unenthusiastic about the subject of calculus, Ms. Serling. Why don't you solve one of the problems on the board?"

Perhaps if she actually taught something that I didn't already know, I wouldn't be so bored. "A baby could do this in their sleep," I mutter as I walk up to the whiteboard. The problem: X=7x(cos x) x/2.I write out the solution through every step. If I don't, she'll deduct a point from my grade. Not that that will make it drop far. I'd still be in the ninetieth percentile.

I return the marker and take my seat again. Mrs. Linth gives a croaky clearing of her throat. "I'll see you after class, Ms. Serling."

I sigh and lean back in my chair. I did as she asked and she nevertheless has the ruler still up her ass. What does she want from me? To give a lecture on the functions of calculus and how the average person will never once use it in their day-to-day lives?

"Oh! The teacher's pet is in trouble," mutters Josh Beck, from the desk to my right. He flicks a spit ball in my direction-I wipe it off my arm-and pushes back his brown-gelled hair with his hand. He must think he looks real cool in front of Cindy Jones. Of course, Mrs. Linth won't do anything. I doubt she can see what he's doing let alone hear him.

I tap my nails against the desk again. Screw them. Everyone can just fall off the face of the planet for all I care.

Mrs. Linth tilts her glasses down. "Did you hear me, Ms. Serling?" I nod and roll my eyes. I'm not deaf, woman.

The clock goes back to ticking counter-clockwise. Gosh, it's going to be a long end to the day. I need to get home and finish my extra-credit homework.

Mrs. Linth turns to write up more problems on the bored and pick out students she doesn't think are paying attention. Most of them aren't even able to get through the first step. How did these morons make it into this class? Everyone knows Mrs. Linth doesn't actually teach anything, she expects us to read the textbook and figure it out for ourselves. It's not a class for people who have a below 120 I.Q.

Finally, after the torture of watching a boy stare at the bored for the last three minutes, the bell rings. He and the rest of us let out sighs. I gather my stuff and toss them into my bag. "Don't forget you have to speak to me Ms. Sterling," croaks the old bitch.

I sigh as I swing my bag onto my shoulder and make my way up to her desk, while everyone else gets to leave for the day. I just want to go home, or the Tattered Cover.

"Ms. Sterling. I don't appreciate your attitude while in my class. You're one of my best students, but you treat this class-and from what I hear, your other classes as well-as a joke. I really think you should start taking this more seriously. Think about your future and where you want to go with. Have you at least looked into colleges and sent in applications?"

"I was accepted into Brown and Harvard last year, Mrs. Linth. I'm going to Harvard. My future is fine. So unless you would like to challenge me with something not just out a text book-because you can't bother to actually teach something-I will continue to be someone with a bored attitude in your class. If I didn't have to attend class in order to graduate from this second rate school, I wouldn't."