Stumbling Through

Challenge Accepted

Chapter Four

 

“Fancy seeing you here.” I said knelt down in front of where Derek was sitting, a hand shielding my eyes from the blazing sun, even though it was the middle of Autumn and the air was cold.

It was strange but once I started noticing Derek I was noticing everywhere (embarrassingly even in classes). I was feeling more and more ashamed that I hadn’t noticed him to begin with.

So I wasn’t completely surprised when I spotted him leaning on a tree near the back edge of the school.

He was alone with his head leant down in concentration. I probably wouldn’t have noticed him if it wasn’t for his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle hat, which made me feel a bit better.

He lifted his head, looking surprised before he gave me a soft smile, which I returned with a full blown one. “Hey?” His statement came out as a question, as he pulled out one of his headphones so that he could talk freely with me.

I grinned at him. “Hey.” I repeated settling myself down cross legged by his side. “Want to hang out?” I asked forwardly, deciding not to bother with beating around the bush and trying to start up a conversation more naturally.

He looked at me strangely but nodded his head. “Uh...Sure?” He mumbled quietly, pulling up his legs to make more room for me. I put down my bag where his legs had been and turned to face him. I purposfully ignored his hestiation and accepted 'his invitation' to sit down.

The air was a little awkward but I completely ignored it. “You look as bored as I feel.” I told him honestly, looking down on his lap to see that he had been doing homework. “Maths.” I commented with a grimace. “That explains it.”

He chuckled lowly, making my smile widen in response.

“Math’s isn’t so bad.” He shrugged, looking down to complete the question. I watched in wrapped fascination as he quickly worked through the problem with mind-blowing ease.

“Whoa.” I said shaking my head. “I think my head would literally explode if I tried that.”

He gave me a light-hearted smile.  “That would spice up the school newspaper.” He joked with an awkward laugh. I ignored the fact that he sounded unsure with his own joke and went with it.

I found myself laughing with him. “I can see the head lines: Death By Maths.” I moved my hands side to side with each word. “Not to mention the look on Mrs Goodwin’s face. Think of the mess it would make of her maths book.” I pulled a shocked face.

Derek nodded. At the beginning of the year our math’s teacher (that I recently discovered we shared) Mrs Goodwin devoted an entire lesson on lecturing us on how she would not accept the defacing of schoolbooks and how every student would pay a fine if they so much as bent the cover.

“She’d have a heart attack.” He agreed with a sombre expression.

“Yeah, I would be glad not to be alive to see her go off. She's a complete perfectionist nutcase. You know Toby Reece? He took an entire two weeks off to avoid her after she yelled at him because he got a coffee stain on his homework.”

He snorted loudly. “Seriously?” He asked, loosening up a little into the flow of the conversation, making me smile.

“Yeah. He tried manning it up by telling everyone he was recovering from a football injury.” I grinned, thinking back on it. “But I didn’t tell you that.” I said. Jenifer was a bad influence, her gossiping had become contagious.