West Ark High

Moving Up the Totem Pole

"So what did you two do in school today?"

Clarke looked up from her phone which she had concealed in her lap. Her mother had her elbows on the table, hands laced together expectantly. Clarke set her fork down on her plate as she slowly chewed the hunk of steak that had been setting in her cheek. "Not much."

Abby rolled her eyes while Marcus stifled a chuckle. "Something interesting must have happened," she insisted.

Clarke looked to Jasper for help, her eyes warning him to speak up instead of her. He shook his head and Clarke's features stiffened threateningly; she didn't want to engage in conversation so as far as she was concerned, he should take one for the team this time.

She was perfectly aware of the exasperated expressions of her mother and Marcus as they watched them, but she was more focused on getting Jasper to say something. Every time she silently scolded him, he'd shake his head violently and then fork mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Jasper," Marcus said after what must've been a minute of silent glaring, "anything new in school?"

Clarke grinned, satisfied that she didn't have to answer. Jasper sat up a bit straighter in his chair. "I signed up for a robotics tournament with Monty. Prize is ten G's plus college scholarships," he said proudly.

"That's great, sweetie." Clarke watched her mom's eyes light up in delight. "What kind of project are you and Monty planning on making?"

Jasper shrugged. "Not sure yet. I think Monty is drawing up some ideas tonight."

"Well that's great, Jasper." Marcus turned toward Clarke, a twinkle in his eyes. "And what're you doing in student council, Clarke? Anything interesting?"

Clarke clutched her phone in her lap, forcing herself to ignore the text messages waiting to be read. "Um, we have to finish planning homecoming and our next project is putting together a Quiz Bowl team to compete for the school."

Marcus grinned brightly and Clarke tried for a small smile. She had always had a rocky relationship with Marcus—the divorce between her parents had been hard enough on her, but when her mom started dating again Clarke didn't want anything to do with Marcus or Jasper.

In the years since, she'd gotten used to Marcus being around and grew to develope a strong affection for Jasper. Even though she made it very clear that she didn't hold a grudge against Marcus anymore, he still continued to try hard to win her over.

He always made sure her favorite cereal was in the house, he made Jasper do the majority of the chores around the house, and he tried to take an interest in her career choice as a doctor. Not that she was complaining about having an endless supply of Special K, but Clarke wished he didn't try so hard all of the time.

"Quiz Bowl?" Jasper asked around a bite of steak. "What's that? A bowling game?"

Abby said, "It's an academic-type tournament."

"So it's like Jeopardy?"

"Very similar."

Clarke's leg vibrated suddenly and she tuned out of the conversation to read the last few texts that had come through.

6:32pm.

haha i don't know about that.

Finn.

6:45pm.

Clarke? You still there?

Finn.

6:49pm.

Did you do the math hw?

Harper.