Parallel

|27|

Dear Veronica,

After lunch, we had two periods of Math, THANKFULLY not back-to-back. We had a period of English in between. Luckily for us, English ma'am was absent. What was even better, Math sir asked the Principal if he could take the English period as the portion wasn't done yet. Principal, god bless him for this, told him that sir was supposed to have a meeting in that very period and scolded him real bad (well, so bad that we could hear the scolding from outside the staffroom) (yes, we were eavesdropping) (HOW COULD WE NOT, HE WAS THREATENING TO TAKE OUR PRECIOUS FREE PERIOD) for forgetting. He can be unpredictable at times.

We were elated when we heard.

Three periods of Math? I'd rather die, even though I do love the subject.

English period consisted of many of us finishing the given problems and relaxing afterwards. Laura and Margaret were doing this too.

(Margaret is Laura's bench mate and best friend)

Next period, sir comes again and asks a random problem to each student. I knew my answers were correct, but I couldn't help being scared. What if it was wrong? The anxiety always kills me. Failure is another fear of mine.

Sir asked me and I answered correctly. Thank god.

Next was Laura. He told her to answer question 23. She frowned, getting up and declaring the answer – 18. It was right, I got 18 too.

Sir glared her down. The whole class was looking at her and sir, who refused to reply.

"What did you say the answer was?"

"Sir... 18." She stuttered, suddenly afraid.

Sir put his pen down, and walked towards her. Shit.

He stood in front of her. "I expected this from you." He says, bluntly.

"S-Sir?"

"You came from one of the top batches of our school, yes?"

She nodded, poor thing.

"And you couldn't even solve a single problem? It's one of the easiest in the questions I have given. And you failed to even do that!"

She looked confused, and hung her head down, but I could tell she was angry. She had every right to be.

"You were one of the most excellent students in all the branches put together! And in this branch, you don't even make it to the top batch. You're happily enjoying in this, lazy, stupid batch."

Asshole didn't stop there.

"Your parents pay so much money each year for what? You people neglecting your education? Is this correct? Is this how you repay your parents?" He half-screamed.

Andrew leaned near me, ever so slowly, whispering, "Let's hope his BP rises and he gets a heart attack."

Normally, this would've made me crack up, but now, I was worried for Laura.

She didn't really take criticism too well.

I didn't understand though. 18 WAS THE CORRECT FUCKING ANSWER.

I couldn't tolerate this bullshit any longer.

"Sir," I quipped, risking my life, "But the answer is 18."

"Shut up," he said and I waited for him to come and scold me. In the one moment he looked at me, Laura caught my eye and I could see her hurt, and I. Was. Pissed.

I didn't care if this guy was my teacher. Scolding a student just because they had a grudge on them was wrong!

"Sir, why do you scold her for no reason?"

"Is she your wife? I don't think so. So, shut up." He said, still looking at Laura. I tensed up, realizing he never denied that he was scolding her for no reason. What the hell?

"Sir, she is my friend."

This time, he stared at me, so eager to grab my reaction to what he was going to say next. A stare I faced so many times before.

"Not girl friend na."

I mentally did an eye roll. Laura blushed, uncomfortable and clearly embarrassed. I was embarrassed as well, but didn't break my teacher's stare. He sighed, shaking his head, and coming towards me, knowing I won't break the sight, unlike before.

"Sebastian, I will tell you..." Here comes his infamous life advice, fuck, "Most friendships are fake these days. They last for a short time, the aftermath isn't a walk in the park. Don't risk your life for someone who won't even defend you."

"So tumblr," Tom whispered next to me, and a smile crept onto my lips.

"Sir, doubt!" The class nerd screamed from the first bench, thankfully breaking the awkward tension in the air. I've never been happier that he's called sir.

"For those easy problems also you have a doubt?" Sir groaned. He clearly wanted to give me more life advice. "Sir, doubt is in another set of problems."

Typical.

"Who told you to do the other set, huh?"

"You only said na, sir."

Burnnnnn.

Tom began giggling and I snorted. Bitch got owned by his darling student himself. Nice development!

Sir broke the gaze and went to him. The class resumed talking as if nothing'd happened and I saw Laura fall to her seat, Margaret consoling her.

Poor kid.

Sir banged on the bench. "Alright, anyone who knows the answer to that question which she failed to answer?"

"Sir!" The nerd said again.

"Yes?"

"It is 18."

"Correct answer. Good job. Sit down."

WTF just happened? Laura was just as shocked as me and her mouth was hanging open. Didn't we say the same?

Okay, now I'm pissed, but before I could say anything, Laura bet me to it.

"Sir, even I told 18, didn't I?!"

"No you didn't, sit down." Sir said, not even looking from his book.

"Sir, I did. You scold me for telling the right answer, and go into my history too, for no damn reason, but tell me to shut up for defending myself?!

Laura had everyone's attention now, even the maid waiting outside refused to come inside, sensing some drama and realizing that coming inside would only divert the heat onto her.

Sir looked startled. I'm guessing no student had ever spoken to him in this way in his 19-year career.

She checked her watch. "You know what, I'm done." She slammed the chair against the bench and went out.

Oh my god.

Oh my God.

No one'd ever just walked out of the class like that, either they bunk it altogether or sleep in the class, but no one had walked out.

The class let out a collective gasp and the maid came inside, making sir's anger short-lived. It was his fault though.

The bell rang just then, signaling the beginning of our third break.

Laura just stood up to one of the meanest teachers. She was all anyone could talk about for the remainder of the day. Sir left the class soon after, red faced.

Meanwhile, I didn't see Laura for the rest of the day.

It wasn't until I saw the –Laura was visible 30m ago-in my chat bar, that I could breathe a sigh of relief.