The Elements Trilogy: The Tertiaries

Chapter 3

Math was the worst, Arizona thought, furiously erasing the problem she was currently trying to solve. No, scratch that. Math was okay, math was fun, even. She could solve simple math problems in her head quickly, and could easily calculate the perfect angle and speed to throw a football down the field. Calculus, on the other hand, was the worst. She didn't understand it at all. And it was the first day! Who gives an assignment on the first day of school?

Arizona frowned down at the dizzying array of numbers and letters scattered around on the paper in front of her. She rubbed her left temple, feeling a headache start to develop. Just as she was about to give up, the door to the classroom opened, and there was a collective sigh of relief as every student in the class looked up, grateful for a distraction.

Skylar, or as the school knew her, Swim Coach Hastings, stood in the doorway, looking slightly sheepish. "Sorry to interrupt Mr. Kelley, but I was hoping to borrow Arizona for a few moments."

Arizona was no more than two inches out of her seat before Mr. Kelley's snobbish voice stopped her. "Coach Andersen, I was under the impression that your husband was Arizona's coach, not you. Is your daughter not a member of our football team?"

A tight smile stretched over Skylar's face. "It's Coach Hastings, actually, so as not to confuse me with my husband. And yes, Arizona is the first string quarterback on our football team, but this is not a sports related matter."

"Hmm." Mr. Kelley steepled his fingers and leaned back in his seat. "Very well. Make it quick."

Arizona darted out of her seat and across the classroom, avoiding the eyes of her classmates who were wondering if it was an emergency or simply an act of favoritism that Arizona was called out of the classroom. Wondering the same thing herself, Arizona closed the door behind her and looked at her mother questioningly. "Is everything alright?"

"Where is he?" Skylar demanded, staring up at her daughter. "The baby, where is he?"

"What? The baby?" Arizona repeated, confused. "Momma, Dad dropped Ace off at the daycare this morning, you know that."

"No, no," Skylar quickly shook her head, causing the whistle around her neck to swing back and forth. "Not my baby, the baby. The baby baby!"

"Ohh," Arizona nodded in understanding. "I haven't seen him yet either. I think he's in Mr. O' Connell's Russian class right now."

"Russian?" Skylar seemed surprised, then absolutely beamed with pride. "He's so smart! I could barely learn to speak Spanish and here he is learning his fourth language."

"You speak Spanish?" Arizona asked, momentarily sidetracked.

"Speak might be too strong of a word." Skylar let out a small laugh. "I don't know much, and am much more fluent in English and ASL. Anyway, I'm off to see him. Come with?"

Arizona grimaced. "I wish. But we're taking a pretest and Mr. Kelley is kind of a..." Arizona stopped speaking, and instead opted to make a hand motion that was considered very rude in American Sign Language.

Skylar simply chuckled and gave her daughter a playful shove. "Get back to class. I'll see you after school, okay?"

***

The door to Connor's AP Russian class creaked open, and everyone looked up, slightly less relived than Arizona's calculus class was. When they saw Skylar just outside the doorway, several of the students on the swim team rose halfway out of their seat, expecting to be taken out of class to talk to their coach.

Instead, a wide grin broke out onto Skylar's face as she spotted the one kid in the back who didn't look up from the worksheet they were working on. "Connor," she called out.