Scholarly

August Again - The Thing About Biology

Hey, guys! Just FYI, this is likely going to alternate between Vivian and Sydney's perspectives. Again, I hope you're enjoying this. This chapter is packed with allusions to my real life and people/events/things at my school, so if you go to my school, this is probably about 97% more interesting and also far easier to follow, but I hope you're enjoying this even if you have no idea who I am. *derpy grin*

"Hello, class, and welcome to Honors Biology," droned a teacher who looked far too exhausted for the first day of school. "My name is Mr. Olszewski-" He wrote his name, which was probably going to take some getting used to, on the whiteboard –" and this year, you will be getting a thorough introduction to the principles of biology. But first, I have to get you seated in order." Several students groaned.

Mr. Olszewski gestured to a long table with three chairs in the back of the class. "First desk: Kyle Dushenski, Talia Marquez, and Shannon Finnegan." He pointed to the desk in front of that one. "Second desk: Jessica Shapiro, Maya Collins, and Jeremy Ahn." Then the next one. "Third desk: Dara Singh, Margaret Watson, and Tristan Myers." He shifted his gaze to the desks on the other side of the room. "Fourth desk: Sydney Johnson, Ana Sofia Perez, and Brandon Morgan." Then the one behind. "Fifth row: Ricardo Alvarado, Daniel Walker and Caleb Walker." (Twins, probably, Vivian observed.) And the last row. "And, lastly, sixth row: Jana Kovacs, Leah Bautista and Vivian Pham."

Vivian moved to the back desk and sized up her seatmates. Jana, to her left, was tiny and blonde and staring down their other deskmate. If Vivian had to guess, she'd say that Jana looked like the type who wouldn't be doing much talking this year. Leah, to her right, she had already met. She was very friendly, and Vivian had noted that she carried herself very professionally. She admired that, and couldn't help but wondering if it would carry over into her academic performance.

"Now that you're all in your assigned seats," Mr. Olszewski deadpanned, "please take out your laptops." The students removed their laptops from their bags. "You were introduced to the Limerick software at orientation, right?" They nodded. Limerick was a website where teachers posted their assignments and grades. Getting everyone signed into Limerick had taken up a large chunk of orientation.

Mr. Olszewski began to pace. "Excellent. Log into Limerick and click on the Honors Biology page. You should find the class syllabus on the home page." They did, except for one student, Ricardo, who had far more trouble locating the syllabus – which was, indeed, exactly where the teacher had said it would be – than the others. Vivian opened the PDF and groaned (internally, of course).

It was twelve pages long, and if she knew anything, she knew that Mr. Olszewski would be reading them the whole thing (out loud). Vivian was reminded yet again of why she hated first days. No real work, just an hour of useless instruction. You couldn't even watch low-budget cop dramas without the volume on your laptop – teachers, for reasons unknown, only ever cared if you were paying attention on the day they saw it fit to bore you out of your mind with the syllabus. Sure enough...

"This class will give students an introduction to the basic principles of biology. Class objectives include memorization the criteria for life, major organelles of plant and animal cells, the process of photosynthesis, the steps of cellular respiration..."

Vivian normally adored science classes, but this one already had her bored to tears. Her eyelids started feeling heavy around the time Mr. Olszewski was lecturing the class in unnecessary detail on how label their binder tabs. Leah elbowed her. "I'm about two seconds from falling asleep," she whispered.

"Me, too. And I thought this was going to be my favorite class," Vivian lamented.

"Next week, we'll begin work on –" the bell interrupted Mr. Olszewski, and his beleagured charges began to get up. "Wait...I'm not done yet!" Nobody acknowledged him, so he tried shouting. "I DON'T CARE IF THE BELL RANG, THERE WILL BE NO GETTING UP UNTIL I SAY SO!" But it was a lost cause. Everyone was already out the door.