EXISTENCE: Recovery

CHAPTER 20: Two Idiots

Adam was absentmindedly drawing on the side of his notebook as the teacher continued lecturing. He looked over to his left side and noticed Rym brushing aside her hair as she focused her attention on the teacher and wrote intently. He paused and kept his glance on her.

Rym really is smart, huh? 

He smiled and turned back to his own notebook. He tried to focus his attention on the teacher.

Rym timidly looked out the side of her eye, her face turning red. Why was he looking at me like that?  She kept writing, a soft smile forming on her lips. 

The teacher closed his book and walked over to the center of the class. "Now, class, I know it's the second week of school, but I should warn you not to take things too lightly. You might think it's easy right now, but a couple of Netflix movies later and you might find yourself in a bit of a rut." He smiled. "To that end, I've got our revised syllabi right here, along with several other announcements you might find interesting. I know most teachers prefer to cover the syllabus right from the beginning of class, especially on the first day, but in time, I hope, you'll find that I'm not like most other teachers." He began walking over to each row and proceeded to pass out papers in groups. "We'll be covering quite a bit of reading in this course, so I expect you all to be prepared for every due date listed in the syllabus." He got to Adam's row and gave the boy a smile. "Think you can manage?"

The boy blinked, took the papers and passed them back after grabbing his own. He looked through the packet - enclosed were several pages pertaining to the course, as well as some school-wide announcements. A note fell out of the packet and onto the boy's desk. Adam unfolded it and proceeded to read it.

See me after class. Don't worry about being late - I'll give you a note.

Adam raised an eyebrow.

Rym looked on at her friend, wondering what he was reading intently. 

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Virgil looked out the corner of his classroom window absentmindedly, aware that the teacher was speaking but unsure of what she was actually saying. Beside him was Andre, looking rather tense. Virgil looked over at the boy, a bit of an irritated glance in his eyes.

Andre struggled to maintain himself. He could feel something stirring within him, and he had been experiencing the feeling for a while now. He noticed his desk shaking, and he struggled to keep it still. He could feel Virgil's attention focused on him. He looked down at one of the legs of his chair and tried placing a hand on it - and watched to his horror as the chair leg snapped. 

The chair fell over, bringing the desk as well as Andre onto the hard classroom floor. The desk welded onto the chair snapped under Andre's arm. The boy had a confused look on his face, and felt the eyes of every student in the room on him. Andre stood up, looked around for all of five seconds, and grabbed his arm, feigning injury. "Aw, goddamn it, I think I hurt my arm! Is it cool if I can go to the nurse's office? I think she should check me out." 

The teacher raised an eyebrow and sighed. "If you really need to, I won't stop you."

The boy quickly stood up, shot a split-second glance at Virgil, who continued looking out the window, and quickly exited the classroom. 

Virgil looked over as he saw the classroom door close. He scowled, and immediately stood up from his desk. 

The teacher was startled. "Y-yes, Virgil?"

Virgil stared at the teacher, a blank expression on his face. "May I use the bathroom?"

The teacher caught her breath. "Sure."