It's only after I'm halfway to biology that I realize I forgot my textbook in my locker.
Good thing there's a 10 minute break before 3rd period.
I pretend to check my phone and make a quick u-turn.
As I walk along the balcony, I peer over the rails to get a look at who's downstairs in the commons.
There's a circle of senior guys, all dressed in red and blue.
They had their arms around each other, and then they all threw their hands up and shouted, "Superman that hoeee!"
I guess they're getting pepped up for the basketball game tonight. I admire their enthusiam, but I think they should save it for the pep rally.
I round the corner and turn onto the staircase to get to the lower B hallway.
Just before I reach the bottom of the stairs, someone calls my name.
"Jada!"
I turn around and see Hailie, bounding down the stairs to try and catch up.
I slow down so she can walk with me.
"Where'd you come from?" I ask.
She shrugs, "I dunno, I saw you going down the stairs."
"But... Don't you have Gym this period-?" I ask her.
"Yeeeah," she answers nonchalantly.
"That's all the way across the school," I remind her.
She thinks for a second. "Eh, I'll run,"
I laugh but something catches my eye. Or- someone, rather.
He is so cu-
No! Stop-!
I shake my thoughts out of my system and Hailie looks at me funny.
"Uhh, what are you doing?"
I look at her and try to think of a quick explanation. "I- I thought I saw someone I hate..."
"Oh," she replies, "well, I gotta go."
She turns around and I call after her, "see you in Spanish!"
I arrive at my locker and start rotating the dial.
"7... 11-" I say to myself. "-there."
It opens up with a click and I slide out my biology textbook.
I turn to leave and slam my locker shut.
The two minute bell rings within a few seconds after I start down the hallway.
I sigh and pick up my pace.
The stairs are full of traffic with people going up them and down them.
I finally catch a break in the crowd and get up the stairs.
I have about 45 seconds to make it to class before I'm marked tardy.
The hallways aren't as bad as the stairs, though, so I don't have to maneuver around so many people.
I'm walking along the balcony again, and I see everyone in the commons scurrying to get to their 3rd period classes.
The C hallway is on the right. I turn that way and walk through an abnormally large crowd of people.
Some chick just wont take a hint that I need to get around her, so I walk right past her, making sure to hit her with my shoulder.
"Ow! Watch where you're going!" She says in a snotty voice.
"Move next time," I say, without turning around.
My class is the second or third door on the left.
I pull open the door and walk directly to my seat and sit down.
My teacher walks in just as the final bell sounds.
Phew. I made it just in time.
"Alright, guys. Anyone who was standing after the bell rang is tardy." Mrs. Malone says.
Kaitlyn eyes the teacher angrily. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, Kaitlyn," Mrs. Malone says, tiredly. "Take a seat,"
She rolls her eyes and sits down in her desk.
"Your warm up is on the board. Get to work." Mrs. Malone says, pointing to the board.
We're learning about genetics. Punnet squares, dihybrid crosses, and pedigrees...
Anyway-
The problem says:
'If Jenny, an unaffected female, marries Jim, a heterozygous affected male, and together they have a child, what will the possibility of that child being affected?'
Hmm, well the trait is dominant, and the dad is heterozygous, so his genotype will be Aa, and the mom is normal so she'll have aa. Their cross will be Aa x aa. So...
A a
a Aa aa
a Aa aa
Their daughter has a 50% chance of being affected and a 50% change of being normal.
This is pretty easy. I just hope she doesn't try to confuse us on the test.
"Okay, who knows the answer to the warm up?" Mrs. Malone asks, breaking the silence.
A hand comes up at the front of the room.
"Marshall? What did you get as your answer?" She asks.
He looks down at his paper and then back up again.
"I said that the child had a 100% chance of being affected." Marshall says.
"Did anyone get another answer?" Mrs. Malone asks the class.
Basically, when a teacher says that, they really mean- "WRONG. Who got the CORRECT answer?"
I raise my hand and she calls on me.
"Yes, Jada?"
"Well, it would have a 50% chance of being affected, because the dad was heterozygous with Aa. If he was homozygous with AA, then the child would have a 100% chance of being affected." I explain.
"That's correct! Great job!" Mrs. Malone praises me. "Now, everyone pull out a sheet of paper so we can begin our notes."
For the rest of the class, we took notes over pedigrees and practiced them.
But all I could think about was... Him.
Alright, alright. I didn't want to admit it, but I sort of like this guy.
Well, okay, let me rephrase that- I... I noticed this guy, and well... He's kinda cute. I mean, he's attractive, yeah.
But there's a problem. He doesn't know me; we don't know each other.
The only connection we have is my best friend, Daniel. They're friends.
The bell rings loudly as I come to a conclusion.
I'll talk to him at lunch.
•••
