Avalon High (BXB)

3: School Project

I walk in behind Will into Mr. Moore's class. "Ok. Everybody grab a book and a seat. William." Moore says, and Will stops in front of me, looking at him. "William. Rumor has it you're going to lead Avalon Football to State for the first time this year." Moore says, and all the Football players cheer. "Yeah." They say, as I smile. "That's the plan, sir." Will says, and walks to his desk. "That's my boy. Class President, Homecoming King, straight A student, and he's polite." Moore says, referring to Marco, as he walks behind him. "If only I hate an entire class of Will Wagners." Moore says. "I think I'm gonna puke." Marco says, and I look at him. "What're you looking at?" He asks. "Here you go." Moore says, as I look at him, and he hands me a purple book I know all too well, as I take it with both hands, walking towards a desk, and laugh. "I'm sorry, is there a problem, Mr.." He says, and I stop, and turn back to him, smiling. "Pennington. Arthur Pennington. Yeah, my parents named me after King Arthur himself." I say, and he laughs. "Ah! That explains everything!" He exclaims, and sits on the desk, as I notice he has a cane in his right hand. "Everyone please welcome Avalon High's newest student. Arthur Pennington." Moore says, and I look at everyone, and they all wave, except Marco. Shocker. "That's about all you're gonna get. Yep." Moore says, as I look at him. "Arthur's parents are professors of Medieval Literature at the University. And they also write the textbook we'll be using this semester when we learn about King Arthur and his court." Moore says, holding up my book in his right hand, and sets it back down, and I hear Lance fake cough. "Easy A!" He exclaims, and everyone laughs, and Mr. Moore fake coughs, too. "Nobody asked you." He says, and we all laugh, as I walk past Will, and sit on the other side of Miles. "Hey, I'm Arthur." I say, and set my bag down. "No. No, no, no. Avert your eyes." He says, as I reach for the folding desk, and look at it, putting it over, and I look back to him. "Excuse me?" I ask, and set my book down. "You're making a tactical error of monumental proportions right now." He says. "By sitting at my desk?" I ask. "By talking to me. I mean, come on! You had a great start. I saw you talking to Captain Everything this morning. You have a chance to be in the popular group. Don't mess that up." He says, and I give a small laugh. "I can be friends with whoever I want. Including you." I say, smiling. "And I'm the Sterotypical Nerd. You don't even have glasses." I say. "Who said I wanted to be your friend?" He asks. "You." I say. "No, I didn't." He says. "Then why are you still talking to me?" I ask. "But I'm not." He says. "But by saying you're not talking to me, you are talking to me. Check and mate." I say, and he gives a slight smile, and I hear a bell ring, and look at Moore, as he's holding a bell in his right hand, and sets it down. "Ok, first thing we're gonna do is to break up into teams to write research papers. You'll draw your topics out of this." He says, holding up a helmet in his left hand, and walks over to a mixed girl. "Courtney, you're with Todd." Moore says, and she reaches her right hand in and pulls out a slip of paper and unfolds it. "The architecture of Camelot. Interesting." He says, and walks over to Will. "Will, you're with Karen." He says. "Can't I be with Jen?" Will asks. "No, Jen is with Lance." Moore says, and I see Will put his right hand in the helmet, and pull out a slip of paper, and unfolds it, and turns it around, so it's facing Moore. "Ah. How apropos. The sports of Camelot." He says, and steps to the left to Jen. "Jennifer." He says, and she reaches her right hand in, and pulls out a slip of paper, showing it to him. "The tragedy of Camelot. Your paper is gonna be about the love triangle between King Arthur, his wife Guinevere, and his best friend, Sir Lancelot. Ultimately, it destroyed Arthur and Camelot itself. Bit of a downer." Moore says, and we all laugh, and Moore walks towards me. "Miles, you're with King Arthur himself." Moore says, smiling, and I playfully roll my eyes. "I'd rather work alone." Miles says. "I'd rather be eating pineapple pizza on a beach in Hawaii but that's not gonna happen either." Moore says, as I smile. "Fine. I guess he'll do." He says, without looking up from his notebook. "Wow. Thanks." I say, and turn back to Moore. "Pick." He says, and reach my right hand in the helmet, and grab a slip of paper, and pull it out and show it to him. "The Order of the Bear." He says. "What?" I ask, and turn the paper over, seeing it's exactly what it says. "I've never heard of that." I say. "So much for the easy A." Miles says. "Ask your parents. I'm sure they've heard of the Order." He says, and walks off, and I turn to my right, and see Marco staring at me, and he looks forward again, and I turn to Miles, as it looks like he's having a massive headache because he's holding both sides of his temples, groaning. "Miles." I say, as he looks up at me. "Are you ok?" I ask. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just tie your shoes." He says, and I look down at my light gray vans. "They are tied." I say, and look back to him. "Then tie your other shoes." He says. "What ate you talking about?" I ask. "Just tie your shoes, ok? What am I, your Mother?" He asks, and I look forward, and blink.