Red, Yellow, and Blue

Chapter 2

Today was a mess. New teachers, new classes, new everything. 'And of course, every single teacher had to remind us how hard we must work this year, how critical it is to pull all of our efforts into studying, how every single test will affect the rest of our lives,' thought Leo crossly. His math teacher, for example, spent forty minutes of a forty-five minute class giving them this speech, and became furious when she realized that class was over, and blamed the students for 'disrupting the lesson,' and 'wasting valuable class time.' She decided to tell them, in the last two minutes of class that she had written up an exam that will help determine their level in math. And that this exam is scheduled for next week. "Not to mention, Leo continued ranting to Noah, "that it also counts for five percent of our final grade. Not a crazy amount, but isn't this supposed to be an exam to determine our level? In my opinion, these types of exams shouldn't be graded."

"Well to be honest, in your opinion, all exams shouldn't be graded," grinned Noah.

"I need a nap," mumbled Leo.

So that's exactly what he did the moment he came home from school.

That's what he did the next day, and the day after that too. Then he would wake up hungry, and groggy... he hated feeling groggy, but loved to nap.

'Leo pick up the phone, Leo pick up the phone.'

This was the ringtone Leo chose for Noah, or more accurately, Noah chose for Leo. He assigned this ringtone without telling Leo. The first time Leo heard it he almost got a heart attack.

"Noah?" Leo said, picking up the phone.

"Hey, did you finish studying for the math test?"

"What math test?"

"The math test tomorrow?"

Oh, crap. Leo knew what he was talking about, but for some reason he still hoped that his memory was wrong- knowing him, that's entirely possible. So he cleared his throat and said "what math test tomorrow?"

Noah sighed through the phone. "I only have one thing to say, Leo. You're in for a long night.

What the frickety frack is this? Thought Leo as he gazed at his math textbook, 'When did we learn this?'

Leo started at the textbook for hour and a half, trying random equations and methods to questions he didn't even understand. His brain started fogging up, which was a sign that he was ready to give up, and the problem is he had that stupid math test tomorrow. Leo groaned loudly, then threw his math book on the floor in an act of silent defiance, then heard the front door open.

Great, he thought, Eva and Michael are here. It wasn't that he didn't like them, they were incredibly generous to Leo, it was just that Leo always felt drained around them. He grabbed his phone and sent Noah a text: I'm coming over. Be there in 10.

He took a step forward before bumping his foot into the math book. He stared at it. 'I should just leave it right?' he hesitated,  'I can study in a few hours... right?'

He sat down and contemplates for a few minutes. Noah's house, or math? Obviously Noah's house. But what about the math test...

'Eureka! That's it! I'll take my math book with me to Noah, and we'll both 'study' there,' decided Leo. Noah was good at school, to say the least, but he was exceptionally good at math.

Leo grabbed his bag and headed out to his car. When he reached Noah's house, he rang the door and waited, but no one answered. He rang it again, and same result. He finally decided to climb over the fence, he had done it many times before. He threw his bag over first, then heard a thud and a loud groan.

Was someone standing under that fence?

He frantically started to climb, and jumped to the other side, only to find Caleb on the floor, groaning, holding his head.

"Caleb?" he asked, puzzled.

"Caleb! I'm sorry!" he repeated, now holding back laughter. "I didn't know you were under that fence."

He looked up to see Noah rolling on the floor, laughing, and watching him laugh made it a lot harder for Leo to control his laughter.

"Haha, Caleb gets hit on the head by a flying school bag, very funny," grunted Caleb, standing up.

"I'm sorry!" Leo got out between breaths, apologizing more for laughing than for dropping the bag on him.

Noah is now standing up, still gasping for breath, holding a soccer ball under his arm.

"Were you guys playing soccer?" Leo questioned

"No, we were playing 'dodge the flying school bag,'" grunted Caleb, which only made Leo and Noah burst into laughter once again

"Yes, we're playing soccer, play with us," chuckled Noah, "I'll tell my brother to come play with us too, so we can have an even number."

So it was Noah's brother, Sam and I versus Caleb and Noah.

My team won.

"Wow, Leo, I'm impressed," commented Sam. "Where did you learn to play like that?"

"I used to... play with my dad a lot."

"Well, thanks to your dad, you may have a shot in making the school team," Sam remarked.

Leo felt a strong pang after hearing that sentence, but the idea of trying out for the school team intrigued him. He was never on a school team before. He never really considered it.

He paused for a second, lulling it over "You really think I'm good enough?"

"Definitely, man. Go for it!" Sam replied, "The tryouts are next week, I think?" he turned around and bellowed (quite unnecessarily, might I add) "NOAH WHEN ARE THE FOOTBALL TRYOUTS?"

"Thursday," he replied, coming over. "Why?"

"Oh, that's in three days... I thought they were next week. Anyways, Noah here is trying out, Caleb is too...?" he looked at Caleb for confirmation, and Caleb nodded. "Why don't you try out too, Leo," he suggested, "You have nothing to lose."

The four of them played soccer for the rest of the day. They all ended up covered in dirt and sweat. The only thing that remained clean was Leo's math book...

*

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