A Triangle of Mixed Emotions

Chapter 2: I Learn that I'm Good at Latin

Luckily, there were a few empty chairs in the classroom. A bunch of girls were giggling and motioning for me to sit beside them. There was even this tall, Asian girl, with dark hair in ringlets. She was wearing a lot of jewelry, and perfectly applied makeup. She was wearing just a plain pink T-shirt, but even with that she made that T-shirt look pretty. The girl smelled of nutmeg and pine. She stared at me for a while and motioned me to sit beside her. It was tempting, but then I saw someone else that got my attention.

It was Reyna, my best friend from middle-school.

Reyna is of Puerto-Rican descent, and she has piercing black eyes, dark as coal. She was always so serious (and sassy), and I would often tease her by calling her the "Queen of Sass." Reyna does technically mean Queen in Spanish. She was wearing a purple shirt with jeans, as usual. Reyna called out to me and motioned for me to sit with her, which I did.

However, our Latin teacher, "Mr. Brunner" written on the board, looked at me right in the eye and said,

"Graceus? Jason Graceus? Why are you late?" he called out.

I heard a boy whispering, "Graceus? That's his name? Ha! Let's call him Jason Gracefully-Dancing-Ballet!" The whole class burst out laughing, until Mr. Brunner shushed them. My cheeks were red from embarrassment.

"Grace, sir. Jason Grace. I'm sorry I'm late, sir. I must have woken up too late," I said, and sat down.

I got a clear look at the boy who had been making fun of me. He had curly black hair, dark brown eyes, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile on his face. Basically put, he looked like Santa's elf, only Latino version.

"I was only kidding, Jason. I didn't mean anything, bro!" Leo smiled and extended his arm. I shook it, but I felt a small electric shock as I did just that. I instantly regretted being too polite. The boy revealed the joy buzzer in his hand and laughed.

"I'm sorry, I just had to," was his response. "I'm Leo Valdez, by the way."

Mr. Brunner walked up to us and looked at Leo. "Leo Valdez? Your previous homeroom teacher told me to keep an eye on you. Do you want to be brought down to the office?"

"No sir," said Valdez, as he started to fold a fancy, paper airplane.

"Good." Mr. Brunner looked up at the class and handed out a quiz to everyone.

"I know most of you don't know Latin, but I'm just going to see how much Latin you might know. It's in your blood, for some of you," said Mr. Brunner. "You may leave class when you have finished the quiz."

Leo turned towards me and said, "I'm seriously ADHD. Could you help me read this paper? All I can see are a bunch of lines and squiggly things."

I ignored him and turned towards Reyna.

"Is he always like this?" I asked her.

"You tell me. It's our first day of high school, and you're the only person I know here." Reyna and I both laughed and I looked into her eyes. She blushed and turned away. I coughed, and looked down on my shoes.

We did our Latin sheets, which were actually quite easy for me to do.

"I'm done, sir," I said, as I handed in my sheet.

"Me too," said Reyna, as she handed in hers at the same time. My hand brush against hers, but she instantly jerked it away. Wow, that was awkward.

The bell rang soon after that. Reyna and I grabbed our math books and rushed to our second class of the day: the dreaded, mournful, Mathematics.

I ran through the hallway and bumped into the Asian girl I saw in Latin class earlier. She and her friends had fixed their hair and re-applied their makeup as they saw me walk by. The Asian girl walked up to me and bit her lip.

"Hey there, Jason Gorgeous. I'm Drew Tanaka," she smiled. I ignored her. Reyna just rolled her eyes and tugged me away from the girl. I started to walk away, but she just kept on hitting on me.

"Jasey Gracey? Why are you walking away from me, hon?" she whimpered.

"I, uh... I'm late for math class. See ya!" I said, as I ran with Reyna to math class.