Touched by the Fear

[11]

Now that it was the second week of school, the homework piled on, and the lessons grew harder each day. The excitement and newness that was brought with the first week had started to fade. Students filled the overcrowded hallway, grumbling to their friends about their classes. Amongst those complaining was Hollis, who walked between Lydia and Allison.

"I hate algebra," she said with a sigh. "I'm already confused and lost in that class. How is that even possible?"

"You'll be fine," Lydia told her confidently. "You just need to study."

"Easy for you to say," Hollis mumbled, shooting a playful glare in her direction.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm lost, too," Allison told her. "I have Jacobs for my class, and he thinks that we're all mathematicians. He doesn't even bother explaining anything half the time. When anyone asks a question, he gets mad and says that we should know it all by now."

"Math sucks." Hollis made a face, wrinkling her nose.

"Definitely." Allison nodded in agreement, her eyes briefly scanning the hallway. "Oh, uhm, I think I see Scott." She turned back to them, a smile plastered on her face. "I'll catch up with you guys at lunch." With a quick wave, she moved away from them and disappeared down the hall.

"They're cute," Hollis commented, following Allison with her eyes.

Lydia shrugged, indifferent to her words. "I suppose. I still think she could do better."

Rolling her eyes, she linked her arm with Lydia. "Come on, let's go before we're late."

They reached the classroom minutes later and, as Hollis walked in, dread filled her. With a frown, she took a seat beside Lydia then pulled out her notebook. She flipped to the notes from the previous class where she was greeted with the alien writing of letters and numbers. She wrinkled her nose at the equations, wondering how she would ever understand this.

"Lyd, I think I'll need your notes again. None of this makes any sense," she said, tearing her eyes away from the pages.

Lydia nodded, a soft laugh escaping her lips. "Sure. I can't let my best friend fail, now can I?"

"Thanks," she said.

The math teacher entered just then, the door closing behind him loudly. The class quieted down, save for a few students oblivious to the fact that class had started. Immediately, math problems were assigned and everyone fell into a quiet rhythm of working them out.

Hollis stared in confusion at the equation for what felt like hours. It wasn't until she heard her name being called that she looked up.

"To the board, Hollis. Solve that equation," Mr. Fields said, indicating to one of the three problems that were written.

With a side glance at Lydia, she stood up and stepped to the board. On either side of her, two students worked diligently. Clearing her throat, she picked up the chalk. Her hand hovered above the board as she struggled to make sense of it. Ignoring the scraping of chalk on either side of her, she started to write.

I hope this is right, she thought. She finished after the other two and waited as Mr. Fields looked over her answer.

"You're nowhere near close," he said with a sigh. "Take a seat."

Hollis went back to her seat in time to hear Lydia, Scott and another student being called. She tried to figure out what she did wrong with her problem but her attention was soon drawn to Lydia talking to Scott. She watched their interaction and could just make out Lydia's dissatisfied face as well as Scott's confused one.