That October Night

Chapter 21

                  THE DIFFERENCE THAT I NOTICED between the other classes and Mr. Butler's class was that it always took less than five minutes to get settled. It wasn't that the students were afraid of him; it's just that they respected him and were sincerely interested in the way he taught.

The second Mr. Butler wrote the title on the board; everyone groaned-including myself-or showed some indication that they forgot about reading the first act in Shakespeare's play.

I surprisingly slept in early last night and didn't bother checking to see if I had any homework of any sort. Chris and I were hanging out in my room which mostly consisted of him pulling late hours of catching up on school work.

I was supposed to be helping him but only managed to get through AP Calculus since it was what I was good at.

When I woke up this morning Chris was underneath a pile of textbooks and papers. Our parents had already left and had a sticky note on the door, telling us that we should stay over at Ramona until they came back.

Usually, they would have let us stay at home but I guess three months ago made them extra protective.

Mr. Butler spun with a loud clap. "Okay! Who read act one, scene one of All's well that ends well?"

Two students, who were Kat and some other boy, proudly raised their hands up. Honestly we, as in the rest of the class, should be ashamed of ourselves. It wasn't like we had anything more to do than reading act one, scene one in a week time.

"Of course they read it," Malik protested, taking out his book. "They sit in front of the class for crying out loud."

Thing is when Malik opened his book; it was highlighted and had notes on the side. It was good to see that he wasn't the type to let his personal issues interfere with his school work.

As if Malik could hear my thoughts, he absentmindedly stroked the bandage on his cheek from Carlos' punch.

Perhaps it was the fact that I never actually saw a book with his writing but, Malik's handwriting was captivating. It was kinda mesmerizing how someone so untamed and risky like him took their time on something as simple as writing.

Each loop was carefully formed and the spaces between each word were equal, looking like he typed it out.

"But you read it too though," I whispered to him.

"Yup, I just didn't feel like raising my hand. I've done that one time too many already." Malik winced for whatever reason and slammed his book shut.

Bre looked back, throwing me a questioning look but all I could do was shrug. Before I got a chance to start questioning Malik to see if he was alright, the words slipped out of my mouth.

"What do you want to be when you're done with high school?" I didn't know why I asked that but it was at the tip of my tongue and needed to be said out loud.

"A porn star," he admitted, pushing his book aside as if he got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do.

At first, I stared at him blankly but then silently ruptured with laughter and smacked him on the arm. He laughed as well but it was more of amusement.

Amused that I found what he said so delirious.

Our laughter was cut short by a very disappointed Mr. Butler. "Scott and Mitchell, seeing as you two didn't do what you were supposed to do, I suggest you both pay attention."

"Rayya, I'm serious!" Malik whispered to me when Mr.Butler's attention was away from us.

"Oh wow." I rolled my eyes. "You don't sound at all concerned about chlamydia or better yet AIDS."

Malik tilted his head to the side and gave me a one-sided shrug. He stretched his legs out underneath his table, crossed it, and placed his hands behind his head.

"Chlamydia can be treated. Besides that, I get to have sex whenever I want and get paid for it. What more can a guy ask for in life?"

I shook my head at him and focused my attention back to Mr. Butler who sat at the edge of his desk, removed his glasses, and rested it down.

"You do realize that the simple things matter right? Maybe you all believe that it's one little thing that you forgot, but hear me when I say that I can easily fail all of you."

"Mr. B, one failure can't entirely cause us to fail," someone declared.

"Michael, I agree but often times we tell ourselves that, and then we continue to fail. Think of it as helping you with your future. Believe me when I say that your college professors wouldn't be on your tail about a forgotten assignment. They usually have too many students to focus on to even bother. And for those of you that want to avoid college, your boss won't be too fond of a forgotten duty. Depending on the kind of boss you have, one forgotten duty can get you fired. It's not even like two students forgot to do it out of twenty-nine students. It's the complete opposite." With a sigh, Mr. Butler stood up and put back on his glasses.

I love how he always made classes relatable. Maybe besides the fact that he put life into the words, he got our attention because he always left us leaving his class with something to carry on for the rest of our lives. Not just something from the syllabus that we most likely won't ever need out of school.

"All's well that ends well. In other words; the positive ending in a situation overshadows any problems that may have occurred along the way. You were all instructed to read act one for Shakespeare's play so that we can discuss it together. Now you have-" He checked the time on the clock.

"Twenty minutes to read it and translate it in an essay. You are to complete this assignment in the time given and you will be graded on it. Let's create a positive ending."

At least Malik didn't have much read to do. Mr. Butler walked behind his desk and took a seat. "Remember all's well that ends well. You may begin."