Emication

Chapter Two - Jack

"Mr. Holden, are you paying attention?"

My head snapped up to the front of the class. Mr. Collins' glasses were hanging low on his nose, the golden chain attached to them hanging loosely around his neck. He looked directly above them, watching me like a hawk. He went almost completely bald over the past two years, but as far as I knew, he was really rocking this old man haircut.

"Of course, sir, I am absolutely enjoying this super interesting physics class about", I paused as I took a quick peak at the board for the first time this class, "thermodynamics", I tried to look as serious as possible but I had to bite the insides of my cheek when I heard Tyler "fucking bullshit" snicker next to me.

"Well, please do tell me, Mr. Holden, how many laws do thermodynamics have?", Mr. Collins questioned with a slight smile on his face. We both knew I didn't have a clue what the answer was.

"Four?", I copied his smile confidently, although I was completely unsure of my answer.

His eyes narrowed. "Eyes on the board"

Score! 1-0 for Jack.

As soon as Mr. Collins turned back around, I looked at Tyler, trying to say "screw you for almost making me laugh" only using my eyes.

"Eyes on the board", he mouthed with a smirk, pointing with his index and middle finger from his eyes to the front of the class.

Half an hour later - although it felt like I just lost three years of my life - the final bell rang. I took my bag pack and practically ran to my locker. There was nothing more I wanted at that moment than to take a nice nap on my couch. How do I survive physics with Mr. Collins for the rest of the term? I had no clue.

"Dude! Why are you in such a rush?", Tyler asked me completely out of breath when he caught me up in the parking lot when I was almost at my car.

"I just wanna take a nap, honestly. Mr. Collins' class is so boring, he really puts me to sleep", I laughed, "doesn't he bore you too?"

It seemed crazy that I was only junior and still had a little less than two years left at this awful place. I couldn't wait to graduate and go to college on a soccer scholarship in a city far away. I was so done with high school.

"Nah, I like physics, but okay, bro, take your nap. Wish me luck, though, for my date tonight", he winked.

"Wait, what date? Why haven't you told me about this?", I asked surprised. Tyler hadn't had a date in a couple of weeks after his last girlfriend cheated on him with one of the guys on the football team. He had cried for days, although he'd never admit that to anyone but me.

"Because you haven't give me the chance! I have a study date with Mia at four. You know her, it's the petite brunette who sits at the table next to us in biology class? I asked her out before first period", he grinned.

"I'm happy for you, man! She seems really nice, Ty. Let me know how it went!", I patted him on the back.

"I'll see you tomorrow!", he yelled I gave him a quick wave before I got into my car.

I was about to start my car when I heard my phone ring. As soon as I saw my brother's name, I let out a big sigh. I knew he was calling for one of two reasons. One being, my mom called him to complain about me and my behaviour (again) and told him to knock some sense into me or whatever. Or two, he needed something from me and he couldn't find anybody else to complete the job. Neither was a great option but against better judgement, I picked up the phone.

"Jack, hi, it's Gabe", he said quietly.

"Yeah, I know", I got in my car and put the keys in the ignition. "Why the hell are you whispering? ASMR was a shitty trend"