New Boy (A Javid Story)

Biology

Two periods after lunch, Davey had biology. At first, he wasn't quite sure what to expect. He had had a love-hate relationship with science in his old school, but was hoping to change that here. Davey walked into the classroom to find Crutchie, Jack, and Race all sitting at a lab station. He informed the teacher of his presence and that he was the new kid the class had been expecting, and walked over to them. 

Race was throwing pieces of paper at Crutchie, who tried to block them by hitting them with a pencil while Jack kept count of how many Crutchie hit. 

"Hey." Davey waved, sitting down next to Race. 

"Hi Davey." Crutchie said, but he was more focused on hitting the balled up pieces of paper than saying hello. 

"What's up, Dave." Race greeted, balling up another piece of notebook paper. Jack wrote down another tick mark, waving hello. "Didn't know ya were in this class."

"That's probably because it's my first day." 

"Yeah, but like, the teacher nevah made any announcement that we was gettin a new student or nothing." 

"Ay, Dave!" Jack spoke up. "Maybe you can help us in dis debate we been havin' with Racer over here." 

"Here we go again..." Crutchie mumbled. 

"How do ya say 'oyster'?" Jack questioned. 

"Oyster..." Davey responded tentatively. 

"Now Race, you say oyster." 

"Erster." He replied confidently. "It's erster, you guys just won't admit it!"

"It's oyster!" Jack defended. 

"It's oyster." Davey confirmed. 

"It's erster." Race mumbled under his breath, but the argument was clearly over. 

"Ay, would ya quit your yappin' over there? Some of us are trying to work!" A voice from the lab station behind Jack said. Jack and Crutchie turned around as Race sat up, and all three rolled their eyes. 

"Ah, shut it Oscar. Youse is just mad cause we finished the lab before ya." Jack commented. "That's Oscar Delancey, him and his brother Morris are both idiots."

"We can hear ya!"

"I know!" Jack called over his shoulder, causing Crutchie to break into laughter. 

"Is this class always like this?" Davey asked Race.

"Nah, we only get ta fool around like this when we finish a lab and there's still people who haven't. Almost half the class is done, so I'd say we get the rest of today an' maybe some of tomorrow. And that's if we're lucky." Race informed him. Davey nodded. 

"Yeah, Davey, you is gonna be in our lab group, right?" Crutchie asked, looking away from the argument Jack was having with Morris and Oscar. 

"I mean, I don't know anyone else here, so, yeah." Davey nodded. "If you guys don't mind."

"Not at all! We needed a fourth person anyways, mosta the lab groups got four." Crutchie pointed around the room at the different groups. 

"Jack!" Race called his attention from the Delancey brothers. "We gotta finish our game." He reminded. 

"Oh, right!" Jack turned back around and looked at the score sheet in front of him.

"We play this game," Crutchie started to explain. "Where Race'll ball up some paper and throw it at me. If I hit it, I gets a point. If I miss it, Race gets a point. Jack keeps score."

"We keep an ongoing score." Jack held up a paper filled with small tally marks. "Race is in the lead by one right now." 

"Our scores tend ta stay pretty equal ta each other. I pitch for the school's baseball team, sos that means I'm a good thrower, but Crutch is really good at this game." Race explained. 

"Sounds fun." Davey nodded, looking around the room a bit more.

"It is fun, 'Cept for da one time Race an' Jack tried to play it over the bunsen burner and got us yelled at." Crutchie glared at his two friends. 

"Ya not scary, Crutch." Race dismissed the glare. 

"I know. You guys tells me that all da time!" He mumbled, a bit upset. 

"No, you guys ain't seen Crutchie when you gets him mad after he just woken up. It's a terrifying experience." Jack shook his head, his eyes wide. "I is still scared ta this day!"

"Ah, you was just off that day. Crutchie ain't scary. Right, Dave?"

"I don't know. I just got here." Davey shook his head. "Leave me out of this." 

"You gaves an opinion in the other debate." Jack pointed out.

"I haven't had enough time to form an opinion here."

"Yeah, okay." Race rolled his eyes. "Let us know when ya do."

"Anyways," Crutchie changed the subject. "So guess what."

"What?" Jack asked, swiveling his chair to look at the blonde. 

"The doctor said I can go on the tip so long as I is careful!" He announced with a grin.

"That's great!" Jack grinned.

"What trip?" Davey asked, a bit confused. 

"Every year our class does fundraisers for a big trip. This year we is goin' to this campin' place in Jersey." Jack explained. 

"It sounds fun!" Davey nodded. 

"Yeah, it is. There is cabins and activities...we is probably gonna have to split between two cabins." Jack laughed. 

"The boys ain't gonna be so happy 'bout that." Race pointed out.

"Ah, who cares where we is sleepin'. It'll be fun no matter what." Jack dismissed the idea. 

The bell to end the period rang, and the boys jumped up from their seats at the lab station and made their way over to their classroom seats. They all grabbed their bags, packing up the few things that they had taken out. 

"So, Dave, you gonna show up after school?" Jack checked. 

"Yeah, of course. It sounds fun. So does the camping trip." Davey sung his backpack around, nearly hitting Morris Delancey in the process. 

"Ay! Watch it, new kid." He growled, pushing Davey to the ground. 

"What the hell, Morris? He ain't done nothin' wrong to you!" Jack defended him. 

"Ah, shut it Kelly. Go hide behind your girlfriend." Morris shot back. 

"My girlfriend's dad could have ya expelled!" Jack reminded.

"Yeah, well, just cause your girl's dad is the principal, doesn't mean you get any special treatment." Morris took a step closer to Jack. 

"Mr. Jacobs! Get off the floor. I have another class coming in. Now you boys leave before you're late for your next class." The teacher practically shoved them out of the room.

"Sorry ma'am." Jack muttered, grabbing Davey by the arm and showing him to his next class. "I hate him so much." He mumbled to himself.

"Hey, calm down, it's not a big deal." Davey tried to soothe him.

"No, it is! He pushed ya down for no reason!" Jack pointed out. 

"I nearly hit him. It's okay. Besides, it's over now." Davey said, checking room numbers as he went.

"Yeah, yeah. This is my classroom. I'll see ya later, Dave." Jack turned into a classroom as Davey continued down the hall, searching for his last class of the day.