The Fourtitude: A Narrative of Naivety

Public Speaking

  Jackson sat at the back of the room, watching as other kids poured in through the opening called a 'door.' He neatened his desk, setting his pencil into the small engraving at the other end of his desk, putting his books in his desk, but keeping his organized Spiderman folder out. His red hair was always swayed to the right a little, making a nice, even curve that stood in the way of bangs. His bright orange shirt stood out the most, and his grey cargo shorts were the only fashion choice he made that people questioned. He always wore long socks, but kept them bunched up above his ankles, because he thought it made him look cooler. What an idiot, am I right? Heh heh, huh...

Man, you never realize how small doorways are until you see 30 kids try to fit in at once. He thought to himself, I heard there's a new kid in our grade. I wonder if he's in my class? "Hey, Judy?" he leaned over to the seat next to him, "Do you know if the new kid's in our class?"

"Uh, sure, whatever. Don't ever talk to me ever again." she unenthusiastically turned to face the nerd who had some sort of weird question to ask for some reason. She disgustingly chewed her gum like a cow chewing grass, and made a revolting sound with every movement of her mouth.

  "Oh, right. Why am I asking you? Frank up there is more into actual, physical human interaction than you." Jackson remarked, sitting back in his seat. Judy promptly tossed a paper ball at his face. He opened up the crumpled piece of lined paper, and it read:

EW.

Well, alright then, Judy. I don't need help from your pebble of a brain anyway. Jackson rolled his eyes. Then he saw someone new walk in the door.

"Hi August!" Mr. Hummir greeted, "Your seat is right over there, next to Jackson." Jackson saw August walk towards him, and he got really excited for some reason. He fixed his hair a little and patted himself down to make sure everything was on point.

"Hi! I'm August. I'm the new kid!" he smiled happily at Jackson, like he hadn't just ruined some kid's social life. "And either you're Jackson, or I'm sitting in the wrong seat." August pulled the chair out and plopped down, dropping his things on the desk making a loud 'SLAM!'

"Oh, you're good. I'm Jackson McCarthy, and I forgot to do my math homework last night." Jackson nervously waved and put on a fake smile.

"Oh, no worries. So did I." August joked as he arranged his things in his desk. "So, uh, what are we doing today?"

"Oh, uhm, we're presenting our projects on President's Day." Jackson informed, "Well, not presenting them on President's Day, but our projects are about it." He made odd hand movements that he would otherwise never make.

"I see. Uh, what's President's Day?" August didn't take his eyes off his project of arranging his things from semi-organized to 'OH MY GOD HOW?'

"It's a day about, well, the presidents. A lot of kids just think of it as a free day off." Jackson awkwardly sat in his seat, off to the side to watch August do whatever he was doing.

"Is it not?" August seriously asked.

"Your question is correct." Jackson felt more comfortable now.

Mr. Hummir walked to the front of the class and greeted everyone. "Hello, class! Today we have a new student. Jackson, would you mind introducing him?" He made a pointless hand gesture towards Jackson, with a stupid-looking teacher-smile. You know the one. That smile.

"Uh, yeah, I would." Jackson sat further down in his seat, cold-sweating.

"Well, alright. Matt, I saw you two talking out in the hallway." Mr. Hummir made another pointless gesture, this time towards Matt, with another teacher-smile. "Would you kindly introduce him?"

"With pleasure." Matt stood up from his seat, still holding his slightly bruised arm. The chair made a pathetic squeaking noise that rivaled the likes of Chewbacca himself. "That's August. He's a total dorkwad who wet himself on the bus."

  August angrily stood up from his seat, flinging his chair into the desk behind him. "Okay, first of all, I didn't even take the bus, and second, your hair is still sticking up. How did you not see that this morning?"

"Okay, he wet himself in the car." Matt improvised.

"Matt, you're such a used napkin that you're probably the one I supposedly used to wipe my pants." August banged on the desk.

"Hey, hey, break it up, guys." Mr Hummir stepped in between them butting heads. "Jackson, why couldn't you have just introduced him?"

"I don't like talking to the whole class!" Jackson whined as he sat further up in his seat.

"Well, that won't do. You're the first scheduled to present today." Mr. Hummir rearranged the names on his whiteboard so that Jackson was now at the top of the list.

"UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!" Jackson moaned as he shuffled through his folder to find a big poster.