Naturally Awkward

III

I didn't realize I could hate Dr.Ryanleer even more than what I already did. Today proved I could.

He knows that I never go up to the board. In fact, I rarely raise my hand in class. Participation is part of our grade so I try to make a decent effort, but I never go up to the board.

Of course when I get to the board and write the answer down, the old tyrant wants me to show work.

What a waste of dry-erasable marker ink.

After class, he drags me and another student to his office and gives us even more work to do. That's all I want to do after a Chemistry class, more chemistry!

Of course this is a job so I guess this is his way of keeping our minds fresh.

My cell mate is this Asian American girl. She's dressed in the latest fashions, wearing those ugly boots that every girl is wearing. They look like what was left from the scraps of other fashion projects.

Either way, it makes me question my own fashion choices. My outfits are usually the first things my eyes land on in the morning. Maybe picking out an outfit amidst severe delirium isn't the best thing to do. Berlin nor McKenzie hasn't complained about it yet so I guess it's been fine so far.

"I really hate that guy." The girl hisses to me.

I snicker at her quietly. "I think he hates himself."

"Seriously, chemistry has nothing to do with my major, yet it's a prerequisite."

"It's the university's way of getting more money."

I'm having a normal conversation with someone outside of our group. Goodbye self-proclaimed title of being the queen of the introverts. Goodbye hermit life. Hello to a new life a social assimilation.

Shudder!

This girl is still trying to figure out who has set the majority of the grading curves this semester.

That would be me. I'm not telling her that though. She'd be too enthralled. I can only deal with a certain number of compliments a day.

"What's sad is when he dragged me into this, he didn't even give me the option to say no," She doesn't even have an Asian accent. Completely American. "He was all like, Zoey, your test scores are amazing. You will be a student tutor or else."

I'm giggling before I can stop it. I like this girl's sense of humor. Did she say her name was, Zoey? Not what I was expecting, but okay, I need to become more culturally aware. Not all Asians have "Li" at the end of their names.

I feel my eyes slowly opening up. There is a whole world that I don't even know about.

"His entire face darkened when he asked me. Just shoved paperwork in my hands like my answer didn't even matter to him."

We actually wind up helping each other with the work and walk out earlier than I had expected. Dr.Ryanleer was surprised when we put the work on his desk but he just continued to sip whatever was in his cup as he continued fiddling with his computer.

"I'll be seeing you, girl. You always hang out with that hot SGA rep, right?"

Is she talking about Alex? Excuse me while I puke a little.

"Yeah, Alex. He's a bit of a live wire." I cover up my disgust cunningly. He's more like an annoying brother, if anything. I could never see him as "hot" at this point.

"You have to put me on."

I stretch my lips into a forced smile. "I can try. I'm never sure what his flavor of the week is."