STUPID - STANLEY BARBER

4 - Stupid

As I got to school, I realised the American movie cliché of everyone walking around the hallways is true. Hustle and bustle all around me and I was starting to get irritated. Noticing Jess, I speed walked over to her eager to get out of the traffic of a "high school" hallway.
"So, ready for calculus?" She starts to talk, and I try to interrupt but she continues,
"I'm really bad at Math so it's gonna be torture."
Math? What is that? Oh, Maths.
"It's Maths." I explain, trying to regain my British identity.
"Okayyy, potatoe, potato. You know Dina?" She shrugs off my statement and starts to go on one of her rambles.
"Not really." I had no idea who Dina was and to be honest I didn't really want to know who Dina was. I was alright with one friend at the moment.
"That's Dina over there. She's always alone and she dated the guy whose head exploded and she's been really quiet ever since. But I think-"
I start to block out Jess's rambling and look at the girl. Black hair, brown eyes and a minimal amount of make-up. She seems familiar- Oh. She was the girl I saw when I first started here, now it makes sense why she had such a sad look on her face. I feel bad for her.
"-No-one really talks to her, since she talks to no-body and has been a no-body ever since she stopped dating Bradley for that time but..." She stops to take a breath and finally I get a moment to speak.
"Do you even breath?"
"No. But as I was saying-" She rambles again but is cut of my something which I never experienced in the UK.
A bell.
Everyone in the hallway collectively sigh, either in their head or out loud. I sigh because it means I have Calculus.
"Okay, I'm going. Are you gonna follow?" Jess turns around, due to her body going the opposite direction. I was just stood there, lost in my own thoughts again.
Damn it.
I start to follow Jess down the hallway, which was an organised mess. I passed green lockers with the occasional slur written across every once in a while. Everyone was in their own clothes and that is something I can't get over. I now have resorted to wearing trainers due to the amount of walking in this fucking shithole. Jesus. I need to control my language.

We got to the classroom, and I passed a few students already sat down. Finding my seat (which was obviously next to Jess), I look up and there he is.
The most stupidest kid on earth. James Whittle.
He sat down, whilst maintaining a conversation with his friends. I say friends but they only hang out with him because he has a 'good sense of humour'. Not really. Dressed in a tracksuit, he would be classified as a roadman in my culture.

The lesson passed as much as a snail passed my 'driveway' this morning, and the teacher was starting to ask questions. Our teacher, Ms. Tate, was an alright teacher (from what I know) and she was sick of not catching the ones who weren't paying attention in the act. Her attention then drifted over to James Whittle. This is gonna be great. Sarcasm is clearly notified, you know that right?
"So, Mr. Whittle, what is the answer to question 7C?" She had a smug look on her face and it was obvious that James was starting to squirm.
"I- Um- I don't know?" He was trying to get away with not answering the question and I could sense a hint of smugness, but Ms. Tate was smarter.
"How about you work it out then?" She asked and... Oh. My. God. His face was an image. It was contorted in a way that made me squirm. It so obviously showed that he had no idea what to do.
"The answer's 79." I heard a whisper from behind me, and this person was clearly trying to make something happen in this boring lesson. However-
"The answer is 79!" James shouted trying to regain his failing superiority in this class. Laughter erupted from the entire class, including Jess, who was then doubling over her chair having heard the other person give the answer.

"Stupid." I said stating the truth, but there was two voices. Me and-
Oh. Shit. He's cute.
He looked back at me, confusion etched on his face. I felt my face immediately heat up, and I'm blushing. I looked away, hiding from this embarrassing encounter. Eden Matthews, don't you dare-

My heart was beating so fast and so loud and I didn't like it and-
I looked up again. Why didn't I see him when I walked in? Short, curly brown hair and brown eyes and an amazing fashion sense. I love it and I-
The bell interrupted and Thank God because I didn't want to finish my thought. Ms. Tate just sat down at her desk and made a hand movement which caused the eager kids to jump out of their seats and immediately walk towards the door.
"So, Stanley Barber then?" Jess stood up and was now next to my seat. So that's his name. Stanley Barber.