ALIVE - The Story of a Never-Could-Be

Chapter II: [9D]

"Do not order me around!"

A loud noise of an explosion is heard. Time freezes. The faces, the looks, the bodies. Everyone standing there freezes. Eyes speak more words than a book can ever contain. Those eyes belong to Dery. They are covered in red. No, not red blood. It's red pain. It's the color of everything resting in his mind. Everything that has ever happened in his life is flashing in his eyes. Life is flashing in front of his eyes. He is falling down in the abyss he has fought so long to get out of. An endless abyss...

"Dery! Dery! Wake up! It's almost half past seven. You will be late for school." It was the usual set of sentences that Dery had been used to hear every single morning from his mother. It was his alarm. He had heard those same words so many times that they had become music to his ears. In other words, he wouldn't wake up no matter how many times his mother shouted. That is until the second round begins.. *BANG!

"Are you crazy, mum?! I thought someone was robbing me. I have told you many times. I can hear you. You don't have to use... this force to wake me up."

"You looked like a lost cause to me! Now go brush your teeth and eat your breakfast. Quick!"

"Uhhh, okay.. What was the time agai... A quarter to seven!? Are you kidding me!? What happened to half past seven?"

"Unless I told you that you wouldn't wake up in this century."

"I will leave one day... The first day I am going to sleep alone in my house with my rules, oh I am going to enjoy that day so much."

"Unfortunately for you, for the time being you are resident in my house following my rules. You better get used to that honey!"

After eating breakfast and finishing with his dressing, he did his hair as usual and left.

"Bye mum! I am leaving."

"Bye, be careful!"

"Yeah, you realize I'm going to school not to the war."

And like that he put his headphones on and left for school. With 3 minutes left until the gates were closed and with his house being 1km away...

"The challenge is on! If I manage this it will be a new Personal Best."

And 'unusually' he did it again. He entered the school just in time. His class, 9D (9th year - D class) was located in the first floor. He was the last to arrive in his classroom, so everyone's attention was at him.

"'Morning 'vryone!"

"Good morning Einstein!" said everyone in a choir.

"Einstein? Where did that come from?" It's true that Dery was the most intelligent human being when it came to math and physics in his class, but they had never called him like that before for no apparent reason.

"We are giving everyone in class a nickname based on their personality, so we decided that Einstein fitted you best." said Teresa, Dery's deskmate.

"Personality? Einstein?"

"Would you rather be called Mr. Inert? (This is a pun to inert elements that cannot naturally react with other elements.)

"I guess I'll stick with Einstein."

Teresa was one of Dery's most loyal and trusted classmates. Contrary to him, she was lively and always funny. Even though it sounded as if she was just using him to do her homework she really cared to a degree...

"Okay students, you have 20 minutes to complete all the exercises in the book starting from now. You will be marked." was what Physics Teacher and at the same time the classes Headteacher Mrs. Elsa said and everyone started working.

"10th of January, 2017/ Classwork/ Exercise 1, pg.87..." Dery started the work as fast as possible. He always wanted to finish as soon as possible so that he could go out and play volleyball with the class that was having PE.

After approximately 13 minutes, while most of the class hadn't even finished a third of the work, he turned in his paper and left for the school's gym. There it was class 9A playing volleyball as usual. Here, it is worth pointing out that most paralel classes in the school had kind of a rivalry between them but that wasn't the case for 9D and 9A. That's mostly because 9A and 9C, 9D's eternal rivals, were rivals in themselves because their classes average grades were so close. And like the quote says. 'My enemy's enemy, is my comrade'.

"Coach, may I enter the game? It looks like the left team is at a number disadvantage." asked Dery.

"Sure Dery, just be careful 'cause there are girls also playing." replied the teacher.

"Don't worry coach. Time to turn this game around." he said and entered the court. "Look's like you are not directing the team correctly like a true captain should..." he was talking to a slim girl with blonde hair, just a little shorter than him. "...Joy!"

"Ohh, if it isn't Mr. Einstein from 9D" she joked.

"I cannot believe that joke is travelling so fast. It needs to slow down or else lightspeed will be jealous."

"Hahaha, stop it now, we have work to do, we are 10 points behind and if they win this set it's all over."

"Don't worry 'cause I'm here now." as he said that the ball came flying to his face and he was down.

"Yeah,... that's assuring..." said Joy half-heartedly.

"If it isn't 9D's grind, Dery Carter. Now that I have left that class it looks like you have taken the baton, huh?" it was Dery's rival since 3rd grade, Ernest, who had recently exchanged classes because there was no rivalry in 9D.

"Shut up Ernest. We both know that Dery has always been better than you in every subject." countered Joy. "And there's facts that support that."

"If by that you mean the fact that I didn't pass the first round of the Math Olympiad and he got second place in the prefecture last year, you must be very naive. It was the math teacher that picked her two favourite students with her hand to join the second round. She loved Dery because he was so smart and quiet. "

"That praise was well deserved Ernest. Don't be blinded by your envy. Just accept that you weren't in your best form last year and let it end there. Me and Joy deserved to represent our class in that competition more than everyone and it was worth it."

"Worth it? Finishing as runner-ups behind curly-hair of 9C? That was a disgrace to the class!"

Dery lowered his head. Ernest truly struck a nerve there.

"Ernest! Just leave him alone!" shouted Joy.

"As you wish. Look how down you have fallen Dery! Hiding behind a girl's back to protect you." he said and left with his friends. The bell rang. It was time for the lunch break.

"Hey you! Get yourself together!" encouraged Joy. "You know it pretty well why you didn't win."

"Yes. Yes, I know. But I cannot tell anybody that," Joy was listening carefully, even though she had heard the story before. "Because nobody will believe that the best student in our school won against me, a nobody, by paying the jury!"