She's Dating A Freak

One

X equals the opposite of B, plus or minus the square root of B squared minus four A, C, all over two A. This is the quadratic formula. A quadratic forms a parabola on the graph, sort of like the letter U that sits on the origin and separates into two halves on adjacent quadrants. I always hoped that I could always find the other half of my parabola. It doesn't have to be perfect half, it can be imperfect and I wouldn't mind at all. Oh dear. I'm being weird. My name is Zeke. Zeke the math nerd, the Poindexter, the weirdo, and the biggest one, freak. When I was in middle school, I was diagnosed as schizophrenic. I hear many things, but my dad says that I'm not a freak. But everyone thinks so. Or at least, that's what I thought when I left middle school. Today, I'm a freshman. My braces are off and I decided to cut my hair short. My dad bought me some new clothes from a store called Hollister, some store that sells some kind of California style clothes. They were a bit tight but the fabric was soft at least. A few people gave me a few looks, but I wasn't sure what to draw from them. The 6th voice in my head, Jeff, said that they were looking at me because I was hot. Jeff is weird, he always says weird things. I met him in 7th grade during a math test. He thought that math tests were for only the dumbest people. I'm not dumb Jeff, the tests are. I walked into the school and immediately went to look for my homeroom. On my way there, I was stopped by a platinum blonde girl who was surrounded by a flock of brunettes. She looked over to me and pushed one of the girls to the side.

"You see that guy over there? He's hella cute."

I looked behind me and looked back at her. She bit her lip when I met her eyes, but I quickly walked away so that I would not be late.

"Pfft, that was weird." I heard her say.

Lillian, the 2nd voice in my head, massaged my shoulders and told me not to worry about the W word. It was a bad word and people just don't understand me or what I go through. I shrugged it off and continued to walk. My homeroom was 314, the math class for seniors. I'm sure I could do some of the math. The teacher was Ms. Alverez. She didn't know a great amount of English, but she was known as the best math teacher in the county. She was a tiny woman. A bit in her late 40s, short brown hair, and a red dress that said "I'm Ready for Work." I nodded at her as if to say hello. She tilted her head and gave me a small toothy smile.

"You are?"

I straightened up a bit. "Zeke Washerman."

Her smile grew. "I have heard about you. Math Bowl?"

Ms. Alverez was the leading coordinator of the Math Bowl competition. I went every year in my middle school years.

"Yes ma'am. From Franklin Middle School."

"Oh si, si! Glad to see you again Zeke!"

I nodded with a small smile and took a seat to the far left next to the window, where I felt most comfortable.  Lillian sat on my desk and leaned against the window. She was talking about how calm it looked outside and how the rays of the sun were beautiful. I rested my cheek against my right fist.

Its alright I guess, I told her. She stared at me and rested a hand on the top of my head.

The late bell rang and everyone got to the seats that made them most comfortable. Jeff coughed and called everyone a loser. I smiled and shook my head.

"Hello class, I am Ms. Alverez, your homeroom teacher."

The room was dead silent, except for Seth, my first voice, jamming along to static in his headphones. Jeff called him the biggest loser and he needed to eat a loser sandwich or something. Seth ignored him and jumped away from me to dance in the walkway. I liked Seth, he was always so energetic. But whenever a room got quiet, he would fill my head with noise, like when I'm sleeping. So I always listen to music so he doesn't appear, but generally, I like having him around.

A couple girls behind me giggled and commented on my appearance, saying things like I looked nice or they wanted to get to know me or be my partner or something. Jeff spat at them.

"Do you guys want to introduce yourselves or no?"

A couple people had no problems standing up and talking about themselves. There was Michael who loved to play football, Cindy who liked to hang out with friends, Francesca who really loved science and chess, Harold who wanted to be a chef and Garrett who seemed to want to be a comedian. He stuck a few pencils in his nose. Jeff laughed, it wasn't that funny. Then there was Tabitha. She was very beautiful but also very shy. She liked taking care of animals and playing video games. Pretty blue eyes, long black hair, freckles on her cheeks and was dressed in light colors. She looked over to me and gave a small wave. I didn't wave back, but Jeff nudged me in my ribs. He joked about how she had a crush on me.

She's nice and all, but she seems too perfect, I thought. Seth took off his headphones and told me to go get her. But my opinion still stood about her. She would think I'm a weirdo like everyone else. Another girl stood up and started to introduce herself. She was a blonde and a bit heavyset. Her name was Maple. She also wanted to be a chef. Jeff snickered and called her a fatty. I shook my head at him as she started to list some of the things she's made so far. It seemed that she was interested in Korean and Chinese foods specifically and really loved to bake sweets for other people. Lillian seemed to like her. She thought that her name was Maple because she was so sweet. Jeff gagged. I personally liked her.

Maple sat down and buried her head in a comic book. It sort of looked like manga, but I couldn't tell from a distance. The guys behind her shoved her shoulder and demanded her to make them snacks in a teasing manner. Maple's head shot up in horror as she told them to leave her alone. The rest of homeroom was busy chatting away while this was happening. Seth cracked his knuckles and said he wanted to beat them up.

Hey...chill out, I thought. Look at them, I'm no match for them.

Seth and Jeff scoffed loudly in unison. They wanted me to help her out, but I couldn't do anything to help out. The bell finally rang to release us to first period. The guys surrounding Maple raced their way out of the room. I breathed a sigh of relief. Just as I got up and started heading to her, Tabitha walked in front of me.

"Hey... I didn't catch your name," she said, shyly smiling.

I rubbed my left eye and sniffled. "My name's Zeke."

Tabitha giggled. "That's a pretty cute name."

I looked to the side to see if Maple was still by her seat. She was almost out the door.

"I need to get to my first period..." I said trying to get past her. She rushed back in front of me.

"What's your first period?"

"Algebra two."

"Oh wow, me too! Let's walk together!" she said grabbing my arm. I snatched away from Tabitha's grip, scaring her a bit.

"Sorry, I'm not use to people touching me like that..."

"Oh god, I'm sorry! How rude of me... Please don't hate me...!"

Maple was out of the door by then. I sighed and smiled a little. "I have no reason to hate you. Let's just get to first period, okay?"

Tabitha's smile returned when she nodded. I let her walk out of the door first before following behind her. We talked about what middle schools we use to go to on our way to algebra. She didn't seem to like her middle school since it was an all girls school. Lots of fights and drama and pulling hair and yada yada yada. Jeff thinks that Tabitha talks too much and doesn't really let me talk when she takes a small break. I shrugged and continued to walk. I still would have liked to talk to Maple, but Tabitha will have to do for now. My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it. Probably just a text from my doctor acting if I was okay.