Without Flaws | Fyodor Academy 1

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

       I glanced up from my laptop, making sure my teacher was nowhere near close to me. I was having way too much fun right now to be disrupted by something as boring as paying attention to class.

       Okay, sometimes I did find class fun because that was the kind of person I was, but I was having a lot more fun spying with S.T.E.V.E, who was currently roaming the school while I watched on my laptop.

       Even though it was class time, I was still hoping I could find something to I could use to either blackmail someone or to be entertained. I was just glad we were allowed to use our laptops in this class to take notes, otherwise I wouldn't be able to spy with S.T.E.V.E right now.

       Jules leaned over to look at my laptop screen. "Shouldn't you be paying attention?" he asked in a quiet voice.

       "Nah, I probably know more than Mr. Pendleton anyway," I said, my voice just as low.

       "That's... Yeah, that's probably true."

       There was a sudden knock on the classroom door, so Mr. Pendleton stopped his lesson to go answer it. Standing on the other side was Mr. McCabe, and before Mr. Pendleton could say anything, I asked aloud, "Am I in trouble? Did I get caught?"

       "Caught?" Mr. McCabe repeated. "Peregryn, what are you doing?"

       "Uh, learning. Look, I'm sitting here in class."

       Mr. Pendleton sighed before leaving the classroom, closing the door behind him so I could no longer disrupt the headmaster for whatever reason he was here for. It didn't take long for Mr. Pendleton to return but this time, there was a new student that came in with him.

       "Class," Mr. Pendleton said, getting everyone's attention. "This is your new classmate, Landry. Please make them feel welcomed. Landry, you can sit..." Mr. Pendleton looked around the classroom. "Jules, why don't you move on seat over? Landry can sit between you and Parry."

       "What?" Jules asked. "But... Why?"

       "You two are always talking in the middle of class," Mr. Pendleton said.

       "Mr. Pendleton, I'm going to talk to whoever sits beside me," I said.

       "Great, then you can make sure Landry feels welcomed." Mr. Pendleton gestured for Jules to scoot over one spot. Jules did with a heavy sigh.

       Landry walked over and sat down in the chair between me and Jules. "Sorry for taking your spot," they said to Jules.

       "No, it's fine," Jules said. "Besides, I see Parry all the time so it's not like being two seats apart is going to hurt. In fact, I can go with seeing him a bit less."

       "Excuse me?" I asked.

       Jules shushed me because Mr. Pendleton continued his lesson. I just scowled before turning my attention back to my laptop screen, seeing where S.T.E.V.E was. Right now, he was set up so he could roam around the school without me controlling him. I thought it would be more fun to see where he could go as oppose to me deciding where he should go.

       "Hathaway," Mr. Pendleton suddenly said, causing me to look up from my laptop and at him. "Can you tell me what the answer is?"

       "I mean, it depends what the question was," I said. 

       "What are prokaryotic cells?" 

       "Cells without a true nucleus or membrane-bound organelles. Like bacteria, blue-green algae, and mycoplasma. Bacteria are the most common, obviously. Also, the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell."

       Mr. Pendleton sighed. "I didn't ask about the mitochondria."

       "I know. I just wanted to say it." It was his fault for asking me a question in the first place. I always knew the answers, even if I wasn't paying attention. 

       I guess I should thank my mother for my high IQ, even if I didn't want to talk to her right now.

       I went back to my laptop, seeing that S.T.E.V.E had made his way into the cafeteria. Ooh, maybe I could see what was on the special menu for today...

       Right as S.T.E.V.E was getting closer to the menu, someone suddenly picked him up. Mr. McCabe's stern face was shown on the screen before it shut down. I've been foiled.

       Thankfully, though, class ended so it was time for lunch. I was going to get S.T.E.V.E back from my grandfather, but then I remembered that we got a new student and I didn't want to leave them by themselves.

       Besides, as long as they weren't Malcolm, Landry was going to fit in my group just fine.

       I looked at Landry while I was packing up my belongings. "Want to join me and my friends for lunch? Well, me and my friends minus Jules?"

       "What?" Jules asked.

       "You said you could go with seeing me a little less. So you no longer get to have lunch with me."

       "Just ignore him," Jules said to Landry. "He's always dramatic. So would you like to join us for lunch?"

       "Yeah, that would be great," Landry said. "I was already iffy about going to a boarding school. I didn't know what I would have done if I couldn't find someone to sit with at lunch."

       As we were heading to the cafeteria, I asked, "If you don't mind me asking, why are you enrolled so late in the school year? Mr. McCabe normally doesn't take applications in the middle of a semester."

       "Long story short, expulsion," Landry said.

       "Oh, been there, done that," I said. "But you're in luck, because Mr. McCabe doesn't really expel people often."

       "Yeah, if he did, Parry would have been expelled a long time ago," Jules said.

       He wasn't wrong.

       We got to the cafeteria, getting our lunches before heading to the table we normally sat at. Everyone else was there, so I said, "Everyone, this is Landry. They're new to the school and because I'm so nice, I'm letting them join us for lunch."

       "You're anything but nice," Maple said.

       "You're anything but nice," I mocked. "Anyway, Landry, this is, ugh, Maple," Maple glared at me, "Everly, Mack, and Mateus. Everyone here is nice except for Maple."

       "I hope my brother dumps you," Maple said.

       "I hope you stay single forever," I shot back.

       Mack sighed as he looked at Landry. "I apologize in advance if any of them give you a headache from all the arguing."

       Landry smiled as they shook their head. "I find it quite entertaining when friends argue. Does that make me sound bad?"

       "Certainly not as bad as releasing a bunch of farm animals in the school," Jules said.

       "Why does that sound like it was targeted towards me?" I asked.

       "Probably because you're the only one who, you know, released farm animals in the school," Mateus said.

       "Did you actually?" Landry asked.

       "Multiple times," I said proudly. 

       "Nice!" Landry said. "If you do it again, can I help?"

       "Now look what you did," Jules said. 

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yay landry is officially my first nonbinary character! i've been wanting to write one for a while now!

so anyway, stan landry.