number 12. (l.s.)

Chapter 6.

S I X
-a favor-

Bored, Louis leaned on the table, watching the clock slowly ticking away the seconds. It was Friday, which meant it was almost weekend. He was thinking about what he could do during the weekend when suddenly a stern voice caught the attention of the room.

"Mister Tomlinson."

He looked up somewhat bored. "What?" He heard laughter through the classroom.

"You could really use a better attitude,' said the teacher. Their usual teacher, Mr Adams, was quite okay Louis thought. And he noticed that Mr Adams liked Louis as well, which he found quite odd, but it seemed the truth. But Louis heard Mr Adams was sick that day, so then they had some kind of moody irritated teacher.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind,' he said and closed his eyes again, while leaning on the table.

"Mister Tomlinson. Can you give me the meaning of irregardless?"

Louis sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Well, most people use 'regardless'. That means: without regard or despite something. Irregardless isn't even a synonym. It is in fact double negative. 'Ir' means 'not' and 'less' means 'without'. In other words: not without regard." The teacher - or rather the entire class - looked at him in surprise.

"Alright, but I do expect you to listen to what I say,' the teacher said after a few seconds.

Louis sighed as he crossed his arms. "Sure."

"Dude,' George whispered, as he turned around in the chair and stared at Louis with widened eyes. "Why didn't you say you were that good at english?"

"Because I'm not,' Louis answered, after which Brian laughed.

"You literally gave the perfect answer."

Louis shrugged his shoulders modestly. "Where is Jack?" He then asked, because the table next to him was empty, where Jack normally sat.

"He's sick. Just like yesterday." Louis nodded, and then the bell finally rang, after 50 minutes of English class.

Before they could stand up, the teacher quickly called for attention. "In a week, you'll have a listening test and the following week a writing assignment. The writing assignment will be in duo's. I'll give you a sheet of information before you leave the room." Louis sighed and just like the class, he stood up, grabbed his stuff, and walked out of the room while receiving a sheet of information about the assignment.

He read the text of information and shook his head silently. Then he walked back to the classroom and knocked on the door. "Come in,' he heard the teacher say.

"You said we had to do this assignment in duo's, but is it okay if I do it by myself?"

He frowned, putting the books at the desk in place really neatly. "You do know it's quite a big assignment, don't you?" Louis shrugged his shoulders, as if it was nothing. "Sorry, I, and I'm sure Mr Adams too, would like you to do it with someone else. It's also good for social skills and since everyone does it in pairs, I'd like you to do that too."

Louis rolled his eyes. "Great,' he said sarcastically.

"If anything is bothering you, you can talk to me. I'm not only a teacher, but also a mentor. I know it isn't easy to change schools and just start over."

"Do you?" Louis huffed and turned around. He threw the door shut and kept his eyes on the paper as he walked through the hallway. He read that the assignment must be done in pairs, which you can choose yourself. You could also choose the subject yourself, as long as it is a decent one. He walked through the almost empty halls of the school. It was lunch break, and as always, he would sit alone at a table. The thing is, sometimes when Juliet would find him, she would sit next to him. Sometimes even bringing other friends along. He always had to come up with some excuse to go away. The first few times, he could say he went to the bathroom, and he would just stay away. After a few times she figured it out and didn't let him go anymore. So now he just wandered a bit through the school as long as he could and eventually sat down at a table for the last few minutes.