Adventure Bay High

The New Arrival

This maths lesson is going too slow, Chase thought. His class had a supply, so were working from textbooks. Well, most of them. Chase didn't have a clue on what a hypotenuse was, and where a and b came from. Pythagoras was way too confusing, and he was afraid to ask. Rocky, who was sat in the seat in front of him, raised his hand to say he had finished. The teacher looked at the computer worriedly, trying to find some extra work. She couldn't. Instead, he was told to help someone in the class. Hearing this, Rocky spun around to face Chase.

'What question are you on?' he asked. Chase pointed at the first question with embarrassment. Rocky then drew out a right hand triangle in his spare notebook on his desk.

'Which one is the hypotenuse?' Chase asked.

'Where's the 90 degree angle?' Rocky responded. Chase put his finger on the angle in the shape of a square in his book. Strangely, Rocky grabbed Chase's book and drew a line from it. 

'What are you doing?'

'Drawing a line on the angle makes it an arrow, and whatever side it points at is the hypotenuse.'

'And a and b?'

'The other ones. It doesn't matter which. Then you substitute in the figures given and work it out.'

'Thanks.'

'No problem.' 

Maybe this lesson won't be too bad after all...

                                                                                           ***

Finally the bell rang. Rocky ran after Chase as they left the room.

'Chase? I need help with something...'

'On a maths question? If you don't know it then nobody will.'

'No, about tonight. I don't know where the karaoke bar is. It's...'

'Not your thing. I know. I'll text you the details when I get home. I need to hurry, as I'm meeting my new brother today.'

'Oh, well I won't keep you waiting. Bye.'

'Bye.'

Chase sat down on the bus, his head full of thoughts. Would his new brother like him? Do his new friends like him? Skye is hot. Would he be peer pressured into drinking alcohol to look cool? Wait, Skye is hot?! Why would he even think that? They were only friends that have known each other in less than a day. Marshall did mock him in fourth period about it, but he didn't realise it until now. He had a crush. But to him it felt like more than that, like his heart was swelling, and felt like it would burst out of his chest. Maybe I should talk to Skye about it, he thought.

Soon Chase got off the bus, his thoughts returning to this new brother of his. His mum did say that he came off the streets, so what if he was mugged or be hurt by this new kid he was welcoming into the house? Chase shook these thoughts out of his head. He unlocked his house door and ran upstairs, where his guitar lay on the bed waiting for him. His dad got him it when he was 12, and wouldn't stop playing ever since. He started strumming some chords and thought of Skye again. Then he began to sing.

(This is Something by The Beatles)

Something in the way she moves

Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me

I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe and how

Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don't need no other lover
Something in her style that shows me

Don't want to leave her now
You know I believe and how

You're asking me will my love grow
I don't know, I don't know
You stick around, now it may show
I don't know, I don't know

Something in the way she knows
And all I have to do is think of her
Something in the things she shows me

I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe and how

He heard a car pulling up in the driveway, and threw some of his mess under his bed. I'll sort it out later, he muttered. He heard his mum open the door and yell,

'I'm home honey, and with someone you need to meet!'

Chase slid down the banister, where a brown skinned boy he knew too well stared at him, confused.

'Chase?'

Word count: 702

Total: 3272