maybe • adam banks

unintentional

i walked with charlie to our first period, seeing as adam had a different class.

i gripped tightly to the straps of my backpack,"who do you think our new coach is gonna be?"

charlie shrugged,"not bombay."

i frowned, nudging him,"yeah, but i at least hope he's like...not a total dick."

he sighed, shaking his head,"one can dream, scar. one can dream."

i rolled my eyes and we took our seats next to each other. our teacher looked like the personification of pessimism, and i could tell that this would not be a good year for us.

she didn't smile at all, didn't even greet us at the door. i hoped this wasn't how all the teacher's would be, but i think being decrepit and scary was part of the job application.

the bell rang, and she stood up, wasting no time on semantics,"every monday you'll have a practice quiz, every wednesday you'll have a real quiz, every friday you'll have an exam. and anytime i feel like it you'll have a surprise quiz or exam."

i looked at her with wide eyes, leaning into charlie,"she has to be kidding."

he frowned, watching as she passed out the syllabus,"i don't think she's ever made a joke in her life."

i rolled my eyes, grabbing a pencil from my bag,"charlie, please cut my throat with your right skate."

he raised his eyebrows at my specificity,"the right one?"

i nodded,"please."

once we had the syllabus, she promptly handed out a quiz. what she had to quiz us on, i have no idea. i blocked the trauma out of my memory.

after, what had seemed like forever, that class had ended, but unfortunately there were still five others to attend.

i sat with adam in history class, rubbing my temples,"our american lit teacher is insane. she's making us read the grapes of wrath, concluded by writing an essay on the major themes of the story."

adam sighed,"i should not have signed up for quantum physics. what science are you taking, again?"

i looked at him with sympathetic eyes,"forensic science."

he groaned, resting his head on the desk,"i don't make good choices."

i laughed silently, putting my hand on his shoulder,"don't worry, banksie. you're smart, you can do it."

he rolled his eyes, sitting up,"not smart enough."

we turned our attention to our world history teacher, who held a stuffed dwarf and a textbook. i watched him quizzically, wondering where he could possibly be going with this.

"it's been said that the present is to the past like a dwarf on the shoulders of a giant," he started, and i could already tell this would be more dramatic than my dramatic arts class,"if the dwarf holds his seat, he can indeed see further than the giant. but beware if the dwarf should grow careless and forget his place," he stopped at fulton's desk and slammed the book on top of the dwarf causing me to jump back,"history is a giant. get ready to ride."

i laughed nervously, not sure what to think. i didn't realize that every single class would be so intense.

•

finally, the lunch bell had rang, and we were officially halfway through the day.

adam grabbed my hand as we walked with averman, goldberg, julie and charlie. luis was stalking some cheerleader and was slammed into the lockers by a varsity guy.