Unpaused: Dwell of the Past

Chapter Thirteen - Damian

​"Lexa! Wait!" Alfie ran and grabbed her bag.

​"Hurry up! We'll be late!" Alexandra said.

​"Shouldn't we wait for Ethan too?"

​"He hasn't come too?"

​They stopped in front of the class. Alfie carefully peeped through the door window. He was almost noticed by the teacher so he quickly ducked.

​"Shut! Mr. Toffalo's already there," he whispered.

​"Where the hell is Ethan!"

​"Over here!" Ethan ran as fast as he could. "I... I was... stuck... traffic... I ran from the 6th... to here," he was gasping for air.

​"I told you we should've taken the cab," Alexandra sighed.

​"Don't blame it on me, blame on that Uber driver," Alfie said. "He's the one who took us to the wrong way,"

​"Well, it's our fault for staying at his party 'til midnight," Ethan broke the debate.

​They stopped talking when they realized that their voice was so loud. It even echoed through the hallway.

​"Mhm... Mhm...," a voice of a man clearing his throat.

​As they turned their head, they saw Mr. Toffalo standing and facing them from inside. His face was dreadful and his hot breathing left dew on the door window. He cued the three of them to enter the class immediately.

​Mr. Toffalo was not an ordinary teacher. He received his bachelor degree in Stanford University and continued to Oxford University for his master and doctoral degree. He was feared by many students with his scary and horrific exam. The kind of exam he gave to his students was equal to university students. He was hardly ever angry—though his words sometimes stabbed anyone so deep—but once he was disappointed, he would hardly accept any form of apology.

​Alexandra, Alfie, and Ethan weren't the brightest ones in his class so they knew they knew there was nothing that can be done.

​"What a good example, you three," Mr. Toffalo said after the three entered the class. "Aren't you ashamed of what you just did? Calliston students are never late!"

​"Sir, we can explain—," Alfie said.

​"Mr. Williams, Ms. Westbrooke, and Mr. Brook. I will remember those names," he said and told them to sit down.

​The rest of the class wasn't talking about Physics. Instead, he was embarrassing the three in front of the class, indirectly. It wasn't the first time, though. Nearly almost all students have experienced this in their life. He mentioned his former students who were late to his class and they weren't accepted to the university they desired. He also mentioned his other former student who was once late and earned F in their school report because he failed in almost the entire Physics exam. More than forty-five minutes he spent talking and talking.

​"Once you're late, you'll fail," he said and stared at the three.

​The three of them couldn't be taken down so easily. In fact, they were furious—the good kind of furious—to excel in his subject.

​"Alright, let's discuss question number nine since none of you could answer it," he said and started writing on the whiteboard.

​He quickly wrote the equation and solved the question. He ended it with a loud thud of dot on the answer.

​"Which option has the answer forty decibels?"

​"None, sir," the blonde girl said.

​"Really?" he said. "I think your book has mistaken,"