Dream on fire

2: José

Time to get ready for school. I thought as soon as I woke up. I don't want to, though. But I need to get perfect attendance this year. I always try to better myself every school year. And now it's especially important since I'm going to a new school. I take a bite of my protein bar and jump out of the window. I land on the soft green grass. And they said I don't touch grass smh. Then I realized I had left my skateboard inside my room. I also forgot my bag, my books, my pens( all 20 of them are black), and most importantly, my protein bars. I climbed back inside my window, took all my stuff, jumped back out the window, and rode to school on my skateboard. I barely came to school on time, and I rushed to class. 

"Hello, cla-" I interrupted the teacher by walking in, "Hello. May I ask what your name is?" she said with false kindness.

"Uhhh, Joseph," I answered, scared.

"Hmmm. Joseph, it is the first day of school, and you already have detention." she sighed, "Is this a nice way to start the school year?"

"Why do I have detention? I came on time." I said, confused.

"That's exactly the problem. For my class, you have to come early. You should have known this since last year," she said with a smug look on her face.

"I'm... new?" I said as her eyes widened. Her face was full of regret. She knew that she was about to get fired. 

"I'm so sorry, Joseph. I didn't know! Next time, put a 'new pin' on your shirt, okay?" 

Is this lady serious? A 'new pin'? Does she want me to be made fun of on my first day? I sit down next to the nicest-looking person in this room.  Everything about her just screams, neat. Her clothes do not have a single wrinkle, her mascara doesn't even look remotely smudged, and all her belongings are neatly folded and colour arranged. She is the type of person I could never be, no matter how much I improve every year. Which is why I want to sit next to her. She also looks super sweet!

"Hey. Can I sit with you?" I asked, scared. 

"Sure! My friends are all in the other class anyway!" she laughs sadly.

"Is this teacher always like this?" 

"Unfortunately. She loves me, though, so I can't really complain."

"Well, I've made a terrible impression so far."

"Quite the opposite, actually. She made a bad impression on you. Stay narcissistic, my brother!"

I start giggling loudly, and the teacher glares at me.

"Oh shit." I gasped.

"You're funny. I like you."

"I want to know your level so I can put you all into groups, so I think we should take a mini-test. Don't worry, the test is fast, and I'll give you the results at the end of this class." The teacher said, "Joseph, my name is Mrs Mcarty. Learn that name until you remember it for the rest of your life."

The whole class moans, but the girl beside me squeals. She is a brunette with long hair and blue eyes that sparkle in the sun. She is taller than all the guys in this class by at least 25 cm. However, I'm still taller than her by like 7 cm or something like that.

"You're the first person I've ever met who actually likes tests. I like you." I whispered in her ear, "I find that inspiring."

"I just like to test my knowledge. And besides, I need to be put into groups because if not, I feel like I'm in the middle of a zoo. Except for animals in the zoo aren't as loud as them," she smirked, "and getting results is really fun as well."

"Can you two stop chitter-chattering? Joseph, the first thing you're going to have to learn in my class is that I do not like when people talk. The only form of communication allowed in this class is sign language and note passing, but only outside of exams. Inside exams, you zip up your smelly mouth, got it?" said Mrs Mcarty as she handed our exam papers to us, "Aino, I understand you want to help the new kid, but you know the rules. I really don't want to do this, but if I hear you talk again, you have detention."

The girl, whose name was apparently Aino, just nodded silently and began to work. I'm beginning to think that this is a class based on a dictatorship similar to Hitler's or Franco's. I'm a big history nerd if you couldn't tell. I get A's in every subject, but history and English are the ones that interest me the most. Hopefully, the history and the English teacher are nicer than this mean chemistry teacher Mrs. Mcarty.

I decided to focus on the test, and I found out that the questions were super easy. Is that really the best school in the city? This is the easiest test I've taken in my life! Even the primary tests are easier than this. I think to myself. If this is the level of education in this school, there is no hope for these students. Except Aino, of course. What is she even doing in this school? She should be in a private school meant for rich kids and really smart kids that came there from scholarships. But maybe there's a personal reason for that. I guess we'll never know.

I finish the test in under 10 minutes and decide to fall asleep. If Mrs. Mcmad asks me why I'm sleeping, I'll just tell her I finished my exam. It looks like Aino finished as well because she started drawing beautifully on her notebook. It seems like she's good at everything.
"What are you drawing?" I whispered. She then punched my stomach.
"What was that for-" I whispered again until I realized why she did it. Mrs. Mcarty was staring at me. Her snake-like eyes felt like they were watching my every move, analyzing if I was a threat to her star student. She must think that I will be a bad influence on Aino. And you know what? I will. I like a little challenge. And making Aino into a rebel is going to be a hard one. I'm not really a delinquent myself, but I'm definitely not as perfect as her. She seems like a person who needs to let loose a bit. My new mission is to give her that. I bet she doesn't even know what a party is.

"I hope you weren't speaking to Miss Aino, new guy," she said as she stared at me menacingly, "It's your first day, and you're already walking on really thin ice."

"You know what they say?" I said, trying to brighten the mood, "When there's thin ice, you have to skate on it!" No one says that. Why do I always have to embarrass myself?

"I'll just take the test now then, thank you." she said sternly as she collected mine and Aino's paper. She really thinks she did something, huh? Just because I've got a little bit of tattoos does not mean I have bad grades. In fact, I only have like one tattoo, and it's a butterfly. It represents the butterfly effect. I don't want to talk about what I mean by that. It's a personal thing. Let's just leave it at that.

Twenty minutes pass, and the teacher finally starts to collect the rest of the tests. Turns out that only thing Mrs. Mcarty is good at grading papers at lightning speed. She clears her throat, and she starts by reciting all the test scores.
"Oooh, looks like we have a tie!" she smiled with an insipid smile, "Aino and Joseph, you both got 100%."