Without The Grace

Masterminds and Motorcycles

Ms. Worth gave us a long homework assignment on the way out of the door. She'd been so frustrated that she hadn't gotten much teaching done.

My fellow students were now grumpy and annoyed with me, including Kenneth.

"Thanks a lot Grace." Kenneth complained.

"Oh shut up. She had it coming." I said, a bit irritated that everyone thought it had been my fault that we'd gotten homework.

He sighed and slung his arm around my shoulder. "What am I gonna do with you?" he asked, kissing my temple.

We walked in silence to my second period.

"Behave yourself." He warned as he left to the gym.

I had no problem with this class; It was Calculus and I loved math. Math somehow came easy to me simply because I was in love with how everything all added up. It wasn't like life where you never knew what was gonna happen, like a parent dying and  having to live with a tyrant.

Another reason I loved math so much was because I loved my teacher. He was drop dead gorgeous; and only twenty four years old.

One day I told him that if I ever broke up with Kenneth he would be the first to know.

He had winked and agreed. I wasn't sure what that meant but I took it as a yes.

"Hey Mr. D." I greeted. His last name was Didenoto but that was too much work to say and plus, I wanted to be special.

"Hey Ms. G." He responded with a small smile.

"Aaliyah!"

I rolled my eyes as Blu took her seat next to me. She always greeted me as if we hadn't seen each other in days.

Blu was an eccentric blonde who had a keen eye for finding solutions to math problems. We both did, which was how we became close friends so quickly.

Besides her amazing academics, Blu was not the brightest crayon in the box. Hanging out with her was fun because she was goofy and knew how to have a good time even when she wasn't aware of it.

"Hey Blu." I said, but she was already gawking at the teacher. She was madly in love with Mr. D, And he, along with the rest of the class was highly aware. He avoided her as much as he could, being that he was her teacher.

"You want to pass out papers Aaliyah?" he asked me, not looking at Blu.

I smiled and took the stack from him. "Sure thing."

///

Lunch was my favorite part of the day which wasn't surprising since I was a big eater. I ordered two cheeseburgers, apple crisp and some strawberry milk. 

Blu, Kenneth and Alex were already seated at our usual table. 

"How do you do it Aaliyah?" Blu asked once I sat down. She was pouting.

"Do what? Carry my tray?" I took out my ketchup packet and began to pour the red sauce on my meat.

She waved my question away while the rest of the table laughed. "No. No. How did you get Mr. Didenoto to like you?"

Kenneth frowned. "Mr. D likes you?" he asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not."

"He asked you to pass out the papers!" she exclaimed as if he had proposed to me.

I ignored her and dove into my cheeseburger.

"Don't worry Blu." Kenneth said. "I'm sure he'll ask you one day too."