Strings Attached

Chapter Two

There was always that one teacher who told us that, and we never understood what the bell was for if it was not to dismiss us. Schools seriously should consider hiring teachers as bells instead of making us so confused.

No one obeyed, though, because by the time the teacher yelled, we were all out of the classroom and heading to our next class.

"See you at lunch," Louise said behind me.

I waved my hand, rushing to calculus, my favorite class. Maybe words were not my thing, but numbers surely were.

There had always been something about math that caught my attention. I had no idea of what it was, but it made me want to see numbers the whole day. I loved working out math problems. No class ever caught my attention as much as math did.

The best part about being good at math was that I felt powerful and special. Nobody in this class liked doing math, and most of the people here did not get it. That made me feel like I could understand something that not many people could. I felt like calculus was a secret language that only the teacher and I spoke.

Numbers were my thing. I knew it ever since I met Mr. Johnson, my ninth grade algebra teacher. He knew how to teach math like no other. He would even make math fun for us by making us play games. Even graphing was fun when we did it his way. He was, by far, my favorite teacher. He was also one of the teachers whom I asked to write a letter of recommendation for my college applications. He simply was amazing.

Mrs. Coleman, our calculus teacher, was also very good at her job. She explained carefully, yet she did not take hours trying to make us get the topic. She knew how to explain without making us bored, which is something I really admired.

I took a deep breath and smiled. At least this class was going to make my day a little bit less sucky.

I was ready for the class to start, but suddenly, the thing that I expected the least to happen actually occurred. Theodore entered the classroom, carrying two big books and a notebook. He looked focused, as though nothing mattered in the world except for his finding a seat.

I immediately wished for him not to sit next to me. I just did not want for him to attempt to do the small-talk thing again. Mrs. Coleman hated it when people talked while she taught, so she would probably ask us to leave the class if she caught us talking to each other.

My wishes were heard, and Theodore sat down on one of the seats in the front of the classroom. He did not even seem to notice me. He placed his books on the desk and sat upright, focusing on the board. He seemed to be looking forward for the class to begin.

I had not even considered that I might have him in any class. I just was kind of hoping that I did not because I did not need any distractions. Having Louise in one class was enough, but now I had to deal with Theodore's being in my favorite class.

Maybe he would not notice me for the whole semester. That would have been very cool. Just approaching him the last day of school and saying, "Hey! I didn't know we had this class together!"

Then he would probably say, "Oh, we did? I was too busy taking all my lice off my hair for the whole class to even notice you!"

Well, maybe he would not really say that, but one can dream.

The point is that I would have wanted it for him not to notice me. Not that it would have been that hard to keep him from seeing me. I could be pretty invisible when I wanted to, especially while at school.

"All right, class. Settle down." Mrs. Coleman entered the classroom eagerly and placed her books on her desk. "Today we are going to talk about special functions and numbers."