End Of The Line (Septiplier)

The New Kid

Mark sat in his assigned seat in the back of the classroom. Several people greeted him as they entered the math teacher's classroom and took their seats. Mark smiled and said hey back to everyone who said it to him, but he was looking at his homework. Was his copied work going to convince the teacher?

"Ah, yes," He heard Ms. Oliveros say. "Mr. Johnson said we would be having a new student. Sit wherever there's an empty seat."

The kid at the front of the classroom scanned the seats. The only empty ones were the one beside me and the one placed between Beth and Carson. Beth wore too much perfume, it's sweet stench nearly suffocated anyone who got within three feet of her. Carson, however, was the exact opposite. He wore no deodorant at all, which would be okay if he didn't sweat like a sinner in church. He smelled especially awful in this class, as it was his first one after gym.

As anyone would, the new boy sat next to Mark.

"Now, class. Everyone get out your homework," Oliveros said, as she began pacing around the room, spot checking the homework.

When she made it to Mark's desk, she looked at his homework and inspected every individual equation and answer. "Well, Mark. I never thought I'd see the day you did your homework," she stated as she replaced the paper on the desk.

She went up to the front of the class and began telling us the lesson plans for the day. As usual, Mark zoned out. He looked at the ceiling and pretended to become infatuated with the patterns of dots on the tiles.

"Mark. Perhaps you could answer the question?" The teacher called on him, snapping him back to reality.

"Um... I don't know," Mark admitted.

She nodded and frowned. "Well it was on your homework last night, surely you can work it out?" He looked down at his homework to try to find the answer to the equation that was on the board, but couldn't find the answer. "Well then. Is it safe to assume that you didn't do your homework?"

He looked down at his lap. "Yes ma'am."

"Very well. Stay after class, then."

A chorus of "ooh's" erupted from the classroom before Bob laughed and said "Grow up, guys."

Oliveros passed out papers for us to work on. Mark took one look at the paper and put his head on the table. "I'll never understand how to do math," He sighed.

"Um.. I mean, I could help.. If you want, I mean," Mark heard an accented voice beside him say.

Mark glanced to his left and saw the green-headed boy looking at him. "Good luck," Mark replied. "Every single one of my friends has tried and they can't even explain to me why x equals 5."

"Well, back in Ireland we were ahead of this, so I've known the formulas for a while," The boy explained. What had Felix said his name was?

Mark looked at the boy, really looked at him. He had blue eyes, bluer than Felix's. His hair was green at the top, but the sides were brown and seemed to be laced with a few grays. And he had patchy facial hair, which was more than anything he could do.

"If you really want to try to help me with math, I'll try to learn," Mark told him.

The boy smiled, and asked, "When's your study hall?"

Mark quickly replied, "Sixth period, you?"

The boy pulled out a piece of paper, Mark assumed it was his schedual, and said, "Also sixth. I'll help you then?"

"Sure," Mark replied. "I'm Mark, by the way. Mark Fischbach."

The boy laughed. "Yea, I figured. The teacher called on you a lot. I'm Sean McLoughlin, but I go by Jack."

Mark decided not to question how Jack was a nickname for Sean, and simply said, "Well, I'll see you in study hall."

As the bell rang, Mark threw his backpack over his shoulder and attempted to run out of the room before the teacher could notice. Unfortunately, Oliveros noticed.

"Mr. Fischbach," She called. "I seem to remember asking you to stay after class."

"Oh yea," Mark feigned remembrance, as he walked towards her desk.

"Mark, this must be the fifth time I've caught you copying homework this quarter. What can I do to get you to stop?"

"Stop assigning homework?" Mark joked. Oliveros didn't find it funny. "I'll do my homework, Ms. O. It's just I have no idea what we're even learning," he admitted.

"Have you ever considered a tutor?" Ms. O asked.

"I've gotten a lot of my friends to tutor me," Mark replied.

"I mean a professional tutor," She responded.

"Oh. No, I've never thought of one," Mark stated. "But the new kid, Sean, he said he'll help me in study hall."

Ms. O sighed. "Okay. If that doesn't work out, come back to me. I have a list of tutors that could be very beneficial to you."

"Okay, Ms. O. Thanks!" Mark called, as he left her classroom. He had acted as though he were paying attention during their conversation, but truthfully, he was constantly wondering how on earth Jack would get him to understand math.