The Bad Boy's Homework

Chapter Two

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It was finally the end of the first day of school, and Allegra couldn't have been happier. She didn't have any homework, so she could go home and read her book as soon as she got through the door. She only had one thing to do before leaving school, and that was go to the front office. In Art -which was her last class of the day - the teacher had asked Allegra to copy some papers for her, but she said that she could wait until the end of the day and bring them to her after school, which Allegra didn't mind doing. Helping people was good, she thought.

She said goodbye to Jolie and walked to the office, the paper she needed to copy in her hand. The old door opened with a creak and she smiled at Miss Jean, who was the lady that manned the front desk. "Um...hello. Mrs. Valeria asked me to copy some papers for her."

"That's fine, dear," said Miss Jean, smiling tiredly. "The copier is just over there," she added, pointing behind her. "Right by the principal's office."

Allegra smiled. "Thank you." She then walked behind the desk and over to the copier, slipping the paper in the top and then pressing the On button. Then she punched in the number of copies she wanted - which was thirty four - and pressed the Copy button. The school hadn't gotten an new copier in over six years, so it was extremely slow as it copied the paper one by one.

While she waited, Allegra glanced around the office, taking in every single detail. Fake potted plants on the desk, folding padded plastic chairs at one end of the compact room, the green-and-blue fading carpet... Raised voices? Allegra's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she turned to her left. The voices seemed to be coming from the principal's office, whose door was wide open. She wondered how on earth someone could already be in trouble. It was the first day of school! And then she heard the boy's voice. Rich, deep, all attitude... Unmistakably the voice of Alex Gilmore.

She shuffled a little closer to the door and leaned against the wall, trying to seem casual as she listened in.

"Alex, you were expelled, but that wasn't just because of your crimes," Mr. Gale, the principal said.

Alex snorted. "Those weren't crimes. Those were harmless little pranks."

Mr. Gale cleared his throat. "Anyway, your grades were slipping when you left. You were failing every class. Unless you step up your game, Mr. Gilmore, you will not be graduating at the end of this year."

"Fine, whatever," Alex said somewhat angrily, his voice suddenly coming closer to the opened door. He stormed out and slung his bag over his shoulder as he went, but he principal wasn't far behind him.

"Alex!" the principal exclaimed. "Not only will you not be graduating this year, but you'll be expelled once more if you don't get your grades up! And this time, it will be for good!"

Alex stopped in his tracks, freezing and turning around. Allegra saw that his face was pale and that he looked even angrier than ever. He walked back to the principal and jabbed his index finger at his chest in a somewhat threatening way. "You can't do that."

"Of course I can," said Mr. Gale, not even phased in the slightest by Alex's behavior. "I didn't tell your father when you were expelled that you had terrible grades. According to him, you said you were getting straight A's." He laughed humorlessly. "You might have gotten away with it last time, but if your grades don't improve, your father will be hearing from me, and I'll tell him everything."

Alex's eyes widened, and for once he looked scared and vulnerable. "No. Please don't," he begged. "You can't. He'll punish me till the end of the century if you ever tell him."

"Well, then, Mr. Gilmore. I suggest that you enlist the help of a tutor, perhaps even someone here at this school."

"You mean, like...a nerd?" Alex asked incredulously with a small disbelieving laugh. "Uh, no, I don't think so."

Mr. Gale looked at him disapprovingly. "I'm not sure that our top students appreciate being called that, Alex. It's such a stereotypical term. If you wear glasses and braces, if you're good at school, if you like certain things... You're suddenly viewed in a mean way. It's not very nice, is it?"

Alex sighed. "Okay, fine, I'll get the help of a brainy kid," he corrected himself.

"That is not the attitude to go about this with. You never know, it might be very beneficial for you."

"Yeah, might be," Alex muttered sarcastically, turning around again and storming out of the front office, shutting the door roughly behind him.

Mr. Gale straightened his tie and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them once more and looking around himself. Suddenly spotting Allegra there, he blinked a few times and then smiled at her swiftly. She smiled in return and glanced behind her to see that the copies were done, she took them and was just about to leave as the principal called her name from inside his office. Confused, she hurried in with the papers in hand. "Yes?"

"Have a seat, please, Miss Davis," Mr. Gale said, indicating with his hand.

"Am I in trouble?" Allegra asked slowly. But she did as he said and looked at him, exceptionally puzzled. She had never been in the principal's office before, and she couldn't think of anything that might have gotten her into trouble, unless Jolie had blamed something on her, but it didn't really seem like something that her friend would do.

Mr. Gale simply laughed. "No, you're not in trouble. I was wondering if you overheard my conversation with Mr. Gilmore. After all, you were standing right near my office and the doors were open. You must have heard something."

She couldn't lie. He would know if she did. She hesitantly nodded. "Um, yes, I did. Why?"

"You see, I just had a brilliant idea. I'm sure you heard that he needs a tutor?"

"Yeah..." Allegra said somewhat suspiciously. She wasn't quite sure where Mr. Gale was going with this, but she had a pretty good idea.

"Well," he said after a moment of silence, "how would you feel about helping Alex with his school work, perhaps get his grades a bit higher?"

Her eyes widened. She and Alex hated each other. It was like an unspoken rule. He was a popular and she wasn't. That was really all there was to it, but she knew that he would make fun of her and be horrible to her if she did. Alex wasn't the nicest person ever, especially to the kids who weren't a part of the in-crowd.

Allegra swallowed. "Um, I'm very sorry, sir, but I don't think that will be possible. I'll be very busy this year, what with clubs and other after-school activities. I'm not sure if it will fit in with my schedule," she said quickly, only exaggerating a little bit.

Mr. Gale frowned. "Are you sure? I can't think of anyone better for the job. Your test scores last year were marvelous! You had the highest scores out of everyone in your grade. Shouldn't you be using that knowledge to help others?"

She bit her lip. When he put it that way, it almost seemed hard to say no. She set her jaw slightly and shook her head firmly. "I'm really sorry, Mr. Gale, but I can't."

"Oh well, then. It would have been a great opportunity. I want you to think about it, okay? Give me an answer tomorrow after school, and if you say no... Well, that'll just be too bad."

"Yeah, sure, I'll think about it," she said nonchalantly, getting up from her seat and walking out of his office. As she walked past Miss Jean, she smiled just like she always did, just because it was the nice thing to do.

"I really think you should do it, Allegra," Miss Jean said, obviously having heard the conversation.

"I guess," Allegra replied. "Mr. Gale said I could think about it."

"Just make a good decision, will you, dear?"

Allegra sighed. "I'll do my best."