Uniquely Ordinary

Chapter 5

Recap:

.  The endorphins from the exercise and the rush of the game kept a smile etched onto my face even as I realized that we had drawn curious eyes.  We had been playing so furiously, I hadn’t noticed the parking lot filling up and students and administration walking into the building.  Some of them stopped and blatantly stared for a moment before walking away.  I noticed this one girl in particular who actually rolled her eyes at us and gave an undeniable scoff before she separated from the crowd and walked through a small door into the building. “Damn.  We’re going to be late.” I voiced the obvious. 

CHAPTER 5

As discreetly as possible, which wasn’t very since we were the attraction of several curious eyes, we went back to the bleachers to return the ball.  Then we followed the crowd of students into the main doors of the school.  Conveniently, there was a reception desk immediately to the left. After we had grabbed our schedules and maps, both of which Eli had shoved into my hands, we made our way to our first class.  Thankfully the crowd had thinned making navigation slightly easier.  Eli rested his hand on my left shoulder and followed my lead.  The school was huge and if not for the signs in the hallway, I would have been lost several times.  But eventually, we made it to our first class in the nick of time. We walked to the teacher’s desk and introduced ourselves to the polished looking man sitting in the seat.  He was most likely in his forties supporting early onset graying. The gray streaks only made him seem more professional and intimidating.  However having him as the first teacher in regular high school was not particularly stressful, even if he did teach chemistry. I’d had retired army generals as teachers, so I was not particularly frightened.  

“Ah you must be the military school transfers.  I heard about that.” He started.  I saw a flash of disgust pull up his features.  I guess the rumors around the teachers must be that we were ex-cons.  But he hid it well and if I had not been trained to see it, I never would have noticed his disdain.  “I’m rather disappointed you both are starting three weeks into the school year.”

“Sorry for the inconvenience sir, but that was because all the transfers departed the same day even though we were all attending different schools that started at different times.”

“Well regardless, you will be a bit behind.  My name is Mr. Pertson.  I’ll get you both a syllabus which will outline everything you need to know including what assignments will be due when and when all the tests are.  But if either of you have questions, feel free to email me.” His tone was one of dismissal, so without further encouragement, Eli and I found two seats in the second to last row and sat down after the man.  I hoped there was no assigned seating. “Okay everybody start the review problems on the board and I’ll come around and check your homew…” Mr. Pertson trailed off for a second and looked at a sheet on his desk. He then stared straight at Eli as he spoke. “Excuse me Eli, I know you’re new but sunglasses are not permitted in class.” Oh no.  This was going to be bad.

“Why?” To anyone else Eli would seem rude and standoffish, but I knew he was just generally curious.

“Because it’s weird to wear sunglasses indoors, students can fall asleep during class, and because it’s disrespectful.”

“I won’t fall asleep I assure you and I’m okay with being weird.  I mean no disrespect sir, but I’m not taking them off.” I wished I’d told Eli that in public school, especially in this community, teachers were addressed as Mr. and Mrs. No one really used sir or ma’am anymore. 

“You can either take your sunglasses off, or enjoy detention after school.”

“I’ll take the detention.” Eli relaxed back into his seat.  Pertson looked like he was going to explode and the other students were staring at Eli like they couldn’t believe his level of haughtiness.  Most people did not dare speak to teachers that way and I had a feeling that no one crossed Pertson.