Replay {Skephalo}

2 | Reputations

I knocked on the door of the principal's office and waited. Everyone was staring at me.

Everyone.

I was used to it though. The popularity has always been there, for better or for worse. I used to just embrace it like Vincent does, like Vincent says I should, but it becomes bothersome after a while. Some people love popularity, some hate it.

I knew which side I was on.

The door to the office creaked open, revealing the principal. "Ah Mr Carder, I was worried you wouldn't turn up" he says, giving me a small smile. "Come in."

I made my way across the room and sat in the chair opposite the principal's. He took a seat, stretching his arms out on the desk in front of him and knotting his fingers. "Mr Carder, I'm sure you're already aware that your grades are lacking. You barely passed last year, and I don't want the events to reoccur."

Reoccurring events, like they always do. Replaying.

The principal grabbed something out of his desk. It was a computer. His fingers danced across the keyboard. He then pushed the computer towards me, turning it around so I could see. It was a spreadsheet of my grades, D's mostly, with an E in maths.

"As you can see Carder, your grades speak for themselves. Your teachers report to me that you can't keep focus in lessons. You're always distracted apparently." This wasn't new to me. I've never been able to concentrate, not with everything else on my mind.

"However" the principal begins, reaching a hand around the computer screen to the mouse. He scrolled down to the final subject, which was just cut off the page. It was my PE grade.

An A+.

The man stared back at me. " Your concentration doesn't fail you whenever you're in PE it seems. Mr Green told me you are a star student." This wasn't surprising to me either, as Mr Green was the coach for the baseball team. He's always been fond of me, from making me captain to letting me off when I arrive late to practise.

"So I have decided" the principal began, turning the laptop back around away from me and typing out something. "I would like to assign you to another boy in the year above for some extra assistance to your work." Now that shocked me. I wasn't one for nerds. That would ruin my reputation.

The reputation you claim to not care about.

I snapped back from my thoughts to the computer now facing me again. There was a grades spreadsheet on it, but not for me. The spreadsheet was for the grades of a boy called 'Darryl Noveschoch'. I'd heard of him before, but I couldn't think why.

"You may recognise him, he volunteers in both the library and the infirmary" the principal said, reading the look of recognition off my face. I didn't recognise him from either of those places. I'd never even been in either of them. The principal once again scrolled down the spreadsheet, through A+ after A+ after A+. My eyes trailed on the last subject: 'PE'.

Receiving grade: F.

An F in PE from a straight A student. No, a straight A+ student. "At the rate Darryl is going, he will fail the year due to his poor performance in his PE classes, which would be a real shame" the principal examined.

"Therefore I offer you a proposal Mr Carder" he said, tucking away the computer in a desk and laying his hands out on the desk in front of him. "I would like to have Mr Noveschoch tutor you after school each day to improve your grades.

His stare turns more serious. "In return, I'd ask that you allow him to come along to your baseball practise each week. I'm sure you are more than capable of helping him out, hopefully improving his performance in PE." His expression became serious as he stared me straight in the eyes with a serious glare.