After finally managing to get the class to settle down and finishing the register, Mr Adler pulls a block of wood out of a yellow box and slams it onto the front workbench.
"This, my boy, is wood," he announces unnecessarily, "I'm going to teach you how to cut wood, but today we're only going to be using a tenon saw and a coping saw to keep it real simple."
He unlocks the tall blue tool cupboard with a key that hangs around his neck and pulls out two things. One is a long saw with lots of sharp but tiny teeth along the bottom and a blue handle.
The other thing is a wooden object that sort of looks like half of a torture device.
It has a thin base and blocks of wood screwed around in a U shape. There's a couple of slits between them.
He places them on the workbench and points to the saw.
"This is a tenon saw. It is very sharp and will slice your fingers off if you screw around," he holds up his left hand to show me that at some point in his life he's sliced off the tip of his index finger, "however it is good for sawing wood."
He slides the block of wood into the torture device.
"This is a jig. I don't know why it's called this but that's what the author's teacher said it was called but when she googled it to look for a picture to help describe it, it didn't bring up the thing she wanted so we'll just pretends that's what it's called," he says, tapping the torture device, "this helps us cut wood accurately. If you have inaccurate wood then you've been screwing around too much."
I nod and he starts sawing, telling me about how to stand and hold onto the wood whilst you saw with one hand. I don't concentrate on what he's saying as I already know how to do this. Instead I look around the room at the other students.
Cartman is sawing wood rather viciously, using his weight as an advantage.
Phillip is watching Damien as he simply clicks his fingers to make the correct sizes of wood appear. A long line of students has appeared at their workbench because they're too lazy to do the work themselves.
Clyde is chatting to Craig, Token and Tweek whilst they work. I overhear some female names so it's easy to assume that he's talking about women (and probably how many he's slept with)
Token, Clyde and Craig are working quickly confidently whilst Tweek is working slowly and nervously, moving the saw slowly and barely moving it.
"New kid! Are you listening?" Mr Adler prods me with the saw handle. "Repeat what I said."
"If you screw around too much you'll be in detention because screwing around results in injuries."
"Good. Now, we are currently making a clock face using different types of wood and some acrylic, but I'd rather you practiced for a while first. Why don't you try using the tenon saw to make something? And, if you're feeling really clever, try using a coping saw!"
He walks off to his desk, opens the draw and pops some nicotine gum into his mouth.
I stick the block of wood in the vice and tighten it to make sure it doesn't move whilst i saw into it. I steal a quick glance over at Kenny's workbench before starting my own mini project.
An hour and a half later, the bell rings loudly to signal the end of class. I throw the scrap wood into the trash and quickly shove the wood I've been working on into a plastic wallet.
I decided to spell out Kenny's name in wood, paint them, glue them to a large piece of cardboard and give it to him as a gift for either his birthday of Christmas.
So far I've cut out 'Ken' but I'm going to finish it whenever I can.
Speaking of Kenny, I spot him waiting outside the class for me. Since this was a double class, it's recess.
I walk out of the class and smile at him.
"Hi." I greet him.
"Hey," he smiles back, "I thought about it all lesson and I've decided; I'm going to come to the party."
"Oh that's great!" I give him a quick hug.
When I release him, his cheeks are slightly pink and a cute, tiny smile has spread across his lips.
Oh, his lips! I feel the urge to stand on my tippy-toes and kiss him.
I want to tangle my fingers in his hair, feel his arms around my neck...
"Leo?" Kenny waves a hand in my face. "Leo, what's going on with you? You keep zoning out on me."
"Sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts."
"Anything interesting?" He asks, starting to walk away from the classroom.
"Umm... not really." I shrug, trying to forget the thoughts of kissing him.
"Okay then."
We walk outside to the back of the building. The kids in black are sat near the steps, sipping from a flask and smoking cigarettes.
One spots me, flips his fringe and rolls his eyes.
"Got another one of your conformist Justin Bieber wannabes to attack us again?" He snarls, flicking the cigarette butt in our direction.
"No, we came to smoke." Kenny crushes the cigarette beneath his foot.
He sits down on one of the stops beside the kid with the big nose and pulls out a box of cigarettes and a lighter.
He offers the kid with the fringe one, but he says that he doesn't smoke cigarettes bought by conformists.
Kenny shrugs, lights his cigarette and smokes it in silence.
I sit beside him, ignoring the protests from the kids.
"Shut up you stupid faggy emo kids." Kenny grunts, glaring at them all.
"We are not emo," The small one almost screams, "emos suck my goth balls."
"We are freaking goth!" The fringe kid rolls his eyes.
"Same thing." Kenny shrugs.
"It totally isn't."
"Guys, shut up and put out your cigarettes! There's a teacher!" I point to the man in leather clothing approaching us.
"That's only Mr Slave, we'll be fine." The fat girl lights another cigarette.
Mr Slave stops a couple feet away from us and shakes his head disappointedly.
"Jesus Christ," he sighs, placing one hand on his hip, "what have I told you kids about smoking? It's super bad for you. Do you want to die?"
"I'll be fine." Kenny mutters, sounding annoyed.
"If I catch you again I'll be sending you to my office so I can call your parents!"
"My mom won't even care! She'll be happy if I died. I bet she wouldn't hold a funeral, she'd hold a party to celebrate." The fat girl jumps up and shouts at Mr Slave.
"Henrietta, sweetie, you are a beautiful, talented young lady. I'm sure your mother loves you, she's just not sure how to show it because she's a conformist and you're not," mr Slave says calmly, "I'm sure that if your mother died you'd miss her, even just a little bit."
"Of course I..." Henrietta trails off.
"See, even you admit it," Mr Slave smiles. "And you, Firkle. How would you feel if ike died? Now imagine how he would feel if you passed away. Pete, you know your mother loves you very much and would blame herself if you died. Same with you, Michael.
The kids all drop their cigarettes onto the floor and stamp them out, probably thinking about how their loved ones would feel if they died.
"Don't you see, even though you pretend to not care about people and act all depressed, you do care! And I bet you guys would be willing to give up smoking to make sure it never happens."
"I wouldn't go that far, sir." Firkle scoffs.
"Okay, maybe that is a little too far," Mr Slave chuckles. "But, maybe you could at least cut down?"
Kenny stamps out his cigarette and walks off, leaving me with Mr Slave and the goth kids.
I shout after him, but he ignores me.