Chapter 4: 04 School Woes

I didn't pause as I knocked once on the classroom door and opened it, stepped inside, and closed it in one smooth motion. Everyone in the class stared at me and I ignored them as I walked over to the teacher's desk.

“I was in the office with Miss Strickland because I needed her expert help.” I said and took out the class excuse card. “I forgot my locker combination...”

“BAHAHA! What an imbecile!” The brown-skinned boy said mockingly.

“...because I fell and split my head open.” I said and turned to show off the bald patch and the scar, to several gasps. “I have amnesia and I have to relearn everything I forgot.”

The teacher looked a little green when he saw the scar and marked the note. “Take your seat, Peter.”

“Actually, I prefer Ben, sir. I can't remember being Peter.”

Complete silence met my words for about ten seconds.

“I'll make a note of that, Pete... Ben.” He said. “Your usual seat is right there in front.”

I looked around and saw several empty ones. “Can I sit anywhere? The pretty girl with the blonde hair over there looks like she might be interesting to talk to.”

Once again, not a single sound was made for about ten seconds.

“There's no rules against changing seats.” The teacher said, reluctantly.

“Great!” I said and walked over to the empty desk at the side of the classroom. I ignored the stunned looks on people's faces and took off my backpack to sit down. “Hi, there. I'm Ben.”

The blonde girl had a prominent blush on her face. “I'm Betty. Betty Brant.”

“It's nice to meet you.” I said and refrained from trying to reach out to shake her hand. I doubted that I could get away with that trick twice in one day. “What are we learning today?”

“If you had been here on time, you would know that.” The brown-skinned boy said under his breath.

“Did I just hear someone being stupid?” I asked and looked around as I intentionally didn't look at the guy that spoke. “Some people abuse that privilege way too much for their own good. It's not healthy.”

Betty smiled and two of the guys nearby chuckled.

“Ahem.” The teacher said and we all looked up at him. “Can anyone solve the question I just wrote out on the board?”

Half of the class put their hands up and Betty was one of them.

“Miss Brant, if you would.” The teacher said.

I would have to thank the man later for calling on her, because I got a good look at her as she went to the board. She wore a mid-thigh skirt, a conservative shirt, and a vest on top of it. That wasn't interesting, though. It was the calf-high white stockings on her legs. Instead of normal boring ones, they had a nice lace trim with an intricate pattern.

Well, hellooo! I thought with a smile and couldn't stop my brain from imagining what else she was wearing that might have lace on it.

“Are you following along, Mr. Parker?” The teacher asked.

“Yes, sir.” I said and without being asked, walked up to the front of the class and picked up a piece of chalk. “I studied everything from my last school to this year's book, then borrowed a college book from the library.”

Betty stepped back for me.

“I'm sorry about this, Betty.” I said and erased half of her work, then redid it using the techniques I had absorbed from all of my studying.

Everyone in the class stared as I filled the board and zeroed everything out, even the parts in brackets that weren't supposed to be solved and only equalized to balance both sides of the equal sign.

“That can't be right!” The same annoying voice called out.

“Pete... ah, I mean Ben. Where did you learn that?” The teacher asked.

I went to my desk and opened my backpack. I took out the library book and brought it up to the teacher. “I haven't finished going through it yet, so I kept it out for another week.”

The teacher stared at the cover of Advanced Spacial Mathematics and Quadratic Equations. “Ben, this... how...”

“I have no idea!” I said happily and he and Betty looked surprised. “I just read through it and follow along, do the exercises, and check the back of the book for the answers.”

“You can't remember anything, and yet, you can learn and remember this?” The teacher asked.

“Apparently.” I said. “It's pretty easy, too. Once you memorize the base calculation variables and their constants, you just plug in the numbers and fill in the rest.”

The teacher looked at the problem on the board and opened the book to look up the variables he had used. He reached the right page and checked them, then used a piece of paper and did the problem out himself. Or tried to. He had to keep referencing the book and the board where I had already done it.

The teacher finished and dropped his pencil and stared at his result. It matched mine. “Ben...”

The class bell rang and I picked up the library book.

“I need to run if I'm going to find my next class.” I said and turned to Betty. “Do you have computer lab next?”

“No, Advanced Journalism.” Betty said.

“I guess I have to wait until lunch to flirt with you some more.” I said and went to my desk and stuffed the book back into my backpack. The annoying boy tried to walk into me to bump me and I turned and tripped him instead. His expected resistance as he leaned forward, namely me, wasn't there and he went face first into the floor.

Everyone that saw it, laughed.

“That's a really bad case of stupid you have there. You might want to get that treated.” I said and stepped over him and spoke to Betty as I passed her. “I'm sure I'll find the cafeteria quickly, can you save me a seat?”

Betty nodded and I left the classroom at a fast walk. The computer lab was up two floors and in a separate wing of the school. I would have enough time to stop at my locker on the way and decided against that. I was sure that there would be a lot of students in the class, considering the school's reputation as being for smart kids.

I entered the room and there were already people there typing away on their keyboards. I needed to talk to the teacher about what books I needed to read to catch up to everyone else. Unlike the main course books that Peter had in his backpack all the time, he didn't have all of his books and I had no clue what extra courses I had to catch up on.

“Hi, Peter.” The black woman said and reached into her desk and took out a computer USB. “Your preferred spot is still free.”

“Yeah, about that.” I said and didn't take the USB. “I need to explain a few things.”

“Like what?” The black woman asked.

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I spent the next few minutes showing her the scar and explaining what had happened and what I liked to be called now. “I have no clue what I was working on, what to do, or how to fix that.” I said and she just stared at me with a blank expression. “If possible, I would like a list of books to give me a good background in what I was learning here. Peter didn't have any books at home for me to familiarize myself with.”

“You want me to tell you what to read to get proficient in computer programming. From scratch.”

“If possible.” I reminded her. “I don't even know how to access the USB, assuming Peter should have been smart enough to put a password on it.”

“You really do have amnesia?” She asked.

“I don't even know your name, miss.” I said and she looked surprised. It took me a second to get it. “You were Peter's favorite teacher, weren't you?”

“I thought I was.” She said with a sigh. “Go sit at the third station and take this with you. If you can't open it, just sit there and I'll try to do up a list of books you can look up in the school library.”

“Thank you.” I said and took the USB device and went to the third station like she said. It took me a minute to find the flip down cover and I opened it to reveal the USB plugs on the computer. I slipped the drive into it and a directory opened up. “I stand corrected.”

I searched through it for a good fifteen minutes and couldn't find any how-to files, notes, or even directions on how to open things or what to open first. It was just a bunch of files in several directories and only a few executable files. I was not stupid enough to run them without knowing what they were, especially if they were unfinished and might crash the computer, wipe the USB, or do nothing at all.

“Peter, here's that list.” The teacher said and she saw I had the file folders open. “Any luck?”

“Not even a note saying what the files are.” I said and took the list. “Thanks for this. I hope I can catch up soon and...”

The teacher huffed. “You might be smart, Peter; but, you are not that smart. It takes years of experience and playing with background files before you get to the stage where this course can be a benefit to you.”

“That doesn't make sense, miss. Peter didn't have any computer programming books at home.” I said and she looked like she didn't believe me. “He doesn't even own a computer.”

The teacher opened her mouth, probably to call me a liar, then sighed. “Then all I can say is good luck. If you can't pass in the assignment by the end of the month when it's due, I'll have to remove you from the class and give your spot to someone that has worked hard to be here.”

I gave her a curious look before I spoke. “Why wait for three weeks? Take me out now.”

“Peter...”

“I told you that my name is Ben.” I said and ejected the USB and slipped it into my pocket. I stood up and put on my backpack. “I appreciate the little help you've given me and all the scorn.”

“Peter... Ben...”

“I think Peter would have been very disappointed in his favorite teacher for how you've rejected him after his injury.” I said and walked over to the door of the classroom. I opened it and turned around to see that everyone was staring at me. “Please let the person that gets my spot that they better be careful or they get tossed out on their ass if they can't complete a single assignment.”

“Peter! Ben!” The teacher said loudly as I left.

“Now I need to go to the office and disappoint Mary by asking for her help so soon.” I grumbled and flashed my hall pass at a different Hall Monitor and went down the stairs. I made it back to the office and Mary had a sad look on her face. “Can you guess what happened in computer lab?”

Mary nodded and I stepped over to the counter and she brought up my records. I explained what happened, word for word, and she typed it all out before she sighed. Even she thought asking me to learn years of computer science and programming in only three weeks, just to finish a class project that I had no clue about, was ridiculous.

She logged the altercation and sent a copy to the vice principal, the principal, and the school board. She did not add in my sarcastic comments to her about the whole thing, even if she was completely sympathetic towards me about it.

“Is it okay for me to go to the library for my free class time?” I asked. “Lunch isn't for another hour and a half.”

Mary printed off another note. “Give that to Gladys and she'll leave you alone whenever you go there.”

“Thank you.” I said and put the note in my shirt pocket. “I'm sorry I had to bother you again.”

Mary stood and put a hand on my shoulder for a moment before she let it go. “You are probably going to have similar problems before the end of the week.”

“At least they can't kick me out of the core classes. I studied my ass off all week catching up with them.”

“I hope that's true, Ben.”

“Mr. Jackson was surprised that I beat his equation during homeroom.”

“You beat it?” Mary asked.

“I didn't solve it like he wanted and cancelled out the variables instead.” I said and then explained what I did and saw a smile form on her face. “I doubt I can do the same in science class with Mr. Morales or chemistry with Mrs. Leyva.”

“Oh! Did you remember their names?” Mary asked, her face hopeful.

“No, they were marked down in Peter's notebooks. He didn't have any for the other classes he took.”

“That's strange.” Mary said and looked thoughtful. “Did you check the locker for them?”

I gave her a surprised look for a moment, then laughed. “I thought I was supposed to be the smart one in this relationship!”

Mary looked slightly confused before she blushed slightly. “You better get to the library before I start taking your jokes seriously.”

I nodded and went to the office door. “What ever gave you the impression that I'm joking?” I asked her with a grin on my face and I left the office before she could respond. Teasing her is just too much fun. I thought and followed the map to where Peter's locker was. It was my locker now and I used the information sheet to open it with the proper combination. I had no idea if the numbers meant anything.

I frowned at the half-sized locker, because the thing was full of books, scribblers, loose papers, pencils, pens, erasers, and two sets of mechanical tools for doing math problems like a triangle, protractor, small ruler, and a compass with a pencil on one side for making circles.

The problem was that the contents were all intermixed and most of the loose papers were crushed, torn, or folded a bunch of times from things being piled on top of them. I sighed and started to work at cleaning the entire thing out. I piled the books and scribblers in front of the locker and then took out all of the papers.

I wasn't going to spend a ton of time trying to unfold or fix them right now and stuffed them into the front pocket of my backpack. I then cleaned up the miscellaneous things and put them back into the plastic cases they came in. When I had all of that out, all that was left inside the locker were scraps of paper and bits of other things that didn't matter.

I checked the scraps for any writing and had to save about half of them to add to the pocket of my backpack, since they were missing pieces of the sheets I had already removed. I wasn't sure what to do with the garbage, so I swept as much of it out into my hand as I could and placed it on the floor. Then the sorting began.

I compared the books with the courses I had on the list and matched them, then matched the scribblers with them. Luckily, one of them was a computer book and it had a scribbler with it. I glanced through the first few pages of both and shook my head. It was just gibberish until I read the building blocks first, which I would do in the library.

I had already lost the spot in computer science, despite that being an interesting course. I had thought it would be a core class when I heard about it from May, only to find out that it was an elective class that was apparently difficult to get into. I wasn't sure how Peter managed it without any background or without having any of the materials needed for extensive study, like a goddamn computer.

I held in my sigh at that and looked at the other books that I didn't have access to last week. Latin, Modern Geography, Modern History, Quantum Mechanics, Euclidean Geometry and Non-Euclidean Geometry.

This is just great! I thought sarcastically and rubbed my face, because I was completely screwed. How the hell was I supposed to learn Latin by tomorrow?

I could probably fake the geometry, thanks to Peter's books at home and the ones I could borrow from the library. I would do the same with geography and history and pick up the differences as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I would have to drop the quantum physics course without prejudice, just like I would with the academic decathlon team. It was a good thing the coach and the teacher were the same man.

With a solid plan in mind, I took the school books I didn't need out of my backpack and put the others inside. I also took all of the scribblers, just in case, and shut and locked the locker. I had a school library to raid.

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