In the middle of class, Aaron stared fixedly at the sheet his chemistry teacher had handed him; a giant "D" written in red in the middle of the exam stared back at him.
"You must push yourself harder in my class, Reed," said Mr. Jenkins, the chemistry teacher, as he continued distributing the results of the last chemistry exam before the winter break.
"Ahh," sighing, Aaron threw his head back in a clear sign of defeat.
He could dominate in the paint and knock down big 3-pointers, but none of that helped when he had to face the chemical bonds on his exam the other day.
"How'd you do?" Drew asked, leaning slightly from his seat behind him and seeing out of the corner of his eye the huge "D" in the right corner of Aaron's exam before Aaron could cover it with his hand.
Whistling under his breath, Drew couldn't help but comment, "A 'D' isn't bad," while patting him on the back as he tried to hold back the smile that wanted to form on his face.
Not to be outdone, Aaron immediately grabbed Drew's exam, which was still on his desk, before the latter could do anything.
Immediately, Aaron's gaze landed on the letter "F" on Drew's exam, followed by a comment to talk to the teacher once class was over. "At least I'm not doing that bad," Aaron said, handing the exam sheet back to Drew while the teacher finished handing out the exams and approached the blackboard to resume the class at the last lesson they had left before the winter break.
"I just don't understand what went wrong," Drew said while scratching his head, trying to decipher what had gone south.
"Did you even study?" Aaron whispered with his gaze fixed forward toward the blackboard, where the teacher began to note down new formulas that, to Aaron and the rest of the class, looked like a completely indecipherable language.
"Obviously I studied," Drew said seriously. "There was a full Breaking Bad marathon on AMC," was the next comment, with which Aaron didn't know whether to roll his eyes or turn around and give his friend a good smack.
"Sometimes I don't understand how you and I are friends," was the only thing Aaron could think to say as he shook his head helplessly at that.
"It's because without me, you'd just be a cold and emotionless person," Drew responded without any shame, giving to understand the reason why their friendship worked so well.
"Seriously, you just watched Breaking Bad and thought you'd learn chemistry that way?" Aaron asked, this time with more seriousness, wanting to know if his friend was being serious or just pulling his leg telling him that.
"Of course; Walter White is a better chemistry teacher than Mr. Jenkins," Drew said as seriously as he could.
"But then I got distracted by Jane Margolis and forgot what the series was explaining," Drew said, scratching his head as he remembered the actress Krysten Ritter while a goofy smile formed on his face.
"Young Mr. DeLuca!!" Mr. Jenkins called out, noticing the goofy smile the latter had on his face, making several heads turn to see the head of the mentioned one.
"Would you mind coming to the front and solving this chemical bond, please?" was Mr. Jenkins' next sentence as he extended the marker he held in his hand toward Drew, who looked as if his soul had left his body.
Gulping and with hesitant steps, Drew passed to the front and took the marker Mr. Jenkins extended to him while he fixed his gaze on the two chemical elements; a blank look settled on his face without even moving the marker.
After a few seconds, Drew briefly turned his gaze toward Aaron while throwing him a pleading look hoping he knew the answer to both bonds, but seeing how he simply shrugged his shoulders, his hopes died.
Letting out a weary sigh, Mr. Jenkins just gave Drew a look. "Go back to your seat, Mr. DeLuca." The laughter from the rest of the class wasn't long in coming as Drew began the walk of shame back to his seat.
"Silence!!" Mr. Jenkins shouted. "The next person I hear or see not paying attention will go to the principal's office." Upon hearing that, the laughter diminished immediately as Mr. Jenkins returned to resume the lesson where he had left it.
Once the bell rang, the students began to stumble out of the classroom exit door, not wanting to know about chemistry again until the next day's class.
Standing up, Aaron felt how Drew hid behind his imposing height, trying to pass as unnoticed as possible toward the exit door following the rest of the students.
"Mr. DeLuca," Mr. Jenkins said without lifting his gaze from the notes he was ordering on his desk, knowing what Drew was planning. "Do you have a minute?" he asked, but more than a question, it seemed like an order.
Drew, seeing he had no escape, immediately turned toward the teacher's desk. "Save me a seat," Drew told Aaron so he would save him a seat in the cafeteria to sit after he finished his talk with Mr. Jenkins.
Not wanting to be on Mr. Jenkins' radar or hear the conversation he would have with Drew, Aaron quickly left the classroom, heading—like the rest of the students in the hallway—toward the cafeteria.
Thanks to his height and recognition, Aaron was able to cross the school hallways without problems, quickly reaching the cafeteria, picking up a tray, and lining up waiting for his turn to receive his food.
Ten minutes later and with his tray served with food, Aaron found himself in the difficult task of searching for a free table to sit at. "Aaron, over here!" he heard a voice saying his name, followed by an extended hand a few tables further back.
Recognizing the person, Aaron immediately walked there and, placing his tray on the table, began to sit down.
"What's up, friend," Omar said with a smile, extending his fist to bump it with Aaron, who didn't hesitate to return the greeting.
"What are you doing here, man?" Aaron asked, surprised to see him here along with his friends since usually the sophomores eat lunch after the freshmen.
"The teacher canceled the class, something about her cat suffering an accident," Omar told Aaron, explaining the reason why he was there instead of being in one of the school classrooms.
"Let me introduce you," Omar said with a smile, looking at his friends who sat at the table.
"From the left, they are Trey, Scott, and Virgil," he said, introducing each of the three people who were sitting with Omar, who raised their hands in a sign of greeting.
Trey was a young African-American who looked like he belonged to some rap group with his baggy clothes and the chains he wore around his neck.
Scott, on the other hand, was a tall, stocky young man with the Royals sports teams jacket, so Aaron assumed he played for one of the teams that represented the school in competitions.
Virgil, instead, was a boy whose most characteristic feature would be his blue eyes; along with a friendly smile on his face, it made him look like the kind of person who would be the friendly neighbor friend.
"So this is the guy who beat you for the MVP, eh, Omar?" Scott said while giving Aaron an evaluative look, determining if he was someone interesting.
"Shut up, man," Omar told him with a laugh while throwing a leftover crumb from his food tray at him. "Scott is a player on the school track team, so he can be somewhat competitive," Omar said toward Aaron.
"Hey, Aaron, answer a doubt for us," Trey said, joining the conversation and addressing Aaron, who simply nodded in response, letting him ask his question.
"Our friend here says that after the game you guys had a date with two girls, but that the two of them fought over him—tell us, is it true?" he finished saying as he approached a bit closer, paying special attention to whatever Aaron was going to say, while the other two didn't stay behind.
At that, a look of panic crossed Omar's face while Aaron couldn't help but laugh as he remembered the exact situation of what had happened.
Flashback
Somehow Aaron ended up in what could be called a date along with Omar and the two girls who were in the stands at that moment. "And tell us, what are the names of these two beauties?" Omar asked in what could be called his best attempt at flirting, earning a laugh from both girls.
"Call me Brenda, she's Clara," said the blonde, introducing herself as Brenda, and Clara, who waved her hand in the direction toward both.
"Well, I'm Omar and he's..." Omar said before he was interrupted by an excited Brenda. "You're Aaron Reed," she said slightly excitedly in the direction toward Aaron, taking him slightly off guard.
"Yeah, that's me," Aaron said with a half-smile that looked awkward.
"Let me tell you that game against the Bulldogs was fantastic," Brenda said, interrupting Clara, remembering yesterday's game. "Thanks," Aaron responded while both girls soon began to talk to him, leaving Omar only watching that, wondering what the hell he was doing there.
At one point, both girls began to talk over each other until they began to argue between them. "Excuse me, I was talking to him," Clara said, pissed off at Brenda, who didn't stay behind at that. "Yeah, well, the date idea was mine," Brenda said.
"Yeah, well, I saw him first," Brenda said, pointing toward Aaron, who stood frozen wondering if this was really happening. "Oh yeah? Well, he smiled at me," Brenda said, following the argument while the two boys simply stayed watching until both crossed their arms and an awkward silence settled on the table.
"The check, please," Aaron asked, raising his hand toward the waitress, ending the night.
End of Flashback
The laughter at that didn't wait, with Omar's three friends grabbing their stomachs simultaneously, trying not to die of laughter.
"Man, I should have known something like that would happen," Virgil said, being the first of the three to recompose himself. "Shut up, man," an embittered Omar grunted, who simply crossed his arms.
Luego de eso siguieron hablando entre ellos conociéndose un poco mas hasta que una mate de pelo rizado entró en la cafetería, cogió una bandeja y comenzó a buscar a su amigo el cual se suponía que le había guardado un sitio.
"Drew!!" This time it was Aaron's turn to shout toward his friend, who curiously approached upon seeing him surrounded by people he clearly didn't know.
Once he sat down, Aaron immediately began introducing each of the people at the table while Drew made some jokes, making the atmosphere within the group become pleasant.
"Man, Mr. Jenkins is a headache," Drew said, remembering the interminable talk he gave him about the importance of chemistry and grades in high school.
"The chemistry one, don't even remind me," Scott said, remembering past times in which he had class with him.
"He's a very complicated teacher," Omar agreed.
"His exams were a headache," was the next comment Virgil made.
"I don't even know how the hell I managed to pass with him," Scott said, scratching his head, trying to remember anything he might have learned in class.
"Maybe if you studied instead of watching Breaking Bad, the story would be different," Aaron said, remembering the unorthodox way Drew had studied, earning the laughter of the other boys at the table at that.
"And what about you, eh, Mr. Study-and-get-a-D?" Drew returned the joke, making Aaron turn his head to another side while now the table laughed at him.
Turning his head, his eyes focused on a particular head of blonde hair, and a memory flashed through his memory immediately. Standing up.
"Hey, where are you going?" Omar asked, seeing that Aaron was standing up, as did the rest of the table.
"To look for help in chemistry," Aaron responded, heading to a particular table.
Authors thought's
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