Later that day, during lunch. Mom gave Bob the news about the team.
Excited, he congratulated me. "It's in the blood, Duncans being athletes" he explained. "Your dad was a great basketball player" he pointed to himself, smiling arrogantly, "and now you, my son, the quarterback" he said excited, hitting my shoulder fraternally, "I'm so proud."
"Actually, there were very few of us at the tryout, so Mr. Cooper immediately assigned each of us a position on the team," I clarified somewhat embarrassed because of all the excitement.
Immediately lifting his face. "So, they had no choice but to put you on the team?" Gabe asked mockingly, receiving immediately a reprimand from mom who slapped him on the back of the neck
"It doesn't matter how you got on the team, the important thing is that you're in it," Mom said, still scolding Gabe with her gaze.
Deciding to ignore Gabe's comment, which had some truth to it. "Yeah it's a great opportunity for you, son" Bob declared a little less excited than before. "If you manage to stand out, you'll get a sports scholarship for college," he raised his eyebrows as if the idea was crazy, "you have to put a lot of effort into it, so that you finally have a real chance to go to university," he said with great enthusiasm.
Wait, what?
Probably noticing my surprise, Mom cleared her throat, coughing uncomfortably. "Teddy tell us, how's the new school?" she asked clearly trying to change the topic.
Teddy, who hadn't spoken during the ride home, lifted her face from the plate of food. "Fine," she said before continuing to eat.
Looking at Teddy with pity, surely understanding the reason for her downcast mood. "How about you, Gabe?" mom asked rigidly averting her gaze from the teenager.
"It was the same as Colorado" Gabe shrugged "I'm in the same class as Missy, but she hangs out with other girls, so I hung out with Lucas," he added casually, then he seemed to remember something and raised his head, "oh, PJ, remember the fat kid from the other day?" he asked "Matilda Sparks," he clarified laughing at a joke only he and I understood.
"Yeah" I nodded, "did he pick on you??"
"No, he was afraid of me, so Lucas and I had fun chasing him in the schoolyard," Gabe said proudly.
"Who's Matilda Sparks?" mom asked, looking both confused and annoyed
"He's just a kid who used to pick on Sheldon, the youngest of the Coopers," I responded to Mom.
"Oh, I see" Mom nodded calmly, only to turn toward Gabe a second later, her expression turning completely serious. "Gabe, I don't want you to bully him anymore," she raised a finger threateningly, "are we clear on that?"
Clenching his jaw in annoyance, surely regretting having said anything, Gabe just nodded.
"Good," mom nodded firmly, once again turning her attention to the next person at the table and with it, her mood. Smiling sweetly. "What about you my love?" she asked Bob. "How was your day?"
"Well, my day was quite productive" Bob proudly declared. "I took care of a massive bug infestation in the kitchen of a hotel a few miles away" he placed great emphasis on the word 'massive.' "It was as easy as putting poison in the most infested areas and waiting for the job to be done on its own" he said, sounding incredibly excited.
For a second, the emotion and passion with which the family patriarch spoke about his work were inspiring, even heartwarming. But for some reason, when I noticed the expressions on the rest of the family's faces, my feeling turned to concern.
"Basically, these insects are cannibals, so when a few members of the species die from poisoning, a chain reaction occurs that wipes out the entire colony in a matter of days" he explained excitedly, without pausing for a second to catch his breath. "I made such a good impression on the administration that they offered to treat us to lunch as a reward, so I was thinking we could go next weekend" he said, pausing for a moment afterward as if he were expecting to see animated reactions.
I honestly doubted that anyone at the table would be willing to eat there after hearing Bob talk about the massive infestation. At least I knew that I didn't.
Noticing that no one reacted, at least not the way he had expected. "I looked at the menu, and they have-" he was about to say, in a clear attempt to convince or excite us.
But Mom suddenly stood up, knocking over the table and, with it, her chair. Immediately afterward, she ran to the bathroom.
Stunned to see Mom disappear like that. "Was it really that disgusting?" he asked upon hearing the straining noise mom made while vomiting in the bathroom.
Knowing very well the real reason behind Mom's sudden disgust. "Well, it's a bit gross, Dad" I replied, "I don't think she'd want to eat there," I added not at all taking advantage of the situation to avoid that place.
Nodding stiffly, Bob turned his attention back to where Mom was, clearly worried, or perhaps regretful.
Mom returned a few minutes later, and fortunately, aside from asking if she was alright, nobody wanted to inquire about the topic, so the meal continued without any more special incidents.
When finished, I thanked for the meal and helped in the clean up taking long enough for my siblings to each return to their rooms.
As I passed by her room, I noticed, thanks to Teddy having left her door open, that she was doing her homework while listening to music with a sad expression on her face. Thanks to talking with mom, I knew my sister's bad mood stemmed from being away from her friends.
I could imagine that being in a new environment where she didn't know anyone only amplified the feeling exponentially.
Knocking on the door frame to get her attention. I asked silently for permission to enter.
"What are you doing?" I asked, approaching her desk.
Returning to her task. "Math," she replied without enthusiasm.
"Do you need help?"
As I asked, Teddy snorted mockingly, but upon realizing I was serious, she turned with intrigue. "You're serious?" she asked, "You want to help me, You?" she added emphatically.
Feeling a little offended by the way she asked it. "Yes, why not?" I replied.
Pausing, as if debating whether it was worth offending me or not, Teddy frowned. "Well..." she said choosing her words carefully "You're not the... brightest, in the family" she made up her mind. "Do you even understand it?" she asked, arranging her notebook and pencil aside for me to see.
I wasn't surprised by the fact that PJ was dumb. It was clear just from how the rest of the family treated me, and of course from all the notebooks I had saved, empty of notes but full of doodles.
Maybe this approach wan't well planned.
"Well, I certainly forgot a lot" I nodded, "but for some reason, middle school math is still there" I pointed to my head as I crouched down next to her.
They were simple linear equations.
Sighing, I pretended to be surprised, making Teddy snort ironically. "I told you so" she tried to pick up her notebook again.
Dodging her hand, I smiled at her. "I'm just kidding" I said, settling into her bed. "Let's see" I sighed, "to solve these, you need to find the value of the unknown represented by the letters" I explained slowly to her, Teddy just nodded, visibly puzzled. "So, by using the equal sign, you can rearrange the equation by moving terms to the other side" I pointed it out in her notebook. "Do you know how to move terms to the other side of the equation?"
The shock on Teddy's face was such that she looked as if she had seen a ghost.
After a few seconds without receiving a response. "Hey?" I asked.
"Are you intelligent?," she asked completely incredulous.
"So it seems" I shrugged.
Open-mouthed Teddy remained silent, clearly stunned.
"So, do you know?" I asked.
Coming out of her shock, she shook her head resignedly. "Yes, I know how to move terms to the other side. You use the inverse operation, right?" she continued with suspicion in her eyes.
"Yes, exactly you use the inverse operation. Although what you're really doing is adding, subtracting, dividing, or multiplying the entire equation so that the result remains unchanged" I explained, amused, seeing Teddy's impressed expression. "So if you subtract on one side of the equation, you subtract on the other side too, that's why it appears as the opposite operation on the other side," I said, tapping the notebook.
Nodding slowly, Teddy took her notebook back. "So, if I need to remove a number that's multiplying 'x' on the left side of the equation, I divide it by itself on both sides. Since it's divided by itself on the left, it becomes 1, and on the right, it appears as a division," she said happily as she picked up the pace.
"Correct" I said happily, seeing her excitement.
Needing me to explain it to her just once, Teddy continued working on her homework, completely focused, with a small, satisfied smile on her face, a smile that only reminded me of her previous mood.
Positioning myself on her bed so that I was facing her. "You know you can talk to me if you have something on your mind, right?," I asked her, breaking her concentration on her homework.
Furrowing her brow, clearly confused by the suddenness of my words. "Yeah?" she said, hesitantly.
"Well, I noticed you didn't talk much during the ride home and didn't say anything about your new school when mom asked" I explained gently. "Did something happen?" I inquired.
Smoothing out her frown, Teddy fell silent for a second, perhaps debating whether it was worth talking to me or not.
Finally, with a frustrated sigh, she shook her head. "No, nothing happened" she replied with a strange calm, only to explode a second later "literally" she slapped her hands against her legs "I don't know anyone there, and everyone already knew each other from before, so no one talked to me" she recounted, speaking at an incredible speed, "I ate by myself in the cafeteria and then waited for the bell to ring so I could go back to class; I wanted time to go by faster" she added slowly emphasizing each word, narrowing her eyes, as if the very idea seemed crazy.
Staring at the teenager with her astonishing lung capacity, I didn't know what to say when she fell silent. Fortunately, she wasn't done yet.
Having caught her breath, Teddy froze for a second, staring into space in front of her with a rather melancholy expression. "What if I never had anyone to talk to again?" she asked, with a hint of fear in her voice, "in Colorado, Ivy was all I needed, my best friend, but even then, I had other people to talk to" she explained it to me with sadness, "I don't even have a single normal friend here," she spoke, clearly in pain.
Comforting someone who needed your support, aside from any medical knowledge that might save their life, was extremely difficult.
Not quite sure what to do or say, I just gave her a half-hug. Fortunately, it was the right choice.
Leaning into the embrace, Teddy tried to control her breathing, which had become rushed. And as I stroked her arm, I thought about how I could help my sister, whose worry suddenly hurt me deeply.
I decided that I would always do everything I could to help my family. "You might feel like you'll never make any friends here" I said, improvising, "but give it time" I added, squeezing her arm affectionately.
Snorting sarcastically with her head resting on my chest, Teddy tried to protest.
"I'm serious" I cut her off before she could say anything, "I've only known you for a couple of days" I joked, making Teddy snort again this time without any irony, "and I can assure you, they don't know what they're missing," I stated with complete confidence.
She pulled her head away from my chest. "You're only saying that because you´re my brother."
"Well, off course" I snorted with amusement, "that doesn't mean it isn't true" I added it more comfortably. "And besides, if you don't end up making any friends, you just have to wait a year, and then you'll start high school with your brother, the quarterback" I said with exaggerated arrogance, "then everyone will want to be your friend," I raised my eyebrows expressively, making Teddy chuckle quietly.
"Yeah right, the quarterback who got selected because there was no one else," she said mockingly.
Pretending to be completely offended, I clutched my chest in feigned pain. "Yeah, well give me some time, and I'll be the best quarterback this town has ever seen," I declared with absolute confidence as I stood up. "Now, finish your homework, and I'll go do mine," I added, making way to leave her room.
"PJ," she said suddenly, making me stop.
"Yeah?"
Pressing her lips into a small smile. "Thanks" she muttered.
Shrugging my shoulders with exaggerated nonchalance. "Don't even mention it" I said, waving my hand dismissively.
Snorting with amusement, Teddy shook her head. "I like this new you better" she said, and for a moment I felt a slight twinge in my heart, I couldn't pay attention to the feeling, because she immediately added "Maybe we should throw Gabe down the stairs."
"Yes, maybe we should" I said, forcing a small smile.
Outside Teddy's room, a second before I could even walk through the open door. I heard footsteps running, at the end of the hallway, I saw strands of blond hair, clearly Mom's, disappearing around the corner.
In disbelief, since it seemed that the conversation between Teddy and I had not been entirely private, I huffed as I made my way to my room, where I could hear the notes of a guitar.
Gabe was playing one of his guitars again, going through them one by one in a circle. This time, when he saw me, he didn't get embarrassed and continued playing as I prepared to do my homework.
"You doing homework? After the first day of school?" Gabe said, surprised.
Smiling calmly. "Responsibilities," I said to the kid, which seemed like the best joke Gabe had heard in a long time.
"'Responsibilities,'" Gabe repeated, laughing out loud. "That blow has really made you so lame."
Finding the comparison made by my two siblings amusing, exhaling I ignored Gabe, who kept chuckling to himself while practicing his guitar, and got started on my refresher studies.
I didn't really have any homework to do, at least not anything that was due the next day, but I needed to brush up on everything I'd learned in high school. Fortunately, as I worked my memory was becoming clearer, and the problems and questions became easier to solve as I progressed.
A couple of hours later, with my eyes feeling relatively tired from all the intense reading, I stretched out in my chair, deciding that was enough for the day. Without even thinking about it I went to the bathroom, where I had seen before a first-aid kit, and without having to look very hard, I took tweezers and suturing kit. From the kitchen, I grabbed an orange and a knife and returned to my room.
At my desk, with the desk lamp pointing at my hands, I let my muscle memory do its work. Continuous sutures, interrupted sutures, buried sutures*. I performed one after another in a trance. Ever since I learned how, it had been part of my daily routine. As I moved my hands with precision, though it took more effort than it should have. I remembered memories of my countless hours of practice in the college dorm, working until late at night, reading books, and practicing with whatever I could find while my roommate was out or busy doing other things, usually watching different sports on a small TV, getting upset because he lose a bet.
Suddenly, snapping me out of my memories and making me realize there wasn't much space left on the orange for cuts. "What the heck are you doing with that orange?" Gabe asked, leaning over my shoulder.
Mentally evaluating my work. "It's called suturing" I answered him. "Doctors do it to close the ends of a wound," I added as I put the remaining tools in the top drawer of my desk. But apparently that wasn't enough of an answer for Gabe. Seeing the intrigue on his face, I sighed. "Forget about that, are you done practicing?" I quickly asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah, I'm starting to get a blister on my thumb," he said, proudly showing me his thumb.
"I see, that means you're putting in effort, although I don't want you to overexert yourself dude. Mom would blame me," I said, standing up and tousling his hair. "Take the playbook and follow me. Let's practice," I told him as I picked up the football from my desk.
Without waiting for my brother, who didn't seem all that excited to go out and practice, I left our room and headed straight out of the house.
Outside, it was a beautiful day, and although it wasn't very late, most people were inside their houses, those who weren't were walking their dogs or just walking down the street and of course, there were also a few children riding their bikes or just playing in their yards.
When I heard the front door open behind me a couple of minutes after I left, I turned to find Gabe with an enthusiastic Bob. "Let's practice those plays," Bob said, clapping his hands with the playbook in them.
With the plays explained in the book, it was my job to it was my job to explain it to Gabe who played as the receiver, Bob pretended to rush me, so I had to dodge him to throw the ball to Gabe.
Overall, it was a lot of fun, that didn't mean it wasn't very helpful for learning the plays, although many of the passes didn't connect because Gabe couldn't turn in time or the ball slipped from his hands, in my mind, I always could picture how the play should unfold.
It also helped a lot that Bob was quite slow, so it didn't take much effort to evade his 'quick' approaches.
A few minutes after we started the practice, Mr. Cooper shouted from his backyard. "So, you finally decided on the best sport, huh, Bob?" he said holding a beer in his hand.
"No, George, I'm just helping my son, the quarterback, practice" Bob boasted patting me on the back proudly.
"You don't have to show off to me, I'm the one who put him there, remember?" Mr. Cooper replied with a smile on his face. "He's got good aim" he said, apparently the only compliment he could come up with. "Keep it up, PJ, don't hurt yourself" he added, intending to return home.
But Bob stopped him. "Why don't you bring your kids over so we can all practice together?" he asked him.
With a nod, which didn't seem entirely safe. Mr. Cooper rigidly went back into his house.
He didn't seem excited; I could guess why.
A moment later, Mr. Cooper returned with Georgie and an annoyed Sheldon.
"But Professor Proton is explaining how the potato generates electricity inside due to the acidity caused by ascorbic acid*," Sheldon said and judging by Georgie's tired expression, it wasn't the first time the kid had complained.
"I told you it's not possible. A potato is a vegetable and doesn't generate electricity," Mr. Cooper said through gritted teeth not looking at his son, as they approached.
"Tuber," Sheldon corrected him.
"What?"
"Potatoes are tubers, not vegetables," Sheldon replied, exasperated.
Losing his smile for a moment. "Whatever, the Duncans invited us to play, so that's what we'll do," Mr. Cooper said, in the form of an ultimatum as they joined us.
"So, you're not satisfied with practicing at school?, Do you have to do that at home, too?," Georgie asked with mock annoyance as we fist bumped.
"Well, games don't just win themselves," I replied with a smile that he mirrored.
"Well said" exclaimed Mr. Cooper, who without needing to look at the playbook immediately took charge and placed us in the most suitable positions, with Georgie and me in our respective roles on the team.
Before a role could be assigned to him. "I'm not going to touch the ball, and I don't want to get hurt," Sheldon said, not moving from his spot catching everyone's attention.
With a sigh of defeat, Mr. Cooper didn't say anything and clapped, starting the game.
We continued running plays from the playbook, switching positions on some and doing random things on others. Overall, it was a lot of fun.
Once again, dodging Mr. Cooper, as Bob was "detained" by Georgie, I threw the ball to Gabe, who this time managed to catch it, thanks to Mr. Cooper's advice.
"And he scores!" Mr. Cooper celebrated with his arms raised, joined by Bob and Gabe. "Good throw, PJ. It still lacks power, but with that accuracy, we could make it to the state championships," Mr. Cooper said, giving my shoulder a shake.
Alowly shaking his head. "It's not a good throw, the launch angle is incorrect; you lose power by releasing it at the midpoint of the total extension of your arm," Sheldon said suddenly.
"Sheldon, I've been teaching football my whole life. The throw is good; he just needs a little more muscle in those bones, and it'll be perfect," Mr. Cooper said condescendingly to his son.
"The throw is good, dork. You don't know anything about football," Georgie said, annoyed.
"It's not football; it's physics," Sheldon retorted petulantly.
Deciding to ignore his son. "All right" Mr. Cooper said, immediately repositioned us, this time swapping with Gabe. "If Gabe touches you, it's the same as getting tackled, so throw before he reaches you" he explained to me before walking away. "This time, I'll wait there, but let's pretend I ran to that spot" he said, standing a few steps away from me.
"What's the matter, George? Can't run a few steps?" Bob teased him, even though he probably couldn't either.
With a fake laugh, Mr. Cooper settled into place and clapped again.
Dodging Gabe, I decided to follow Sheldon's advice and waited for my arm to fully extend before throwing the ball.
The football quickly flew into Mr. Cooper's hands who had to adjust his position to catch the ball, and upon catching it, he let out a groan. "Phew, what was that?" he asked, surprised. "Were you hiding your strength, PJ?" he said, shaking his hand in pain.
Looking at Sheldon with a smile, I said, "No, I just waited for my arm to fully extend before throwing."
"As I said," Sheldon said with pride in his voice, "physics."
Before anyone else could say anything, Mrs. Cooper yelled from the window of their house, "Kids, it's dinner time!" she said, immediately returning home after giving them notice.
Grateful to be out of that situation, Sheldon practically ran back home... Though 'ran' might be an exaggeration.
With firm handshakes, Mr. Cooper and Bob said their goodbyes just as Georgie was saying goodbye to both Gabe and me with a fist bump. "See you tomorrow at school," he said before heading back to their house.
Watching the other group walk away toward their own home, Bob, breathing slightly heavily, nodded. "All right kids, we need to go inside too. I have to make dinner before your mom thinks about it," he said, leading us in the other direction back to our house.
After quickly showering to wash off the dirt and sweat, I joined my family for dinner.
The next day, after returning from my daily run and taking a shower, Bob dropped me off at school since he didn't have any client meetings this time, giving Mom enough time to take Gabe and Teddy without having to rush and without me having to go with the Coopers.
After saying goodbye to Bob. I met up with my friends in the hallway, taking things from their lockers, conveniently located next to each other. Approaching mine, the last of the five neighboring lockers, I greeted everyone.
"How's our quarterback today?" Alan said with mock reverence even though he never lost his cool composure.
"Georgie was telling us you can't go long without training, huh, superstar?" Brock chimed in teasingly while giving me some friendly pats on the arm.
"Well, I have to train to be able to carry all the weight of this team", I said patting him back.
"Whatever," Broke replied, pretending to be annoyed.
Suddenly interrupting the conversation, his gaze wandering off into the distance. "Hey Georgie, isn't that your brother?" David asked, pointing towards the hallway.
Dodging taller students, Sheldon hurried through the school hallway with a few books in one hand and his portfolio in the other.
Ignoring his brother and losing any trace of happiness from his face. Georgíe looked irritated as he organized the things in his locker
Feeling sympathetic for the boy and noticing that his brother didn't seem willing to do anything to help him. "Sheldon!" I shouted making him turn his head towards me.
With a hand gesture, I motioned for him to come over, and he walked towards us still dodging teenagers who couldn't see him. "Good morning, PJ," he greeted me. "Why aren't you on your way to class? Mrs. MacElroy could be there already," he said urgently.
Checking my watch, I realized there were still a few minutes left before the first period bell, so I chuckled. "We were on our way when I saw you" I replied to the kid with a little white lie, "join us" I added, guiding him by the shoulders to stand in front of me.
Frowning, clearly irritated. "What are you doing?" Georgie asked me.
"I'm just going to walk him to class" I replied in full earnest. "Look, people might step on him if they're not careful," I whispered back, pointing at his brother.
Probably feeling guilty for my remark, Georgie nodded, and we all headed towards the first-period class.
Once we reached the classroom, Sheldon immediately let go of my grip and sat in his seat. When the bell rang, he let out a sigh of relief and smiled gratefully, giving me a thumbs-up.
Mrs. MacElroy entered with her head held high and a wide smile on her face, showing her evident lack of mustache. Her attention focused on Sheldon, who, this time didn't say anything about her appearance.
The class continued as usual after that, but for some reason, many of the teacher's questions were directed at me specifically. "Duncan, can you conjugate this verb for me, please?" or "Duncan, is this spelling correction correct?" The more questions she asked me, the more Sheldon turned his body towards me frowning just like his brother had before, completely irritated.
Unable to do anything but answer the questions correctly, I ignored as best I could the glare in the boy's eyes.
Finally at the end of the class, Mrs. MacElroy asked me to stay behind. "Evelyn told me I had to ask you so Sheldon wouldn't interrupt the class" she said, visibly relieved.
In disbelief at the woman's simple admission. "Evelyn?" I asked.
"Yes, Mrs. Ingram," she replied. "I see she was right. Duncan, please keep answering the questions correctly, I'll give you some extra credits at the end of the term, if you need them" she said, with a hint of anxiety in her eyes.
Still puzzled, I stood silently by the desk for a couple of seconds before she could react again.
Checking to make sure no one was at the classroom door, as if we were doing something we shouldn't be. "Now, you may leave" she said, shaking me out of the room, immediately turning her attention to review some papers on her desk.
In disbelief, I had no choice but to leave a moment later. Even though I hardly knew Sheldon at all, I knew that if this kept up in the next few classes, he would definitely hate me.
Unfortunately during the second-period, science class, Mr. Givens, who smelled strongly of aftershave lotion, also kept directing many questions at me, ignoring Sheldon's raised hand as much as he could.
At the end of the class, the same thing happened. Mr. Givens asked me to stay behind, and he promised me extra points at the end of the term if I kept answering all the questions correctly and just like that, he let me go.
In the cafeteria, in the table with my friends and teammates, I was eating my lunch peacefully listening to the conversations around me until Brock, sitting next to me, tapped my shoulder and pointed behind me.
Turning around, intrigued, I jumped in my seat in surprise, causing laughter all around me when I saw Sheldon standing just half a step away from me
Standing tall as he could, with a completely stoic expression handed me a piece of paper. "What is this, Sheldon?" I asked, picking up the piece of paper with intriguing interest.
"It's a declaration of war, an academic war" he replied dead serious. "From now on, I'll answer more questions in class and get better grades than you. Just wait and see, PJ Duncan. I will defeat you!" he exclaimed, turning around to leave when he finished.
With my friends laughing and teasing me about what happened, I continued eating my lunch, ignoring the ongoing taunts, until I was tapped on the shoulder again.
"Sheldon, I understand what a declaration of war is. You don't have to-" I started saying until I turned completely and saw a very cheerful blonde girl next to another two girls behind her.
"You're PJ Duncan, right? Nice to meet you" said the girl in the middle. "I'm Regina, and these are Gretchen and Karen," Regina added. "We had Mrs. Ingram's class during the second period, and she told us you could give us tutoring on the topics we didn't understand, so if you have time," she said as she played with her hair.
I nodded, even though I was wondering to myself just how much Mrs. Ingram had said about me, and more importantly, to whom. "Sure, I can help you with whatever you need" I replied, trying to smile as kindly as possible. "Although, actually, right now, I can't possible do it" I added it almost immediately afterward, "we're pretty busy with training this week" I explained, feeling a little embarrassed, "but, how about next week?"
Frowning for some reason, looking incredulous, Regina's expression immediately changed to an effortless smile. "Next week sounds amazing," she said excitedly.
"Great" I smiled with relief, "that way, you can even take your time figuring out what it is you really don't understand."
Once again, she furrowed her brow for a split second before smiling. "Yeah" she muttered, "well, it was nice to meet you, PJ," she said, still playing with her hair as she bid farewell, followed by her two friends who also said their goodbyes.
Turning my attention away from the group of friendly girls, I turned back to my friends finding them all completely captivated as they continued saying their goodbyes even after the girls were out of sight.
Coming out of her trance. "Wow" Brock chuckled, "Regina George was totally hitting on you, superstar" he added, opening his eyes wide. "You totally have to take me with you when you do those 'tutoring' sessions."
I shook my head, dismissively. She wasn't flirting with me, she wants me to help her with math.
During the last period of the day, in math class, Mrs. Ingram was teaching her class, which, of course, just just as she had warned me, all her questions were related to the topics she had given me. And since she was the one who had started it all, every time Sheldon raised his hand to answer a question and he was the only one to do so, which was most of the time, her eyes instinctively looked for me.
Even though I didn't have my hand raised, the vast majority of questions, with no one else available to answer them besides Sheldon, were directed at me. The more questions I answered, the more I could see Sheldon's anger growing.
At some point, perhaps losing his eagerness to fight, he lowered his head in sadness, and I started feeling bad.
Sheldon was still a child, a very intelligent, sometimes arrogant, and a bit irritating, nine year old child.
Leaving couple of questions slide, pretending not to know the answer when Mrs. Ingram inevitably asked me, I let Sheldon answer each time. Whenever this happened, Mrs. Ingram looked at me with desperation in her face, but luckily, seemingly motivated by the competition and eager to 'tie the score', Sheldon only answered the question correctly and remained silent to wait for the next one.
In doing so, I tried to strike a balance between the questions I answered and those I didn't so the class continued with this back-and-forth of questions and answers until the end of the period.
Already accustomed to teachers' requests, I stayed until the last person left the classroom. Sitting in front of Mrs. Ingram's desk, I waited for her to finish writing on a paper, which I assumed were more topics.
"You didn't study all the topics in-depth, or why didn't you raise your hand? You know the answers very well, so I don't think you didn't know the answer," the teacher said, somewhat concerned holding out the piece of paper.
Sighing this time, I turned down the offer by raising my hand. "Sheldon is still a child, ma'am" I said softly, "he challenged me to a 'academic war'" I made quotation marks with my fingers "basically, a competition to see who has the best academic record, grades, and answers to questions in class" I explained, feeling a little embarrassed to say it out loud "which, although a bit childish, I accepted. So I don't want to have an advantage over him based on tricks, I really appreciate that you offered me those extra points, but I'd like to earn them on my own merit."
Looking at me as if I had killed her pet, Mrs. Ingram held the piece of paper up high frozen.
Noticing that the woman didn't seem able to say anything, I continued. "Sheldon will be focusing on our competition, so he won't bother you as much in class, and it'll push me to study more. Everyone wins," I shrugged.
Finally, sighing, visibly defeated. "Okay, Duncan" Mrs. Ingram muttered, "I understand" she added with difficulty. "I don't think you need the extra points anyway. You and Cooper are the only ones who answer correctly," she said.
Nodding with a stiff smile on my face, I stood up. "Thank you for understanding," I said as I walked towards the door, stopping in the doorway. "By the way, did you tell Regina, Gretchen, and Karen from the other group that I could help them with their studies?" I asked recalling Brock's words.
Frowning from time to time, the woman shook her head. "No, I probably mentioned that you and Cooper are the only ones who answer my questions correctly, but nothing more."
"Oh, okay" I whispered, puzzled. "See you next class, Mrs. Ingram," I bid farewell, leaving the classroom.
How strange.
I joined my friends, who were waiting in the school locker room, already wearing their uniforms. "There he is, the superstar," Brock said with fake applause, "arriving late because nobody is worth his time," he added as a joke.
"Yeah, yeah, shut up, Brock" I smiled at my friend. "We have training," I replied.
Outside on the school field, the coaches and the rest of the team were already waiting even though, in reality, we weren't late.
With some warm-up exercises, we began training before splitting into two teams. Coach Wilkins stayed with the defensive team, while Mr. Cooper remained with the offensive team.
While practicing one of the plays in the playbook, Alan, who was standing behind me, discreetly pointed to one end of the field, where the cheerleaders were practicing.
Among the cheerleaders was Regina, who happily greeted me when she noticed that I was watching them.
Returning the greeting, I simply turned my attention back to the play, noticing a slight, incredulous smile on Alan's usually stoic face.
After training, everyone went home.
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Glossary
*Continuous Suture: In the continuous suture, the stitches are connected along the wound.
Interrupted suture: A suture in which each stitch is separately tied.
*Buried sutures: The knot is buried by placing the suture using an inverted technique in which the suture loop begins in the dermis.
*Ascorbic acid or Vitamin C: It is a colorless, odorless, solid crystal, soluble in water, with an acidic taste.
*Ovoid: A closed symmetrical curve with respect to its concave axis, formed by four arcs of a circumference: one of them is a semicircle, and the other two are equal and symmetrical.
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Author's Thoughts
Once again, I'm not American, nor a doctor, nor a mathematician (Sorry, I'm a creature of routine).
Boom! This chapter is relatively long and includes a small math class in it (you're welcome).
The first person to tell me where the three new supporting characters are from will receive an incredible prize (there's no prize, though). The first subplot of this arc is just around the corner, and I'm very excited.
I need to make some clarifications:
In the original movie (Boom, a hint!), it is not mentioned that the three girls are cheerleaders, but for the sake of the plot, I'm assuming they are.
I'm not sure if it's the same in the United States, but at least it's like this in Mexico: the same school grade can have several groups of students, like Group A, Group B, Group C. In the story, for the sake of the plot, there will only be two groups: A (where the MC is) and B (where the MC is not, duh).
The interaction with Teddy might seem tedious, but it served as a pretext to bring up the whole math topic and to have the MC approach and talk to his sister. As you know, one of the MC's desires and promises is that his new family should be happy, so he'll be deeply concerned about her (unlike the MC in DAD...).
Someone mentioned that there are different football teams in High School depending on the year the players are in. I'll pretend it's not the case, so I apologize if it bothers anyone, but there will only be one team, the one where the MC plays.
I think that's all.
As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
(I believe that with 7 chapters, you can leave your review now. Please do it; I hope to read your reviews to know what I need to work on more, I beg you.)
PS: We've reached three digits of power stones (NEED MORE, MORE!!!) Thanks for that.
Thank you for reading
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July 28, 2026.
Edited.