The rest of Choir passed without much fuss -except for Kyle going to the nurse with a black eye, after Kevin punched him when Bebe "accidently" brushed her… chest against the back of his head. Bebe was currently giving Kevin the cold shoulder in stony silence, while he attempted to apologize for hitting her friend (a perfect excuse for her melodramatic reaction while Kyle was conveniently unable to correct the error). Yet, unfortunately for Kevin, the bell rang before he could get her to forgive him.

I walked alongside Pip toward the day's next class: Pre-AP Algebra II. It was taught by Miss Iriis and also happened to be one of the worst classes of the day for me- along with Physical Education. I had very little skills when it came to mathematics and -to make matters worse- my parents had had me sign up for all AP classes to get academic scholarships and such. And that would be okay if it weren't for my inability to behave and my stupid, not-so-smart brain. It wasn't all bad, though. It put me in a lot of classes with Kyle, and he was a big help with understanding everything and stuff.

Anyway, we've just gotten into factoring which is basically taking the answer to a multiplication problem and then working background to find the original equation. It doesn't even sound simple or easy and then add an unintelligent brain, multiply it by stress over homework in other classes, and subtract any time off besides meals and sleeping and it equals… well, you get the idea….

"Butters? Butters, pay attention." Miss Iriis scolded harshly. "Unless you want to teach the class today's lesson?" I shrunk a little into my seat when everybody's eyes started staring at me.

"No, Miss Iriis…."

I need to learn how to behave.

"Alright, class, homework for today will be pages 51 through 54, numbers 1 through 13- odd numbers, 22, 25, and 27; 33, 34 and 44, 56 and 74. Class dismissed!" She called over the ringing alarm bell as we rushed to gather our things and get to another class as quickly as possible. "And Butters?" I looked up and everything fell out of my hands. "Don't daydream anymore- it's why you're struggling."

Walking into AP US History, or APUSH as Mr. Hill¹ likes to call it, I noticed Eric had saved a seat just as the tardy bell rang. Rule is, if the bell rings and you aren't in your seat, you're late- period. Hamburgers.

I noticed Mr. Hill look up from his notes and give me a stern but amused expression. "Late are we, Butters? Sit down, we've got a 'new government' experience to talk about."

Out of all my teachers, I liked Mr. Hill the most. His humor was (somewhat) harmlessly sarcastic, and through he taught a fast-paced Advanced Placement class, it was relatively easy to pass with the amount of notes we took. Plus, the homework assignments were almost like Guided Readings and were real easy to find in the textbook.

I sat next to Eric who glanced over at Kyle and Token Black, smirking as though he were winning some unspoken battle. I wasn't sure what it was about, but had a strange feeling that I should.

"We left off with the founding fathers creating a new government through the Articles of Confederation. Now, before we get into the notes, can anyone guess as to why giving more power to the individual states instead of the growing nation as a whole, might create problems for the country as far as keeping it unified? Yes, Token…?"

The bell rang, and everyone wrote down the inevitable homework for class the next day: reading pages 172-189, writing questions or observations from them in our dialectical journals, and completing four worksheets over the pages as well.

As we were herded out the door toward the cafeteria by stampeding students, Eric let out a loud yawn chased by an even louder sigh. "I hate having an AP class; too much homework that takes up my free time. I can feel it weighing my messenger bag down already."

"The only thing weighing you down is your weight, fatass." Kyle countered while rolling his eyes. This earned snickers from Stan, Kenny, and Token; an angry yelp of "Ay!" was heard from Eric. We found a table to set our stuff down on, and- once again- I was the one voted on to watch everything while they got a good place in line. I didn't mind though- I usually used this time to doodle in my notebook, or drawing a landscape or portrait in my sketchbook anyway.

"Hey, Butters." A friendly and familiar voice said from above me.

My head shot up and I gave my old friend a warm smile. "H-hiya, Bradley! How are you l-liking your… classes so far?"

"Great!" He enthused, sitting across from me. "I especially enjoy what we're learning in Psychology for the next week- nature verses nurture. It's a debate about whether or not your personality comes from genetics or environment."

"That's sounds so… so cool; I w-wanted to take that class, but I… didn't have enough… room in my s-schedule." Brushing my knuckles, I looked from him to the drawing I'd been working on previous, anxious to get back to it, but also secretly wishing he'd ask about my passion.

"What are you creating there, Michelangelo?" Bradley teased me, smiling gently. As I glanced up to answer, I noticed Pip headed over with his plate of fish and chips in his hands.

"Hiya, Pip." I greeted, nervously considering what Pip might say to Bradley about our "talk" earlier.

"'Ello, Bu''ers," Pip returned, smiling as he eyed Bradley curiously before sitting next to him. "'Oos's this chap?"

"This is Br-Bradley." I murmured lowly.

As I'd dreaded, Pip's eyes and smile became predictably mischievous. "Hm." He toned, turning toward the third blond beside us to give him his full attention. " Name's Pip. Bu''ers' told me a lot about you." He emphasized by winking.

Bradley eyes widened a fraction as he turned to me while still addressing Pip. "Really? What did he say; something about how attractive I am I hope!" As Pip and Bradley laughed easily as though it weren't their first meeting, I gave an odd little twitter and thought about Bradley's joke. Looking back, I probably thought about it a little too hard.

They say life is full is full of "what if's"- at least, my parents do. And my situation was no different. What if Bradley hadn't made that joke? Would I be thinking about the answer so hard? What if Eric had been sitting at the table before Bradley had sat down? What is he'd invited me to stand next to him in the line? Or if he'd shown me more affection then should be remotely appropriate for two teenage boys?

If he had, then everything might have turned out differently for all of us.

1: My APUSH teacher in my junior year of high school. He always made sure that we knew what we needed to know to pass the AP test, and that we developed a respect for history (in fact, I'm majoring in it now that I'm in college XD).