Chapter Three
This New Girl
"Mr. Ketchum, if you can't manage a C average on my class, I'll have to call your mother and suggest a tutorial sessions for you." Mr. Sanchez said, handing Ash his test paper. A big fat D was on top, and a whole bunch of comments beside it.
Ash looked at Mr. Sanchez. His face clearly stated guilt. He knew he could've done better, but he was lazy. He looked down at his feet, hoping the whole situation would just pass by. But that was very impossible. Mr. Sanchez moved on to the next with a disappointed look on his face.
There was a bleeping sound on the PA speaker. It was the secretary, Ms. Hudson.
"Mr. Sanchez, we
have a two students for you. One is a new transferee and the other one is a
class change," Ms. Hudson said. "Can you take them in?"
Mr. Sanchez stopped and walked back
to his desk to look at his class record. "The class change is rather late, Ms.
Hudson. Whose class is this student from?"
"Ms. Bartlett's
Science class," Ms. Hudson replied. "So, are you taking her in?"
"Did Ms. Bartlett agree to this?"
"Why don't you come by to the office right now?" Ms. Hudson asked impatiently.
Mr. Sanchez sighed and looked at Ash. "Class, settle down. I suggest that you read Chapter 7 as preparation for our next lesson. If I find out that you wasted your time while I was gone, I'll give you a pop quiz for that chapter."
Ash flipped the pages as the words kept running past his eyes and his brain doing nothing. "Concentrate." He muttered. School just started (three months) and he was already off-track. He had never been an A student, but he kept a B- average nearly all his school life…except for this one. "Focus!" He said, silently scolding himself. He became off-track doing other things. Sometimes he just felt lazy, sometimes he felt like doing something else, that's why he rarely got around to focus on his schoolwork.
~*~
"I know that most of you are familiar Misty Waterflower. Today, she was chosen student buddy for our new student here, Suzie Mitchell." Mr. Sanchez stepped aside. "She just came here two weeks ago."
The class grew silent. Brock looked up. Misty Waterflower and who?
"Suzie is a transferee here and she came all the way from England, so that's why she needs a student buddy to show her around. Misty Waterflower here was chosen by Principal Lennon to be her student buddy to show her around make her feel at home. Misty's Science classes were changed so she and Suzie will all be in the same classes." Mr. Sanchez told Suzie to sit beside Brock and Misty on the other side of Suzie.
Wow, she's pretty. She's prettier than Whitney! Brock thought. I think I'll ask her to the dance. And maybe she's nicer too.
"Hi," Suzie greeted.
Brock froze. She just said 'hi' to me!
"Hey," Brock said. "I'm Brock Slate."
"Suzie Mitchell, as you have heard." Suzie smiled.
Mr. Sanchez continued handing out the test papers before he began the new lesson.
~*~
"Really, Ash, I think you need a tutor," Mrs. Dudley said. Mrs. Dudley is Ash's Math teacher.
"But—"
"I know it's been only three months, but I don't want to see any of my students failing my class. I just heard from Mrs. Carlton that you have two Fs in her Science class! And Mr. Sanchez is also considering tutorial sessions for you," Mrs. Dudley said.
Ash groaned. He didn't want a tutor. But he was failing. "Is there anything else I can do so I won't need a tutor?"
"I've made up my mind. You're getting constant Ds on my tests, Ash. In fact, I think you should start right away. The term ends in a few weeks you know, and I'm sure Mrs. Ketchum would like to see a decent report card, don't you think so?" Mrs. Dudley gave Ash a stern look. "And I will consider giving you extra credit work to makeup for this test if you get t tutor." She shuffled some papers on her desk and turned back to Ash. "I want you to have a tutor before the Homecoming Dance. Bring your tutor to me so I can see if he or she is suited to tutor you. If you don't have a tutor by Thursday, I'll be forced to choose one for you. Is that clear?"
Ash nodded. He left and headed for the cafeteria. Ahead he saw the stretching line of students, waiting for the mean cafeteria ladies to serve them. Ash shook his head. Then there was a crash. Ash fell on the floor. He blinked, realizing what just happened. He was walking near the doorways and not looking where he was going when someone opened the door and he slammed directly on to it. His forehead throbbed, even though it wasn't anything serious. Upon hearing someone whisper, Ash immediately got back to his feet.
"Oh, it's you."
It was Misty. The SG president,
Melody Gates, was with her.
"Why don't you watch where you're going?" Misty said irritably. "Clumsy oaf."
"If you would've been more careful opening the door you would have known that this is a free hallway with a walking permit," Ash retorted.
Misty arched an eyebrow. "If this hallway has a walking permit, so does this door! This door has an opening permit!"
"Redhead freak," Ash muttered as he dusted his clothes.
"Immature jerk," Misty said right back. She grabbed Melody's arm and walked away. Ash made a face when she turned her back.
~*~
"And she called me an immature jerk," Ash said, stuffing more potato salad in his mouth as he complained to Tracey about Misty's attitude.
"Forget it, Ash. It's over," Tracey said, shaking his head. He glanced at Brock, who was looking at Suzie. Suzie was sitting with Misty and her friends, and they appeared to have a good time. "Thinking of asking Suzie Mitchell to the dance, eh, Brock?"
"Yeah! I'll show the world that Brock the Wonder Guy is not a loser!" Brock said.
"How strong do you think Suzie is?" Tracey whispered.
"We'll see when she slaps Brock." Ash said.
Brock got up. Ash and Tracey gave him thumbs up, even though they had high doubts about it. He cautiously approached Melody's table. Sitting there were: Misty, Karen Iverson, Clair Fontana, Melody (Of course) and Suzie.
The girls stopped laughing when they saw Brock standing there, trying not to look stupid. He grinned at them. He swallowed. "Uh, can I talk to Suzie for a moment, please?"
Melody looked at Suzie. "Brock Slate, Suzie. He's very nice, except he's a girl-crazy guy."
"Yeah. I know," Suzie said. She smiled at Brock and got up. "Hi. You said you wanted to talk to me, right?"
Brock nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking…um, did Melody and you friends tell you about the Homecoming Dance on Friday?"
"Sure! Are you coming?" Suzie replied, brushing a lock of her hair of her face.
"Yeah, well, do you have a date? Because I was thought we could go…um, together…" Brock prepared for the laugh or the ultimate slap. So did Ash and Tracey, who anticipated for the reaction eagerly.
Suzie's smile faltered, as she saw Tracey in the background. She took a deep breath and put her right hand on Brock's left shoulder. "Sorry, but I was hoping that this guy would ask me, even though I'm a new girl. He helped me in Math today, and I thought he was really nice. Sorry, Brock. But thanks for the offer." She gave him a bright smile, and walked back to her table. Brock was in shock. He wasn't turned down because he was a girl-crazy freak, but he was turned down for another guy.
Brock slinked back to the table. Ash and Tracey looked at him.
"Wow! What happened?"
"She said she was waiting for someone else to ask her, even though she's a new girl. She said she met him in her Math class," Brock said, putting his head down on his desk.
Tracey froze, but neither Ash nor Brock noticed it. (I just remembered, that this is a fic only with a touch of reality but planted in the cartoon world, so sweat dropping is still applicable. ^_^) He waved his hand dismissively. "Hehe, never mind Brock, I'm sure you'll find a date soon."
Ash shot Tracey a weird look.
"What?" Tracey said, returning the weird look.
Ash just shook his head. "Even this new girl turned Brock down."
"I wonder who that guy is?" Brock asked.
Tracey just looked away while slurping from his milk carton.
~*~
"Tracey!"
Brock stopped upon overhearing a girl call Tracey's name. They were coming on the hallway, so Brock hid in an open but empty classroom. He opened the door a crack, and saw Tracey Sketchit and the girl, Suzie Mitchell.
"Suzie Mitchell?" Brock whispered. What could she possibly want with Tracey? He thought, leaning closer to the doorframe.
Tracey looked nervously around. "What's up, Suzie?"
"You do know why I turned down Brock, right?" Suzie said.
"What? No, of course not. Why did you turn him down anyway? He's been very confident that you'll say yes, and he was very disappointed when you already have your eye on someone else—for your first day," Tracey said, scratching his head, trying to look as innocent as possible.
Suzie narrowed her eyes, batting her lashes at Tracey. "I was hoping you'd ask me to the dance, Tracey Sketchit."
Sorry. I have other ideas of my own, Tracey thought. "Sorry, Suzie—"
"Please? Come on, we got along well at Math," Suzie threw her hair back. It bounced nicely behind her.
Brock nearly exploded. Tracey? She wants Tracey to take her to the dance? Brock looked shaken, as if Suzie just stomped his heart into tiny little pieces.
"Look, Suzie, about the dance. I really—"
Suzie looked at her watch and held her hand up, to silence Tracey. "I've got to run, Tracey. I expect you to pick me up at this address on Friday, okay?" She gave Tracey a sheet of paper with her phone number and her address.
"But Suzie!" Tracey called after her, but she was already out to the door. "Great." Tracey tucked the piece of paper in his bag and walked towards the exit door. Brock opened the door.
"I can't believe it! And Tracey didn't event tell me that he was the "math guy" Suzie was talking about!" He balled his fists as uttered the words under his breath furiously. "Traitor."
Wacky Witch: Yet another poorly written chapter!!! This whole thing (the story) was already bad to begin with. Very poorly written.
/deep breath/ all right…um, I'll just continue this story, then I have another short one coming up. Probably the lack of devotion on writing this, but I'm trying my best to hang on and continue.
Reviewers:
M*Y*S*T-L*A*D*Y: Thanks for saying that you're not disappointed, as I noticed that this fic was badly written. And your fic, False Pretenses, was good. The pairings were interesting.
Eevee: Suggesting a shounen ai/yaoi, eh, Eevee? Uh…NO!
Anybody want to contribute, my inbox is open. But your suggestions are not guaranteed to come up here, although I will try to consider them. If they do get to be in this fic, I assure you that you will get credit for what you have contributed. ^_^
Violet Emeralds, author of Anything But Ordinary. ~Author of the Update~