Skittery's point of view
The class looked up from their studies as Skittery entered the room, their eyes bearing down on him in apathy.
He smiled weakly at them before turning towards the teacher, hands shaking slightly with nerves in his back pockets.
"May I help you?" a young woman asked from behind a desk, looking him over in disapproval.
"Ah…yeah… I'm new. My schedule says I have algebra now." He held up his schedule for the teacher to see and moved closer to her desk.
The woman seemed to withdraw from his proceedings, turning up her nose snobbishly.
Oh, what dignity does she have? She teachin' a bunch of fuckin orphans in some shit ass school. Skittery thought crudely, fighting off a scowl as he observed the woman. She had long blonde hair that was pulled up in a bun and chubby cheeks, slathered with makeup and blush.
The woman stood up, towering a mere two inches over Skittery.
He slumped down in his posture, now a bit intimidated.
"I see. What is your name?"
"Ah…skittery"
He didn't think about his answer but the look on the teachers face told him it was the wrong one. She glared slightly at him.
"I do not care for your funny names. Your real name. The one your parents gave you before they deserted you on this wretched earth and began to burn in hell."
Some of the children in the room cringed at her words though Skittery did not seam to be affected by them.
He planted a smug expression upon his face and a slight smirk on his lips, a manner that only made the teacher glare at him harder.
"Hunter Cooger." He responded, looking straight in to the teacher's eyes.
She smiled falsely. "Please take a seat hunter. There should be a spare text book in your desk."
She turned briskly and walked over to a large chalkboard, beginning to scribble equations on the board.
Skittery sat down in the 4th row by the window and felt around in the desk for a book. He came across one and pulled it out of the desk hastily feeling the teacher's eyes upon him.
"Open your books to page 342." The teacher barked at the class.
Skittery quickly flipped to the page she had requested and took an empty notebook from his book bag, opening it to a clean first page.
Skittery glanced at the problems in front of him and realized just how little he knew about math.
' Problem A: (X23) Y-41,228. If X12 then Y? Solve for Y.'
Skittery took in a deep breath, reading the rest of the problems over in his head. He barely could multiply single digit numbers! How was he going to multiply 12 by 23!
His thoughts were interrupted by the shrill voice of the teacher.
"Hunter! What is the answer to problem A?"
Skittery glanced down at the book nervously, his hands sweating in his lap.
"Uh… I dunno… I've nevah done dis kinda math before."
The teacher smiled at him menacingly. "Then I would recommend you visit me after supper so we can go over this 'kinda math'"
Behind him, Skittery heard a few of his classmates snicker at his loss of free time. Skittery nodded, his eyes on the teacher.
He forced an uninterested expression upon his face to show that he could not be swayed from his arrogance though inside he had collapsed with his defeat.
"Amelia, can you answer A for us?"
The teacher turned to a girl who had light brown hair that had been untied from its braids, creating small waves and curls.
The girl flushed as the class's attention was soon focused on her.
"Uh… I can try…"
The girl straitened her posture and began to read out her procedures to the class in a meek voice.
"Well… you have to use order of operations…so you do X23 first because it's in the parenthesis. And you know X12 so that's 12x23176. So then the equation is 176xY-41,228. So then you reverse the equation because you don't want to find the answer because you already have it, you want to find Y. So you do 1,228/176Y+4." The girl went on, finally reaching the conclusion that Y7.
The teacher gave her a mordant face before moving on to the next problem.
Skittery just sat there, gazing blankly at the bored, too confused to even copy down what the teacher was writing. He leaned his head back exasperatingly and sunk down in his chair so that his feet were no longer beneath the desk but crossed in front of it.
"Complete problems C-J with a partner."
Skittery did not react to her command, assuming that since she already knew he wouldn't be able to do the problems, he would be off the hook.
The teacher began to circulate the room, peering over the shoulders of the students and watching them critically. She deliberately kicked Skittery's outstretched feet as she passed his desk, causing him to recoil and straighten his posture.
"Hunter! Watch another group and take notes. I don't want you to be totally oblivious this afternoon."
God how he hated that name! Hunter…hunter…hunter! Even his parents hadn't called him that, they had always called him by his middle name; Michael.
Skittery shrugged carelessly and looked around the room for a group to observe. He spotted a boy and girl, a few desks in front of him, chatting away though quickly going back to their work when the teacher approached them.
"Can I 'ave da honor of observin' you guys?" he asked humorously, making his way over to their desks.
"Sure… but I don't think we're a great group to observe… we don't do the work."
"Exactly."
The girl chuckled and looked Skittery over analytically. She had brown eyes and reddish-brownish hair. The boy next to her had a manly frame and had dark brown hair with green eyes.
"Hi I'm Ozz." The girl outstretched her hand for Skittery to shake.
"I'm Skittery." He shook her hand delicately and waited for he boy to introduce himself.
"I'm wits."
Skittery shook the boy's hand firmly.
"So you… you used to be a newsie?" the boy asked curiously.
Skittery paused for a moment, repeating the question in his head; 'used to be a newsie.' Some how the words didn't seem to fit, especially when they were directed towards him… 'Used to be a newsie.'
"Uh… Yeah, how did ya know?"
Wits gave him a haughty smile. "Foist of all, your New Yorker accent. And second, your hands are fucking inky as hell."
Skittery stared down at his ink stained hands before putting them in his lap self-consciously.
"Is it dat obvious?"
His question was rhetorical but Ozz nodded her head 'yes' any way. "But don't get us wrong… being a former newsies isn't a bad thing … it's kind of like a status symbol… you get a lot more respect from the jockers… having had a job and all."
"Is dat so?"
"Yeah, it is." Wits replied heatedly.
Skittery could tell that Wits was getting tired of his conceited attitude though Ozz didn't seem to mind it or notice it for that matter.
"So, you guys really don't do any of da woik?" Skittery asked sincerely, facing Ozz and blocking Wits from view.
"Nope. Why should we? In a year we'll be out and none of this will matter. The grades we get in this class wont matter. If we get punished for not doing our work… it wont matter." Ozz's voice was defiant and full of energy, leading Skittery to think that she had given a lot of thought to this reasoning.
"I see."
The girl smiled at him warmly.
Suddenly, the teacher cleared her throat beckoning the class's attention. Skittery heard wits groan next to him.
"For homework tonight please complete problems J-O."
Outside the classroom the period bell began to ring, signaling that it was lunchtime.
The rustling of papers echoed about the room as the kids hastily put away their books in excitement for the midday meal.
"Nice to meet to Skittery." Ozz swung her bag over her shoulder.
"Yeah nice to meet you." Wits repeated, starting to walk towards the front door. Ozz followed him though turned back on second thought.
"Hey… do want to sit with us during lunch?" her voice was hopeful and buoyant.
"Uh… my… friend and I were goin ta sit together."
"Oh he could sit with us too…" Ozz put in defensively.
Skittery swung his bag on to his shoulder, thinking over her offer. "I'lll ask her, she should be right out side if you wanna wait."
"Sure."
Wits was waiting for Ozz by the door and as she approached he put his arm around her waist, giving her a small peck on the cheek.
"Why didn't ya guys jus smooch in class?"
"We don't want to die a slow and tragic death that's why." Wits responded sarcastically. When standing, he and Skittery were about the same height and Ozz was about 4 inches shorter.
Outside the room, Skittery saw royal waiting and waved her over.
She strolled over to the small group, looking questionably at Ozz and Wits. Skittery gave a kiss hello and wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Ah… royal dis is Ozz and wits" Ozz gave royal a gentle smile while Wits's expression remained indifferent. Suddenly wits face warmed up slightly and he looked up at royal.
"Hey, haven't I seen you here before?"
Royal gave out a sigh of laughter. "Probably. Mrs. Muller gave me a bit of a …vacation this month… just got back."
Wits nodded his head thoughtfully.
"Um… we had just asked Skittery if you two would like to join me and wits for lunch?" Ozz's voice was sweet and gentle as before.
Skittery desperately hoped royal would say no, he was looking forward to some alone time with her and didn't want it to be spoiled by another couple. He knew royal was not the kind of girl who would turn down an invitation, that would be rude and rude was something royal was most certainly not, but he still had hope she would refuse.
"Sure."
Skittery's hope crashed within.
Ozz smiled benevolently, "we'll meet you in the mess hall then. See you in a few."
Ozz and Wits turned around to leave, still hand in hand.
Royal turned to Skittery and shrugged optimistically. He shrugged back at her though his movements lacked her enthusiasm. He reached up and kissed him on the lips, before finding his hand and making their way down the hall.
