After lunch, he went to his next class, Math. The math classroom was freezing with an air conditioner literally the size of the back of an SUV. There were desks organized into tables with four desks each, and there was a row of five brand new computers in the back. He noticed that Frodo and Merry were in his class, as well as Rosie and that Elf that had gotten called out in home room this morning. He felt a tinge of sympathy for whatever the elf's name was for a moment, it must have been rather embarrasing. Then again, in the corner of his mind he was happy that it hadn't been him. As for the others in the class, Merry still wasn't talking to him and Frodo was texting under the desk. He sighed, wondering who his friend was talking to.
"Frodo.", he whispered, "Who are you--"
"AUGH!", Frodo yelped, alarmed, "You startled me!"
"Sorry.", he muttered. Maybe if the hobbit hadn't been texting, it wouldn't have happened! Frodo looked like he had started to calm down, and the look of alarm on his face was replaced with one of irritation.
"Who are you texting?", he asked Frodo curiously.
"Sam.", he said simply before looking back down at his cell phone. And right then, in that moment, Pippin was tempted to get out his cell phone and text somebody- who, he didn't know- but decided not to as he would be caught pretty fast if he even attempted texting. That was the thing abut him-- he was jinxed, if he did say so himself. WHENEVER he attempted doing anything bad, he would always, always, always get caught. Always. Frodo, on the other hand, could pull off anything that he wanted to, say anything that he wanted to, even do anything he wanted and never get in trouble. Oh well, it was probablly just his edgy urban nature that allowed him to do this.
Pippin looked around the room. It was five minutes past the bell and the teacher hadn't arrived, that was sort of odd. Still, he couldn't help but be happy that they were unsupervised for once. Here, in the highschool, everybody babied the freshmans, holding their hands through every assignment and every command. So for once, it was a releif that the teacher was not present. And, he couldn't object to missing math class.
He decided to go and talk to Rosie, maybe he could work something out between Sam and her. He approached her while she sat alone at her desk, probablly the only person in the room minus Frodo, who was texting, that was sitting.
"Hey Rosie.", he said to her with a wave, "What's up?"
"Nothing.", she said, 'Now would you please move, I'm trying to do the warm-up."
"there's a warm up?", he asked in surprise, turning back around to look at the board. surely enugh, they were supposed to write a paragraph how theyt got in Advanced math.
ADVANCED MATH?? What is all of this about advanced math? I never signed up for this! , Pippin thought.He then recalled the test that he had taken in the eigth grade to determine whether or not he would get into the advanced math classroom. No, it wasn't supposed to end this way! He had tried his hardest to FAIL that test!
Math had always been his least favorite subject, partially if not entirely because of his old eighth grade math teacher who had HATED him. It wasn't just him who thought this, either, all of the other students in his math class said the same thing. And it wasn't like he was doing anything bad in math, either. She just didn't like him for whatever reason. And then it hit him like a ton of bricks: Putting him in the advanced math class was her last laugh. She had allowed him to think that he had gotten the last laugh by letting him get away with cussing her out under his breath when he left the school last year, and he had been relaxed and at ease over the summer. thinking that that it had been the last score, but it hadn't. Oh, no. Because over the summer, she had convinced the school board to put him in this stupid classroom.
"Okay class, you have a warm-up!", a teacher said to them as he walked up to the board.
Rosie looked at him triumphantly befor continuing on her paragraph.
"And Mister Baggins, please put your cellular device up. If I see it out again, It's points and it will get taken up.", the teacher said to Frodo, who paid no attention seeing as he was absorbed in his texting.
"Mister Baggins! Please put your cell phone up!", he said again.
"Frodo," he whispered in Frodo's ear, "Put up your cell phone."
"Right.", Frodo said, noticing that the whole class was staring at him.
"Okay, now that that is over, we will start the lesson.", he told them, "Under your desks you will see a mathbook. We'll be using these until I get to assign you new books. Please turn to page 462 and wait for further instruction."
The class did as they were told, and the fluttering of pages could be heard for about five minutes. When it stopped, the teacher continued his lesson.
He began to read from the book: "When we have to use very large numbers, we sometimes use exponents. Exponents are made of a base and a power."
" Sir?", asked one student.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Aren't we supposed to be pleasure reading today?", he asked.
Pippin realized with a jolt that today WAS pleasure reading day in math, when they would bring a book to school and read for twenty minutes.
"Oh, yes, that.", he said, "Right. Anyways, Exponents are made of a base and a power...", he started again.
Merry raised his hand.
"Yes, Merry?", the math teacher asked him.
"What is a base? You never told us.", he asked the teacher with a confused look on his face.
"What is a base?", the teacher repeated, "If I tell you, you'll never learn."
"Well what am I supposed to look at?! ", he asked, bewildered.
If his question had been heard, the math teacher showed no signs of it. Even though he was upset with MErry, he was already starting to miss the hobbit's playful antics and smart remarks. Quite frankly, he would have walked over to him right then and there and apologised if he hadn't been so proud.
Math class dragged on, with kids asking questions that were only repeated to them. Somewhere during the lesson a dwarf had asked to go to the front office to check the lost and found and had never returned. How convinient.
Finally, the bell rang and all of the students got up at the same time, eager to leave this place.
Personally, he felt more releived than he had ever felt in his life, and for once, he actually understood the meaning of, "Saved by the bell."
As he and Frdo walked through the hall, Frodo leaned over and whispered, "I have a new name for the math teacher."
"What?", Pippin asked the other hobbit.
"PC.", He said simply.
"What does PC mean, Frodo?", he asked.
Frodo glanced around before whispering, "Psycho Crazy."
"Ah. very fitting.", He said.
"So, what connections class do you have?", Frodo asked him.
"Gym.", he told frodo, looking at his schedule, "What about you?", he asked.
"I've got keyboarding.", he sighed, "With the teacher that crawled out of the deepest trench in the sea."
"Mr. Morgan isn't THAT bad, Frodo. Yuo don't even know him!"
"I know the legends.", Frodo said.
Pippin rolled his eyes. How had Frodo aqquired this information so fast, anyways? He just had to wonder.
"Bye, man.", he said as he headed for the gym.
"Bye!", Frodo waved, "See you on the bus!"
"See ya!", Pippin said as he walked off.
Okay, thanks for the reviews, all. They are always appreciated!