Chapter 3

POV: Simon

I just want to thank the supportive reviewers, since I was bracing for impact as I clicked on the reviews. It means a lot to me, that people like my story so far. I hope you like the rest of the story, and that you keep reviewing. All constructive comments will be duly noted, and appreciated.

"Hi, guys." I greeted Alvin and Theodore, before putting my school bag down. It wasn't heavy, because I kept my textbooks at school,
and a digital copy on my computer.

"Hi Simon." They both seemed to be relatively happy, which was good, because if Alvin was in a bad mood, everyone else was almost certain to follow suit eventually. He had a way of affecting people and extracting pity and care from them.

"So how was school for you? I haven't seen you all day." Theodore and I hardly crossed paths at school, because the kitchens and associated buildings were (purposely) placed far away from the science labs. If a student started a fire, the firemen didn't like the idea of spraying water around the potassium and alkaline metals.

"It was OK, but I was mainly thinking about MIT's offer. Can you believe they chose me?" I was genuinely exhilarated.

"Uh, yeah." Alvin interjected, cynically, "Duh, they're gonna choose you. Your the smartest guy in the world!" I appreciated the compliment,
but doubted the sincerity of sentiment.

"I wish, Alvin, but seriously, I can't wait. It's going to be amazing!" I hoped I wasn't being over-elated. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say.

"I know you'll get two PhDs in no time, or, at most, six years." Theodore had a knack for making people smile, and that's just what I did.

"Hello? Anyone interested in what I did today?" Alvin couldn't stand the inattention for this long, apparently. "I won my game of football, and it wasn't easy, I tell you. The other team were buried alive, under my amazing touchdown."

"Cool! What did you do, Alvin?" Theodore joined in his ego-massage, so I inconspicuously left them, in order to do my homework. As I walked to my room, Dave called to me.

"Simon. Did you tell your classmates about the scholarship?" He asked, his face full of pride.

"As a matter of fact, I did not. If I get much more congratulation, my head will explode."

"Really? I think a responsible kid like you can handle some small bragging rights." He smiled, very proud of my achievements.

"I did tell Jeanette, but she seemed more down-to-Earth about it," I remarked, "Speaking of Jeanette, she told me she was going to a party.
It doesn't seem much like her, to go to a noisy social gathering. She was in a rush to get home and change, so I didn't say anything." I did wonder what the party was celebrating, as I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. Jeanette seemed pretty subdued all day, as well.

"That's odd, I don't remember Miss Miller saying anything about a party. She normally tells me about these kinds of things. You boys weren't invited?" I suddenly realised that we hadn't, to my knowledge, been invited to a party. Maybe it was a girly party and the Chippettes didn't think we'd be interested.

I shook my head. "Nope, but it's probably nothing. Maybe it was meant to be a secret, but Jeanette let it slip. She can be pretty absent-minded sometimes."

I let the matter drop, but there was a question in my mind; if there was a party, why hadn't Dave been told, especially if he had spoken with Miss Miller.
Parties weren't part of the norm, in the Miller family."

I did my homework in silence. There was a lot of work I needed to do, but luckily, not much thinking. I was distracted by the party. Maybe Miss Miller had succumbed to senility? No, that was unlikely. I decided that there was no use in thinking about it anymore, so I closed my computer, and looked at my phone.

It read "21:30", time to go to sleep. I went to bed and closed my eyes, and soon, the wisps of unconsciousness obscured my thoughts with a thick mist.

The next day, I had gotten up early, as was usual, and was on my way to school, when I again met Jeanette.

"So, how was the party?" I asked, out of curiosity, "Did it go well?"

"Huh?" she answered vaguely, "What party?" Jeanette looked confused, but after a second or two, she blushed. "Oh, uh, it was good. Parties are fun, you know."

"You didn't stay up too late, did you? You sound pretty tired." I had a strange feeling about that party, Jeanette didn't seem like herself.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about something else." She was still blushing, but we had arrived at school by now, and she said a quick goodbye, and walked briskly toward the library. Something odd was going on, and what, I intended to find out. Maybe Brittany and Eleanor could shed some light on the subject.

Math was as boring as ever, just some simple integration of linear graphs. I already knew just about all of the material in the textbook, so I mainly created harder problems for myself while the teacher was explaining to the class, but this lesson, I wanted to talk to Brittany, since she was the only Chippette that I could easily find in the lunch break.

I was thankful when the bell rang for us to go out to lunch. I walked to the cafeteria to get my food, on the look-out for Brittany. Eleanor wouldn't be there, since she would have eaten the results of her cooking lesson. I spotted Brittany getting her food, so I strode over to her.

"Hi, Brittany." I greeted her politely.

"Oh, hey Simon. How are you?" She replied.

"I'm fine, thanks. So, how was the party?" I asked. The same blank expression.

"What party? I didn't go to a party." This was unexpected, so I looked up, quickly enough that my glasses bounced up my nose.

"What do you mean? Jeanette told me she was late for a party yesterday." Brittany seemed confused, but a look of understanding soon appeared on her face.

"Oh, um, she probably meant our movie night. We watched Narnia and ate popcorn. I guess it's the closest thing she ever gets to a party, poor thing." She said, jokingly. This contented me, and I sat down at my table to eat lunch. I pulled out my Rubik's cube and started to solve it with my right hand, while I ate with my left.

"Wow! That's amazing." I heard a familiar voice from behind me, after I'd finished solving the cube. "I never knew you could do that with one hand." Jeanette sat down at my table and started to eat.

"It's not that hard, I can teach you how to do it after school, if you want," I explained, "The trick is to keep your thumb and middle fingers on the middle pieces. That way, you don't drop the cube when you turn the faces."

"Great, thanks, Simon. I'd love to learn how to do that." It was a very useful skill to have. With the amount of time Alvin seemed to spend in the hospital, I was surprised that he hadn't learned how to solve one himself.

"OK, you can come to my house tonight and I'll teach you. You'll be great in no time." I looked forward to it. I loved to teach people like Jeanette, because they had a genuine will to expand their knowledge and skill set.

After school, gates were as congested as it was every Friday, so I waited inside the gate for the stampede to subside.

"Ready to learn how to solve the cube, Jean?" I asked, rhetorically.

"You bet!" Jeanette smiled.

Having a fun time (for nerds) together, what might Jeanette tell Simon? Will she explain the recent events? Find out in the next chapter!