Matt's vintage yo-yo was always his helpful thinking piece when it came to challenging situations. He needed something to distract him from overthinking or freaking out. He was about to unravel it with a flick of a wrist when Mr. Ewing stepped in.
"Sorry, Matthew." He emphasized his name, "No toys allowed in this class; I'll have to confiscate it."
Matt flinched as he stopped the yo-yo. He gave the old teacher a death stare.
"All due respect, sir" Matt hinted, "This is the most non-lethal thing you'll see from me, ever. So if you would please just step down and let me do the problem?"
The once snickering seniors by the window stopped and stared at Matt's direction. Mr. Ewing was flustered, but he didn't; correction, couldn't , say anything. He was stumped, and wasn't sure if he should step down or stand up and take actions as a teacher.
"Watch, sir." Inez grinned.
Matt stopped the yo-yo and caught it up in his hand, slipping it back in his pocket as his eyes was filled with infinite thoughts and strategies on how to attack the problem. He could nearly see the path and the work written out before him before he even picked up a marker. Then his hand cautiously hovered over the green marker as he stared at the empty space at the bottom of the board; finalizing his answer in his head.
He snatched up the marker scribbling his work at unstoppable speed; not a single mistake as he took up half the space of the board, half-kneeling making his way to the bottom and then boxing his final answer.
He stood back as almost everyone in the class held their breath; creating a moment so silent you could hear the footsteps of someone walking downstairs across the hall. Mr. Ewing walked close to the board, examining and inspecting Matt's work and his answer. His head switched back and forth as his face palen.
"That's...correct..." He said breathlessly as he couldn't take his eyes off the board; hoping to regret ever saying those words. Matt casually walked to his seat folding his hands. The cybersquad fistpump him as Matt's eyes never left Inez. He grinned in triumph like he won the biggest bet against her; recalling whether or not he or Mr. Ewing would have to come to their senses and understand each other. So far,...Matt hasn't.
"Matt 1, Inez 0." He snickered as Inez scoffed.
Mr. Ewing gathered his thoughts not gaining eye contact with Matt as he silently passed out a worksheet. Slyder fistpump Matt again ever congratulating him.
"Smooth moves Matt." Slyder grinned.
"Kudos to me, and for getting Inez jealous." Matt joked.
"Boys!" Jackie rolled her eyes as Inez agreed.
/
Afterwards, it was pretty much sweet for Matt as he felt more peaceful in his classes with Inez. They sat by each other unconsciously, and Matt started interacting again with his other classmates as they found this hard to adjust to Matt's overturned attitude.
On their way to the the meet-up, Inez had to quickly stop by a teacher's room and insisted Matt to meet her later. But Matt stood outside waiting for her with his hands tucked in his pockets. Inez walked out, stopping for a moment as she saw Matt.
"Why are you still here?" She asked.
Matt nearly rolled his eyes, "I can't wait for a friend? We're going to the same place."
Inez didn't bother of asking. In fact, it felt a bet cozy having Matt walk beside her.
No, we're going to the same place. That's all.
They headed to the third floor towards the abandoned hallway when they saw their two other friends holding each other with their faces close to the point where...
Inez gaped as Matt snickered as this as she stood with her arms folded and took a breath.
"JACKIE!" Inez called. Jackie instantly pushed Slyder back so he was stuck on the wall, quickly masking his goofy grin with a hard smile. Jackie, flustered, fixed her tie and blazer averting her eyes.
"We were just..." She trailed off as Matt laughed.
"Self-explainatory guys, seriously." Inez grimaced. "Now let's be serious."
Slyder shot Matt a look saying, It was serious alright, as the boys started laughing under their breaths.
"Smooth moves Slyder. " Matt quoted.
/
Jackie got herself together as she took a seat higher up on the stair case alongside Slyder, as Matt and Inez sat on opposite sides on the same stair. Slyder got his laptop out and booted it as Matt started reaching in his bag.
"I was able to recover a lot of memory from Motherboard's database, as well as Doc's records of everything pretty much. Roughly 42 gigs." Slyder tapped on his laptop.
"Speaking...of Doc." Matt started. Inez looked at him.
"What is it Matt?" Jackie asked. "What about Dr. Marbles?"
Matt mustered the courage to speak again, knowing this was the moment he had to speak up. It was okay to tell them what he saw. Dr. Marbles last request was to pass on the message because he knew the four of them was his last hope. Matt needed to save Doc. "Something happened last night...after you left. I went to Cyberspace."