Chapter Four: Middle School Montage
August 10th 2006
Retroville, TX
English (Reading/Writing)
The first two classes were pretty normal all things considered. Jimmy sat in the front with Cindy to his left like before, but Betty would be on his right. Carl was behind Jimmy, Sheen to the right Betty, Nick was three seats behind Cindy, and Libby was two seats behind Sheen. Other students such as Brittney and Bolbi among others were in other parts of the class.
"No, I'm telling you, Pluto is still considered a planet, just like the rest of them," Cindy said as she and the others were walking into the classroom.
"Didn't you hear, Pluto's not considered a planet anymore. It's smaller than our moon," Jimmy retorted.
"It has its own gravitational pull, therefore it should be considered a planet!"
"You can say the same about various asteroids in the belt near Jupiter!"
"Yeah, I could also say the same about your head having a gravitational pull Nerdtron!"
"Oh wow super original Vortex, then again your mouth is so big it probably has its own as well!
"Ladies, please. You're both pretty, now can you both shut up and get to your seats," Nick said feeling annoyed. "We're kinda sick of waiting in the hallway."
Neither Jimmy nor Cindy said a word as they reached their desks with slightly embarrassed expressions. While Sheen was 2 seats in front of Libby, that didn't stop them from making kissy faces in the background. Betty then walked in and sat next to Jimmy on the right. "Hey Jimmy, it's been awhile." She said smiling. Cindy in the background made a death stare at Jimmy.
"It's been great," Jimmy started. "Blah blah blah blah-"
I hope I won't have to deal with him sucking up to her all year. Betty said she'd get her hands off him. I'm not letting her get away with this. Cindy was too deep in thought that she almost missed the next part of the conversation.
"So I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Candy Bar with me after school to start the year off with a treat," Betty said smoothly.
What?! This can't be happening! It won't be on my watch!
"Uh, as much as I'd like to," Jimmy started to answer. "But I think I'm gonna pass. I have other… things on my mind."
Hold up. Did Jimmy just say no to Betty?! I don't believe this! Cindy couldn't even hide her shocked expression.
"Other things… or other people?" Betty asked with a knowing glance at Jimmy.
"Uh…" Jimmy said nervously as he stole a glance at Cindy who's looking relieved. "The details of that aren't important" It's hard for me to get used to that. This past summer really changed my perspective on certain characters in my life. Jimmy thought.
"Alright," Betty said normally. Then she proceeded to whisper to Jimmy's ear, "Let me know how your date with Cindy goes."
This caused Jimmy to blush immensely and pull back. He chose to remain silent for the rest of the passing period.
The bell rang as Carl took his seat behind him. "Hey Jimmy, you got some of that book gum?" Carl asked.
"Carl, you need to learn more of this at some point," Jimmy said while shrugging but also relieved he didn't notice his embarrassed expression.. "Besides, it's just the first day. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."
"Welcome class back from summer vacation and into middle school," The teacher spoke with a smile. "My name is Mrs. Rosencrantz and I will be teaching English to you all." She was a middle aged woman with brown/grey hair and mild wrinkles. She wears glasses and is slightly overweight. "To begin, I have an assignment for all of you. I want you all to write an essay about yourselves so I can get to know a little bit of each and every one of you and what you inspire to be. The requirement is that you at least do three paragraphs and fill the page all the way to the bottom by the end of class. Good luck." The teacher then walked back to her desk.
Carl then said to Jimmy in response, "You were saying?"
Jimmy then whispered back, "Carl it's an essay on what you think of yourself. It should be too hard. You can do it." Carl then smiled and they both started writing with the rest.
By the end of class everyone wrote their essays. Jimmy's was about being an inventor; Carl's was about being a llama farmer; Sheen's was about him fighting with Ultralord; Libby was about being a singer/fashion model; Cindy's was about being a lawyer; and Nick's was about being an actor.
Mathematics
"I can't believe I have to take another class with Ultra-bore," Nick said begrudgingly as he and the other two entered the class.
"Wow you REALLY waited to use that one," Sheen responded with an eye roll.
"Can it you guys," Jimmy said. "Besides, I thought you guys were getting friendlier over the summer.
"Ever so slightly," Nick responded. "But I didn't come unprepared. I got some spare earbuds in case Shine here-"
"IT'S SHEEN"
"Whatever. The point is, so I don't have to hear him babble about Ultralord for 20 minutes at a time… and in case teachers say boring nonsense," Nick explained, which was met with both Jimmy and Sheen's blank expressions. "Uh… no offense."
They proceeded to sit in random areas of the classroom. Jimmy sat one desk behind the front of the classroom, while Sheen sat behind to the left of Jimmy and Nick sat two seats behind Jimmy all the way in the back right. The bell rang and the teacher emerged from his desk.
"Good morning everyone. I'm sure you're all super excited to be at school to learn some math!" This was met with a few groans. "Yeah, me neither," the teacher whispered to himself. "Anyway, my name is Mr. Layne and I'll be teaching Mathematics for sixth grade this year…" The entire period was spent on him explaining how his class works. He looked to be in his late 20s, had a slender body and was African American.
It's weird to be in a math class without Cindy challenging me at every turn. No, it's weird that I got used to Vortex challenging me at this point regardless of class. Jimmy thought to himself.
"Hey Jimmy," Sheen whispered with a big grin on his face. "This is the easiest class yet. A math class where you do absolutely nothing really makes this year smoother."
Jimmy chuckled a bit knowing full well what to expect. "I wouldn't be too confident about that Sheen," he whispered back.
"...And now to see where you all are, you're gonna have a recap exam with 20 multiplacation problems and 20 division problems." Mr. Layne then handed out the work and as students were groaning. "Don't worry, this isn't for a grade. It's just to see how fast and smart you are and to gauge where we have to begin class."
"Told ya so," Jimmy whispered to Sheen.
"Lucky guess," Sheen muttered as he was handed his test.
Physical Education
"IF YOU ALL THOUGHT YOU'D LEAVE ELEMENTARY GROUNDS WITHOUT ME YOU'RE WRONG BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL STUCK WITH ME FOR ONE MORE YEAR!" Coach Gruber shouted to everyone like a drill sergeant. This would've been met with groans, but they all knew how to behave in front of the strict coach by now. This class started outside by the bleachers. "Now, to start the new school year off with a bang, we'll start adapting gradually by RUNNING TEN LAPS AROUND THE TRACK! YOU'LL ALSO HAVE TO RUN UP AND DOWN THE BLEACHERS EVERY LAP! AND DON'T KEEP ME WAITING SLACKERS, SO GET TO YOUR POSITIONS NOW!" Everyone was placing themselves in various lanes.
"I could beat you all right now," Sheen said with a cocky attitude.
"Sorry, but your crutch that you call speed isn't gonna save you this time. Hope you eat my dust," Nick said.
"Oh we'll see who's eating who's dust," Sheen retorted.
"Ready for me to kick your butt like last year, Neutron?" Cindy quipped as she was getting in position like she was at the olympic races.
"We'll see who's slow this time, Vortex" Jimmy responded as he was stretching his legs. "I've gotten quite the workout this past summer."
"Can I sit this one out?" Carl asked timidly.
"Sorry Carl," Libby comforted. "We all gotta do this."
"GO!" The coach shouted. Everyone proceeded to run as fast as they could throughout the track and through the bleachers. Eventually the race ended with Cindy and Sheen winning with Jimmy a few meters behind. A few kids passed and Nick arrived. Several more kids arrived and then Carl arrived who collapsed on the pavement due to exhaustion. Libby stayed with Carl the whole time to keep him going. Everyone else was still standing, though they were all out of breath.
"Well would you look at that," Cindy said tiredly, "You're slightly closer to beating me."
"Oh shut up," Jimmy was too tired to deal with this. "I'll get there one day."
Lunch
Everyone was just happy that they had a break after P.E. The cafeteria looked like a typical one where there are four long tables lined up on both sides. The color scheme on the walls was blue and silver. On one side of the table sat Jimmy, Carl and Nick and the other side sat Cindy, Libby and Sheen respectively. As you'd expect, Libby and Sheen are holding hands under the table.
"You know, I'm honestly surprised you're sitting with us Nick," Libby said. "Weren't you popular or something."
"Well for one thing we've gotten closer over the summer," Nick started but hesitantly continued scratching the back of his head. "...Also my popularity status is nonexistent since I've crashed my skateboard on one too many instances."
"Hey Jimmy," Carl whispered. "Are you gonna eat that sandwich?"
"I was but if you really want it, I'll just make another one," Jimmy answered.
Cindy said doubtedly, "Don't tell me you carry a bunch of bread and other ingredients,"
"You're right, I don't," Jimmy smirked. "But I have this! It's a portable version of the cloning machine I have back at the lab." The device was on his watch as an additional ability that was recently added.
"I can already tell you this is a bad idea," Cindy said. Knowing where this was going, Libby and Sheen put on an earbud to listen to music.
"Oh yeah Vortex and what's that?" Jimmy challenged.
"Remember the cloning device made other Neutrons which caused chaos around town in more than one instance. Not to mention with Evil Neutron out there and all."
"I've taken precautionary measures. This device can only clone objects. Even if I fire it at you, nothing will happen."
"Oh you better NOT fire at me if you know what's good for you."
"Don't worry, I won't. I will demonstrate by firing at this sandwich."
"What sandwich king cranium?" Cindy asked with a knowing smirk.
"This one right-" Jimmy then looked down to see his grilled sandwich missing. He looked to Carl who's already eaten it along with the fish snack-ums. Carl gave a sheepish expression. Seeing that this was Carl, Jimmy sighed and went to buy lunch instead.
History
Unlike previous classes, Jimmy didn't know anyone in this one. His teacher this time around was Mrs. Butler who was in her 50s with grey hair. While history does fascinate Jimmy, the class itself didn't interest him since from the looks of things, everything was already taught mainly because he likes going to historical landmarks.. He sat in the very back spending the class semi-listening and dozing off since he still had to adjust to his new sleep schedule. The teacher just talked about various things about the class, none of which interested Jimmy.
Science
This one brought back some familiarity. As to whether or not that was a good thing only time will tell. Everybody knows science was Jimmy's favorite subject. Jimmy sat at the far right lab table against the wall. Unlike desks, the lab tables sat four seats with a sink on one side of each of them. He was interested that there were more hands-on science experiments from this point forward, though he still thought what they had was basic compared to what he already invented. Next thing he knew, he saw Cindy straight ahead walking in the room. He couldn't quite describe it but when she noticed him, there was a fire in her eyes as she ever so slightly grinned. And low and behold, she was assigned next to him at the lab table.
"Well, a class with you means more chances to upstage you which will happen in due time Neutron," Cindy quipped.
"Yeah we'll see about that Vortex," Jimmy quipped back. "Remember science is basically my stomping grounds. I've done experiments far more advanced than they have to offer."
"That may be true," Cindy thought for a second. "But some of them have backfired more than a fair amount of times. I can already predict what'll happen. You'll have some 'advanced way' of doing the experiment that will result in a backfire."
"Heh, you're just saying that so I could stoop down to the basic level and give you guys a fighting chance."
"Neutron, you're SUPPOSED to do it by the book if you want a desirable grade." Cindy then changed tactics. "If you do things your way, it'll be too easy for you and ultimately be boring in the long run. Don't you want some sort of challenge?"
"I suppose that's true to a degree," Jimmy said. "Fine, I promise to play fair for the school year so that when I do win, it'll be fair and square. Truce?"
"Truce." They both shook hands and the class started. Since Neutron's not doing more advanced things, it'll finally expose how bad he is at basic experiments. Cindy thought mischievously.
"Good afternoon students. my name is Professor McFly and I'll be your science instructor," the teacher said. Prof. McFly was in his forties, completely bald, overweight, wore glasses and had a mustache. As he was explaining what they were all learning, most students looked bored with the exception of Jimmy and to an extent Cindy since she's slowly taken a shine to science.
"Wanna keep score and add it up at the end of the year?" Cindy asked.
"You bet! I'm definitely gonna win though, so don't be too disappointed when you lose Vortex," Jimmy whispered back as he edged closer.
"I think you've got that backwards though Nerdtron, because I'm gonna win and catch you off guard," Cindy whispered back intensely as she edged closer with both of them glaring at each other. There was fire in both of their eyes and the students behind them wondered what'll happen next. A few seconds of silence passed and suddenly they both chuckled trying to keep quiet so the professor wouldn't notice.
"I can't believe we talked like that last year, if not worse," Jimmy said, trying not to laugh anymore.
"Yeah," Cindy said with a grin. "Though admittedly, we're STILL doing that."
"You know, what can I say? Old habits die hard."
"Yeah, it's probably in our genetics now."
"Still though, you're on and I'll win."
"We'll see about that Neutron!"
Another filler chapter I admit, but I figured I'd get all the school stuff out of the way. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!
