There are a few things I like about school, and there are a few things that I hate about it. Pros: I get to see my friends everyday, I love learning, working with computers is fun. Cons: People can be too much, you get judged all the time, my math teacher hates me. Out of all of the things I hate about school, the last thing is definitely the worst. Math class.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm good at math. I'm great at solving equations, finding what the variable of x equals, and remembering the Law of Sine and Cosine. The material is great, but the teaching isn't. My math teacher, Mr. Cortez, is a really stubborn man who seems to be in a bad mood 24/7. He always has this look in his face that looks like he stepped in dog crap on the way here or got his socks wet in the rain. Whatever it is, he's always grumpy. And likes to insult my favorite group of heroes, the Avengers.
"Those heroes have done nothing but destroy perfectly built buildings and made us lose millions of dollars," Mr. Cortez said one time. Now I wasn't even talking about them. All I did was ask a simple question because I wanted to confirm if my answer was correct (which happened to be a number close to a million), and he got pissed at me and began ranting about why it wasn't correct (it was, I double checked) when really it should've been less than a million. That's when he began to rant about the Avengers. I don't think he proved his point. Yeah, I hate math.
Which is why I was dreading third period. While I love having math in the morning, it also means that my school day gets ruined by some lunatic who doesn't really care if he hurts people's feelings.
"Can I just at least once have a class where he's not pissed?" I complained while walking down the hallway to math with my best friend, Stephanie.
"Just ignore him when he gets like that, Tina," she answered back. "If you respond, you add fuel to the fire. Also, he is our teacher. You have to be respectful to him, even if he gets on your nerves." I rolled my eyes.
"It's just that every time he gets annoyed at a question someone asks, especially if it's me, he takes it out on us and then complains about the Avengers. And we both know how I feel about that."
"Yes, I know very well. But Tina, getting upset about someone who's clearly having a bad day isn't going to help." We arrived at the closed door to the classroom at this point.
"Just go inside, sit down at your desk, and focus on the material." I sighed. Stephanie had a point. I just needed to focus on class instead of the complaining.
We headed inside just a couple minutes before the bell rang. I sat down at my desk at the front of the classroom, Stephanie taking her seat to the right of me. She gave me a wink before pulling out her calculator and text book. I leaned over to retrieve mine as well, and as I got mine, I noticed someone new sitting in the desk to the left of me.
She had black and white hair, brown eyes, and wore a red sweater. She had on earphones and was listening to something on her cellphone. I hadn't seen her before in class. Was she always there? Or was she new?
Leaning over, I tapped her shoulder. She looked over at me and took out her earphones. I smiled at her.
"Hi. I don't think I've met you before, have I?" I said. She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, you haven't. I'm actually quite new. This is my first day here."
"Oh, really? Well, welcome. I'm Tina by the way." I held out my hand. She looked at it, smiled, and accepted it. "Call me Stella," she said. Stella, I thought. That's actually a really nice name.
"I'll make sure to remember it," I said. The bell then rang as Mr. Cortez walked into the classroom, giving me a look as he always does and stood at the front of the room.
"Hopefully you got your homework done. I expect it to be completed and correct. Don't expect a perfect score, however. I doubt any of you actually aced it," he said in his annoyed voice. There was a shuffling of papers as some of the students took out their homework from last night. Stephanie already had hers on her desk in front of her. She really was organized.
"Before I come around to collect your...attempt, we have a new student. Not that any of you would care, but it's policy to introduce her to you. I'm only going to say it once, so you'd better listen up. This is Stella Strange. She's going to be part of our...fun class. Everyone say hi, Stella say hi back."
There was a soft hello from a few people. Someone even clapped in the back. Stella blushed and turned around, waving to people. Mr. Cortez clapped his hands.
"Okay now that that's over with, homework. Time to collect. Now." He began walking around the room, picking up everyone's assignments, looking over them. Obviously he narrowed his eyes when he looked at me, clicked his tongue and moved past me. When he was gone I leaned over to Stephanie.
"Stella Strange? Why does that seem...familiar?" I whispered. She shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know. Everything seems familiar to you, Tina." She leaned back in her seat and began to write the notes that were on the board in her notebook. I shook my head. There was no way that she was related, was she?
When Mr. Cortez was finished collecting the homework from the night before, he placed the stack on his desk and began to go over the material for today. Our homework was to go over pages 33 and 34, all the problems on both pages and turn it in by tomorrow. The material pretty simple for me but difficult for others.
"Stark, answer this question on the board," Mr. Cortez said, his back facing us. I looked at the problem and began solving the equation. When I got my answer I responded with the variable of x equaling 14 while y equaled 10. Of course he turned around, raised an eyebrow, and solved the equation. He then looked at me and folded his arms.
"Did you use a calculator?" he asked. "No, sir. I wrote out the problem then simply solved for both variables. I can double check if you'd like," I responded. He shook his head.
"No I want proof that you didn't cheat. Because you answered quickly."
I could feel the tension inside my rising a little, but I didn't let it take over. "I'm...sorry that you think I cheated, but I swear that I didn't. I just solved it quickly. Like I said, I can double check-" He cut me off.
"Answering quickly without taking time to actually solve the problem correctly tells me that you used a calculator or you checked your textbook to get the answer. Cheating is not acceptable in this classroom or anywhere. You can't cheat your way out of problems, especially in real life. Do you think a hero would cheat his way out?"
Here we go again, I thought to myself. I sat in silence while Mr. Cortez began ranting about the Avengers once more, just to annoy me. But this time was different. Not only did he target the Avengers but he had to say one thing about one of them.
Now, I shouldn't have snapped. I should've kept my cool, but what he said really upset me to the point where I couldn't take it anymore.
"The Avengers didn't cheat their way out of battle. In fact they thought they were entitled to everything. Well, I can tell you right now that the only person in that group who made them look so special, wasn't special at all. He had the brains of a psycho, I can tell you that. In fact, he shouldn't even have been a hero. It's not a surprise that Iron Man himself got himself killed. I'm happy he's gone because I don't think I could stand another second of his 'genius-ness'."
I sat there, eyes wide and mouth open. For my teacher to insult my dad like that was enough to push me over the limit. I could feel Stephanie shaking her head, but I didn't care. I had it.
"I'm sorry, what? You're happy that someone died? And that man just happens to be my father? I get that you're always in a mood, but you can't just insult someone like that!" I snapped. The room fell silent. Everyone was looking at me, waiting for the reaction.
It took him a minute to respond. I could tell something bad was waiting for me. But I didn't care. This man insulted my dad, and I wasn't going to let him hurt him. He raised an eyebrow at me, leaned in, and replied.
"Get. Out. You don't belong in this class. You're just like your father. Rude, disrespectful, entitled. Now get out." I packed up my things and stormed out of the class. Just as I was about to leave though, the door opened and in came Clara Barton, one of my friends. She always was late. When she came in, she saw my face, stepped back to let me out then stepped back in. I could hear Mr. Cortez's sarcasm as the door closed.
I headed to my safe place, the only place in school where I feel comfortable at. No one goes in there except for one person, and he only goes in there after school hours. I pushed open the door to the janitor's closet, closed the door, and leaned against the wall and began to cry. I buried my face into my arms and just cried.
All I wanted was my dad to be there. To let me know that it was going to be okay. It's hard without a father figure. I'm jealous of everyone who has a dad because at least they have that figure in their lives. I don't. Tina Stark, just a regular girl that everyone knows who my father is. But I'm no one. I just want my dad back.
