The Blue Notebook - The Rigger

After walking to the wrong classroom, I hurriedly made my way to the right one, while simultaneously trying to think up a good excuse. I stare at the mostly uncompleted homework, save for the first half of the first page. Hoping the teacher wouldn’t look so deeply into it, I began scrambling to find a pen, to at least complete the first page. However, the only one I could find in my blazer was a bright orange pen?

Ehh... Good enough.

It was the best I could do at the moment. So I scribble on some basic symbols that no where near resemble numbers; hoping it would suffice, but I knowing it wouldn’t.

I stumble in; expecting the door to be closed, but I catch myself just before the teacher turns around to see me.

“Well well well. It’s you, late as always.” She scolded me without even looking at me. She was leaning forward, helping a student, but had stopped when she heard the clutter of my untimely arrival. She slowly got up and turned to face me.

(If not for the noise I made, I would have thought she has a super power for this sort of thing!)

The maths teacher certainly knew how to style herself, with black hair tinted wine, with orange tips. She has straightened her hair, with bangs in front, cut with absolute perfection. She wore a skin-tight crocodile skin dress and mini blazer combo ,which seemed to perfectly complement the green atmosphere of the room, though I doubt she planned it that way. Everything about this woman was certainly on point, and it was clear, that I was not.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to give me your next excuse?” She put a hand to her hip.

I started to explain the mix up, but the annoyed expression that looked back at me didn’t seem to care about what happened; and thus, I accepted defeat.

I hastily walk my way over to my seat, at the front of the class.

Oh great. Now she can see me.

I go to sit down, but the class seemed to look... different. I look around, properly, for the first time.

Yes, something had changed. I took mental notes of the shape of the classroom.

The seating plan.

I would get a new partner. Whether that means I have to move or they do, I didn’t know.

My seat was closest to the front, on the left wall. There were seats for 2 people at each desk, and the desks were arranged into four columns, and 3 rows. (Since my desk was the farthest one away from the door, I could look back to see everyone else if I wanted to.) I sat on the chair touching the wall, and I leaned back on it as I started rummaging through my bag, desperately trying to find a new pen of a more reasonable colour.

“Ayooo!” a voice appears in front of me.

“Hey dude, where have you been? I ain’t seen you in a while...”

Zane.

He pulls out his chair as he goes to sit down. Zane wears a red jumper with a white shirt underneath, polo sticking out; paired with greyish/ brownish trousers. The college doesn’t have a dress code, but he looked like he was inspired by some secondary school’s uniform.

As the teacher makes her way to the front, Zane sits down and begins to unpack as well.

Soft whirring from the front indicates that the board was on and that class had officially started.

“So, I hope you have all completed your homework. Let us mark it together.” She turns to face the class. “If you need a red pen, please help yourself.” She gestures

Zane presents a paper; oddly similar to one I was previously holding. I chuckled.

“Hey! That’s-” I bring my own paper out to show him.

Zane had done a very little amount of work, this time in a purple font. He had also attempted to fill the first page up, failed and resorted to just folding it in half.

We looked down, saw each other’s papers, then our own papers. Then, for no reason at all, looked at each other in the eye; inadvertently starting an impromptu staring contest.

We both began strong, stone-faced, with muscles barely even moving. The chatter of the classroom and the gentle noises of the monitor seemed to subtly fade into the background, as all I was focusing on was him.

First I saw his brows, narrowed and furred in deep concentration, skin folding slightly. Then I found my eyes wandering.

His hair, soft and simply styled.

His cheeks, round and kinda chubby.

His- lips...?

I took an unusually shaky breath in...

Ugh! I’m just supposed to stare at him... stay focused!

My eyes quickly flick back up, as if to see if he could read my mind, but thankfully he seemed more involved in maintaining aggressive eye contact.

Eventually though, I see him start to break resolve. His mouth muscles begun to twitch and I find myself mirroring him. Within no time we both burst out laughing, filling what was once quiet a studious place, into one of joy and laughter. Mrs H stared us down from her vantage point, her eyes giving clear instructions, but it was already to late. We couldn’t stop and be frank, we didn’t even care to stop.

We were laughing and laughing and laughing, to the point where we needed to hold on to something to brace ourselves with. This was too funny. So funny to the point where it hurt.

I distinctly remember moving so much, that I nearly fell to the floor. I had one hand clutching onto my sides for dear life, with the other on a chair to steady myself, as I was gradually slipping off. This all, of course, only added to the fuel. Zane brought a hand to face, but you couldn’t hide *this* laughter that easily.

There is no clear reason why that, or even any of this, should be funny, but that’s precisely the reason why it was.

After some time of hysterical laughter, we finally were able to be calm enough to be seated properly. Zane gave an apologetic look to the teacher, whilst rubbing tears out of his eyes, and we finally, started the lesson.

Throughout the remainder of the lesson we had a blast. Every time the teacher misspoke or told us to work on our own, it was a good opportunity to think up of another snarky remark. and every time it would send us into the next (brief) fit of laughter. It got the point that even the most studious of students around us couldn’t help but be distracted. Miss H points daggers at us with her eyes which unintentionally creates the opposite effect on our uncontrollable laughter...

Its safe to say, we didn’t get much maths done that lesson.

At around ten or so minutes before the end of the lesson, after being calm for a while, I asked Zane a question.

“Hey, do you actually care about passing this class?”

He turns to face me, puzzled. I continue.

“Well its just, for me-” I gesture to myself, ”I am only here to make friends.”

“That’s literally it.”

“I don’t really mind if I pass this course or not... As long as I pass the end of semester exams, I’m happy. ”

Zane smiles at me, a different kind of smile this time. Not one that was expected with laughter. This one seemed to have another emotion behind it, mixed with a hint of genuine surprise.

“Huh, really? Well then, you should have told me earlier!” He playfully punches me. “We could have been like this wayyyy before now! At least we could be somewhere else instead of this depressing place.”

I shrug. “I didn’t think we’d get along this well to be honest.”

Rrrrrring! Rrrrrring! Rrrrrring!

Oh, thank the gods...

“Ok guys, be sure to complete that for next week and enj-” Miss Harris’s voice is drowned out by the sheer aggressiveness of people talking, shoving stuff around and shuffling out of the classroom.

Zane had been looking to the door, marvelling at a very high number of students try and file through a very narrow gap.

This day was the must enjoyable day I’ve had in a while. I felt genuine happiness, that I hadn’t felt in weeks, due to one person deciding to sitting next to me. Zane turned to me, an my eyes refocused once more. He was reaching for his bag.

Ehh, well technically it wasn’t his choice, but stilllll...

“Ok, so, I’ll see you later, yeah?” He got up and tucked his chair in. It wasn’t really a question; more of a... promise. He smiled, waved and left the room.

I sigh as I look at the rest of my schedule. Couldn’t we be next to each other for the next rest of the day? But alas,

The day had only just begun.