Dull Sky #2

"Well," dad said suddenly while getting up from his chair, "we're
leaving soon. Be ready." he strode out of the room still clutching the
newspaper. Why didn't he just put it down? He always had the newpaper.
Would it kill him not to know whats going in the sports world? I pushed
the thought out of my mind and pulled myself up out off the
chair.
"Are you going to eat the rest of your breakfast?" Mom said softly from
behind me. I shook my head, and headed back through the opening and up
the stairs.

"Come on Karol! We need to go now or we're going to be late!" Dad
called out from the car window. I waved from my bedroom window and
grabbed a brush from my nightstand before rushing out the door. I heard
the car beep again, and hoped silently that dad would stop doing that;
the neighbors didn't like it much and had somehow found a way to blame
it on me.
I jumped into the open car door and squeezed my backpack between me and
the drivers seat.
"This car_is_too small!" I said, struggling relentlessly to shut the
door. Mom shot me a look that only meant one thing; shut up. Mom would
never actually say it, she didn't have the heart I guess. I didn't
really understand why, the looks were just as bad if not worse. But
then again, I had never understood mom. I didn't think I ever
would.
Dad huffed and shot out of the garage, narrowly missing our overflowing
trash can. The entire ride there was dead silent, and was only
interupted by dad's sudden outbursts aimed toward the drivers he called
"nieve". We dropped off Michelle and Nicole first, and the moment they
got out of the car I heard girlish squeals coming from only feet away.
By the time the door closed, they were surrounded by at least twenty
bleach blondes in denim mini skirts and platform shoes. I couldn't help
noticing they all had the same two inch long artificial nails that
looked painful to just look at.
Mom looked perfectly happy about the whole ordeal though, she loved the
idea that Michelle and Nicole had all the friends they would ever need,
and waved meakly at the girls as they walked away, arm in arm with
their clique.
I sighed and gazed out the window. It was foggy, and I could see tiny
water droplets beginning to form at the bottom of the glass. I pressed
my hand up against it. It was cold, just like the air outside. Before I
knew it, we were parked in front of my school, and I glanced around at
all the girls in bright colored jackets, and glanced down at my own
faded light blue sweatshirt that read "Sea World" in cracking glitter
letters. I heard mom say something like "Have a great day, sweetie,"
and I grunted in response. I couldn't help thinking that that would be
almost entirely impossible when I looked and felt the way I did. My
outfit looked like I had dressed in the dark, my hair looked a whole
lot worse, and I could already feel myself getting
clausterphobic.
The cars of our beat up four door sedan screech away, and walked slowly
with my head down to my first class.
"Karol!" I heard someone call behind me when I was just in front of the
E building. I twisted around to see Kat, probably the only friend I had
that actually understood me half of the time, running full speed toward
me.
"H_ey," She panted breathlessy as she came to a halt next to me. I
smiled weakly and pushed the door open.
The warm air felt good my cold fingers, and I moved them around under
my jacket almost as if I were thawing them. I could see Kat waving to
some older looking guys passing by out of the corner of my eye. The
moment they were out of ear shot, she shot into the fastest sentence I
had probably ever heard out of her mouth in this cold of weather.
"Seethatguythatjustpassedusandgavemethatlook?" She said, looking at me
with big puppy eyes pleading "Did ya, did ya, did ya?" I nodded, and
she looked back again making sure he couldn't hear.
"Well...what do you think?" I looked at her dumbfounded.
"Uh..." I was totally out of words. She tended to do this sometimes,
and I never was sure what to say. "He, uh, looks, uh_"
"He's so hot isn't he?! I knew you would think he was too!" She said
frantically, grabbing onto my arm.
"Uh, sure, yeah, why not." I said smiling. Kat smiled, too. Another
thing that made Kat the best friend I had ever had, she could always
make me laugh.
I felt a woosh of cold air sweep past my foot. The door to the
classroom had just opened, and Mr. Grandenbush stood frowning in the
doorway. For a moment, we all stood there silent, wondering what to do
next. He grunted and turned to walk into the classroom-our cue to
follow him.
I bumped shoulders with about every person walking in. Even now in high
school, people always seemed to crowd into a doorway to get into class,
which I didn't remotely understand, because it wasn't like we wanted to
get inside. I looked over at Kat, who was pushing herself up through a
group of blonde girls, who seemed to be standing still compared to
everyone else swarming around them. She cut through, grunting,
"excuussee me!" They all flashed her a typical irritated look, then
went back to talking loudly about how they're boyfriends "were like,
sooo cute!"
I pushed myself into the room, feeling my feet hit the hard tile floor.
The room was warm compared to the hallway, which was freezing cold. My
toes began to thaw out, seeing as I was only wearing flip flops. My
hands and fingers felt chapped, and I strained to pull them out of my
pockets.
"EXAMS!" Mr. Grandenbush shouted deliberately, making the entire class
jump, sending some nearly out of their chairs. "They are one of the
most important things in school. They tell you what you know, what you
don't, and what you still must learn. EXAMS!" he shouted again, the
classroom having the same reaction. "will begin today."
The class groaned in unison, sending some of the girls in the back into
a giggling fit. Mr. Grandenbush glared for a moment or two, then turned
to his desk to grab a pile of papers that had to have been sitting
there for at least a week judging by the dust that had collected on the
top. Needless to say, Mr. Grandenbush wasn't the most organized of my
teachers.
I sat, thinking about nothing, staring down at a carving in my decrepid
desk reading "This Sucks" in bold red letters. I subconciously nodded
in agreement just in time for Mr. Granenbush to slap a test book in
front of me, which sent my head jerking backward. "Watch it." I heard
someone mumble behind me, but I didn't turn to respond. I flipped
through the booklet, letting the pages strum my fingers. A puff of air
sent strings of hair flying backward. I did this for a good two
minutes, finally snapping out of my staring contest with the
desk.
"Please begin." Mr. Grandenbush droned, reclining back in his
chair.
"Dandy." I groaned while skimming over the pages. There wasn't anything
in here that I understood, and it seemed I was bound for another test
full of guessing and random answers. My mom always saw my tests and
asked why I hadn't studied. Truth is, I had studied, but about a half
an hour after I read over and material I need to know, it seemed like
it went leaping out of one of my ears, never to be found again. I had
tried different methods, every one of them being less effective than
the last. I finally came to the conclusion that no matter how hard I
studied, I didn't get math.
I filled in bubbles without even looking at the test, A, B, D, D, C,
A?and so on. I had become pretty efficient at guessing the answers on
Mr. Gradenbush's test. He had a certain way of organizing the letters.
Every once in a while, usually every five or ten answer he would repeat
a letter. The letters were random, and he usually put them the same way
on every single test, so my grades had started improving. Not the kind
of improving that would get me passing the class, but I knew I was
getting better at this guessing thing. If I kept it up long enough, I
might have even get a passing grade by the end of the year.
It wouldn't, however, change the fact that I still don't get it. That
would become obvious at state testing time.
Joy.
I finished the test about five minutes ahead of everyone else, who
still had their heads down, studying the test booklet. I suddenly
realized I hadn't even opened my test, and Mr. Gradenbush was staring
at me. I became suddenly aware that he had been watching me the whole
time, and probably saw my testing methods. He would hate them of
course, because as well as making him feel like a total jackass that I
had learned nothing in his class, he would probably be inclined to
offer me tutoring. That was the last thing I needed. He continued to
stare, and I sunk deep into my chair, feeling blood rushing to my
cheeks.