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"Of course the human mind is interesting. What else can you think of that succeeds at some of the most difficult tasks, and fails at some of the simplest?" -- Elly, Thursday, March 25, 2010
"Elly, watch out!" I ducked as fast as I could, covering my head with my hands. The volleyball bounced off the wall behind me and hit the ground in front of me. A very narrow miss. "Sorry, Elly." Dimitri held out a hand, and caught the ball as I tossed it to him. "It went a bit out of control." I nodded nervously. "It's fine... really. Happens to everyone." "It would happen to you, too, if you bothered to play!" some girl called from behind me. I felt my face get hot. It's not my fault... The phobia isn't my fault. As if I could tell them whose fault it really was. If you twisted it enough, it WAS my fault. I was the one who chose a friend over popularity, and that was why people threw things at me in elementary school, and that was why I developed the phobia. Besides, my story was different here. Elementary school was left behind in Georgia when I moved to Massachusetts. "Shut up, Julia," Dimitri called, "I'm sure she has her reasons!" Julia rolled her eyes and kept playing. I just sat back down on the bleachers, looking down in my lap. When I looked up again to thank him, he was already gone.
"Hey, that's not right." "What are you talking about?" Edwin looked up at me. "That's completely right." "No way. Harmonic motion isn't a number." "What is it then?" "It's MOTION, dude! Motion is not a number! MAGNITUDE is a number." "Fine, you write that one, I'll do the second one." I wrote it, then looked at what he wrote for the second one. "Are you trying to be funny?" "What?" He looked up again. "The question asks you to describe the magnitude of the pendulum. You didn't even MENTION the pendulum, you just copied the definition of magnitude!" "Exactly! That's the definition of magnitude... It's the magnitude." "We're not saying what magnitude is, we're describing a SPECIFIC magnitude." "Elly, who gets the best grades in this class?" Maggie raised her hand. "I do." "What?" Edwin stood. "No way is that right! I do!" "Hey, Mr. C! Who has the best grades in the class?" I called. "Maggie does, by 8 points." "I stand correct," Maggie boasted, leaning back in her seat. "And Elly's right. You avoided the question." "Jesus! Must you two always antagonize me?!" Edwin demanded. I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long day.
"Hey, Janet, can I get a ride?" "Sure thing, hop in back." Alyss's mother unlocked the backseat for me, and I climbed in. Alyss got in the front seat beside her mother. As we moved, Alyss explained the debate in her AP US History class, and I just sat back and listened. When we pulled up, I thanked Janet for the ride. Alyss reached out from the front seat window and held my hand, our fingers lacing, and I felt a bright happiness wash away all of the gloom and annoyances of the school day. Our hands waved left and right, still locked together, until both of us let go and waved goodbye.
FN Pixie · Thu Mar 25, 2010 @ 08:53pm · 0 Comments |
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