Survival Of The Fittest

Maria returned Ariel's wave as she pulled out her math textbook. "No problem." She called back as Mr. Alpert continued his lecture from the previous day. Quadratics, parabolas, the quadratic equation, completing the square. He went a little too fast for Maria to keep up, and the teacher didn't bother going back, as if he wanted to get all of this out before class was over, but she focused as best she could, taking down notes. It was surprising how Maria's brain, which always seemed to be going in six different directions at once, could focus so intently on a single point when she really really wanted to.

Ariel nodded and made her way out of the classroom. Now that she thought about it, she was late. She had thought that she had the time to waste, what with the hall pass and all, but when she really got down to it and actually thought about it... Just because she had a pass didn't mean that she could just slack around in other people's classrooms. She really could but... she had no compulsion to do that at all. She had to go to class.

She opened the door to Mr. Alpert's room and ran down the hallway. Then she slowed down, letting out a deep sigh. She couldn't run too fast or she would risk falling on her face. It's happened before and today was the last day she would want it to happen.

(Continued elsewhere...)

Samantha jerked her head up as the pencil hit her leg. 'Why did Ed do that, it's not like I'm doing that bad in this class,' she thought, 'and if I miss the notes or have trouble understanding, I'll just ask him!' Pretending to pay attention, and only occasionally taking real notes, Sam waited patiently for the end of class.


tick...tick...tick...

As she watched the clock's hands move she couldn't help but think, 'Damn, this class is so fucking boring.'

tick...tick...tick...

'Only five more minutes now!' She thought gleefully.

tick...tick-tock...

Her hand moved furiously to copy down the pages of the homework assignment.

BRrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnng, the bell rang.

"Finally!" she muttered as she swiftly stuffed her things into her bag and rushedout the door.

((Samantha Ridley continued elsewhere))

Aaron continued to stare at his paper, taking notes without allowing any of their meaning to enter his consciousness. Mr. Alpert appeared satisfied with Aaron's earlier humiliation, and did not call on him again.

Still, Aaron sulked.

If I was on the school board, he thought, I would have this psycho fired. In fact, I'd have him investigated for emotional abuse. He thinks he's so smart, lording his knowledge of mathematics over us lowly students. What's the purpose of math, anyways? It seems to me like the only point is to keep math teachers employed.

This was an interesting thought. A system of education designed entirely to keep educators in power seemed like a suitable nefarious scheme for a story. Aaron jotted down some notes on it. Perhaps he would use it in a roleplaying game some day. Such a system would require a strict hierarchy.

By the time the bell rang, Aaron had created a rough sketch of the evil organization, and had entirely missed the second half of the day's notes. He scribbled down the notes, shoved his papers into his textbook and his textbook into his backpack, and left the room quickly, before Mr. Alpert could concoct some reason to hold him after class.

Math was finally done.

((Aaron Hughes continued in Life is a Game))

Edward copy the notes with a zealous dedication. He enjoyed the class more the anyone else here and could of stay for hours but sadly he knew that there only so long.

Oh well got a open course next

His thoughts wonder off what to do next... He look at Sam and wonder if she had a course or not. Debating about it he decided he'll just ask, simple as that no problems what so ever. With this he watch as the clock tick and the bell rang. He soon got up and got his papers together. He notice Sam made a dash for it and started to hurry up and and dash off after her

((Edward Verity continued elsewhere))

(Continued from (Erin Clyde) Beyond Just Late)

Erin had an open course, but she had missed math. She was not however considering apologizing to Mr. Alpert because it wouldn't matter to him. Mr. Alpert is the only teacher in school who didn't like Erin for some reason, Erin did reasonable well in the class so she didn't know why, until one day it just kind of it her, Mr. Alpert hates everyone. Why become a teacher just to hate your students? The pay can't be that well! It didn't matter, even after his classes she never understood any of it until Ed explained it. Her real reason was just to see if Ed had left already, which he had. That being confirmed she walked away feeling a bit depressed from the even of earlier, but she put on a warm smile as she passed by fellow students on their way to their classes.

I wonder where he went after this class? Maybe I'll run into him later, I hope he can tell me what I missed today.

She sighed, but kept the smile on her face as she walked down the hall.

(Continued in Sparse)

*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING*

Maria snapped out of her note-taking concentrationism as the bell rang. She did the best she could, but it looked like she'd be hitting the books later. The punk quickly packed her things up and headed out the door, her classes over for today. Hanging out with Duncan would have to wait until later, though, as there was still band practice today. They just had a practice session yesterday, but then again they had an upcoming gig, so it was understandable why Zack would want the band to get in as much practice as they could.

Maria wondered if Duncan was still at school, remembering that she still didn't know where he was living now. As she walked briskly down the hall, though, she figured that she'd just shoot him an email later.

{{continued elsewhere}}