Survival Of The Fittest

(Trevor Duncan continued from M.I.A)

Trevor raced through the corridors of Bayview. He knew there was no way to get to class on time, all he could do now was minimise the damage. He'd be more worried if it was Drama, but this was only Spanish and he was only taking it to make the effort to learn another language. It wasn't going very well, and Trevor was notable for hanging onto the class by a thread, just above the minimum pass rate.

The corridors of Bayview were mostly deserted. A few stragglers like him moved with varying degrees of urgency to their classes, and he saw some surreptitiously move to the closest exit, no doubt intent on skipping class. Trevor wrestled with the same desire himself, but he'd made the effort to take the class, so he thought he should make the effort to go.

His thoughts turned to the girls he had just left outside the building. They had to be late for class too, unless they had a morning period off. He really should have kept a better eye on the time rather than let himself get bogged down in the intrigues of his peers. He hadn't even found out anything in the end! At least his voice was sufficiently warmed up for Drama later in the day.

Trevor huffed up the flight of stairs that led to the Spanish corridor, and slowed to a walk to catch his breath before reaching out for the handle to classroom 3. Once he was composed, he grasped the cold metal, twisted the handle downwards, and opened the door to the Spanish room.

((Aileen Borden continued from Horrors From Beyond))

Spanish. Or, if we wanted to say it in that language, Español. But, it meant the same exact thing; the study of the romance language originating in... well, Spain. And she had to take this class. After all, many colleges required you to learn some kind of language that isn't English.

So here Aileen was, sitting at the desk she always sat at, and getting ready for class. She had all her supplies for the class out, complete with a sharpened pencil placed close by. Aileen was sure she did her homework from last class, but, in a way, she was a little concerned.

Even though Aileen was actually pretty good at things involving English, she ran into problems involving Spanish. In her defense, she had been speaking English her entire life, while Spanish was something a bit more new to her. Still, it took her a while to learn a phrase, and sometimes she forgot completely. So, she had to practice quite often to memorize what the hell the phrase was. It wasn't as if she was failing this class, but she did have problems half the time. Oh well. Aileen was slowly, but steadily, getting better.

Now, she just needed to see if she did her homework right, and wrote down the correct phrases. Which was any minute now, considering the fact that class was about to start.

And, then suddenly she heard the door slam open.

Aileen's head spun around, to see one of her classmates in a rush. Damn it, people always were late. In some cases she couldn't blame them, but oftentimes, there was no reason for them to be late. And often when they were late, it disrupted the class in some way. Not to mention it had dire consequences on those who came in late, in more ways than one. Fortunately, it seemed as if this guy had arrived almost in the nick of time. What was his name again? Oh yes, Trevor. She didn't know him very well, much like many other people at school, but she only remembered his name because of the toad from Harry Potter. Lame, she knew, but it was true.

Giving him one last look with a raised eyebrow, that read simply "You're too late", and soon, she quickly glanced down, going through her supplies one last time.

Damn there goes any chance of sneaking in unnoticed thought Trevor as the door classroom door slammed open. A quick glance at the Teacher's desk told him he had barely made it; the teacher was busy getting out her notes from which she would teach them her own unique form of torture. The Subjunctive.

Trevor bit his lip to keep the frustration from showing on his face. Every time he felt he had just got the hang of some weird set of verbs or adjectives, along came Ms. Herrero with some new, wicked thing to learn. She glanced up briefly and motioned for him to take a seat, pointedly glancing at the clock on the wall.

You haven't even started the lesson yet! He thought. Trevor looked around the room for a seat. Whilst doing so, he caught the eye of Aileen Borden, the purple princess. She gave him the evil eye for being late as he made his way to the seat directly behind her. Sorry for disturbing your lesson Aileen thought Trevor bitterly.

Trevor had tried to like Aileen since they shared the class together, but she had this wall around her, a sarcastic and bitchy shell that prevented people from getting close. Moments like this showed it. Trevor was good at most of his subjects, and enjoyed learning. Despite this his sympathies always lay with his fellow students. Not so for her it seemed. He wondered if she took notice of anyone. She probably doesn't even know my name.

Trevor sighed as he studied Aileen from behind. He felt she really was a case in point for personality matters. Outwardly she had the potential to be very pretty, and when she wasn't making a sarcastic remark she was, especially when the light caught her pale, freckled face. Trevor looked away to get off the train of thought. Clearly today wasn't going to be one of her pretty days, so there was no sense dwelling on it.

He heaved his bag onto the table and fished for his Spanish book. Book found, he reached into the bag once more. This time, his glasses were the target. He tried to go without them if he could, but he was way too far from the front to pull it off this time. He retrieved them, and resolved to leave them on his desk until the note taking began in earnest. Now all he needed was a pen, which he kept in his pocket rather than the bag for easy access. Not today it would seem.

‘Hey. Aileen. You got a spare pen?' He whispered.

Well, Toady-Boy here seemed to not appreciate being stared at. Well, he arrived at the last minute, so of course people were going to stare, especially if the door was being slammed open like that. But, she tried to mind her own business, to an extent, at least.

She did not know Trevor, of course. But, he always sat behind her, due to assigned seating. Aileen personally preferred being way in the very back, but what the teachers said had to be followed, obviously. As he took his seat, she drummed her fingers against the top of her desk. Potentially an annoying habit, she knew, but Aileen could not help but do it right now, for some reason.

After a few seconds of hearing Trevor rustle around, presumably to get out his supplies, Aileen heard her name being whispered from behind. Turning her body to face her classmate, she listened to what he had to say.

A pen, huh? Why couldn't he bring one himself? After all, school involved, you know, writing? So how could he forget to bring a pen or pencil, or even both? Was he that much in a hurry or something? Whatever. Thing is, she had to give him a pen, simply because... well, it was the right thing to do here. Even if he was neglecting to bring supplies, it didn't mean that she had to close the door on him, because that would be rather cruel. So, Aileen might as well give him something to write with.

Aileen sighed, and so lifted her bag up, opening the front pouch. She always kept a packet of cheap pens, that anyone could get at your local store for a very low price, in there. After all, she could lose her writing supplies very easy, and to be honest, Trevor was not the first person she had ended up giving a pen to, for some reason. She removed a pen from said packet, and handed it behind her.

"Here", she said, in a whisper of her own.

And so, she turned back around, waiting for the teacher to start.

What is it with Bayview girls and sighing? All the time ‘Hi!' …sigh ‘How's it going?'…sigh Help a guy out? … Sigh. Still, she did lend me a pen in the end so I should be grateful.

‘Thanks' Trevor said with a smile. Aileen had already turned away, as if she were willing the lesson to just begin already. Though probably not for the same reason, Trevor shared this viewpoint. He just needed to cope through this class and then his day was fine, nothing too trying or too difficult, just plain sailing. Trevor daydreamed about what he could do that evening. I could go see a movie, or find out who's hanging around at the Mall. Although there's a new vintage shop opened they might have some good stuff in.

A loud ‘ahem' made Trevor's eyes snap up. Ms. Herrero was eyeing him expectantly. Shit what did I miss?
Trevor quickly put his glasses on, and hoped that Ms Herrero would put his daydreaming down to not being able to read the board. Trevor saw what was on the board and winced. As if Spanish couldn't get any worse. There was a set of Spanish verbs on the board; likely Ms. Herrero wanted him to add the appropriate endings. He really had no idea. He opened his mouth and began to stumble through the solution when Ms Herrero interrupted him.

‘No no Mr Duncan, please come to the board and write the correct endings for the class to see. We will see if you've been paying attention rather than letting your mind…wander.'

Trevor's mind flashed through everything he knew about Spanish. He was sure they'd never been taught this.How am I supposed to do this? I'm going to make a complete fool of myself. Trevor picked up a board marker and began to write the endings. It was difficult at first and it was difficult at last. When he finished he turned to Ms Herrero.

‘Is this right? I think it's somewhere in the right direction.'

Ms Herrero shook her head sadly. The boy was hopeless. ‘That is not correct Trevor, please sit down.' She turned to the class. ‘Will someone please come up and show us where Mr Duncan went wrong?'

Trevor made his way back to his seat dejectedly. Spanish is just too hard. I'm never going to pass finals like this.

Oh! Now it was time to start the lesson.

Aileen watched as the teacher wrote down some words on the board, and, after a bit of talk, suddenly made a loud "ahem" in Aileen's direction. Wait, she was not doing something wrong. She was paying attention, and listening. Aileen was being good, for crying out loud! Granted, she tried her best to be respectful of authority, but she wanted to know what she did wrong-

Oh, Trevor again. Man, he was really having it rough today, huh? First he almost arrived late, then he lost his writing utensil, and now apparently he was spacing out. To be fair, it was still to some extent his fault. But, one could not help but feel sorry for him.

As he walked up to the board and started writing down the endings, Aileen could not help but notice that even though she was not any good with Spanish herself, some of them were wrong. Once Trevor was finished, the teacher called him out on , sent him back, and asked if someone could do it themselves.

Well, dang. It was not as if she knew anything of importance, herself. And judging by the teacher's verbal beatdown on Trevor, it was not as if she wanted to.

So, who was here to come up? Well, it would seem that said verbal beatdown had caused everyone to be hesitant. She could not blame them. Ms. Herrero was in a rather foul mood today, it seemed, judging by her interactions with Trevor. Perhaps the others did not want to face her wrath, too? Most likely. No one wanted to face an angry teacher of any kind, especially if it's Ms. Herrero.

Her reaction? Start picking someone at random, since no one was raising their hand.

After a few seconds of picking, she finally said "Miss Borden! Come on up."

Uh, oh.

As noted, she did not know very much about Spanish, so she was most likely going to fail in the worst way possible. But, like a prisoner going to his execution, Aileen sighed again, and stood up, walking to the whiteboard. As she lifted the marker, she gave a quick glance at the class. Aileen could feel their eyes burning at the back of her skull.

Well, Ms. Herrero, they seem to be depending on me now, she thought, frowning as she gave a look to the group.

And so, she turned around and got to work, trying her best to figure out the proper verb endings.

Trevor looked on as Ms. Herrero called Aileen to the front. His first reaction was amusement. Let's see how you like it miss high and mighty. I hope you mess up just as bad. Trevor held onto the feeling for a moment, and then let it go. She's in the same boat as me now. And she clearly didn't want to go up. No way is she trying to prove herself better than you here. Be sympathetic! As Aileen looked back at the class before writing, Trevor tried his best to show his sympathy for their newly shared situation with a small smile, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong way.

If she does take it wrong then just explain afterwards what you meant. You don't want to upset her he thought. Ms. Herrero clearly was in the mood to tolerate no nonsense and accept nothing but the best from her class. Trevor thought this was strange, considering he clearly had no reputation for being gifted in the language. What was her angle, other than straight out setting an example? I guess I brought it on myself, wait till after class to daydream! Trevor chastised himself.

Trevor watched Aileen as she worked, clearly writing with her left hand. From the way she was standing she obscured the board, and he couldn't tell if she was faring any better than him. A small part of him was willing her to get it right, so that she wouldn't be chewed out by the teacher. Trevor told himself this was why, and suppressed all other thoughts.

Try as he might, Trevor's thoughts again turned to Aileen. He buried his eyes into his textbook. Out of sight, out of mind he told himself. Out of sight, out of mind.

Aileen felt her left hand gripping the marker slightly shaking as she went through each problem. Oh god, she was nervous, wasn't she? It did not help that Trevor had given her a look that Aileen interpreted as one that plainly said that he was currently experiencing schadenfreude. Somehow, she knew that he was hoping for her to fail in the worst ways possible. Either that, or that smile was one that was just out of... something. She did not know what. Well, might as well do her best, so that he can shove that expression down his throat.

Soon enough, she was finished.

Ms. Herrero looked over Aileen's answers, with a loud "hmmm". And, then she spoke again.

"Well, Ms. Borden, you got some of them right... but you got some of them wrong, too. I congratulate you for your efforts, but you obviously need a little more practice. Anyone else want to give it a try?"

Aileen went back to her desk, giving Trevor another glance. Even though she did not fail in the worst way possible, it was possibly enough for Trevor to gloat over, if he really was hoping for her to fail. Then again, they were now pretty much in the same boat. So, now what? Well, someone here was probably laughing at both of them, to say the least.

Might as well listen to the rest of the lecture, then.

Aileen placed her hand on her forehead for a few seconds and shook her head. Ms. Herrero was clearly in a venomous mood today, and well, she was probably going to have problems getting people to go up again. In any case, she should hope the next person to come up got it right, for Ms. Herrero's and everyone else's sake. After all, no one wanted to upset her further, right? And, well, having students who didn't know the material that well must be kind of disappointing.

Ms. Herrero's mood became even fouler as yet another student failed to properly complete the task she had set. Clearly no one was doing any work out of class! Her fury simmered internally where it had time to properly grow. She stood motionless and silent in front of her class as she contemplated an appropriate punishment. The looks on the faces of her students told her they knew to expect the worst, and she was fully prepared to give it to them.

‘There will a test' Ms Herrero stated acidly, ‘one week from today. On that test will be every topic we have covered this year. Since it is apparent that none of you take my class seriously I will raise the stakes. Whoever scores the lowest in this test will fail this class. I will not except any excuses.'

Her eyes lingered on Trevor as she said this. Trevor felt as if Medusa herself was standing before him, and almost checked his hands to make sure that they hadn't been turned to stone. This was it. He had failed once too many times and now he'd pushed her over the edge. She was sure to fail him now. He let out a semi audible groan. Unfortunately, it was too audible for Ms Herrero.

‘Something wrong Mr Duncan?' Icy cool.

Trevor closed his eyes and thought about his next words very carefully. He could easily see his exit coming sooner than next week if he said the wrong thing. He tried denial

‘No Ms Herrero, nothing at all.'

Ms Herrero, sustaining herself on the thought that she would only have to put up with this pathetic excuse for a student for one more week let the issue go. He would get his just desserts come next week. With the full attention of the class she turned to the board and began to write instructions for her next hellish task. Trevor found himself holding his body rigid like a board and relaxed.

Trevor thought back to Aileen's work on the board. She'd not gotten everything right either, even if she had done better than him. Trevor wondered if she felt as worried about the exam as he did. Well she doesn't have to worry. I'm sunk. Did she think I was gloating before? I didn't even see, and if she didn't get it all right then…maybe…make time to clarify. Trevor mulled these thoughts over as he looked at the incomprehensible Spanish on the board. If I leave things as they are, she'll think I'm a jerk, and I thought she was one so it's doubly fucked up

In any other class, Trevor wouldn't have waited; he would have jumped right in to set things straight. It would be suicide to try to do so now.

Oh god...

This was like some sort of bad teen sitcom. Ms. Herrero had a test for the students planned out featuring all the things they learned this year, and would flunk the person with the lowest score. Aileen was sure that this sort of thing violated some kind of rule, but she probably did not know which one exactly. All she knew was that Ms. Herrero was one not to be messed with, especially not right now.

Ms. Hererro then proceeded to glare at Trevor, who seemed to be her little punching bag for today. The guy really can't take a break from her, it would seem. If someone new to this class suddenly came in, Aileen honestly couldn't blame them if they thought the only reason why he was still in the class was because he was like a stress relief ball to her.

As for the test itself? Aileen was bad, but not probably enough to get the lowest score. Still, she should study as if there was no tomorrow. After all, it was a big test, and it was at the end of the school year, anyways. Still though... gah!

Aileen felt herself grip the sides of her desk in frustration. Oh, hell. Aileen actually enjoyed studying to some extent, but this was going to be pure torture. Oh god. This was going to hurt for a while, obviously. Hopefully she would figure out how to do this.

She then quickly turned around to face Trevor, wondering what was going through his mind. After all, Ms. Herrero clearly hated him, so much. What was going through his head right now? Fear, she guessed.

Trevor saw Aileen grip the edges of her desk tightly, whiteness creeping into her knuckles. Maybe she did feel like she had a reason to worry after all. He could understand. He was terrified about the test, and had a horrible feeling like a lead weight in his stomach that told him he would fail abysmally. What's with Ms Herrero today? She's in a terrible mood. If I fail Spanish I guess it won't be too bad, it wouldn't be like failing Lit or Drama. I mean will I ever even go to Spain? Not likely.

Like a lot of teens, Trevor wanted to travel and see the sights around the world. He was hopeless at foreign languages though, so in his mind he had resolved to first exhaust the locations where English was the first language, before going elsewhere. It was easier, and he wouldn't offend anyone with his garbled translations and bad accent. He surely wouldn't be going anywhere that spoke Spanish, not now.

Aileen turned around quickly and caught his eye. Trevor made a pained expression, and mouthed ‘I'm doomed' to her. If she's going to risk the wrath of ms-having-a-really-bad-day over there then maybe this is genuine concern. It's a big risk to take to gloat. Trevor twisted his pen around in his hands and shifted ever so slightly to his left to check if Ms Herrero had noticed Aileen, luckily for the both of them she was still fixated on the board. Trevor decided to risk a whispered question.

‘Man I am so screwed come next week. At least everyone else won't look so bad right?' Trevor whispered conspiratorially.

Trevor seemed tense too, for obvious reasons, judging by his expression and what exactly he mouthed. Of course he would be tense. Oh dear. Ms. Herrero, what had you done? The poor boy is all nervous, now.

After a few seconds, she started to turn away, but...

She heard Trevor whisper to her about how screwed he was. Well, he surely was. The teacher was surely upset at him, and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the class. But, would talking to her help? And why her? Was it because she was called up by the teacher, too? Probably. That, and she was among the closest nearby. There were others close by, but they were paying attention, like Aileen was trying a few seconds ago. Oh well.

"Trev, all you need to do is practice and study like your life depended on it. But, I think we should... you know, pay attention to what she has to say?" she whispered back hastily, and quickly spun around to face the board.

The last thing she needed was the teacher to interrupt them, and give them detention or something. In any case, based on her mood, the punishment for talking while Ms. Herrero was probably wasn't going to be anything pleasant. Sure, things that would be legal, but still things unpleasant.

Though, he did have a point. At least everyone else was probably doing fine. Still, though, she found herself wishing that Trevor would pull through at the last minute, and get things done so he could pass. Aileen then wondered if there was any way she could help him, but... did he really want help from her?.

Aileen's whispered confidence lifted Trevor's spirits. Sure she was only saying he had a chance to be nice, but if someone believed that he could do it, that warm feeling would carry him through the test. Even if he failed now, he would fail a little bit happier. As a consequence of this, Trevor didn't take her eagerness to end the conversation as a brush off. He'd been nuts to even risk saying anything given how stacked the deck seemed to be against him, which Ms Herrero busting him all over the shop.

Trevor smiled as he set about the first task. Writing everything out at least three times and saying it aloud in his head, he began to catch some mistakes before he put them into writing. He knew it was still mostly wrong, but it was a little better than it had been. Trevor promised himself he'd begin practice that night, and every night until the test came about. He wouldn't give Ms Herrero the satisfaction of failing him. But then someone else will fail in your place, His conscience warned, this is clearly designed to get you out of the class, a class you don't even like! If you do well and someone else fails you'll be dodging your punishment and putting them out of a class they like. Trevor wrestled with the dilemma. He wanted to do well, move out of the hopeless failure state he was in at the minute, but could he really see someone else take the fall?

What if Aileen made you study, and then she came last because of you?

Trevor began to lose focus in his work, and made an error that even he was ashamed of. He quickly crossed it out and wrote a less erroneous answer instead. Trevor resolved to study hard anyway. If anyone does worse than me, then they clearly aren't working hard enough to do well here. I can save myself and not beat myself up about it.

The rest of the lesson passed without incident. Ms Herrero's mood was steadily foul, and she frequently had to pick students at random to answer her questions as no one was willing to volunteer themselves when the price of failure was the wrath of her explosive temper. Trevor saw that he was not the only one anxiously watching the clock during the final minutes of the lesson. Ms Herrero seemed as relieved as they were when the bell finally sounded, and the sound of chair scraping on floor filled the room. Trevor hastily repacked his bag and fled the room as quickly as he could, fearful Ms Herrero would call him out to stay behind and face further punishment.

Using his slim frame to his advantage, Trevor squirmed through the sea of students streaming out of the class. A few uncomfortable knocks and scrapes with elbows and shoulder bags later Trevor emerged from the room, grinning at his success in avoiding further wrath from the teacher.

Trevor looked down and saw he had Aileen's borrowed pen in a tight grip. He almost smacked his head at his forgetfulness. Would it have mattered to any other student? Probably not but Trevor thought Aileen would be pissed if she thought he'd nicked off with her pen. He hung back, and waited by the door as more students came out of the room.

Just how big are our class sizes anyway? That's got to be over regulations

Ms. Herrero continued the lesson without any more interruptions or tormenting of poor Trevor. Which, of course, was a good thing, as mentioned.

And so, it was time for class to end. Aileen sighed again as she placed her things back in her bag.

Just... how am I going to study for all that material? I guess it means another trip to our friendly local library. I need to turn in that whale book, anyways, she thought to herself, sliding the last of her supplies inside.

She waited until most of the class had exited, though, before actually getting out of her seat. Aileen did not want to face the crowd of students, especially when they are of this number. She did not even understand why people always stood in front of the door before officially being dismissed by the teacher. Couldn't they just stay in their seats until the teacher said they could leave? Were they really that desperate to leave? But leaving the class meant going to another one... gah. It was probably something she should not think about, actually.

As the majority of the students left, Aileen lifted her bag, and started walking out. Well, the mob had ended, at least. Now it was time to go to her next class and...

Wait, what the hell was Trevor doing?

Aileen raised an eyebrow again as she saw him standing outside the door. The only explanation that she could come up with was that he was trying to keep the door open for others. There could be others, but she couldn't think of any.

She took a few steps outside, and told herself that next class would probably not have the teacher act like Ms. Herrero was today. At least, she hoped for that kind of luck. It would be unfortunate if every single teacher was in a horrid mood, actually.

Though... she still wondered if Trevor needed any help. Heck, the teacher was pretty sadistic today. All he needed to do was study, study, study though...

But, could she help?

Aileen stopped, and glanced at him again. A look passed over her face, wondering if she should say something. But what? He probably would not be up for a private study session with her or something, especially with her, as she reminded herself. Aileen wasn't exactly the most popular girl at school, to put it bluntly. Far from it. He probably would not jump to the opportunity to have her help him. But, he needed it... but what could she say?

Trevor saw Aileen give him the eyebrow again as she saw him waiting by the door. She was the last one out, and there he was standing like some parody of Lurch from the Addams Family. She appeared to take no more notice of him beyond the eyebrow and took a few steps out of the classroom before stopping. Aileen glanced at him and Trevor decided to quickly end the silence that threatened to become awkward at any moment.

‘Thanks for the lend Aileen' Trevor said as he held out the borrowed pen. ‘She probably would've decapitated me if she'd caught me without it.' Trevor put his talent to use and did, if he said so himself, a spot on impersonation of the voice of Ms Herrero as he said, ‘Mister Duncan I see you have no pen. You leave me with no choice but to end your constant failings…permanently'. Trevor hoped this would break the ice somewhat, he was never any good at jokes, well they always sounded better in his head than they came out as, and the super-dreamy soft ‘hey' was something he'd never been able to pull off.

Trevor checked the time on a nearby clock, which told him he didn't have long until his next class. Surely no other teacher would be as bad as the one he'd just had, but it wouldn't do to push it. He was rarely late and didn't have a reputation for it and certainly didn't want to develop one now. Still, he had a moment and Aileen wasn't rushing off. The more he spoke with her the more he realised that she wasn't as bawd as common gossip said. At least, that was how he felt.

He let out a sigh. ‘I will work hard for this test you know, I'm not going to give her the satisfaction of failing me. She'll probably call it off it I'm not the lowest so you know it'll be fine for the others. It's just so damn hard.' He paused. ‘Everything else is fine like just, every time I open the book its like gibberish. You seem alright at it though. What's the secret?'

Trevor didn't care if he was pleading, or what that sounded like. He had to pass this test and he'd take any help he could get. And it wasn't as if he was scraping the barrel here either. I'll be damned if she wants to help me at all. Gotta try though