Apprentices: Waxing Crescent

Math Is a b***h

I don’t wait for the next day. I immediately take down all the notes from Katie’s notebooks and return them to her as we go to the library to do homework together. She looks at me like I’ve lost it. Is it just me, or am I getting a lot of those kind of looks lately?

At first I think we’ll be alone and that the boys are too lazy to join us. But luckily for them and not so luckily for us, we have a few classes that we all take together. Such as mathematics and literature and arts. We have to read a book of our own choice for the second one. And no one is happy about it.

The thing is, it’s not really a book of our choice, when you need to pick it from a list of approved works. Which is boring as f**k. The boys start complaining about it the moment they sit their asses down next to us and I exchange a look with my best friend. Here goes our wish for a peaceful study day.

The Sunday passes with all of us putting our heads together to try to figure out what our math homework is about. We’re currently taking infinite geometric series and I have no idea what that is. I mean, I know. I just don’t know how to solve it. No one else does, but Marcus. How convenient, huh?

He spends the whole day trying to explain it to us, and we somehow get it. But we still don’t know how to solve the given problems. Monday will be a fun day.

Speaking of, mathematics and physics is our first lesson on the schedule. It’s the only subject that the whole school attends together and we are seated in a big classroom that almost looks like a cinema. It’s actually an auditorium, but that word sounds boring.

Me, Katie and the guys all sit in the same row, on the left side of the classroom. Which is reserved for werewolves. The right part is where the vampires sit. The two never hang out together, like ever. It’s like they stink to each other. That’s some Twilight s**t there, huh?

Funnily enough, witches don’t have problems hanging out with either of those. I mean, some prefer werewolves, other vampires. You rarely see witches, who get along with both. Most of us are on better terms with werewolves, because vampires like to stick to their own.

They’re not your typical blood-sucking demons like stories describe them. They do live from blood, no matter which creature it comes from, but for a limited amount of time, they can also survive without it and feed on normal food. And they’re just as goth and weird as stories describe them. Guess they got that part right.

Everyone around me is talking, but I’m in my own world again. Observing. Listening. I can hear two girls from the front row talking about some guy. And two minutes in, I know exactly who’s the object of their conversation. I smile to myself.

Behind us, there are boys laughing childishly at something, soon making me realize that they’re finding Katie so funny. Okay, she dresses like an obvious virgin, but they’re not going to shame her for that. I turn around with a deathly stare, waiting until they notice me. It doesn’t take long. They soon shut up, making me glare at them just a little longer, for the message to sink in.

But as I turn back around and start feeling around the room for information again, I hear a few fellow witches discussing something I’m very interested in. Cincinnati. I listen intently, trying to catch what their conversation is about. Soon, I realize one of them lost a close relative in that tragic accident.

I feel like something is squeezing at my chest. I’m hearing and feeling everything around me, not even recognizing what thoughts are mine. What is going on? I was never able to do that before. I don’t know how to get out of this weird place. I need it to stop!

“Evelyn,” I hear Katie say, bringing me out of my trance as she puts her hand on my shoulder. I flinch like she burned me, turning towards her in panic. She widens her eyes in surprise, squeezing my shoulder to calm me down. “Is everything okay? You looked like you dozed off while being awake,” she observes. I quickly hide my shaking palms underneath the table, so she wouldn’t see them, nodding with a mask of confidence on my face.

“Of course, I’m fine. Just got a little … distracted,” I explain, offering her a small smile, that doesn’t reach my eyes. I didn’t. I’m lying. I’m terrified of whatever just happened. She nods, already trying to say something, when a familiar voice cuts through the air.

“Good morning, class. Quiet down, we’re about to begin,” Mr. Franklin greets us as he walks into the auditorium. My auntie’s lover boy. Bleh. Okay, he might’ve been hot when he was younger, because I can see attractive features on his face. But he’s getting old now. Too old for me to find him attractive.

We all greet him back and I anxiously anticipate the moment he starts going around to pick up our homework. He always gives us some problems to solve, and we have to hand them in at our next meeting. This is how he checks off our extracurricular activities. That would be fine, if he didn’t have a tiny rule that can leave you in deep crap.

If you fail to hand in three homework papers in a row, he gives you so much extra work, that you can die trying to finish it. The problems are much more difficult on that sheet of paper than they usually are. Plus, you have to hand in all the previous homework papers that you didn’t. And you can’t miss the next ten deadlines, or you’re punished again. Without handing in all the homework, you can’t be graded.

So, my problem is that I was sick during our last lesson … The lesson before, I didn’t give him my homework, because I didn’t have the time or the energy to do it after so much detention. And today … Well, I forgot that paper in my room. I hope he won’t be a jerk about it.

I sit in silence as he calls our names to check our attendance, then jumps on his feet to collect our homework. He has the list of students with him, checking off every name that he sees on the papers. Great. I’m f****d.

As he gets to our row, he checks off the names he sees, notices me, then furrows his bushy eyebrows. He looks at his list, then at me again, shaking his head. “It’s extra homework for you today, Pierce. And I want to see the previous three papers you failed to turn in,” he says loud enough for the whole classroom to hear.

“You see professor, I was sick on Thursday. And I forgot my papers for today in my room. If you would just let me go get them, or-”

“No exceptions, you know my rules. I don’t care if your papers are on the moon, if I don’t see them here, you didn’t do them. Besides, if you were missing classes on Thursday, it means you could’ve done the homework on Wednesday. I’m sure your lovely colleagues here would be more than happy to hand in your homework for you, if you didn’t feel well,” he cuts me off, making me clench my teeth together. Don’t burst out, Evelyn. Don’t burst out.

“But I got sick the day before, and I did do today’s-”

“No homework three times in a row means extra homework. Period. Now let me go on, so we can start today’s lesson, or else I’ll double that extra homework,” he jumps into my word again, his stern tone leaving me no room to negotiate. So, I just glare at him, hoping that he gets my message too. I hate this guy.

I then look away, refusing to acknowledge his presence again. He already moves on, while I grit my teeth together angrily. I’m going to fail this year because of math. Is this a f*****g joke? There’s no way I can repeat senior year because of a subject so stupid, that makes me want to pull my hair out, one by one.

“Hey, don’t worry. We’ll help you,” Jake suddenly whispers, trying to reassure me. I look at him, trying not to be too harsh with him. It’s not his fault that Franklin is being such a b***h.

“No offence, Jake, but you’re no brighter in solving math problems than I am. There’s no way I can do this in three days. Not when I spend so much time in detention,” I sigh, making him furrow his eyebrows.

I spend the rest of the lesson glaring at the clock, trying my best to follow the lesson, but I’m too angry. As I get to the front of the auditorium as the bell rings, Katie offers me a half-smile, knowing that my mood is as bright and shiny as a cloudy night sky.

At least I’m not the only one, who failed to turn in homework three times in a row. There are two other werewolves at the front and one vampire. Even by Mr. Franklin’s desk, they’re all standing on separate sides, careful not to get too close to one another.

I confidently step in the middle, knowing that it will make them all feel more comfortable. Mr. Franklin hands us the papers for our extra homework, scolding us all for failing to keep up with his expectations.

I grab them, already meaning to leave, when I get called back. “Pierce! Wait around for a moment, please. I have something to discuss with you,” the professor demands, making me roll my eyes before I turn to him with a sweet fake smile.

“Of course,” I say, staring at him the whole time it takes for the werewolves and the vampire to clear out. As the door of the auditorium shuts behind them, Mr. Franklin sighs and shakes his head at me.

“Evelyn,” he addresses me by my name now. “You know I have to report your behavior back to your aunt, right?” I stare at him blankly, refusing to show any kind of emotion.

“The point being?” I respond, trying to figure out where this is going. He doesn’t seem content with my answer, a nerve twitching underneath his eye.

“Don’t mess up your year because of my subject,” he tells me sternly, checking something on his desk, before looking back at me over his glasses. “That would be all, you can go now.”

I turn around without saying a word, walking up the stairs like he didn’t just scold me like a four-year-old, who just stepped foot into the Seminary. I’m not that little girl anymore. But everyone keeps forgetting that, still thinking that I need a guiding hand.

I join Katie just before the bell for our magical history lesson rings. She seems relieved to see me, but her face quickly falls as she sees the look on my face. “What’s wrong? What did Franklin want?” she asks as I walk beside her, joining our schoolmates in the classroom. I’m well aware people are listening.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” I simply say, smiling confidently. She smiles back, understanding that I’m not going to open up in front of everybody. She knows I hate it when others are listening. With Sheila in the same classroom, I don’t want to risk it. The last thing I need is the whole Seminary knowing that Franklin reports to my aunt, like I’m some toddler.

I know I’m going to get an earful about the homework. I need to call her in the evening, so there’s a chance she’ll already know everything. Or if I’m quick enough, I’ll get to her sooner than Franklin and tell her that I’m so exhausted I’m going straight to bed. That way she won’t call me back after she hears I’m doing bad in her lover boy’s class. This might just be my greatest plan of the day.

Mrs. Fritz speaks of nothing interesting today. At least until she casually mentions something about the original elements. For some reason, that immediately catches my attention. There’s not much known about them, except that there were five and that they’re the origin of our modern elements.

“… There were sun, moon, ocean, wind and blood. The last one was rare and it made their users very powerful. Rumors are, that blood witches could to some extent perform all the other elements perfectly. Maybe even pull off their hardest spells,” Mrs. Fritz speaks. “But these elements don’t exist anymore. Witches can only specialize in the modern elements.”

I almost feel disappointed as I hear those words. It would be so cool to be able to say your dominant element comes from the original elements. Well, we’ll see what happens when I try out the hardest spells. I hope Katie gives the theory for them to me soon. I’ll almost be disappointed if I don’t specialize after that stupid fever.