8WATERLOO
chapter oo1
"Joel, get your feet off the desk."
Joel McNealy swung his feet off of his school desk where he'd kicked them up just moments before. He gave the teacher a crooked grin. "Yes sir."
Ms. Schafer glared at him a moment longer before grabbing a stack of papers from her desk. "Alright, settle down," she said loudly as she passed the papers out, and the buzz of chatter ceased as everyone turned to look at her.
"I know yesterday was fun," she began, setting the leftover copies back on her desk, "but now it's the second day of school, and it's time for the actual work to begin."
"Wait, we've got to work?" Joel cried, feigning alarm, and several people laughed. Ms. Schafer rolled her eyes as she hauled the overhead projector to the front of the room.
"Yes, McNealy, and I know that's probably a pretty new concept for you," she said, wheeling the overhead into place, "but this is European History class; there's going to be a lot of it." She gave the rest of the students a pointed look. "And I'd think you guys would be used to work by now, since most of you are seniors in high school." There was a small outcry from half the class at that point, protesting that they were, in fact, juniors, and Ms. Schafer waved them off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. My point is that you guys are big kids now; you should be able to handle it." She shot the class a look, as if she had serious doubts in the actual truth of that.
Joel grinned. There was no denying that Ms. Schafer was tough, but at least she had a sense of humor. He'd had her for Government back in tenth grade, and he'd been glad to see her on his schedule once again. If he had to take European History—and he did, if he wanted to fulfill his Social Studies requirements and graduate this year—he'd rather it be with Ms. Schafer than anyone else. Especially Mr. Andrews. Mr. Andrews sucked.
"This year," Ms. Schafer continued, "—and by that, I mean this semester, since that's how long this class is—we're going to be working on a project. Yes, a semester-long project," she confirmed as groans filled the classroom. "And it's going to count for a big part of your grade. Your exam grade, in fact." More groans. "Hey, that means you don't have to take exams for this class," she pointed out. "You'll present these at the end of the semester, and that'll be your exam."
As she turned on the overhead and went over the basics of the assignment, Joel considered whether or not he was happy about this. He definitely did not like schoolwork, that was for sure, since schoolwork was just a terrible idea in general. And if this counted towards most of his grade, and he didn't do well on it, he'd probably bomb this class.
Still, he couldn't help but feel just a little excited. Though he'd never admit it, he sort of liked presentations. Public speaking had never been a problem for him, and he thought it was kind of fun to make an entertaining presentation that, unlike most of the class speeches, people would actually listen to.
"Are there any questions so far?" Ms. Schafer asked, interrupting Joel's thoughts, and he belatedly realized that he hadn't been listening to anything she'd said. Glancing at the handout in front of him, he hoped it would cover any information he might have missed. He forced his attention back to the teacher.
"Before you ask," she said, "yes, this is a partner assignment." There were murmurs of approval as people hurriedly made eye contact with their friends across the room. "However," she continued, and they turned back to her with trepidation, "I've tried letting students choose their partners in past years, and that did not work out. Everyone paired up with their friends and the work never got done.
"So this year—" here she brandished a folder from her desk and held it up for them to see—"I've picked your partners for you."
There were groans from throughout the room. Joel mentally crossed his fingers that he'd get a good partner. There weren't too many people he couldn't get along with, but knowing his luck, he'd be paired with someone who was a control freak and wouldn't let him have any fun with the project. He hated being stuck with someone really anal who was so intent on things like "being accurate" or "getting a good grade" that the presentation ended up being totally boring.
Of course, that didn't mean that he didn't want a smart kid for a partner. Joel could do funny, but when it came to smarts, well, he needed a little help. Sure, he could make a good speech, but it helped to have someone who could tell him what he was supposed to talk about in the first place. Devon, he knew, was a straight-A student, and he was pretty sure that the junior with the glasses over there was president of the History Club. Either of them would be fine with him.
And just as good as (or perhaps better than) a smart kid would be getting paired with a friend—they might not be quite as great with the textbook stuff, but at least they'd have a lot of fun making it. He scanned the room. He didn't have any close friends in there, but he did get along pretty well with Aaron Kozlowski. If he was going to be stuck working with someone for the entire semester, Aaron would probably be fun to work with.
Ms. Schafer flicked through her folder. "I'm going to read off your partners. Wait till I'm done with the whole list, and then you can go meet up with your partner and talk about what you want to do your project on." She cleared her throat. "Reed, you're with Donna. Adam, you're with Trey. Jennifer, your partner's Amanda..."
Lindsey wouldn't be a bad partner either, Joel decided, as he half-listened to the teacher. She seemed nice enough, she had brains, and she was pretty cute.
"...Devon, you're with Sheila; Kara, you're partners with Miranda..."
No, Joel thought with a smile, Lindsey wouldn't be a bad partner at all.
"...Aaron, your partner is Lindsey..."
Damn. There went his top choices. Joel glanced around, trying to remember who was left, but he hadn't really been paying close attention. Had she already called that tall guy over there, the one from the football team? Joel didn't know him too well, since the guy was a junior, but he seemed okay.
"...And Joel, you're with Kenneth." Ms. Schafer snapped the folder closed. "Did I miss anyone? No? Okay, now you can go sit with your partners." There was a cacophony of chatter and desks screeching across the floor as people got up and dragged a seat next to their partner. Joel scanned the room. Kenneth? Who the hell was Kenneth?
His eyes fell on a guy who was still sitting by himself, and as realization sank in, his heart sank with it. No. Not...Kenny? Schafer couldn't have seriously paired him with Kenny. Life couldn't be that unfair.
Kenny Beranek was one of those guys that teachers called a "problem child". One of those uneducated jerks who didn't seem to give a rat's ass about anyone else or even about how screwed up they themselves were. Joel had gone to the same school as him for as long as him for as long as he could remember, but he hadn't really spared him a thought in years because, frankly, he wasn't someone you'd associate a lot of good memories with.
Resigned, Joel dragged a desk next to Kenny's and plunked down in it. Well, this was just great. Not only did he not get to work with someone smart, but now he'd probably be stuck doing most the work himself. Fan-freaking-tastic.
"So...what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" he joked weakly, though he wasn't entirely kidding, because he hadn't been paying attention and honestly didn't know what the project was about.
Kenny shrugged. "I dunno. This thing is stupid."
Joel deflated a bit as he nodded slowly, not really agreeing or disagreeing.
"I guess we should be coming up with our topic," he said after a moment. Kenny said nothing. Joel scanned his handout for any clue as to what this project was about.
"Oh, okay," he said after reading the first few lines. He set the paper down. "We have to do it on a famous person in history. European history, I guess." He glanced up at Kenny. "Anyone you want to do it on?"
This time, at least, Kenny responded. Of course, his answer was "Not really," which wasn't all that helpful, but Joel couldn't really begrudge him that, seeing as he didn't have anyone in mind either.
An idea struck him. "Hey, hand me one of those textbooks," he said, pointing to the shelf along the wall next to Kenny, who heaved one of the enormous books onto Joel's desk. He flicked through the pages, skimming them for any interesting historical figures. "Maybe we could find someone in here," he told Kenny, who was watching him disinterestedly. He stopped when he reached a name he recognized. "Christopher Columbus?" he suggested. Kenny shrugged. "Too boring? Okay. Let's see..."
He closed his eyes, opened the book to a random spot, and looked down to see a portrait of a woman in a fancy dress with a ridiculous hairdo. "Marie Antoinette?" he read from the caption.
Kenny glanced at the picture. "That'd be kind of...gay," he said after a moment.
"Don't use that word pejoratively," Joel said, but he turned the page. He flipped through the part about the French Revolution, keeping an eye out for any famous names.
"We could do Hitler," Kenny suddenly suggested, and Joel turned to gape at him. Was this guy for real?
He wasn't really sure what to say to that, but Kenny shrugged and went back to doodling on his desk, seemingly already done with the conversation.
Joel racked his brain for other historical people. Suddenly he had an idea. He turned back to Kenny. "Hey, what about Henry the Eighth?"
"Sorry, Joel." This came not from Kenny, but from Aaron, who sitting nearby with Lindsey, grinning apologetically. "We're already doing Henry the Eighth."
"Dammit," Joel groaned, dropping his head onto the open textbook. Then he lifted it back up to take another look at the picture he had glimpsed before slamming his face into it. It was a portrait of a man in tight white pants with his hand shoved into his jacket.
"Hey," he said, turning to Kenny. "How about Napoleon?"
The rest of Joel's school day was fairly uneventful. He was assigned a new book in English (Macbeth), assigned his own textbook in math (unopened), and was forced to do laps around the gym for fifteen minutes straight. He then went with his friend Ryan to lunch (Burger King) where they discussed various ways of killing their Phys Ed teacher. After that was sociology (a blow-off class), study hall (which consisted of ten minutes of doodling, thirty minutes of sleeping, and five minutes of staring at Lindsey Szabo), and, finally, a long lecture in a sweltering hot Spanish classroom (which sucked mucho).
When he finally reached the door to the parking lot, he found his sister already waiting for him, tapping her foot impatiently.
"What took you so long?" Haley demanded as they headed outside into the warm September sunshine.
Squinting in the bright sunlight, Joel scowled at her. "Shut up," he muttered, wishing his car wasn't parked all the way across the parking lot. "My last class is all the way on the second floor."
"And...?"
"And then I had to stop and slay a dragon," he replied sarcastically. "What do you think? I had to go to my locker, and then I had to walk all the way across the school to get here." He left out the part where his locker had been jammed because he'd carelessly closed it on his bag earlier, and how it had taken him nearly five minutes to get it open.
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just unlock the car."
Haley was thirteen, a freshman in high school, and kind of a pain in the ass. She was one of those Little-Miss-Perfect kind of girls who was good at everything, especially the things Joel wasn't. Naturally, she was taking all Honors courses this year and was undoubtedly going to excel in them, of which Joel was actually kind of proud. Not that he'd ever tell her that.
"So," Joel said as they pulled out of the parking lot, "how was your second day of high school?"
Haley shrugged. "Okay. I like my teachers better than my ones from middle school. Though Mrs. LaRue was kind of..."
"Nutso whack job super-crazy?" Joel supplied.
"...Weird," she finished, giving him a sour look. She snorted. "And you wonder why your teachers don't like you."
"Don't like me?" he scoffed, giving her a look that plainly said she must be crazy. "What are you talking about? My teachers love me."
"Keep your eyes on the road!" Haley screeched. He made a face at her but turned his gaze forward again and kept it there. "And they definitely didn't love you. You should've heard Mr. Andrews when he called my name during attendance yesterday. As soon as he saw it, he was all, 'Not Joel's little sister? Let's hope you take this class more seriously than he did.'"
"That's just because Mr. Andrews is a miserable person who has never been loved in his life," Joel explained lightly. "By the way, nice impersonation of him. Your Mr. Andrews voice is dead-on."
"Gee, thanks," she said with another roll of her eyes, but Joel saw her smile out of the corner of his eye. He grinned too. Haley might be a pain in the ass, but she was his pain in the ass.
Once they'd parked in the driveway, they grabbed their schoolbags from the backseat and headed inside.
"Mom, we're home," Joel shouted as the pushed open the door. He dropped his backpack off to the side and kicked his shoes off, leaving them on the mat inside the front door.
"Hey, guys," said their mother cheerfully as she came in from the other room. She pushed her reading glasses on top of her head. "How was your day?"
"Fine," said Haley, heading into the living room, her schoolbag still over her shoulder. "I've already got math homework, though." She set her bag down and pulled a math book out, flipping it open.
"You're already starting it?" Joel said incredulously as she pulled out a pencil and got to work.
Haley gave him an odd look. "Yeah, I want to get it done now so I don't have to do it later."
"Haven't I taught you anything?" he asked with disgust. "You're supposed to put that stuff off till the last possible minute, completely forget about it, and then do a slapdash, second-rate job of it." He ungracefully dropped into the recliner. "My god. I can't believe my own little sister doesn't know how to procrastinate."
"Stop teasing your sister," his mother chided, joining Haley on the sofa. "How was your day?"
"Long," he replied. "Boring. And I've already got homework. And it turns out we have to do a semester-long project in history class. She's already partnered us up and everything."
"What the project on?" his mom asked.
"Famous individuals in European history." He scowled. "We're doing Napoleon."
"Who's your partner?"
He glanced up at her. "Kenny Beranek. You probably don't know him."
She frowned. "He sounds familiar. Did he go to Woodgrove?" she asked, referring to his elementary school. He nodded.
Haley glanced up from her math problems. "Was he the one who pulled a knife on someone in the cafeteria?"
Mrs. McNealy gaped. "What? When was this?"
"Third grade," Joel replied. "I heard he threatened to cut a girl's head off with it. Does anyone know where the remote is?"
A/N:
So there's chapter one. Hopefully it didn't suck too much. Any critiquement would be great, so please review! :)
Oh, and just so you know, "Beranek" is pronounced ber-AN-ek. It rhymes with "panic." Sort of.