Your bus had arrived just before the warning bell rang for school, but you barely noticed it. You were absent-minded walking to your first period, Math, still debating whether you really saw someone back at the bus stop or not. On your way there, you didn't notice how many kids you were bumping into and earned a few glares and annoyed grunts from them.

Your footsteps creaked against the old wooden floor. It wasn't like the school was old...well, it was, but it was remodeled. Yet being remodeled still meant it kept some of its older charm, like brick walls on the lowest "basement" floor that led outside and creaky wooden floors on the main level. Nearing the door to the class, you almost walked right past it. Catching yourself, you slipped inside and headed straight towards the back of the classroom where your seat was...right by the whiteboard. The classroom itself was standard, a whiteboard at the back for the teacher to give examples on, the teacher's desk on the other end of the room by the door, and chairs and tables in the middle.

You sat by one of your good friends, Katie. You considered Katie to be your "Math, English, and Science buddy," as you shared those classes together and sat by or near each other in all three of them. Katie was more than a buddy you happened to sit by, she was close to you and you both always ended up making each other laugh with the simplest of sentences. She was the girl to talk to who always wore crazy knee-high socks, and was precisely what you planned to do about the man you...may or may not have seen, if she didn't find you crazy for even suggesting it first. You were vaguely aware of your teacher seeming preoccupied by someone, probably a staff or parent as it seemed to often happen, but you had more important things to worry about.

"Katie!" You whispered-shouted to her.

"Yeah! (Y/n)!" She whispered back at you with the same almost mocking enthusiasm. You giggled a bit, but managed to calm yourself, more important things at stake here.

"I think I saw the weirdest thing earlier at my bus stop," you told her, keeping your voice low to keep the two girls in front of you and Katie from hearing.

"What was it?" she prompted you.

"Don't call me crazy?"

"You know I won't, well, unless you take your shirt off, stand on the table, and shout it to the world that is." This made you giggle a bit again.

"I think I saw a man at my bus stop."

"So...?"

"Well, he wasn't there and then suddenly, he was staring at the bus leaving for school just like that." You snapped your fingers. Katie gave you a confused look. "Well, when I was walking to the bus stop, I swear I heard someone following me, but no one was there," you interrupted Katie as she opened her mouth to cut you off, "Then I felt like I was being watched, and suddenly I see this guy?" Your voice had risen a bit, drawing attention of the two girls in front of you: "Uh, sorry, just going a bit crazy over here, heh." They nodded slowly, giving you a confused expression, and went back to whatever they were doing.

"(Y/n), are you sure about seeing this person? What if you were just being paranoid?" Katie gave you a concerned yet dismissive look.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Well, I was a bit jumpy...and I only caught a glimpse of him..."

"Exactly! You were probably just paranoid. I mean, who can turn themselves invisible, because no one can get to that bus stop that quickly in time for you to see them. Besides, we have more pressing matters."

"Maybe," you replied, "but what do you mean 'more pressing matters'?"

"Look," she pointed to a man with a yellow hard hat on backwards (a widespread practice among construction workers), construction goggles, a red shirt, and brown overalls. Say what now? You noticed how the man seems to be the topic of conversation around you, the entire classroom was confused.

Before you could say another word, the starting bell rang, and the announcements came on over the speakers and the announcer greeted you with his usual: "Good morning Bonaire High School!"

"Ugh, I hate it when he says that, Bonaire Historic School is not a complete high school," someone, Jake, cut in, saying what you were all thinking.

"May you please stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance," the man continued, obviously unaware of the comment. Everyone stood up and the hard hat guy took off his hat and placed it over his heart, revealing that he was completely bald, it didn't bother you in the slightest though. "Stand, salute, pledge. 'I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all," everyone laughed, trying to keep up with the announcer. "May you please remain standing for the moment of silence..." a moment passed, "...thank you, you may be seated."

The announcer went on about the weather and such, but you weren't paying any attention, you were trying to study this new person's face. When the man's head tilted towards you, hard hat back on, you quickly looked away.

"Alright class," Your teacher, Mrs. Wilson, started. "This is a special visitor; will you go introduce yourself?"

She gestured for the hard hat man to walk up to the whiteboard. As he walked, he held a certain confidence about him and yet, he twiddled his thumbs nervously. All eyes were on him as he turned to face the class.

"Um, hello! My name is Dell Conagher. Ah'm an engineer, so Ah like to make things," he chuckled, not knowing what to say. You noticed he had a Texan-style southern accent. "So, Ah was told this is the advanced twelve grade class that learns AP Calc instead?" You all nodded slowly with Jake shouting, "Yeah we are!" in the background. "Is it hard?" he asks the class, facing your direction making you feel a bit awkward. It was a mixed response, surprisingly split between yes's and no's with Katie siding with the yes's. You however, had a different middle ground response, but you felt no need to say anything. "How about you, darlin'?" he asked, nodding to you. "I didn't hear you say something." How did he...?

"Well, um," you stutter a bit, surprised, but quickly recover. "To be honest, it depends on what I'm learning. I mean, I'm not even in AP Calc anymore, I'm doing Math 103 through dual enrollment already so I don't really have a say in it. Math in general is all logic, rules, and reasoning along with simple human error, meaning I don't really have a single preference. It just means for me some rules are harder to understand, and other rules come naturally to me. Overall, I do like math there's no doubt about that, but I have no definite 'yes' or 'no' when it comes to whether it's hard or not, it just depends on what concept I'm learning or brushing over if I already know it." He was silent for a bit, taken aback, but somehow, he didn't look surprised. "Uh, sorry if I rambled on, I do that a lot," you hurried, hoping you didn't mess something up already. You noticed how the entire class was staring at you, even George, who was notorious for being "the smart kid" and blurting out in conversation like Jake, had nothing to say.

"No, it's quite alright," Dell reassured you. "That was very insightful, thank you." He turned to the rest of the class. "So, for the ones who said math is hard, why?"

"Because it's boring and I don't get the Unit Circle anymore!" Jake shouted, and the rest of the "Yes" people agreed with him.

"Now that's not a valid excuse to say math's hard," Dell lightly scolded the class. He wrote some notes on the board. "Here, now write these down..."

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"...and there you have it," Dell said, stepping back from the board and turning around, his back now facing a ton of tips, tricks, and other ways to make math more enjoyable and more interesting. "Does math really seem that hard now?" He was responded by a chorus of no's and thank you's. Dell smiled, looking satisfied and the bell rang.

You quickly packed up your things, and Katie, being the type of person to pack up early, exchanged goodbyes with you and left. Dell looked like he was going to talk with you, probably to discuss more on what you had said, but Mrs. Wilson had trapped him in a conversation and he was too kind to say "no." You quickly left for your next class, Gym (P.E.).