My face feels hot. The single beam of light that overcame the barrier composed of the evaporated universal solvent found its resting place on a face yet unfamiliar to our protagonist.
“Lloyd, could you come up to the board and solve this problem?”
Again. There it was again. I think that makes 698 just in the past week. What is going on! I don’t want to do this anymore. You know what, I’m actually just going to refuse at this point.
“No.”
“No? Why’s that?”
“I think that Jeff looks pretty excited to go up to solve the problem. Wouldn’t want to steal this opportunity for him to show off his competence.”
“Okay then, Jeff, go up to the board.”
Wait, seriously? It was that easy? What was I suffering for? Suddenly, his thoughts are interrupted.
“Lloyd, could you come up to the board and show Jeff where his mistake is?”
Attempt 2. Let’s see how far I can push it.
“Hey Betty, didn’t you say you wanted to go up and do a problem?”
“Oh, uh I…”
“Ok great, could you help Jeff out with his mistake?” said the teacher, glad that students were willing to participate.
Okay, I think I actually did it. Now I just have to reap my rewards.
“Lloyd, could you come up and show Jeff and Betty how to correctly solve this problem?”
What? Why? Lloyd caves and gives in. At the board, he stares at the problem for a moment.
Oh, it seems like all I have to do is convert the grams into moles, then find the percentage concentrations of the precipitant resulting from this double displacement reaction. Oh, there’s an additional step. It seems like I also have to compare the concentration percentage to that of the solution given in the previous problem to determine the concentration gradient of the flow.
Honestly, this shouldn’t be that hard for them, we have been doing this stuff for about 3 months now.
“Okay guys, so if you just use the table to find the weight, the molarity can be easily solved for. Then you can just use a percentage here. And then, the concentration here is just the solute over the solvent which is the same as just saying molarity. You should be doing the practice problems so that you know how to do this stuff.” said Lloyd feeling a tad didactic in his endeavor to have the other students follow the directions.
“Um…what is a molarity?”
Wait, seriously? They both look confused. We literally have been doing this for ages! Wait, now that I think about it. Maybe I have been doing it for ages but everyone else just ignores the class? Whatever, let’s solve this problem, I want to move on to Spell Theory.
Lloyd correctly solves the problem and starts heading back to his seat. The class continues and then finally, the period ends.
“Lloyd, please help Mr. Lem with distributing fliers during break. It would be a huge help. Just head into the faculty lounge room. He's there right now. Thank You! I have to go to a meeting!” said the teacher closing the door. Her footsteps could be heard outside the class as she ran down the hall.
“Uhh…wait! Uh…whatever. I think that clears 700 for this week. How is it only Monday?”
Lloyd entered the faculty room where he immediately took notice of the crystal ball in the center being filled with magical energy.
“Hey Bob, I have to head to the meeting too. Can’t we just deal with the paperwork later?” said one of the teachers already halfway out the door.
“Harper said she’s sending a student over. Oh here he is.” said the other who was just finishing up on the orb.
“Hey, Professor Lem, Mrs. Dishion asked me to come help you with some papers?”
“Oh yes, yes. Thank you. Here, these all have to be done by the end of the day. It’s simple work. Just fill out these forms with the information from the notebooks over there. Well, anyway, I’m on my way. I really appreciate you participating and helping me out here. It really brings out your charitable character. Bye!”
With those words, Mr. Lem sped out of the room and Lloyd was left with a packet of work on his hands. Ok, I wonder what exactly this stuff is about. Hmm. Wait. Did he literally just leave me his class’s grading? Are you serious! You’re making me do your job now! I’m not even getting paid!
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
An hour passed and Lloyd finally completed the assignment given to him by the teachers. He exited the faculty room and started to head to the next class that should have begun after the lunch that he was deprived of.
Why do I keep letting them force me? I really gotta stand up for myself. I’m gonna do it next time. I gotta do it! Yeah, I’m not gonna hit 701. I’m not gonna cave.
*Bang*
“Give me your lunch money.” said a bully that after noticing Lloyd, decided to redirect his attention by emitting an auditory resonance via application of an impulse on the metal containers which lacked adequate performance in their purpose due to design flaws stemming from compactness. The bully banged on a locker to get Lloyd’s attention.
“Uhm, n..nn”
“Huh? What’s that? Are you saying no?”
“Here you go.”
Shit. I caved. I did it again. He’s already walking away. What do I do? Wait, will I be able to make it through the week? Oh, no. That’s the rest of my allowance for the month. Mom is on unpaid leave from her job. This means I won’t be able to eat anything for another two weeks if I let this guy just walk away with my money. I’m actually gonna starve!
“Hey! Wait! Give it back!” Lloyd’s knuckle made contact with the bully’s face. The nose broken and the aggressor, now the prey, laying on the ground crying.
“What are..HEY!” said a new voice.
A fist possessing a relatively ample sum of momentum, mostly due to the velocity component, appeared in the peripheral field of Lloyd’s exceptional eye sight. Lloyd shifted his hips as he was used to and then grabbed the attacker and folded him.
“Ahh!” screamed the other attacker feeling like his vertebral column just experienced a disk herniation in all four major sections.
Huh? What did I just do? Are they okay?
Lloyd bends over next to each of the two bullies that tried to take him down and feels if they still have a pulse.
Ok, still alive. Good. I got worried for a second there.
Lloyd walks away with a strange feeling welling up inside him. To him it felt almost fun?
Back in class, the lesson is magic theory and everyone is receiving their new textbooks.
I’m so excited! I’ve been awaiting this ever since middle school! Now’s finally the time that I get what I want.
“Okay everyone, we are only going to cover the basics of spell theory as the school does not possess enough funding for actually teaching you magic.”
“Why!”
“No!”
“This sucks!”
“I’m sorry, we don’t have the funding for any more than this.”
“Where's all the funding going to?” said Lloyd, absolutely devastated that what he had anticipated for so long yet again eludes him.
“We decided that the student body would like to see the implementation of an Ashimyach team so that we can have the ability to compete in the national championships.”
“Let’s gooo!”
“Yay!”
“I love Ashimyach! It’s about time we got it!”
“So when would we have another chance to learn magic?” This was once again asked by Lloyd because the other kids stopped caring.
“Probably during next year when and if we get another grant so that we could fund it. So for now, let’s just study the basic principles of magic theory. Sadly, I only have 4 textbooks and there are 23 of you so divide into groups of six and share. Also, we only have these two magic orbs here.”
The students gathered into their small groups and started reading and following along in the textbook while the teacher explained the theory. Lloyd was staring into the magic orb in front of him while listening to the lecture. For some reason, everything about magic felt so familiar to him. Almost like he had been already educated in its theoretical component. However, he knew that with the limited funds that the school possessed, there would be no way for him to participate in the practical component of magic. After all, Ashimyach was the favorite entertainment of most of the citizens of the country which meant that it was quick and easy access to dopamine, while magic involved learning and years of practice. This obviously translated itself into the way the school would spend their funding.
As Lloyd stared into the crystal ball, he looked at the reflection of the classroom that the magic inside would enable him to see. He found the other crystal ball in the reflection, sitting on the desk on the far side of the room. Straining his eyes, he managed to look at his own reflection. Huh, I am bigger than I thought I am. Maybe there actually was a valid reason for me to be chosen as the school representative during the karate tournament last month. No, I’m also going to attribute that to whatever has been going on around me for the past year. I never asked for it. Why did they put me through that hell? I wonder why it keeps happening? Huh? What’s this? It seems like some kind of ink on my neck.
Lloyd rubbed the bottom of his neck and did not feel anything on his back, but in the reflection of the magic orb, he could clearly see that there was a dark spot.
“Professor, I am going to the bathroom.”
Lloyd left the room and approached the bathroom. He noticed what resembled the immediate emission of Flammagenitus resulting from a fission reaction but decided to go in anyway. There were three students utilizing an electrical rendition of the classic addictive rolled tobacco plant product. Once they were within Lloyd’s line of sight, they concealed the contraband and attempted to appear as answerers of nature’s call.
“Hey. Listen up. I don’t want any trouble, so let’s make a deal here. I don’t tell the teachers that you guys are vaping in the bathroom, and you tell me what’s on my back. Deal?”
“Uh, yeah, sure.”
One of the three stooges walked up behind Lloyd. Lloyd started pulling up his shirt in order to let him see what was on his back, when he felt a strong push. All three ran towards the exit. However, they did not account for Lloyd’s ability to react and thus all three landed on the ground with a very effective leg swoop from our boy, Lloyd.
“What do you think you’re doing? Huh? I told you to tell me what’s on my back and I will keep my end of the deal. Why are you trying to run away.”
At this point, the kid was pinned to the wall with Lloyd having a tight grasp around his neck while the other two were out cold on the ground.
“Ahu…ayu.a.asu”
“Now let’s try this again, shall we?” Lloyd let go of him and he fell to the ground. He suddenly felt so alive. What is going on? Why does it feel so good to beat these guys up?
“O..oh..ka.a…okay”
Once again, Lloyd pulled up his shirt and this time he received what he was initially requesting, an auditory response.
“I don’t know what it says…chau..au..I think it’s Chinese or something.” he said, still struggling to stabilize himself after almost being choked.
“You’re saying that there is something in Chinese written on my back?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said. Can I go now?”
“Sure, just write down on a paper what it says so I can see it.”
“I don’t have any paper right now.”
“I’ll head back to the classroom and get some. You stay here or I’ll beat you up again.”
“O..okay.”
Lloyd entered the classroom and grabbed a notebook. Everyone chose to place their attention on him. The teacher started to say something, but this time, he had adrenaline surging through his body so he did not want to even spare the slightest effort to conform and then most likely be forced to do something else against his will. He rushed out of the classroom and into the foggy bathroom once more. The guy who said he’d stay was missing.
I knew he’d do that. I guess it’s time to wake up his buddies.
Lloyd dragged one of the two guys, who out cold on the floor, over to the sink. He turned on the tap and then placed the guy’s head under it. The kid woke up and started gasping for air as he was being drowned by Lloyd at the moment.
“Listen, here's a piece of paper and a pencil. Write down what you see on my back and I won’t hurt you again.”
The kid did as he was told and soon filled up the paper with a bunch of chinese characters sloppily transcribed off of Lloyd’s back.
“What the heck is this?”
“Isn’t it your tattoo?”
“I’ve never gotten a tattoo. This just appeared. That’s why I asked you to tell me what it was.”
Lloyd left the bathroom and headed back to the classroom. He was yelled at by the teacher for not listening when he was told to do so and the lesson in the class continued.