English : C+ ; U.S. History : C ; Algebra : B- ; Gym : A ; Spanish : B- ( only because he cheated a little on the last test ) ; Chemistry : C-. And very quickly creeping toward a D+ ( Steve would say Mr. Kaminsky is way too harsh ; everyone else would say he’s grading pretty fairly ) . But it doesn’t seem to help when Steve sits in class and doesn’t even pay attention. Because, instead of listening to Mr. Kaminsky’s lesson, he’s leaning over toward Tommy H.’s desk to look at the crude drawing of their teacher that Tommy’s drawn in his notebook ( Tommy made him a lot more stout than he really is and gave him way less hair ) . Steve snorts at the drawing and shakes his head a little bit, but still stifles a laugh : “ Dude — ”
‘ Mister Harrington. ’ It’s the one thing nobody wants to hear when they haven’t been paying attention for the last twenty minutes : their own name. Steve’s eyes dart to the front of the room, brows raised with a kind of deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. At the front of the room, Mr. Kaminsky is looking back at him over the rim of his glasses with the same kind of look he gives everybody : tired and disappointed. ‘ I’m pairing you with Mister Munson. ’ Steve instantly looks confused — pairing him up for what? ( Maybe if he had been paying attention five minutes ago he would have heard the something about elements ... an in-class demonstration — basic stuff. ) And — who is ... Wait.
‘ Miss Whitehead, you can work with Miss Schwartz. ’ Steve turns around to look behind him. In the back corner desk : him. Eddie the Freak ( so people call him ) . He makes eye-contact for about a second before he turns back and looks at Tommy, who’s got that shit-eating grin on his face : ‘ Shit, dude! ’ He’s giggling, but Steve looks considerably less amused. He shoves Tommy’s shoulder a little bit, “ Shut up, man. Shit ... ” He combs his fingers through his hair and slumps in his seat a little bit while Kaminsky keeps going : ‘ You will not be graded equally on this project — which means do the work — so I want you to spend the rest of the class discussing with your partner. ’
Everyone starts trading desks to sit near different classmates but, for a second, Steve doesn’t move. When Tommy H. grabs his own book and stands, though, he leans over Steve’s desk to say, ‘ Think he might try to bite your face off? ’ Steve scoffs and grabs his things, also standing up : “ I’ll throw you in front of me. ” He rolls his eyes while Tommy’s laughing and Steve walks toward the back of the room — reluctantly. Steve drops his things on a desk next to Eddie’s and slowly sinks into the seat. He grimaces a little bit to himself, looking at the desk, before he actually turns toward his classmate : “ Hey, man ... So ... —What are we doing? ”
