Chapter 2 - Part 4

Jordan yawned as he did his best to look like he was paying attention.  Ms. Salazar had figured out that anytime Jordan had a computer on his desk, he was not actually paying attention to the lecture.  That was why she occasionally made all of the students clear their desks while she lectured and wrote on the board.

“Alaric the First, Tatic the Second, Alaric the Second, Xeric the First…”

The students all droned out the names of the kings.  Every kid had the kings memorized by the time they had gotten out of elementary school and reciting them ended up with half the kids singing the learning song in the end.  Salazar looked frustrated, but let it slide.

“Now, this year we will be focusing on the history of the kings,” Ms. Salazar said as she went over the class schedule.

Sophomore year they went over the history of Camern City.  Freshman year they had covered the general history of the world and the five other nation-like cities.  Next year Jordan knew they would cover current events.

“Now,” Ms. Salazar continued, “in addition to the tests, homework, and papers I expect all of you to do, there will also be a group project.  I will assign the groups, and each group will be given two kings to report on.  I expect nothing but the best.”

Jordan glanced over at his friends to see how they were doing.  Shelly, Callie, and Howell were all listening intently, which meant that Jordan definitely did not have to listen because one of those three would fill him in on whatever he missed later.  Amber was playing with the puzzle box she had stolen from Jordan earlier which meant Jordan had nothing unobvious to play with while he waited for class to be over.

The teen suppressed another yawn as he traced his finger along the well graffitied edges of the desk.  He glanced over at Howell’s cousin and noticed that the black haired teen looked bored out of his mind but was trying to listen still.  He still was not sure on his opinion about Dylan.  He seemed like someone who usually hung out with jocks and the popular crowd, but he had handled being with them during lunch pretty well.

Well, Amber was a jock herself, and Shelly could join the popular group if she wanted to.  Jordan sighed and stared absent mindedly at the board.  They had decided to let Dylan into the group because of his relation to Howell, but it would be up to Dylan to decide if he wanted to stay.  They were, after all, a group with a very well known reputation.

“Ethan Hawkes,” Ms. Salazar snapped and Jordan sat up and looked at the teacher.

“Yes Ms. Salad-tsar?” Jordan purposefully accented the name, knowing that the teacher would not catch it, or at least not mention it.  His emphasis was caught by most of the class room and several covered up grins.

“Are you paying attention?”

“I did try,” Jordan answered.  “But then I got distracted as I thought about the project.  I think we’ll aim for publication worthy this year.”

“I expect nothing less from all of you,” Salazar told him.

She graded high school as if she were a college professor, meaning that few people actually got A’s from her and she would have to curve the grades.  It was not until two years ago that she had had more than two students get legitimate A’s.  Granted, Jordan was pretty sure she still thought he had hacked into the grade book and changed his.

Still, everyone knew that Salazar’s dream was to teach high school students who could get published in magazines or something like that, and A Plus detention group was a very possible realization of that dream.  Unlike other teachers who pampered their favorite students, Salazar was harsher on the group.

“Rather than give you two kings, your group will have only one,” the history teacher said.  “You will have the first king, Alaric.  And because we have an extra student in this class, I am adding Mr. Dylan Jones to your usual group.  Since he is related to Mr. Howell Jones, I’m sure I can expect great work from him.”

Dylan looked slightly like he was going to throttle Howell, and Jordan just nodded as Ms. Salazar continued giving out the group assignments.  A thousand years worth of kings actually split pretty evenly among all of her classes, with the exception of the Jordan and his friends.  Of course, Jordan had been expecting it.

“So, when can we get together to start the project?” Shelly asked as soon as Salazar had let the class have the last five minutes.

“Maybe we could go to Howell’s house after school,” Amber teased.

“What?” Dylan interrupted, he looked a little annoyed and confused at the same time.

“She means the library,” Howell quickly explained, but he was not making eye contact with his cousin.

“I’ve got voice lessons,” Shelly said.

“We’ve got to go help my mom,” Dylan said slowly, purposefully looking at Howell.

Jordan had a feeling that the two were having some sort of silent argument, but he was not completely sure what.  Not like it was his job to worry about such things.  If there was any sort of fight then Amber would finish it.

“Let’s figure it out during lunch tomorrow,” Amber interrupted.  “I am so not working on a group project on the first day of school.  I still haven’t gotten detention yet.”