Joel wondered how much force it would take to get his pencil to penetrate his skull if he slammed his head down on it.

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He had carefully steadied it on the eraser end and knew that aiming for his eye would be his best bet.

School was always boring to Joel.

The teacher always took too long to explain everything and by the time she repeated it the third or fourth time, he had already drifted off into a daydream.

The teacher’s desk was about three feet high and Joel reckoned he could easily jump clear over it. Especially if he had got a good running start.

Joel was intensely interested in mixed martial arts and envisioned incorporating it into his future somehow. He knew his jumping skills would come in handy. Joel had no specific military ambitions, but had an ingrained idea of having his body trained in a sort of combat readiness, because you know… just in case.

“And that is why when you multiply mixed number it helps to first change them to improper fractions,” Mrs. Howell finished her lecture.

Mrs. Howell was the least bothersome of Joel’s teachers.

At least she let him have the homework at the start of class so he could get it done at school.

Nothing got under his skin more than having his teachers yap all class about the stuff he already read the night before and then at the last minute before the bell they would pass out a stack of papers for homework.

“I mean come on…,” Joel lamented to his buddy Trevor on the way to lunch, “we are at school at least seven hours a day already. Why should we have to go home and do more work?” Joel asked rhetorically.

Trevor just shook his head side to side and gave Joel a look of shared frustration.

“I think if we could figure out a way to learn some other way we would all be better off.”

He didn’t mind school as much as Joel, but he did agree that it sometimes seemed as if it was just a waste of time. Especially on nice days when being outside would be more preferable to sitting around in a stuffy classroom.

“What are you going to get?” queried Trevor, adding, “I hope they have pizza!”

“Probably just some of those weird chicken nuggets,” Joel said with slight disgust.
As the two of them turned the corner into the cafeteria, they saw what was on the other student’s trays. This recognition turned into pure joy.

“Chicken fried steak!” they both shouted simultaneously and high-fived each other.

Rushing toward the lunch line, Joel spotted Victoria out of the corner of his eye.

Victoria had blonde hair and green eyes and was a major distraction to Joel’s academic focus.

Whatever else he might have been thinking about was thrown out the window once he caught sight of the girl of his fancy.

“Hey there’s Victoria,” Trevor teased. “Are you going to ask her to the dance next week or what?”

The color drained from Joel’s face at the thought of actually talking to a girl. He knew he was interested in the fairer sex, but the act of speaking to someone he liked filled him with feelings of embarrassment that sent trembles through his nerves.

The eighth grade winter ball was fast approaching.

This fact had caused Joel to formulate a strategy of attending this event with a date.

But not just any date, he wanted to go with Victoria.

*****

This story will be continued in Part 2 coming soon.

Also this story will be available as a Steemit Exclusive - Audio Book Style Presentation because reading is good, but listening is better!

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