Mike didn’t have to wait long for the teacher to walk in because their teacher prided himself in always being early for whatever class he taught and Mike was actually surprised when he didn’t find him already in class. Their math teacher was an old shriveled-up man who had perky glasses perched upon his nose and a full head of white hair. At first glance, you would think that the old man was too old for teaching and was only in the job for the money but he was actually one of the most brilliant people at Macendric High and made the other three math teachers look like children playing a fool’s game compared to him.
That was one of the things Mike admired about the old man, his brain and his ability to use it for great things. It was just a shame that Mike himself couldn’t do the same with his brainpower because of reasons that have been stressed way too many times to be healthy.
The old man, Mr. Rodgers, set down his bag then walked to the front of the class and waited patiently as the students scattered from the corners of the class to their respective seats. After all had been situated at their desks Mr. Rodgers started to walk to his desk where he picked up a marker and made his way to the board but before he could start with whatever he had planned for today’s lesson some student interrupted him.
“Excuse Mr. Rodgers, may we please have our test papers back?”
Ma’ay Weather was a very smart person, she couldn’t be compared to Mike and Mr. Rodgers, but she was a genius of her own making. She was always one to inquire about tests and homework and when she got high marks on either she always gloated and made others feel bad about it. Ma’ay wasn’t the typical nerd at all; she was part of the cheerleading squad and was one of the meanest, self-centered, egotistic people in the entire school, a person whom Mike’s sister would associate with, a person who chose to associate herself with Sophie Jacobs. Willingly.
“Yes thank you for reminding me, Ms. Weather.”
To her, that was an accomplishment because with that simple question she would bring the humiliation and torture of others whether she intended to or not. Mr. Rodgers walked ever so slowly back to his desk and pulled out a thick stack of papers from his bag that had many red pen markings on them which could be seen from where Mike was seated. Mike was starting to get excited at the anticipation that was building up and then in an instant all the excitement vanished as though it was magic. The excitement he felt was short-lived, just as it should have been because he was in the same class as his older siblings and they did not like being put to shame by their younger brother. Mike knew that being excited was dangerous especially when he was getting excited about something that he knew he would do great at and his siblings wouldn’t but he just couldn’t help himself but be happy at the thought of what he would score on the test.
“Congratulations Mr. Jacobs, you got the highest in the entire class.”
Just then Steven’s friends started cheering and clapping loudly as they applauded their friend for his great achievement without knowing that Mr. Rodgers was talking about the younger of the Jacobs.
“No class you miss understood me; I was talking about Michael, not Steven. Michael here is the one who got the highest score.”
Then the deadly spirit of silence fell upon the class as all heads turned to face the sophomore boy who sat at the front of the class. Now even the few students who had managed to find sleep in the small space of time had woken up to witness the spectacle that had caused such silence as to make them think that the period had ended. Mike didn’t have to look around to know that everyone was looking at him and he could especially feel the burning glares of his two siblings as they etched holed into the back of his head from the two corners of the classroom. Without thinking, Mike turned around to prove his hypothesis and to no surprise, his two siblings were staring at him so intensely it made him quiver in his seat as he turned around and melted into the confines of his seat. He knew that getting excited was dangerous and as a result, the universe decided to punish him for it and it was not a kind punishment.
Mr. Rodgers got over the seemingly awkward silence that was swallowing the students and resumed with his previous endeavor of handing out the test results and announcing marks where he felt he needed to embarrass someone (unintentionally), or just to make a point to them to point out the mistake they made or just how much of an improvement they had made according to him which was a lot of people but yet not too many because it was the advanced class after all. Mr. Rodgers thought it was a great idea to congratulate Mike one last time as if he hadn’t already done plenty for the boy while Steven on the other hand got himself a, ‘You have really improved’ speech which didn’t fail to grab the attention of most of all the students in the class and when Mike turned to face his brother he was met with an infuriated looking firstborn Jacobs son.
After the whole fiasco, Mr. Rodgers went back to his lesson and before any of them knew it the lesson was over and the students were rushing out of the classroom to get to their final period before their first break of the day. Mike knew to tread lightly from now until the end of the day because he could tell that his brother was a ticking time bomb who could go off at any moment at the slightest thing such as bumping into him when leaving the classroom which is exactly what Mike did.
“Junior you thought that embarrassing me wasn’t enough so now you have to make me late too. If you don’t pull your act together I just might let Mitch continue to beat on you.”
Steven had a very peculiar way around words that always made Mike feel threatened even if the words he spoke were not for that intended purpose and Mike was very threatened at that time. He felt like he was the small nerd that was being cornered by the big bad bully but in this case, the big bad was his brother and not just a random bully who was demanding for his homework to be done right or else he would do bad things to Mike, and although it had happened before, this situation felt different.
Steven saw the effect he had on his little brother and he loved it. He smiled a triumphant smile then ruffled up Mike’s hair before he left his brother in the class but before he could completely leave Mike’s line of sight he left him with a few words.
“Oh and Junior, we will talk more about your little stunt at home. With dad.”