Chapter 29

James eyes fell on his sister's textbook, he too was puzzled as to how Henry had figured out the answer to the the question without even seeing it. And from the look on Judith's face after having turned to the answer section of the textbook, it seemed that Henry was right.

"How did you know the answer ?" James asked.

Henry walked down the staircase, his schoolbag strapped over his right shoulder and his eyes burning as always. Holding five slices of jammed bread in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, he didn't seem yo take note of the puzzled expression on their faces. Taking a bite at all five slices at once, like a lion he finished everything within a few seconds, downing the entire cup of tea in one gulp. Walking calmly towards Judith, he snatched her note and pen, without using a calculator, he breezed through the phases which led to the answer of the question.

"There's the working", dropping the note on the couch, "and we better get going, or else we'll miss the schoolbus." He said as he walked towards the door, gently swinging it open, he went through, leaving Judith, James and Edna staring at loss.

*** *** ***

"One point five five six." Came the reply as quick as a blade piercing through her head, not able to control herself anymore, she slammed her pen on her desk.

Judith was mad and when this teacher exclaimed, "Correct !", she felt like punching Henry in the face. In just two days she was nowhere to be seen, losing all the attention, admiration and pride that was once hers, with the unanimous applauses to a newbie. It was enough to get her mad and how he always got the answers correct was what puzzled her. This wasn't the first time she was stretching to take a look at his desk, there was neither a calculator nor a logarithm table and he wasn't even holding a pen ! The only thing she could see on Henry's desk was an open notebook with nothing written on it.

"Who can give me the logarithm !" Came the teacher's voice.

"Six point seven five eight !" Henry's voice rang as soon as the question was thrown to the class.

That pleased look on Mrs Nora's face mad e Judith sink into a fit of jealousy, that look of admiration, "Henry !", she gritted, that look was hers. Boys weren't supposed to be so smart and at the same time arrogant, they were supposed to be like her brother, James, not even bothered about schoolwork. Although, James didn't fit into that category, he wasn't Henry either, who was all over the place as though he knew what he were doing. A thought slapped Judith across the face, he knew what he was doing alright, he was being so annoying just to goad her !

James winked at her from his seat which was three rows before hers and she knees what that wink meant, everything mischievous she could think of was what it meant. Maybe he was right, there was a high chance that she could lose her position as number one in the class to Henry. What a shame, being behind a boy who had brought her so much misfortune.

"I think that's the end of today's maths class", Mrs Nora said as the bell rang for a change of periods, "let's move on to Physics."

Writing the subject and topic at the top of the board as the students switched their maths notebooks, replacing them with Physics. Judith's gaze was still on Henry, who didn't even bother to look behind him for once, not even answering James who kept whispering his name. Why was he so full of himself ?! Judith seethed.

Everyone was busy taking notes from the board, but Judith had observed that Henry's gaze never left his notebook, his pen was simply gliding slowly over the pages as if he was drawing. A thought occurred to her, she might be able to get him into trouble.

Standing from her seat, she walked towards the desk besides Henry along the aisle, talking to a student, she stole a gaze at Henry's note. What was he doing ?! A combination of geometric shapes was what he was drawing on his notebook, carving out strange symbols she knew nothing of, was he just too smart or just crazy ?

"Tell if you want", Henry challenged, "I don't care."

Judith froze, taken aback for a few seconds, she wondered how he knew what she was planning to do ? Or was he just daring her by making her know what he was doing ?

Recomposing herself, she took a deep breath, it didn't matter anyway, since he had given her a go ahead to do what she wanted, she was set to take the opportunity to "tarnish" his image.

"Mrs Nora !" Judith called snatching the notebook from Henry, "Henry is drawing match figures instead of writing." She lied.

"Henry", Mrs Nora echoed, leaving the board and walking towards his desk.

Judith handed the notebook to Mrs Nora who peered into it carefully with her lens. Excited by her reaction, Judith couldn't wait to hear Henry being sent to the principal's office.

"Oh !" Mrs Nora exclaimed, "geometry - I never knew you were good at construction angles."

What ! Judith shook, another round of praise ?! What has the world come to ?!

"Henry, it's best you keep this away", Mrs Nora said, "after the class or during your spare time, you can construct as much shapes and figures as you want. And Judith", Mrs Nora called, "I've seen what he has been doing and all I can say is that he's just being intuitive like you are."

"You dare call that intuition !" Judith yelled from her thoughts as she walked back to her seat embarrassed and feeling ignored while James gave her his mischievous and grinning look which meant everything she already had in mind. She didn't know that double standards also favoured boys.

*** *** ***

Almost everybody had left the class when Henry began packing his things into his schoolbag while Judith and James waited for him at their class's balcony, resting their backs on the rails. Walking outside, James welcomed him with a smile and a handshake and as usual, her ignored Judith who was standing on her own, frowning, with James chatting with himself more than he did to Henry as they walked away.

"Fine !" she sighed, following them behind.

"Are you sure you're going to take that staircase today ?" She heard James say, "I can see Sam and his gang waiting for you at the end of the balcony."

Sam ! The name rang in her head, she hoped they could teach Henry a lesson by beating him up, maybe that could make him learn to stay where he belonged.

"Henry", James whispered, "are you sure about this ? I can swear, it's in his eyes, he's going to kill you if you walk past him."

"And so will I" Henry said flippantly, "I'm suck of people lording over me like they're everything", crushing a crumb of biscuit with his fingers, "when the fact is, they're nothing."