chapter 63 *Wingspan*

thankfully i get to class before the first bell rang.

i took a quick detour to my table before mr. baryo could notice who was in their seats. toby wasn't sitting at the table and i couldnt help but wonder where he was.

stuck at his desk for the remainder of the period, mr. baryo had us doing classic textbook assignments while he graded papers. at least mr baryo tried to make his class interesting by sometimes letting us play games and do puzzles and stuff, rather than just memorize boring facts.

today was not one of those days. but today wasnt going to be a fun day. i rolled my eyes and did as he requested. too bad for me i had no idea where to find the answers. i was having one of those god awful rotten mornings when i could have used a much needed silver lining or you know, a cheat sheet.

my paper had more black eraser marks than script.

sometime after i opened my textbook toby walks in and hands the teacher a pink slip before sitting down.

"i don't know." mya crooned. "are you sure he likes girls?"

i had a headache. and this conversation was pulverizing what patience i had left. "im not sure and im not interested in finding out." her intense attraction went from innocent to down right pathetic.

mya was supposed to be getting a pencil from me but too bad for me she decided to have small conversation. yay. 

mya stared at toby with hungry eyes and i attempted not to loose my cool. "since hes your lab partner can you mention me to him?"she asked me underneath her breath.

i watched Toby make his way to the back of the room. the guy had a permanent sulk to his sculpted features as if he dwelled on issues that went beyond the students in the classroom that brought about the moping and the brooding and the permanent scowl that always seemed to be there.

"were not like that. we dont talk." i try telling a disbelieving mya. my attempt to prove that i wasnt friends with toby didnt register with mya. 

"oh please" mya rolls her eyes. "you spend everyday with him and you expect me to believe that. relax. i just want to get to know him thats all." she said, waving her manicured fingernails in the air.

she like many were underestimating how well i knew the bad boy. i tried not to care so much but i always managed to get roped in. 

"he barely acknowledges my existence and i sit next to him. what makes you think he'll care what i have to say? besides, why do you want to waste your time on him for?" there had to be someone else. anyone else would be a better choice for her.

mya smiles. "well, i think hes cute even though he repels the entire student body i wouldn't mind being his lab partner." she didnt have any qualms about openly staring at him either.

i look at toby from the corner of my eye. "eugh." somehow i resist the urge to shiver.

mya stood next to me ogling him without a care. maya elbows me not noticing when toy made a lip.

"hello." i smile at the dirty look when Toby glowered at me. he was annoyed. good. lets see what he thinks of this.

grinning, i introduced the pair. i turn to my friend showcasing her off like a Rolls Royce on prime market.

mya didn't know toby like i did and i knew he didn't care about mya in the way that she wanted. but mya was my friend and even though toby would end up disappointing her i wanted to help.

who knew? there was a cause-and-effect law about good deeds. the universe had to throw me a bone for this one. "this is mya. mya you know toby." i say dutifully ignoring his show of disapproval while i was practically jumping in my seat with excitement.

"hey." mya throws her hair over her shoulder and smiles wide happy to be within smelling distance. this would go in the books for future stories.

toby didn't look in myas direction. with a frown toby knitted his black eyebrows at me and glowered. "youre in my way." he grunts staying a good feet away from mya and circling around the desk sitting down in his seat.

i cast mya a glance and smile at her. "talk later?"

"definitely." mya said watching Toby take out his binder.

i give mya a pencil before she left and look at toby. "she was pretty."

he furiously scribbled on an entire page before he acknowledged me. toby was bent over looking down at two notebooks, a pen in hand. "what?" he said, shifting in his chair.

i roll my eyes upward. when it came to girls the guy was oblivious. the blockhead. "the red head, mya, she's pretty." i emphasize more forcefully. 

"if you say so."

after minutes of silence and zero talk about whether mya was single and looking it was crystal clear to me that toby didnt care either way and for some reason that brought a small smile to my face. 

i copied his movements and wrote down samples that were on the board. as i skimmed through the latest chapter i realized i had no clue what i was doing. or what the lesson was about. some parts were simple enough and i could drag a word to its definition but then i was at a blank.

i snapped my head up. of course toby would be half finished.

i was jealous that he caught up on the material so quickly whereas i still hadn't finished the first column. looking around i saw the same ease with other students who were close by. geez. did they take this class last year or something?

"you were late." i muse out loud. 

"you sound concerned." sidetracked, toby momentarily looks at me then concentrates on the notes that mr. baryo drew on the white board.

i narrow my eyes. "trust me i'm not it was a statement." i tell him matter of fact.

toby grins. "could have fooled me."

annoyed, i flip through the text book and try my best to ignore him. "whatever." i mumble, throwing my hair behind my shoulders. 

where is that page at? sighing i flipped back to the beginning and tried looking again. "how am i supposed to know where to look?" i mumble at the open text in front of me.

i squint trying to decipher the small letters apart so that i could understand what the hell i was reading. the fact that i was clearly having difficulty frustrated me to no end. so i did what i always did when i was in over my head. i agonized about the future. 

the student schedule here was no joke and the material was different than my old school and no matter how hard i studied i was reminded of my inadequacies.

i hold my breath when toby leans in close and flips the page until he finds the paragraph he was looking for. "see." he points with his short fingernail. "right there."

i narrow my eyes at the familiar word. "huh thanks." i say grabbing my pencil eager to get started.

toby sits back away from me. "no problem."

i smile grateful for his help.

i carried on, trying to have fun as i read through the material. what i needed was a break. and maybe something sweet to satisfy my hunger.

my grandma was notorious for having sweet breads and sticky, gooey, buttery deserts that tasted like heaven and were really bad for me. the women in my life had to have desert with every meal.

in fact, my grandma loved sweets so much that she always had something coming out of the oven, especially when i came to her house. we had special moments around her soft and chewy cookies and milk growing up.

the road wasn't that long to my grandmas house but her cookies would have to wait at least until the weekend. then i could eat my stomach full of cookies and milk and smile thanking grandma for the tin she would give me on the trip back to stark house.

toby sighs wearily. "here."

i glare at him. "what is it?" a tint of red spreads over my face when i realize how dumb i sounded.

toby shakes his head when i push the notebooks back to him. "im tired of hearing you whine. just take it. you obviously need the help."

i move the hair from my eyes so that i could see him better. "youre giving these to me. why? i thought you hated me."

toby shrugs. "oh trust me i do hate you." he said without a grudge of animosity.

"how can you be finished already?" i ask him, perplexed still thinking he was getting me back for the Mya thing. i waited, expecting toby to snicker and say 'gotcha' and when he didnt i looked at the notebooks in front of me. 

"easy." toby show me a brand spanking blue college rule notebook. "i finished my prerequisite courses a year early so this is my second time in a row taking wildlife and agriculture." 

 toby lifts the older notebook that had a torn up cover and creases all over it. "the red one has all the answers you need to finish just don't get caught or else i'd have to deny every word you say that would save your butt."

"and the teachers dont care that you've taken more than one class twice?" i ask him

toby barks a laugh. "if you listen to the news all you hear about is talk of budget cuts and teacher layoffs. stark house is well funded by the one percent of the one percent. by the invisible elite who run the world and make the decisions for you. so the fat lady in admin didn't think twice about putting the senior in the same class two years in a row. so what?" toby rolls his eyes, swearing that i better shut up and take it if i knew what was good for me.

i grab the notebook from his hand and fold it over using my workbook to cover tobys answers that way if mr. baryo checked he would only see one not two notebooks in front of me. i maneuver the classroom textbook with one hand, copying just what i needed from the red notebook to my paper with the other hand.