Free Breaking Deluce by Chad Campbell Page A

desk. “Hey everyone, I’m Jason Franks, my father and I just moved here. I don’t really have much going on yet, so that’s it, I guess.”
    The class fell silent as they waited for the other new kid to introduce himself. “Now, where’s the other new boy?” Mr. Johnson asked. “Where’s Damon Jager?”
    “ I’m right here,” Damon replied.
    The kids all turned in surprise, as no one had noticed him sitting in the back. “Well, would you like to tell us something about yourself?” Mr. Johnson asked.
    “ Sure. I’m Damon. I don’t want to be here and I highly doubt I will be here by next week.”
    “ Hmm, well… that’s interesting, Damon... Anyway, class, let’s start the learning process.”
    Mona pulled her head from the book she was reading and looked back to see who had spoken so brazenly. In the back sat someone who appeared more man than boy. His icy blue eyes shot right through her as he looked at her; his brown hair was messy and looked intentionally unkempt. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a dark brown leather coat with a black t-shirt. For the first time in her life, Mona found herself desiring a boy.
    Mona realized she was staring and returned to her book, embarrassed that he probably noticed her. “Mona!” Mr. Johnson barked. “Pay attention.”
    “ Yes Mr. Johnson,” Mona said as she put her book down and slid down in her seat, feeling her face turn red. She tried to compose herself as Mr. Johnson went on teaching. She felt compelled to look back at Damon, but she fought it with every urge. She couldn’t date now, she knew better—not if she expected to make something of herself.
    “ Okay class, since it’s Friday, it’s time to play a game for extra credit. It’s an oral trivia game. The first person with their hand up who answers the question correctly will get ten extra credit points. If you answer incorrectly, you’ll lose ten points, so don’t just raise your hand to guess,” Mr. Johnson explained. “Okay, first question: how many phases are there in meiosis one?”
    Mona thought for a second and was about to shoot her hand up when Jason’s rose up in front of her. “Yes, new kid, are you sure you want to try?” Mr. Johnson asked as he looked at his clipboard. “It’s Jason, correct?”
    “ Yes, sir. There are four phases of meiosis, and they are prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase,” Jason replied.
    “ Very nicely done, it looks like you are going to do quite well in this class.”
    Jason smiled at the compliment while Mona gave him a glare. It was usually she who answered all of the extra credit quiz questions, and here was the first time all year that she had missed one. Mr. Johnson continued to ask questions and every time Jason’s hand shot up before hers; sometimes his hand was up before the question was even finished being asked. Her face was starting to turn an angry shade of red. She tried to calm down but every time Jason beat her to a question it only made it worse. Finally she had seen enough. Before Mr. Johnson had even finished a quarter of the question she raised her hand. “Yes Mona? You know the answer already?” Mr. Johnson asked.
    Mona stared forward at the teacher clueless. She didn’t even know what the first part of the question was. She just sat there as the entire classroom began to get very quiet and then she finally answered, “No, I have no clue.”
    “ Very well, then I shall actually finish the question,” Mr. Johnson teased.
    Mona’s face was now a new shade of red and she didn’t know when it was going to end. The bell rang and she slowly unglued herself from deep in her chair. She didn’t know which was worse, the horrible embarrassment she suffered in front of the new guy Damon, or that she suffered in front the other new guy Jason, who stole every extra credit question from under her and made her feel stupid.
    By the time Mona was out of her chair and had gathered her things, the entire class had left. She was