forty-two others in between, and as citizens of this great country, you should know who they are. So, someone please tell me who was our tenth president?”
Mrs. Walker casually looked around, but it was quite clear that no one wanted any part of her question. Every student, sans one, was looking in every direction besides hers, so she had no choice but to go to her ace-in-the-hole.
“Cody, would you like to answer?”
“Yes, ma’am. The tenth president of the United States was John Tyler.”
“Correct. Now, can someone please give me the name of our thirteenth president?”
Once again, silence reigned, and only ended once Cody informed everyone that it was Millard Fillmore. Happy to receive a correct answer, but still unsatisfied, Mrs. Walker wasn’t ready to give up on her students just yet.
“Okay, I see that a majority of you are having a hard time with this, so I’m going to give you an easy one, and I want someone other than Cody to answer this time. Someone tell me who was our third president. I’ll even give you a hint; he was main author of the Declaration of Independence.”
This time Cody and Mrs. Walker looked around the room to see if anyone would answer, but no one took the bait. If Mrs. Walker was a lesser woman, she would have screamed and threw erasers at them. Instead, she turned to the boy sitting beside Cody. He and Cody rarely spoke, at least in her presence, but she was sure that he had to have siphoned some knowledge from his seatmate.
“Sean, who was the third president of the United States?”
“Huh?”
Snickers instantly began, but Mrs. Walker dutifully ignored them.
“The third president, who was it?”
“I don’t know. Frederick Douglas?”
With that, an explosion of laughter returned sound to the room.
“Dude! Frederick Douglas was a black guy, and there was still slavery then,” a boy sitting in the back of the room announced.
“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that. It’s not like she gave me a time period,” Sean yelled back, scanning for the person that spoke.
“The time period was 1801 to 1809. Try again, Mr. Cooper.”
Slowly, Sean turned around, and stared blankly ahead. Thoroughly concerned, Cody tried to interject.
“The answer is Thomas Jefferson,” he whispered, barely moving his lips so that Mrs. Walker couldn’t see him assisting.
“Who the hell asked you!” Sean yelled, blowing his cover.
“I was only trying to help.”
“Well, fuck off! I don’t need your help.”
“Sean Cooper! Add another detention session to your planner. We can go over our nation’s presidents during the session you already owe me this afternoon.”
***
“Hey babe, sorry I’m late. The presiding judge had a medical emergency, so it pushed all of his cases back an hour. I got lucky, and was only held over by thirty-five minutes. Is Sean coming?” Kelly said while flinging her briefcase and suit jacket off the seat.
“No, he has detention again. He said his mother is driving out,” Cody replied, before a look of utter bewilderment crossed his face. “Mother, are you positive Sean and I were best friends before the accident? I’m failing to see what we have in common. Am I really that different, now?”
Kelly couldn’t help, but to laugh.
“I know that it may seem strange now, but you two were inseparable from the first day you met. All through kindergarten, first and second grade, you were mortal enemies, and got suspended plenty of times for fighting. You two paid so much attention to each other that you were both labelled distractions, and then banned from being in the same class. Then in third grade, something happened that you have always refused to tell me about, and you two were peas in a pod ever since.
Belinda and I have had to deal with you guys’ anime phase, prank wars, skipping school, marathon gaming sessions, stealing our cars, secret parties, you name it. Dealing with one of you alone was bad enough, but the two of
Mrs. Walker casually looked around, but it was quite clear that no one wanted any part of her question. Every student, sans one, was looking in every direction besides hers, so she had no choice but to go to her ace-in-the-hole.
“Cody, would you like to answer?”
“Yes, ma’am. The tenth president of the United States was John Tyler.”
“Correct. Now, can someone please give me the name of our thirteenth president?”
Once again, silence reigned, and only ended once Cody informed everyone that it was Millard Fillmore. Happy to receive a correct answer, but still unsatisfied, Mrs. Walker wasn’t ready to give up on her students just yet.
“Okay, I see that a majority of you are having a hard time with this, so I’m going to give you an easy one, and I want someone other than Cody to answer this time. Someone tell me who was our third president. I’ll even give you a hint; he was main author of the Declaration of Independence.”
This time Cody and Mrs. Walker looked around the room to see if anyone would answer, but no one took the bait. If Mrs. Walker was a lesser woman, she would have screamed and threw erasers at them. Instead, she turned to the boy sitting beside Cody. He and Cody rarely spoke, at least in her presence, but she was sure that he had to have siphoned some knowledge from his seatmate.
“Sean, who was the third president of the United States?”
“Huh?”
Snickers instantly began, but Mrs. Walker dutifully ignored them.
“The third president, who was it?”
“I don’t know. Frederick Douglas?”
With that, an explosion of laughter returned sound to the room.
“Dude! Frederick Douglas was a black guy, and there was still slavery then,” a boy sitting in the back of the room announced.
“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that. It’s not like she gave me a time period,” Sean yelled back, scanning for the person that spoke.
“The time period was 1801 to 1809. Try again, Mr. Cooper.”
Slowly, Sean turned around, and stared blankly ahead. Thoroughly concerned, Cody tried to interject.
“The answer is Thomas Jefferson,” he whispered, barely moving his lips so that Mrs. Walker couldn’t see him assisting.
“Who the hell asked you!” Sean yelled, blowing his cover.
“I was only trying to help.”
“Well, fuck off! I don’t need your help.”
“Sean Cooper! Add another detention session to your planner. We can go over our nation’s presidents during the session you already owe me this afternoon.”
***
“Hey babe, sorry I’m late. The presiding judge had a medical emergency, so it pushed all of his cases back an hour. I got lucky, and was only held over by thirty-five minutes. Is Sean coming?” Kelly said while flinging her briefcase and suit jacket off the seat.
“No, he has detention again. He said his mother is driving out,” Cody replied, before a look of utter bewilderment crossed his face. “Mother, are you positive Sean and I were best friends before the accident? I’m failing to see what we have in common. Am I really that different, now?”
Kelly couldn’t help, but to laugh.
“I know that it may seem strange now, but you two were inseparable from the first day you met. All through kindergarten, first and second grade, you were mortal enemies, and got suspended plenty of times for fighting. You two paid so much attention to each other that you were both labelled distractions, and then banned from being in the same class. Then in third grade, something happened that you have always refused to tell me about, and you two were peas in a pod ever since.
Belinda and I have had to deal with you guys’ anime phase, prank wars, skipping school, marathon gaming sessions, stealing our cars, secret parties, you name it. Dealing with one of you alone was bad enough, but the two of
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