Mother could hold a grudge. “What are you gonna tell Taylor?” Kevin asked as we walked together towards the front doors of the school. “You’re gonna need to think of a good way to put it. Saying, ‘Hey Taylor, sorry, can’t study with you this week, my mommy grounded me’ isn’t gonna do wonders for your sex life with her.” I shook my head. “Can you stop saying that, please?” I asked him with an annoyed voice. “Especially in...

“What do you want from Taylor?” It wasn’t a question I was expecting. I stared at Crystal for a second before sighing. “Look, Morgan already gave me the whole spiel, so I’d appreciate it if we could-” “Oh, I know,” Crystal replied firmly, folding her arms in front of her chest. “She told me when she did. But now if I ever bring you up even in passing, she just looks at the floor and says nothing.” That was a lot to proces...

The test was pretty simple. Not only did I know the subject matter pretty well, I had hours of practice teaching someone else about it, so it wasn’t a shock to see the “100%” on my page. Mrs. Li gave me a congratulatory smile as she gave me the test, and it was clear from the quiet groans that my score wasn’t exactly common in the class. That said, I was still nervous. As Li walked around the room handing out tests, I sta...

Taylor sighed in resignation. “Can we go back to factorials?” she asked, her voice strained. She wasn’t understanding permutations at all. We were hitting a bit of a roadblock - while we hit it off well in our first week, all things considered, there was a factor in our arrangement we hadn’t considered: I may have known the math, but I did not have the communication skills to teach them. “Well, we have n and we have r, so...

I would have traded anything in the world for another life, one where I wasn’t known by everyone as nothing but a nerd. People kept telling me there were going to be all these benefits later on in life - “think of how easily you’ll get a job,” “you’ll get to be the boss of all those people that bullied you,” “you’ll be set for life.” What the hell kind of life was I set for? They say that high school shapes you and these...

It was too dark outside to see anything. All you could do was hear. The footsteps, the heavy breathing, the panic as the duo ran for their lives. Darkness was preferred – light meant flashlights, and that meant that the very people they were running from were catching up to them. They knew not where they were running to, just who and what they were running from. After too long a time spent making their lungs bleed and leg...

“And that’s it! That’s it! It’s over!” the commentator babbled into their headset. “The match goes to Klutz! I can’t believe it!!” The cheering in the stadium was deafening, and yet still Kenneth Lutz couldn’t hear much. He was too busy coming back to reality and focusing on the fact that he needed to breathe. For seven years Ken had worked his ass off to get to where he was now. Where he belonged. He had finally achieved...

Initially, Amy was hesitant when Alex had asked her if she wanted to take the bus instead of a plane. She knew that what should have been a couple-hour journey would now take more than a whole day, but when she saw the price difference, she would have to say yes. She ended up being surprised with how much she liked the bus ride. Free wifi, air conditioning (which was nice for the dead-of-summer trip across state lines) an...

I wish I could think clearer than I do. I wish I could see things better than I do. Sometimes, when you can see everything, you miss the things that matter most.My job? Seeing. And I see a lot. In fact, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say I see everything. Everything important, anyway. I stare down the screens packed into a small room, and make sure nothing bad happens. Security. Of course, nothing bad ever does happe...