Roman numerals are numbers too. (Open)

[Harry Clark Donovan]

Class ticked onward as Harry watched the clock. It didn’t help that he was dealing with math at the moment. One of his worst subjects. Simple math he could understand him using some day no matter what he did with his life but this was just going over board. He couldn’t see this ever being much use to him. It also didn’t help much that he disliked sitting still for any major amount of time which was only made worse by his boredom of math. His leg would move on its own if he didn’t pay attention, normally causing a tapping noise as his heel hit the floor. It was a dead give away that he wasn’t paying attention to the teacher or the assignment. Harry attempted to answer as many of the problems as he could but absentmindedly put down whatever for the few he gave up on.

Minutes which felt like hours later the bell rang and class was over, finally lunch time but more importantly he escaped the clutches of math once more. Turning in his assignment before leaving Harry didn’t get very far. “Mr. Donovan, what is this?” The teacher asked moments before he could leave. “M-my work? Is something wrong?” He asked confused as the teacher couldn’t have known he had done so badly just yet. “I see that but why are half the answers in Roman numerals?” The teacher asked both in a confused and annoyed tone while a number of students that were still in the class room laughed, “This isn’t the first time either. Just go to lunch and we’ll talk about your need to take this class more seriously next time.”

Harry found an empty table after getting his food and sat down, more annoyed with himself. Why on earth did he use Roman numerals for numbers when he wasn’t thinking? What was wrong with him, why could math be so much easier for some and a nightmare for him? He’d rather be doing just about anything else than sitting in a math class. Harry sat there beating himself up for a few minutes about what was going to happen next math class before he paid attention to anything else around him.

(open)

[ALICE MOYRA CARROLL]

Harry Clark Donovan

Alice was always in a dilemma when it came to paying attention in class; if she made it look like she was putting effort into classwork, then the teachers would think she cared (she didn’t want to get their hopes up), and if she tuned everything out, the clock above the blackboard would start to drive her crazy. The tick-tocking of it always ended up giving her a pounding headache. It didn’t make sense either, because there was no reason she should be able to hear it over the teacher talking. She was sure it was nothing more than a mild case of tinnitus and it was all a mental thing, but it was still slightly unnerving when it would blindside her out of nowhere. There was a reason she was late to school all the time. Lack of an alarm clock meant waking up naturally, which always happened to be an hour later than the rest of her roommates.

Caught in her thoughts, the bell to switch classes interrupted them, making her jump to her feet instantly. Looking over the tops of her classmates’ heads, Alice realized she was the first out of her desk, a few of them turning to see where the fire was at. Smiling sheepishly at them, she flew out of the room, backpack strung over one arm and half open still, leaving the evil sound of the clock ticking in the classroom behind her. She let the crowd of students pull her towards the cafeteria, completely forgetting that lunch was after English. Having bolted out of her class, she was near the front of the lunch surge and made it into the food line relatively fast. It was pizza, the same as the other day. “You really need a wider selection of food here,” she said casually to the lunch lady that slapped the slice onto her Styrofoam tray, a look of disgust on her face. “Because it’s not exactly screaming, ‘Eat me!’ to me. Just saying,” shrugging, Alice left the sass in line and wandered over to an almost empty table, the only other occupant being a redheaded boy. “Mind if I sit here?” she asked, setting the tray down while watching for a response from him. Nothing. “Hello?” Alice waved her wand in front of what looked like the direction his eyes were staring. Glancing around the cafeteria to see if there was anywhere else to sit that didn’t include a weirdo, Alice huffed and took her seat. Whatever. If he was going to zone out, that would make a quiet lunch for her.

[Harry Clark Donovan]

Harry was in his own little world for a moment. Regretting both not paying attention and dreading his next math class. How in the world would he even explain how he could have messed up that badly. He was more annoyed with himself than he was with math right now. Getting a bad grade was fine here and there for him, yet to mess up so obviously wasn’t going to make his life any easier. It didn’t help that multiple students were there ready to laugh at what he had done. All Harry could do now was try and put it past him and get on with this day. Which was sure to drag even more than it had before.

Harry was in his own little world for the moment but he was snapped out of it by a voice and followed by the table he was at moving just a bit. Now back in reality he noticed that a girl had joined his empty table. He began to piece to together what she said like he was catching up with where he left off when he had started to zone out. “Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t notice you before.” He attempted to apologize the best he could as he felt himself getting embarrassed all over again. “It’s just been one of those days, know what I mean?” Offering an excuse which hopefully made at least a little since he just smiled. “I’m Harry by the way.”

ALICE MOYRA CARROLL