III

In Apartment #312, Matthew Clark nervously stared at his computer screen. As the clock struck noon, he logged into Martin Van Buren High School's website and clicked on "View Progress Report."

Matthew scanned the page and saw that he had an A+ in seven of his classes. However, at the bottom of the page, there was one grade that worried him.

Matthew Clark only had an A in AP Literature.

Matthew himself wasn't terribly concerned about the literature grade. English wasn't his strongest subject, and by anyone else's standards, an A would be an excellent grade. It was his mother's reaction that made sweat drip down his forehead as he stared at the progress report.

To some degree, Matthew understood why his mother had such high expectations for him. She had lost her opportunity to finish her education when Matthew was born, and she simply wanted him to avoid making her mistakes. Frankly, Matthew just didn't understand why she had to take her problems out on him.

Matthew closed his computer and slowly walked towards his piano. It wasn't a particularly high quality instrument - the piano at the high school was much larger and had a clearer sound - but Matthew preferred the piano in his apartment. There was something charming about its imperfections, from its missing key to its slight dissonance. In fact, he might even say that it was beautiful.

Matthew carefully touched his fingers to the keys. After a brief warm-up, he began to play a slow, sorrowful tune. He only got to play a few bars before his mother opened the apartment door.

"Matthew!" she exclaimed. "Have you checked your grades yet?" Matthew nodded as his fingers continued to dance over the piano keys. "Can I see them?"

Matthew sighed. There was no way around this. He opened up his computer and showed his mother his grades.

All of a sudden, Matthew's mother's smile morphed into a scowl. "Really Matthew?" she said. "An A? You can't do better than an A?"

"I'm sorry, Mother," Matthew said.

"You'll be sorry soon enough," Matthew's mother said. "Wait until Stanford sees your report card."

"Stanford's already accepted me," Matthew argued. "There's not much they can do now." He hated to admit it, but his heart sank when he thought of Stanford. He was lucky to have gotten in, but he had worked hard enough to please his mother in high school - why would he want to go through that again in college?

"There are plenty of other kids who going to get straight A+s this semester," Matthew's mother said. "Those are the students that Stanford wants, not you."

"One A won't hurt," Matthew said.

"How dare you think like that?!" his mother shouted. "You're throwing away your education, Matthew."

Matthew was going to respond, but his phone buzzed in his pocket. He resisted the urge to see who had texted him, but his curiosity got the best of him and he took the phone out of his pocket.

Jonas Vasquez had texted him, "Hey, do you want to hang out? :)"

As Matthew had learned from experience, nobody asked him to hang out without ulterior motives. Nearly everyone who had asked him to hang out with them since middle school had wanted either study tips or a date with him, neither of which he was willing to give up easily. As a result, Matthew Clark had many admirers, but few friends.

Jonas, however, didn't seem to want anything from him. Matthew wasn't sure if he truly was different, or if Jonas' ulterior motives just hadn't been revealed yet, but Matthew decided to give it a shot. "Mother?" he said. "May I meet up with Jonas tonight?"

"What time will this happen at?" Matthew's mother asked.

"Around dinner time," Matthew said.

"Only if you let me know exactly when you're coming home and where you're going to be, and you need to study for AP Literature until you leave," Matthew's mother said.

"Great," Matthew said. "Thank you, Mother." He walked into his room and then texted Jonas back. "Sure, but when do you want to do it?" he texted.

"How about 5:00?" Jonas suggested. "My sister is here, so we won't be able to go out for too long. Where should we go?"

All of a sudden, an idea sparked within Matthew. "Let's go to the park behind the high school," he texted. "I have some business that I need to attend to."

"Sounds good," Jonas responded. "See you then!"

Matthew put his phone away and began to pack up his belongings. He still had five hours before he needed to leave, but there was nothing else to do before then except for studying for literature, and there was no reason for him to do that.

Matthew looked in his closet and pulled out a book of matches, a switchblade, and his AP Literature textbook. He packed the three items away in his backpack. Already, Matthew was certain that he would have his revenge, and Jonas would be just the person to help him. 

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