The roll call started. As per usual, she would mention names, and the students would say, "Present."

She went through the names, one by one, with an uninterested voice as Max simply stared at her. "Who cares?" he thought. He was more concerned about his new potential friends.

Two things did pique his interest, though. The first thing was...

Samantha: Tiffany Chang.

Tiffany: Present.

It suddenly occurred to him, as it didn't quite click before, that that was odd, as she was a caucasian girl.

Max: (whisper) Hey, Rose... why is...

Samantha: Maximillian!

The class turned to him.

Samantha: Would you do us all a favour and let our classroom be quiet, just for a little while?

The class laughed again.

Max sighed and went back to waiting for her to get done.

She went on for a while before going to the guy seated next to him, which was the second thing he was waiting for.

Samantha: Kenneth Stone.

Kenneth: Present.

Name: Kenneth Stone

Age: 15

Description: Likes video games and trivia.

Occupation: Student

Fact: Was once heralded as the most social nerd ever.

Max looked at him for a moment and then decided. If he was anything like the other three, maybe he would also be interesting.

The teacher went on to finish the roll call and started teaching.

Max started to zone off. She was teaching differentiation.

Tiffany carefully noted everything she said, as did Rose.

Luke let off a few silent yawns, and Kenneth simply paid attention and notably answered quite a few questions.

It was several moments of horrid boredom for Max before she finally said something interesting.

Samantha: Alright. I would now like you to turn to your next neighbour and work together to answer the questions on page 16.

The teacher then sat down and got on her phone.

Max turned to his right to find that that neighbour had already been taken. Perhaps it was because he was so bored, but he failed to realise that Kenneth was obviously his partner.

He turned to Kenneth, who waved and smiled at him. As the other classmates did, they joined their tables together. Tiffany with Rose, Luke with another jock and Max with Kenneth.

The classroom turned to murmurs.

Max had to borrow Ken's book as he did not bring his.

Max: So, I'm Max. It's nice to meetcha.

Kenneth: I'm Kenneth, as you may have already heard. But you can call me Ken.

All the people he'd met from this friend group were weird. So what was weird about him.

As far as Max could tell, he seemed like a nerd of sorts, given how he answered so many questions.

Max: Right. Ken.

Max lay out his hand to shake, and Ken shook it.

Ken: Alright, let's get started. I'll solve the odd numbered problems and you the even ones. Sound fair?

Max: Uhhhhh. Well? Ehehehe...

Ken: Hmm? Something wrong?

Max: I kinda... sorta... didn't pay a lick of attention to what she said.

Ken chuckled.

Ken: You really are a strange one.

Max: Huh?

Ken: Tell me something. Are you used to getting in trouble?

Max: Well...

Max flashed back to several instances in which he had gotten in trouble in previous schools before deciding not to mention it.

Max: Not particularly.

Ken: Heh. Figures.

Max: What about you?

Ken: Well... let's just say that it pays to read ahead.

Max: What does that mean?

Ken: You'll figure it out someday, maybe. In any case, I'll handle the work for now. But next time, you've gotta do it on your own.

Max: Phew. Thanks.

Ken got his book and, at a rapid pace, finished all the work for the both of them, much to Max's amazement.

Max: Woah.

Max instinctively looked at the back of the book for the answers.

Max: And you got them all right. You're some kinda genius.

Ken: Oh, it's nothing. Really.

And with that, Max and Ken were done with their work.

Luke and his partner struggled and eventually gave up.

Tiffany and Rose worked together and were able to figure it out eventually, and the teacher remained on her phone, texting.

As more students were finished with the work, the classroom slowly grew into a loud murmur.

Meanwhile....

Max: No way! The grapple gun is way better than the gattling gun.

Ken: What! No way, have you even tried it? The gattling gun can score you way more kills than the grapple gun.

Max: Nuh-uh.

Ken: Uh- huh.

Max and Ken: Skill issue!

They glared at each other.

Max: Alright then.

Ken: It is settled.

Max and Ken: It's on!

The both of them nodded heads and handed in their work for the day after the lesson was over.

Some day or the other, the pair would have an online battle in Warring Dimensia 2.