Samiya had a good idea of how their class operated.

"So it's two periods of English, then math, and whatever extra class is in the middle?"

"Gym, Tech, or Science, yeah. We switch math and English every other day."

"Well that's gonna be confusing. Gonna be honest, I don't think I can keep up."

"Just listen to the teachers, they'll explain everything."

She yawned, hoping for the best. Math was up first, Ms. Samuel's was light brown, but had a calm youthful energy, shutting down most of the nonsense pretty early and trying to get people to work

"So this is equations? So wait, we have to get the letter by itself?"

"Yeah, you either add or take away the number closest on both sides to find out what it is. "

"Oh, okay. So why are we using letters in Math?"

He tried to think of a way to put it in a way that would motivate her and snapped his fingers. "Well you can't spell math without using letters, right?"

She raised a finger, awestruck. "Huh. You're right. So use math to solve for writing!"

"Yeah sure," smiling while scratching his head as she tried to answer it. She was a little confused, but got the right spirit.

Tech was next, and they had to do coding. Sawyer admitted he wasn't the best, to her chagrin.

"Ah nuts, I barely know how to use an iPod. My folks are way more old fashioned."

"Pad."

"What's the difference?"

Seeing her about to ask someone else for help made sense.

Wait, but I'll be lonely again, won't I. "Never mind, we'll get through this."

Their teacher and her assistant noticed him raising his hand more and trying to be on task more than usual.

"You're so enthused today, Sawyer!"

"Well, I want to get better," turning to Samiya without knowing the reason why.

"Huh, tech's pretty cool. It doesn't make much sense though."

Their teacher, a well mannered and calmed professor she almost mistook for a principal, Ms. Belowski gave her a nod. "You're willing to try more than some kids I've had for much longer. It's like a sport, the more you do it, the easier it gets."

Samiya's breathing briefly accelerated. "Right."

ELA was next, and Ms. Mercado read through the passage about whether or not teens should be allowed to have a curfew. Samiya lowered her face at the screen.

"Can I pick both?"

"Just pick one, and you could argue for the other a little bit."

He finished up rather quickly, while she was still taking a while. "This look right?"

"Well yeah," but adjusted his glasses to get a better look. "You have to write evidence with the story."

"Wait I can't say I think why?"

"You can, just add it later."

"And the bold words?"

"New words to learn. We have to use that too, and we get a quiz on those later."

She yawned and smacked her head on her hand on the desk. "This is too much. All of you are are smart enough to keep up with this?"

"I'm not sure, I just try hard. It's like another hurdle to overcome."

She sucked her teeth. "Hurdles suck," seeing how far he got. "Fine, I'll try," grunting as she started re-reading, only for both of them to get distracted by the arguing between Saul Chatter and Naven Song. Sawyer gave her the cliff notes, a talkative gossiper who got his work but distracted too much, and a boy who did more walking around than work.

"I wanna walk around too," earning a hand cross from him. "Alright Mr. Teacher, I'll be a good student. Hey, can y'all two stop yelling, I'm trying to work here."

"He called me an ugly bald head!" Naven said, similar in skin tone to them, but shorter. "But if I call him a crackhead, it's a problem!."

"No I didn't! He's lying." Sawyer glared at him to Samiya's uncertainity as they listened to Saul's claims that Navel was bothering him.

"Enough," Ms. Mercado. "What part of independent work did y'all understand."

"He keeps looking at me," Saul claimed.

"And, you keep bothering people and looking stuff on his iPad when Ms. M turns around!"

"At least I finished my work you lying," referring to him as a pussycat minus the animal.

"Saul, in front of a teacher, really?"

Samiya put her hand up. "Why is looking at someone else a problem? He ain't tryna fight you."

"Aye, no one asked you, whatever your name is."

"Samiya." Them Samiya saw why Sawyer's stare was so heavy. Every other second Saul was giggling. "You still didn't answer my question."

"You don't have to bother with Saul. He does this with everyone."

"Why are you putting me on blast Ms. M? Navel's the one bothering me."

"Sawyer, don't lie to me, did you hear Saul or Navel?"

"Saul," pointing to him.

"You lying," referring to the butt expletive.

"I'm not, I was reading when I saw you say that after he walked back in. That's why Belowski was mad at him earlier."

"You're such a snitch! And stop looking at me like that."

"I'm not looking at you in any way. Looking doesn't mean anything bad," Sawyer said, defending himself. "We can't stop our eyes, I don't have eye beams."

"Yes it does! It's bothering me and it means you like me or wanna fight me."

Sawyer sucked his teeth, trying to listen to Ms. Mercado's request to just ignore.

"You've been looking at Samiya too. So what, do you like her?"

All eyes were on Sawyer, including hers. He gulped, but wanted to defend her.

"I like her more than I dislike you. And I'd rather look at her than you."

Gasps, shock, laughter, and smiles came from everyone, including Ms. M. Samiya smiled as someone said they never expected to hear that come out of his mouth. Saul took it well.

"Shut up or say that to my face you" using an expletive, walking over to him while ignoring Ms. Mercado's warnings.

Samiya jumped on top of the chair, ran up the desk and jumped over Saul's head, scaring him as she landed between him and Sawyer.

"You're calling him a witch with a b, but you're the dog that's barking. He answered, now shut your mouth and go back to your doghouse."

"I'm not afraid of you little girl," barely able to push her back. She threw a fist and stopped a second before contact as he flinched. When Samiya winded up another punch, he stepped back thinking it was for real, only to trip on the chair next to him and land on the floor.

"The bigger a baby bawls, the harder they fall," going back to Sawyer while their classmates laughed at his expense. "Help me find this part about the police."

Ms. Mercado picked up Saul before he could try something to the front of the room, yelled at the rest of the class to keep quiet, leading the two of them to whisper as they finished up.