Exterminators Infected (The Exterminators Book 1) (4 page)

“Later,” Nick called as he began to run off with his silver case in hand. Fred waved goodbye and then started his way home.

Chapter Four – School

Nick slowly rose up, stretched, and went for his dresser. After throwing on some clothes he made his way into his bathroom to wash his face. He had started to grow a mustache, which was beginning to show. A slight beard began to grow along with it. He thought about learning how to shave correctly as he examined his reflection. Then he spiked up his hair and brushed his teeth. After checking himself in the mirror he pushed his hair back down deciding he hated the spiky hair look now that he was older. Nick did his daily routine, sliding down the stairs banister like he did in his old house. Making his way to his kitchen he saw some doughnuts and scooped one up. “Doughnuts? Do you want to get heart disease?” His father was very picky when it came to food. Nick had snuck a box of doughnuts into the shopping cart the other day when Nick went with his father to do the food shopping. A little treat for him. His father agreed to it only because he could use the left over doughnuts to feed the birds outside.

“Of course, Father. I forgot how unhealthy I am. With me weighing a total of hundred and forty pounds and all. I'm going be the new fat kid on the block.” Nick rolled his eyes as he put down the jelly filled doughnut. He and his father bickered about small things. It was how they bonded. Nick always remained respectful though. He put the doughnut down and grabbed his book bag. “Well, this is my first day at school, wish me luck.” His dad waved goodbye as Nick shut the door behind him.

The weather outside was beautiful. Nick wanted to run towards the beach instead of school. This year though, he wanted to do better since last year he flunked most of his classes. Not to mention the big brawls at school didn't help. Somehow he always ended up in a fight every so often. It wasn’t that he wanted to start them, he just found himself finishing them. The wind rushed into him, a breeze so powerful it chased away any drowsiness he had left. Still, once the wind died down the humidity fell over him like a thick blanket. He wasn't enjoying the new change of weather in New York City.

He stopped to tie his shoe and when getting up, saw Fred walking down the block across from him. He was so excited to see a familiar face he went dashing across the street. A car stopped short and beeped at Nick, yelling and cursing at him from the driver’s seat. “Sorry! Sorry! My bad,” Nick called back as he walked onto the sidewalk. Fred looked at him, smiling. “Dude...I don't know if you noticed but everyone is kind of mean around here,” Nick said smiling back.
“Yeah. I wouldn't advise running across the street without looking.”
“Well maybe he should look to see who's coming across the street. What if I was an animal or a deer?”
“A deer is an animal.”
“Okay what if I was a dog or a deer?” Nick asked laughing. “Better?”
“Just watch it around here. No one has patience.” Fred replied as he patted Nick on the back. They shook hands in the way teenagers do and began walking to school while talking. School schedules came up and Fred checked over Nick’s. “Hey we even got four classes together. Only difference I could spot on here would be science and lunch. That means I won’t be chilling with you first period. Science is an annoyance but mandatory subject in this school, so we’ll talk more in math.” Before leaving, another handshake occurred and both boys went their opposite ways.

The school was huge with almost three thousand students to fill the rumbling halls. It wasn’t too dirty, surprisingly, but it still had too many kids for the size of the building. “Could use another paint job,” muttered Nick to himself as he pushed through the halls to make it to class. He finally pulled out from the ruckus and into the front of his classroom door. He looked into the class to see only half of it full before making his way over to the right where a few seats remained free next to the window. He made himself comfortable and closed his eyes to feel a few cool breezes that blew through.

He heard a few more kids entering but none were coming to sit close to him, so he kept his eyes closed. He was thinking of back home when the classes weren't much bigger than twenty kids. The class here was only half full and Nick remembered seeing twenty kids already. With at least thirty five plus students, Nick was ready to just skate by the class and keep his mouth shut. He didn't want to start any trouble at the new school.
While enjoying the cool wind that hit his face he heard someone finding a seat next to him. He opened his eyes to reveal one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. Her jet black hair went right down to her shoulders. Her lips were the perfect size. Not too small but not too big. Her eyes were light blue; her skin had a light complexion but still a slight tan to it. She had on colorful purple pants and a Beatles shirt, almost no makeup to be found. She wiped her head to get the sweat off and then looked to her side and smiled.

Nick felt himself turning red, and it wasn’t cause of the heat. The girl next to him introduced herself with sweetness in her tone. “Hey. My name is Kelly and yours?” Nick smiled back as she waited for the answer. After a few seconds she asked again. “Are you okay, you look a little red?” Nick snapped out of it and sat up straight.

“Oh yeah. Umm.... My name's Nick. Uhhh nice pen.” She tilted her head.
“Nice pen? What in the world am I saying. NICE PEN!?”
Nick felt his face turning even redder.

She smiled then shook her head. “Well, okay...I'm going to just turn around now. Nice meeting you, Nick the pen identifier.” She winked before turning her head towards the front of the classroom. He felt like running out of the classroom and slamming his head into a locker. He just met his first girl since he moved to New York City and the best he could come up with is “nice pen”.
“I am such a geek,”
he thought to himself.

“Umm, what I meant was,” Nick began to speak but the classroom was too loud for her to hear. At least over thirty kids were in the classroom now, a lot of them speaking loudly about their summer vacation.

“I see we both like science huh?” Nick turned to see Peter sitting behind him. “I didn't know you liked it that much. Advance biology can be pretty tough,” he said with a smile. Nick noticed that the smile was too big for Peter's face, making him look odd.
“Yeah, I absolutely love science. So much in fact that they threw me in whatever class they had available and I somehow got this. Did I mention I love “ADVANCE” science?” Nick was getting annoyed. He took a quick glance at Kelly but she was deep into texting someone on her phone.
“Hey, do I detect a little bit of attitude?” Peter asked.
“Sorry, it's just this girl here -” he gave a quick thumbs up towards Kelly. “is super cute. My grand opening line with her was that she had a nice pen.” Nick almost laughed at what he said. He probably would have if it wasn't for the fact he wanted to cry at the same time.
“Kelleh,” he asked, pronouncing her name odd.
“Yeah, don't call her that.”
“Why? It's what I've called her since we were five. Hey Kelleh, how was your summer?” Peter asked loudly. Kelly turned around and waved at Peter.
“Hey Pete! Summer was good. I mostly stayed at home and worked on my art. Nothing too fancy this summer. How ‘bout you? Did any schooling during the summer?”
“Eh a little bit. I focused mostly on creating my own website. I'm trying to launch it sometime next year. It's basically a site to help formulate math problems a lot easier for younger kids. Basically breaking it down into games so they can learn and have fun.”
“Are you trying to scare her off!?”
Nick roared in his head. He took a quick look towards Kelly, expecting her to be completely bored.
“That sounds awesome,” she said, her hands flying in the air with excitement.
“What in the hell...,”
Nick was in shock.
“Oh, by the way, this is Nick. He's new here. I think he just moved.”
“Oh yeah-” Kelly looked towards Nick. “-the pen expert. He's a bit of an odd one. Pete you pick the strangest friends.”
“What friends? He's probably my first.”
“HEY! What about me,” she exclaimed. She made her face look annoyed, even though she was just teasing.
“Well, of course! I meant guy friends. You know what you're always saying. “Pete go out and-” he began to say but she jumped in.
“Do some bromancing! Yes! Glad to see it finally working.” She looked at Nick. “If Pete is your friend, you have to be good people. So for now I'll accept you as the nice guy Pete is friends with. Even if you are odd. Pen expert,” she said giggling and then turned back towards the front.
Nick turned to Peter. “Dude...what the hell? Somehow you're the guy who knows the really hot girls in this school? How is this possible?”
“Actually-” Peter began as the class door opened. The teacher was walking in. “-Kelly has been my friend for over ten years. She's like my sister. Talking to girls, as in girls to date, is almost impossible for me. Now that you're here maybe you can show me the way,” Peter rushed with a smile spreading across his face. Nick felt the smiles were coming off forced or fake. Something odd about them.
“Yeah, well, we'll work on that,” Nick answered before turning towards the classroom. He was still in shock about Peter knowing the cutest girl that he's seen in school so far.

Fred yawned as he entered his class. He knew a few kids and on the way to his seat gave them a quick handshake. He was still tired from playing games last night so he slouched in his seat, closing his eyes. He began to dream about being a hero with all different kinds of powers. About mysterious monsters jumping at him while he slapped them away with a huge sword. He imagined dragons flying over him while he summoned his own dragons to fight. He imagined shooting lighting out of his hands while screaming he was a powerful overlord. Right as he was about to get into another fight with a dragon he felt a strong clap on the back of his shoulder. Fred opened his eyes and grabbed the slapping hand. He took a look to the person who did it only to see Marshall standing over him with a grin on his face. “Hey buddy,” he said sarcastically as he pulled his hand back. “What did that weird dude finish saying last night?”

“Why do you care? You never care about anything. Always too busy trying to show off. How about you just leave me alone this year,” Fred replied and Marshall just shrugged. Fred turned around, making sure there was no way he could see Marshall who would only make him madder.

A short man entered the class room. He had huge glasses and a small hat which looked to fit his head perfectly. He was of Asian descent. As he reached the desk in front of the class, he smiled to the students and waved. “Good morning boys and girls.” The voice was funny making almost everyone laugh. “I am Mr. Wang.” Marshall rolled his eyes. Fred saw this and prepared himself for the insults sure to fly out of his old friend's mouth.

“Yo, Mr. Wang can I leave,” called Marshall. All the students looked towards him. Mr. Wang looked confused and then smiled. “Well, do you understand me? I'd love to leave!” Marshall was beginning to get restless. “I don't think you even speak enough English to pass me. Do you know what the letter ‘A’ means?” Some of the kids laughed. Others took it offensively as a racist comment.

“Ah I’m sorry… Marshall is it?” Marshall nodded. “Well, I’m sorry Marshall but you will not be able to leave. You must treat your elders with respect.” Marshall let out a huge laugh. “What is this laughter from you for?” Mr. Wang’s face was turning red now with anger.

“Listen dude, I gotta go to the bathroom. Now can I please go or do I have to keep on looking at your ugly face turning multiple colors.” The insult got to Mr. Wang as he smashed his ruler on the desk. The entire class jumped as soon as the ruler made contact with the wooden desk, including Marshall.

“I’m sorry but you may not speak like that. Let me make this clear young man. Insults are created to hide behind one’s own shame. You think you are funny, young one, but in reality you aren't. Racist comments will also not be tolerated here!” Mr. Wang was turning back to his regular self, his pale face returning. Everyone was quiet now waiting until their new teacher spoke. “Oh and Marshall...” Marshall looked back towards Mr. Wang. “I may not know the meaning for the letter ‘A’, as you say, but I sure know how an ‘F’ would look in your grades. Would you like one of those?” The class now laughed at Marshall instead.

“Now see, that was just sad, when will you grow up?” asked Fred quickly and quietly. Fred used to care about Marshall. He used to be his best friend. Now days Marshall just did whatever he wanted in class. Always trying to show off and gain some attention.

“Hop off.” The slang words were used a lot by Marshall so it didn’t come alien to Fred. Marshall raised his voice and was about to curse at Fred when Mr. Wang yelled again. He informed Marshall he was on the verge of getting kicked out of class. The remainder of class went quietly.

Nick sat down at an empty lunch table and put his head down. He enjoyed new things, but the school was far too large for his taste. He didn’t like most of the kids and the one girl he began talking with probably wouldn’t talk to him again because his opening line was one of the worst in the history of first liners. “Yo! You okay?” The voice was the slick tone of the one and only Marshall. Nick yawned while lifting his head to see Marshall sitting down on the opposite side of the table. “Bad day homie?” he asked while grabbing an apple off his tray.

Nick sat up and shrugged, feeling too tired to explain much. “Well, not really, just the classes here are even more boring than the ones back home,” Nick answered and Marshall nodded.

“Well that’s life in this school. I see we have some hard ass teachers this year too. When will they learn this crap doesn't mean a thing?” spat Marshall, taking a bite out of his apple. This time Nick answered with a nod. “Well, that’s life I guess. So what’s your deal? Why did you stay yesterday,” asked Marshall holding his apple out in the air while Nick put his head back down. The pain was striking the front of his head from the migraine forming.