Chapter 3: Resonance

 The first hour of math was relatively uneventful, not to mention that the whole class apart from Glesto was more keen on falling asleep than crunching numbers. There were only the sounds of Mr Harton’s lecture, the squeaking of his marker against the whiteboard and an occasional flip of the math textbook that almost no one bothered to read.

 Kent kept messing up all his equations and it didn't help that he was always misreading his own working. On the other hand, Glesto was doing his and Kent’s questions at the same time just because he could, although he had already solved the majority of them.

 The heat of the approaching afternoon sun only made it harder for everyone to stay awake. Even Mr Harton seemed to be itching for a quick nap, but judging from the several stacks of paper sitting on his table, he had more than a few things to give out.

 “So as you can see here," spoke Mr Harton, his left shoulder leaning against the whiteboard, "the anti-derivative of a negative sine function is cosine, which is what we already know from differentiation," he finished off in a bored tone, pointing to an equation he had written on the board. “Alright, everyone got that down? Kent?”

 Kent was drooling face down onto his textbook. It wouldn’t have been as noticeable if he wasn't snoring into his desk as well, even though everyone else was too tired to give much notice and Glesto was busy writing notes.

 “Glesto, wake him up," sighed Mr Harton as he ruffled his own hair.

 “Uh, yes sir.” Glesto nudged Kent in the side of the head with his knuckles. “Hey, you there?”

 Kent groaned as he was poked awake, slowly lifting his head off the table and his face holding a dumb, muddled expression.

 “Ugh, dude, is Math over or something?”

 “No.”

 “Damn it.”

 Mr Harton suddenly rapped the whiteboard with his marker, drawing everyone’s attention to himself (and waking up a few girls in the back).

 “Okay, so! I’m sure you’re all wondering how well you did for the math test, yes?” he said sheepishly, gesturing at one of the stacks on his desk. “I’m giving them back today so, uh, brace yourselves I guess.”

 He walked back to his table and carried one of the thicker stacks to Glesto.

 “Pass these out.”

 There was much murmuring as Glesto went around returning the papers. He didn't waste any time giving them back; Glesto slipped the papers onto their recipients’ tables so quickly that he was practically jogging around the homeroom.

 After the first few were given back, several classmates were already groaning in frustration and disappointment. Most, however, either resorted to stoning, sleeping or just simply feigned indifference.

 “Alright class, the average score for this test was 32 out of 40. There's room for improvement for many of you so for everyone who got lower than 25, please come for math remedial every Tuesday afternoon starting next week.” At these words, Mr Harton cowered slightly behind the teacher’s table as the students began their verbal objections against the underrated fate of remedial. “Come on, it can’t be that bad, right?”

 Glesto had just gotten back to his seat with his and Kent’s papers.

 “Here’s you go.”

 “Oh, thanks bruh.”

 Kent took his paper from Glesto and the both of them looked at their marks: Glesto didn't have much of a reaction while Kent suddenly rocked backwards into his chair and moaned.

 “Argh… 16 out of 40, I'm in remedial again. How much did’ja get, G?”

 Glesto was still staring at his own paper.

 “Hey, Glesto. Dude?”

 Kent peeked over at Glesto’s score.

 As it turns out, he got full marks.

 “Eh?! Seriously, again??”

 “What do you mean, again?”

 “You got full marks on Home Economics and Biology as well, man! What da hell!”

 “I didn't get full marks for Physics.”

 “Yeah, you lost half a mark that time. Ugh…”

 Mr Harton, who was pacing back and forth in front of the whiteboard, beckoned at Glesto.

 “Glesto, a word if you don't mind?”

 “Um, sure.”

  Glesto got up from his seat (Kent was still moping over his marks) and followed Mr Harton to the teacher’s table.

 “Alright, you're probably wondering why I called you over. This is, uh, concerning the acknowledgement form for the exchange programme your aunt’s supposed to subm-”

 Glesto rolled his eyes and sighed, putting a hand to his face.

 “I get it, sir, but can't you please give her a little more time?”

 “The trip’s in two days, Glesto. I've given you as much leeway as I could; latest by tomorrow, understand? Pass the message to your brother while you’re at it.”

- - - - - - - - - -

 English was just as droning as Math, if not even more.

 At this point, Kent had pretty much just given up; he went to sleep for English before Mr Harton had even ended his lesson (“Alright class, don't forget that worksheet 2.1 is due tomorrow!”).

 “Hey G, wake me up when it's lunchtime.”

 “Um, right.”

 Either way, he missed a revision of essay structures and a reminder to submit a draft for a speech (“Wake up, you need to submit your… eh, you probably didn’t bring it anyway”). When all was said and done and having missed a big chunk of lessons for the day, Kent was still dazed when Glesto finally dragged him out of the homeroom for lunch.

 “Did I miss anything, dude?”

 “Well, we went through the structure of argumentative essays, we gotta submit that draft for the speech and uh, I think that’s about it.”

 “I didn’t bring that draft anyway, meh.”

 “Figured as much.”

 They headed for the stairwell, passing several students from 3A. They were gossiping about their math scores and the orange incident from earlier (“My brother really knows how to make the headlines, doesn’t he?”). There were still traces of orange juice splattered across the floor.

 “By the way, you still owe that essay from last month.”

 “Uh, right, about that….”

 “I'll just assume you didn't bring that either.”

 Beginning to descend the stairwell, they could hear a strange, rapid sound coming from the ground floor. It sounded like a bouncing basketball, except twice as fast compared to your average dribbling.

 “G, d’you hear that?”

 “I have an idea what that might be.”

 Glesto raced down the stairs, jumping the last five steps on each flight. Kent awkwardly tried to copy him and almost tripped over his own shoelaces.

 “Oh, damn- You go ahead, I gotta tie my shoes again.”

 So Glesto got to the bottom of the stairwell and, while unsurprised for the most part, had not expected what he saw. The first thing he registered was Tomus.

 “Tomus.”

 “Sup, bro?”

 “You’re dribbling a basketball with a bat.”

 “Ya, so? Ain’t got enough oranges left to do stuff with.”

 “...I give up.”

 There were several juniors watching them as Tomus proceeded to attempt a balancing act with the basketball sitting on the tip of the vertically held baseball bat. The bag of oranges - at least, what was left of them - laid at his feet.

 “Soooo, how was da math test?”

 “Pretty good, I got full marks again.”

 “Pssh, achievement hunter.”

 “You should try pulling up your socks for a change.”

 “I forgot my socks though.”

 “You- argh, whatever.”  

 Heavy footsteps were coming down the stairs.

 “Here comes Kent. Whoa, wha-!?” Kent came crashing into Glesto, giving him a good headbutt on the way down; the two slipped and impacted the ground hard, Glesto taking the whole weight of the fall.

 “AUGH!! W-what the hell was that, man!?”

 “Sorry ‘bout that - ow - tied my shoelaces wrong again...”

 “You're a misfortune magnet today, you know that?” The watching juniors were now starting to whisper between themselves, some of them stifling snickers. Kent rolled off Glesto but the damage was already done.

 “Uuugh, this is gonna leave a mark. Tomus, please make yourself helpful.”

 “Eeehh, fine," moaned Tomus as he kicked the basketball under the stairs and dropped the bat to the concrete floor with a clatter. He bent down and hoisted Glesto back up onto his feet. “How’d Kent do for the test? Oh, wait, don't tell me.”

 “You wouldn't have fared much better than him anyway.”

 “He has to git gud is all I'm sayin’, bruh. I mean, look at him.”

 Kent was still sprawled out on the ground. The growing number of students murmuring around the stairwell became noticeably more audible but were instantly silenced as Glesto turned to glare at them.

 “Jeez, did someone kick him down the stairs or what? We’ve done enough stupid s**t today to have these kids talking about it for a month.”

 “I think it’s just Kent, if ya know what I mean.”

 “I'm actually inclined to agree with you on that one," Glesto said, crouching down to give Kent a hand. “Hey, this is the second time today I'm helping you up - oh, give me a break...”

 Kent wasn't budging an inch. Even when Tomus lightly nudged him in the side with his foot, there was no reaction; he was actually out cold.

 “He - I don't even - he fainted after all that. He was just conscious a second ago! Wow. Just wow. Tomus, help me bring Kent to the sick bay, I'm gonna go have my lunch...”

 “Yes, ma'am!”

 It quickly became apparent that Tomus couldn't lug Kent’s weight so Glesto helped him to the sick bay anyway.

 “Ooof, he's real heavy. Doesn't he go to gym or somethin’?”

 “He does, which is why he has more muscle mass than you.”

 “Or maybe he’s just fat, lol.”

 “It's still much better than being too thin, you know. Don't you have lessons now?”

 “That’s right, bleh! Welp, see ya!”

- - - - - - - - - -

 His mouth full of cafeteria food, Glesto rathered lasting on an empty stomach than to chow on the tasteless mush parading as macaroni and cheese.

 Not like he had a choice; physical education was painful on an empty stomach.

 Finishing the last cold bites, Glesto went through the week’s assignments in his head: there was a math worksheet due tomorrow, a physics project due the following week…

 Then he remembered he had that exchange programme in two days so the project deadline did not apply to him. Glesto got up from his seat, sighed, and made his way out of the cafeteria bustling with kids and their lunches.

 “So priority right now is bio, which I've done, and math, which I should get down to doing. Screw physics, I'm still sour I didn't get full marks. All that's left is… the damn acknowledgement form.”

 The deadline had been in early February. There were those who submitted the form late, of course, but Aunt Kole seemed adamant against signing it. All she said was, "Be patient now, we have to make sure we don't have anything that’ll crop up during your trip. You won't want that, right?”

 Sure, but Glesto wasn't a fan of submitting things late either. The form was due on February 3rd; it was already the 25th.

 “Oh well, if she doesn't sign the form then I suppose that'll cheer Karen up.” The voices from the cafeteria faded out behind him. Glesto was still muttering to himself when he passed by the stairwell he had come down from. Turning to head upstairs, his foot kicked against something white and hard that rustled on contact. “What the - damn it Tomus, you forgot to take your stupid oranges.”

 He bent down to pick up the plastic bag when he heard Kent’s voice from somewhere outside the stairwell.

 “Gah- hey there. Um, sup?” Glesto paused; something struck him as odd. Normally, he would have assumed that Kent was talking to Lucas, but 1C was having lessons. And wasn't Kent supposed to be in the sick bay?

 “Ack!! Yo, take it easy, man! What d’you want!?”

Now that, on the other hand, did not sound good.

 Still clutching the bag of oranges, Glesto rushed out towards the direction of Kent’s voice.

- - - - - - - - - -

 “Bruh, chill!” The two guys on either side of Kent were restraining his arms behind his back. “That hurts, yo! Let me go-!”

 “Shut it, twat. You owe me.” This came from a white boy with shoulder length brown hair standing directly in front of Kent. He was tall and slim, wore his uniform with the top half unbuttoned and had an English accent.

 “Owe you what, money? Hell, I don't even recognise your screwed face.”

 “Then why run? I don't suppose trying to hide out in the nurse’s office was of your own will, yes?”

 “Whatever, a*****e. Get your buddies to loosen up a little, would you?”

 “It'd be inconvenient for me if you escaped like last time. Ergo, I've used the necessary means at my disposal to make sure that doesn't happen.”

 “Oh really? You didn't seem like the kind of guy who would have had half a brain, Terri.” Terri, the English boy standing in front of Kent, suddenly drew back his fist and clocked Kent hard in the left cheek. “GAH!! You motherfu-!!”

 “Shh, shh, I understand if you're too primitive to grasp the concept of strategy. See, I gathered your friends from 1C and 3B outside the school this morning, maybe you noticed? I told them that if they saw a jarhead wannabe running around in circles like a mommy’s boy, lead me to him and I'll give them fifty dollars. Kids can never resist some easy pocket money, don't you agree?”

 “H-heh, so someone sold me out, huh?” Kent groaned. He side glanced at his surroundings, looking for any opportunities of escape but finding none. Looks like the only way out of this situation was to pull through it.

 A bruise was starting to develop on his cheek.

 “Alright then, come at me. I'll make sure you get wrecked some other time.”

 He spat in Terri’s face.

 “...Oh, how sassy.” He grabbed Kent by the shoulders and kneed him in the kidneys; Kent doubled over. “So how about it, care to give an estimate of how more you can take? I'll be glad to pay you double, dickwad-”

 “That's enough.”

 Glesto, with audible footsteps, walked into the corridor behind Terri who slowly turned without showing surprise.

 “Oh, hello there. Who would you-”

 “Shut up.” Terri was slightly taken aback by his response, but he kept his composure nonetheless.

 “Surely you're a friend of this boy. Would y-”

 “I said! Shut the f**k UP!!” Glesto lobbed an orange at Terri’s feet with so much force and speed that it crushed itself against the ground, sending juicing spraying across his shoes.

 Terri still seemed unfazed, probably because it was an orange that Glesto threw at him.

 “Be reasonable, mate. I respect your decision to settle this without words, but I'm the one in control here. Surely-”

 “LIKE I GIVE A DAMN!” Glesto sent another orange flying towards the wall next to Terri.

 “Where’re you aim- ah!?”

 The orange ricocheted off the wall and hit Terri square in the nose, making him stumble a step back. It wasn't an orange at all; Glesto had thrown a tennis ball.

 Terri was visibly annoyed now.

 “Now that, my friend, was uncalled for," Terri growled, cracking his knuckles. He walked back to where Kent was being held while being careful to keep his eyes on Glesto.

 “See here, your buddy Kent is under my custody. I have my own reasons for doing this, it's totally personal. So please be a good lad and piss off.”

 “Make me.” Glesto was quick to advance, but was just as quick to halt when Terri put a hand on Kent’s shoulder.

 “Why can't we all be friends, boy? I tell you what, if you leave me to my own business, I won't kill your friend too badly. Sound fair?” Glesto wasn't buying it.

 Suddenly, seemingly at Terri, he yelled.

 “NOW!”

 “Eh? What're-” Before he felt it, something large and round hit Terri forcefully in the back of his head, causing him to trip forward this time.

 “Argh!! What-?!”

 “Heeell yeh! Bullseye, son!!”

 Tomus was holding a baseball bat with both hands, standing proudly behind the two accomplices restraining Kent.

 Seeing his chance, Glesto dashed past the confused Terri.

 “Eh hey, wanna let go o’ him? Not a fan of the dude but y’know, I don't wanna see him get involved in this harem without tellin’ us first.” As far as Tomus could see, both accomplices were more stunned than indignant. “Ey, you guys gonna reply or what? ROOD!!”

 He then proceeded to swing at the one on Kent’s right; the guy got knocked out cold as he fell when wood met scalp, and the cracking sound could have been from either.

 “And now for you, boi- AY, NO TOUCHING!” The other, getting back to his senses, had let go of Kent and tackled Tomus to the ground. “Yo Gles, a li’l help here?!”

 “On it.” Just as Tomus was about to get clobbered, Glesto landed a dropkick on the attacker’s bottom; He flinched for a moment, then proceeded to wince in pain.

 “Bro, you literally kicked his a*s.”

 “So I did. Come on, let's just get out of here with Ke- whoa!!” Terri was still standing, who jumped at the chance to get Glesto in the back of the neck - and missed. Glesto quickly withdrew a few paces while Tomus swiftly dragged the injured Kent along with him.

 “You two! I swear, even if there are two of you, I'll ensure you regret ever having messed with me! I SWEAR!!” Glesto was lucky Terri’s attack didn't connect; in his hand was a pocketknife.

 “Oh shiet, he’s got a shank," said Tomus as he continued lugging Kent.

 “Yeah, he does," Glesto unconsciously replied. His eyes were following the blade.

 “So you wanna be the meat shield or-”

 “Just get Kent away from here, damn it!”

 “Okie, bro! Can ya walk?”

 Kent was moaning. The only comprehensible bit was something that sounded vaguely like “yeah”.

 “Let's get movin’ then, c’mon!” Tomus proceeded to half-carry and half-drag Kent along the corridor as he gave his shoulder.

 Glesto had turned to face Terri when it occurred to him he didn't even know his opponent’s name.

 “Anymore words of wisdom?”

 “It's just you and me now, arse. There's no way I'm letting you go so easily now that you've gone and done this," Terri growled as he fiercely gestured at his two incapacitated comrades, one still wincing in pain and the other knocked out. “You must think you're some kind of hero, don't you? You must feel sooo good about yourself.”

 “Then that makes you the retarded villain who got screwed by a bunch of kids, I suppose.” Glesto seemed to be much calmer than he was a minute ago; his stance was quite relaxed. “Never caught your name, by the way.”

 “Still giving a s**t about formalities, are you!?” Terri took a stab at Glesto, who dodged sideways with ease towards the wall. “Shoulda just left me with that b*****d when you had the chance, boy!”

 “Not a chance.” Glesto swung the bag of oranges he was still carrying at Terri, but the bag was ripped open as Terri tore through it with his pocketknife. The oranges fell and rolled everywhere across the corridor.

 “Gotten real calm, haven't you? Guess your tantrum earlier was a farce, eh?!”

 “Try me," growled Glesto menacingly.

 As the blade came swinging a second time, Glesto ducked and lunged for Terri’s waist.

 “Ah?! You son of a-!” Terri was about to stab again when he realised his feet had left the ground. “What the f**k?! Let me down, you bastaARRGH-!”

 His head, for a third and final time, was impacted with an incredible force.

 Glesto had just effectively suplexed Terri into the wall behind him.

 “You’ll have to try harder than that, I’m afraid.” There was no reply from Terri this time who had fainted upside down against the wall. A spot of blood was visible where his head had struck.

 “And I’ll be taking this, just to be safe," muttered Glesto as he gingerly lifted the pocketknife from Terri’s hand. “Tch, disgusting…”

 He had half a mind to give Terri a kick, just for good measure.

- - - - - - - - - -

 “Eh, you went and overclocked on them, didn’t ya?”

 “I knocked them out if that’s what you mean.”

 “Including that one dude whose a*s you dropkicked?”

 “Him? Oh, I tied his hands up with the plastic bag.”

 “Wut, that’s weak… Wait, what ‘bout ma oranges?”

 “I dropped the oranges everywhere during the scuffle with Terri but I left them like that. It’ll make it look like he had something to do with the ‘orange incident’ this morning.”

 “Oooh, smooth. And ya looted his shank as well, lol.”

 “It’s just a precaution in case he comes back. Knowing these kind of idiots, he most likely will," remarked Glesto, fiddling with the pocketknife. “...Shouldn’t you be getting back to class? I got you on your way back from the toilet, didn’t I?”

 “We got teh sub teacher today, I probs won’t miss much. Lucky break, eh?”

 “I suppose. Hey Kent, how’re you holding up?”

 The three of them were in the back of the 3B homeroom. It was empty due to lunchtime and was perfect for hiding if they left the lights and fans off. Kent had lain himself lamely on the floor, Tomus was making himself comfortable on a table and Glesto sat on the floor next to Kent.

 “Ugh, I’m fine bruh. That knee he gave me almost got me in the sack, gah…”

 “Don’t think about it too much. Anyway, you want to explain what kind of grudge that dude earlier had against you?”

 “That was Terri. Y’know, from our year?”

 “Ter- Hang on, that was Terri? From 3A?”

 “Uh, yeah I think that was his class.”

 “Huh. From what I heard, I thought he’d be tougher.”

 “Not everyone’s as buff as you, G. Look at me, I got wrecked.”

 “For some reason, I can't say I'm surprised.”

 “Ha, funny. Anyway," continued Kent as he fished for something in his pockets, "I think he’s after me for taking this... well, whatever it is.”

He produced a black card with reflective lettering written on both sides. On the front was a picture with a block of writing below it.

 On the back, in significantly larger and fancier font, was the word ‘Fanatica’.

 Tomus caught a glimpse of card’s front and his jaw dropped.

 “What the- DUDE. That’s a card of the Faceless Mutilator Telzard, HOW DID YOU GET THAT!?” demanded Tomus as he heavily hopped off the table and got up in Kent’s face.

 “Uh, Faceless what now? Calm your tits bro, what’s so special ‘bout this? It’s just some grimy old card I nicked from Terri’s desk.”

 “That, fam, is the second best card in the Fanatica.”

 “And what the heck is Fanati-”

 “ONLY THE DOPEST CARD GAME EVA, MAN!! YOU’RE HOLDING A PIECE OF COLLECTOR GOLD RIGHT THERE- MMHHF!” Glesto cupped his palm over Tomus’s mouth.

 “Are you trying to get the whole world’s attention?! The homeroom next door is having class!”

 “B-BUT! That card-!” Tomus slumped backwards onto the table leg. “It’s the only one I’m missing from my collection apart from Cursed Superintendent Univar, unngghh…”

  “Well then. I guess we now know why Terri’s not pleased, yeah?” Glesto muttered to Kent (who was still taken aback by Tomus’s overdone reaction). “Seeing how you still have the thing, I doubt that’s going to be the last we see of him.”

 “Uh, yeah sure, um…” Kent gingerly pocketed the card and tried to think of some other topic to bring up.

 “So just now before lunch, right after we got back our Math papers, Mr Harton asked to see you right? What was that about?”

 “Oh, that’s right. Hey Tomus, you need to know this as well.” Tomus remained slumped against the table but Glesto knew he was listening.

 “Mr Harton’s been chasing us for the acknowledgement form, the one for the exchange programme. Our aunt doesn't want to sign it for some reason.”

 “I thought that was due ages ago, bruh.”

 “Exactly, so he says we gotta hand it up latest by tomorrow.”

 Tomus suddenly jumped up and knocked the table backwards.

 “I think I lost mine, can ya help me photocopy another one?”

 “...Sure.”

 As it turns out, Tomus was already starting to get bored.

 “So now what?”

Author's Note

So this chapter is for establishing the characters' relationships with each other (kinda) and to flesh them out a little more.

Please note, ignore the instances of profanity usage if you're not one for that. They're just there to match the context.