Contest Entries

Not Again

Sylvia set her pencil down on the desk. Not Again. This lecture had nothing to do with the topic of the class and she had read the chapter too. She felt it unfair and that she needed some guidance. Maybe she could take an independent course and switch teachers. A teacher who didn't show respect to the class wasn't good enough for her. She came to learn. Once she got home she planned on asking her father for help. He always understood her and would know what to do.

"Good afternoon. He did it again. I want to drop out of his class. Could you set me up for an independent study or something? I want to change teachers," Sylvia asked her father when she arrived home.

"Certainly. Who would that be mind if I ask?" Davis replied.

"Mr. Bob of course. He teaches my Spanish History class. I want to take that same class with a different teacher through independent study. One who has more respect."

"Let's go to your school right now and see if we can get that changed. Mr. Bob should be reported in as fast as possible."

"Thank you daddy. You're the best I could ever have. I know learning is great but not when the lectures are off topic every single day."

"What would be even better is if you form some group to study with others after school. Or during study time."

"That sounds like a great idea to go for. I might remember better in a group."

"That a girl."

Back at the school Sylvia reported the teacher in and then switched teachers to an independent study term. Then she thought of telling her best friend Lacie about it since they were in the same classroom. Lacie went on to invite Nick and Eric to form a study group. The four of them decided to meet after school in the library to study.

"Independent study group? We should go for that as well. It's not like we'll learn anything from the teacher anyway," Sylvia heard Nicole whispering to Andy.

"That's a great idea. I think we could start our own study group right here and now. I'll fail the class if I depend on his lectures any further. It's time that we start doing something different," Andy said back to Nicole.

"Sylvia had the perfect idea to start this independent study in the first place. Why didn't she tell us all about it? Why keep it a secret?"

"That I don't know. But looks like there's a study group right now."

Sylvia didn't know what to say about it at first. She was tired of the nonsense and knew his lectures meant nothing. The history of Spanish meant something though. It originated in Spain and traveled globally. Latin is its foundation. She wanted to learn more about it and her independent study was helping. She didn't want to go back to Mr. Bob again. The others still needed to go back. She got excused. Now she needed to see Miss Fork who already spoke sense and helped her get caught up to date. She felt proud of her new teacher.

By Saturday she heard even more talk about her spreading around about how she switched to independent study and the others were planning on following suit. Caught off guard, a ball hit her in the face. It landed carefreely in her hands. A football and its impact stung her quite a bit. Then she laughed and found the ones playing with the football.

"Got to be careful on where you throw the football. I'm not a good thrower," Sylvia warned before tossing it over. The boy caught it.

"Sorry."

Sunday came with a breeze. Soon Sylvia felt like she had eyes on her everywhere she went. How did the students get to recognize her? It had only been a short while since she had started her independent study with her new teacher. Then she ran into her best friend and classmates and together decided to have ice cream. Mint flavored was her favorite but then could also pick bubblegum. Or both she thought. Then she decided on double and picked out both flavors in a cup.

"I heard that the other classmates are thinking of doing the same thing you did. So you're excused from showing up to class tomorrow and will be going with a brand new teacher this week instead. I'm so jealous of you," Lacie said.

"Well you can do it too. I don't have to be the only one to do it," Sylvia said with a smile. Then Nick and Eric smiled as well.

"Maybe we can borrow that idea. We're looking forward to dropping out of that class as well. He is just wasting our time on topics that don't have any sense or relation to the history of Spanish. He should be replaced with a different teacher instead. How many years have he been teaching?" Nick asked.

"I can answer you that question. He hasn't been here very long at all. This is his first year here, but I have heard not his first year of teaching. He had taught before at different schools. I heard he got fired from them each time," a new voice said from behind and Sylvia turned to see a new classmate she couldn't recall the girl's name of. "I'm Selina by the way and I've seen you in the classroom too. What a daring move you've made and I've found my own study group too since I heard what you did. There's no way I can pass the class attending. Thank you for the inspiration."

"You're welcome. I won't speak of everything but good luck with your independent study," Sylvia said.

Monday came and she geared up for her independent study time. Sylvia wondered how the others were doing but she was done with nonsense lectures. Now she was under the guidance of a different teacher. What a relief it felt to be back on track to the textbook. 15 minutes into her study she heard noise and looked up to see the entire class coming through. They were gathering into study groups and Lacie, Nick, and Eric came over to sit down where she was at. It didn't take long for her to guess what happened during class and why.

"You won't believe what he started talking about this time. Amphibians and matches. It was just nonsense. Well, time to get to studying. We got a ton of work to get through. Hey you have a head start. Joking you can keep on going," Lacie said.

"You got it partner. It comes to me at no surprise that something like this would happen," Sylvia said.

"Shocking, really. Just kidding. But an entire class? That's gotta be saying something," Nick said.

Prompt: Disrespectful teacher.
Word Count: 1140
Contest: "Not Just Another Brick In The Wall"