Lights Out

I got to maths, my first lesson, early and sat in my usual in the corner of the classroom. I watched as people started to flood into the classroom. I didn’t really have many friends in this class. I had to focus in Maths, the only subject where I never seem to be able to beat my competition. Josh. It wasn’t an actual competition; it was more of a personal thing. Josh’s parents represented the opposite political party to my parents. As soon as we found this out everything automatically turned into a competition between us too. We did all the same subjects which meant we never got a break. We never really talk. I don’t how we both know that we’re competing. We just do.

I watched Josh stroll carelessly into the room behind Mr Thomas. He didn’t look at anyone and nobody looked at him. He was that kid that everyone just left alone. He had shoulder length dark hair that he sometimes kept back in a short ponytail. He had dark eyes and tanned skin. I had never seen him smile or laugh. We weren’t enemies, but I don’t think we were friends either. I don’t think Josh had friends.

“Are you all ready to get your test results back?” Mr Thomas asked as he shuffled some papers into a neat pile. A few people mumbled some answers. “I must say we had some marvellous results from some students, and some not so marvellous results from others.” I was relieved when his gaze didn’t fall on me. I guessed that meant I had done okay. My test paper fell onto my desk as Mr Thomas made his way around the classroom. I looked up at Josh who was sitting at the other side of the classroom.
“What did you get?” he mouthed at me. I turned my paper over. An A- was scrawled across the page in red ink. Not bad I thought to myself. It wasn’t enough to beat Josh though. I held up my paper so Josh could see me result. He held up his for me. I wasn’t surprised to see the A+ written on his page in the same red ink. Josh didn’t gloat or smirk when he beat me. He just nodded and looked away. Our communication was over. Some time I glanced over at him just to see if he was looking at me, or anyone for that matter, but he was always staring at his desk or the wall at the front of the room. He just kept to himself.

Maths went slowly as usual. When the bell rang and everyone raced towards the door while Mr Thomas shouted the homework at us. I always waited until the rush was over before leaving, following the last of the crowd out the door. Josh waited too. We reached the door at the same time. He stood to the side and let me through first. I smiled my thanks and he just nodded once in reply. I walked bit my lip to stop me from turning around as I heard the door close behind me. I grabbed my bag off the rack without stopping and headed for the oval.