I Never Changed the Channel

Love Suddenly Enveloped Me.

| Seth Paver |

“Seth!”

I turn around at the sound of my name and see Renn and Aiden grinning at me with their hands intertwined.. aww, how sweet.

“Hey!”
“Where’s Alice?”
“Over here,” Alice responds.

I smile while I reach out my hand at Alice who was still inside the car.
She looks at me and her mouth curves into a small smile as she takes hold of my hand and steps out.
Once her feet were on the school grounds, I slowly put my lips on the back of her hand which earned me a light slap on the cheek.

“You are such a cheese, Seth Paver.”

The two who were watching us let out a laugh when Nathaniel got out from the driver’s seat.

“Oy, Nathan! What’s up?” Aiden greets happily.

He shuts the car door close and points upward.

“The sky?”

I raise an eyebrow at his reply and applaud along with the others.

“Oh wow Nathaniel, I never knew that.”
“Then I have taught you something new today. I am so proud of you, Renn.”
“Oh my thank you for adding knowledge into my brain, Sir Van Allen!”

We all laugh at the two as we proceeded to our respective classroom.

If you were expecting the girl students to gather around me or glare at me and Alice, then you are wrong. In fact, they don’t even care anymore. They treat me as if I was… well… one of them. Strange, isn’t it? Considering the fact that I’m *coughcough* the most famous actor in the world *coughcough*. Not to be conceited or anything…

“What’s our first subject?”
“Literature.”
“There’s graded recitation, right?”
“About what?”
“Shakespeare.”

I widen my eyes at the three who were talking about school-related stuff.

“Wait, hold on… how can I not know about this?”

Alice looks at me, not the least bit surprised.

“Because all you attend to is your acting, Seth. Why don’t you ask Nathaniel over here.”

She glances at Nathaniel with crossed arms while he slightly bows at me.

“I reminded you yesterday, Sir Seth, about it, but you brushed it off and said you could just attend to it later since you were busy.”

I did a facepalm in dismay, annoyed with myself.

“Dammit… what am I supposed to do now?”
“Why don’t you review your notes now?” suggested Aiden.

I take a look at the wall clock and sigh.

“Not much time left. Ms. Mary might just barge in all of a sudden, and she hates it when she sees anyone still reviewing on her subject.”

There was a long trail of silence when Nathaniel hands me an earpiece.

“Put this in your ear and keep it hidden.”

I take it and insert it in my ear.

“What’s this for?”

Nathaniel smiles.

“Just stop worrying about the graded recitation, okay?”

He pats my shoulder and walks to the back of the classroom while all the other students start moving to their places. Just then, Ms. Mary Rosenhall enters the classroom and everyone shuts up, not wanting to get a long sermon from the teacher.

“As you all know, today is the graded recitation. Have all of you studied?”
“Yes, Ms. Mary.”

My answer?
Nope.

“Wow, you sound confident, children. Let us see then if you all really did study.”

She slams her hands on the table and narrows her eyes at us, searching for those who she wants to call on when her eyes stop nearly at me, making me gulp nervously.

“Evans.”

Thank God.

Aiden stands up, confident and proud.

“When was Shakespeare born?”
“April 1564. There was no specific date.”
“Very good. Please sit down.”

Renn throws a thumbs up at Aiden and he grins in return.

“Next is… Harris.”

I sit there, feeling a nervous sense gnawing through my stomach, and if I get called, then shit, might as well die from eating too much damn butterflies.

Minutes pass by when Ms. Mary glances my way.

“Mr. Famous Actor, please stand up.”

Holy shit.
You don’t have to call me that, right?

“What are the three genres of Shakespeare’s plays?”

Someone kill me now.

“Seth.”

Huh?
Did I just hear Nathaniel?

“Give a slight nod if you hear me.”

Oh right, the earpiece.

I nod a little when Ms. Mary arches her eyebrows.

“Why are you nodding? I want the answer, Paver. Now. Go.”
“Repeat after me. History.”
“History.”
“Tragedy.”
“Tragedy.”
“Comedy.”
“Comedy.”
“That’s what I was asking for. You may take your seat.”

I sigh in relief and slowly sit down when I see Renn, Aiden, and Alice staring at me with amused expressions on their faces.

“I’m so going to talk to you later,” mouths Alice while I force a smile at her.
I slightly look back and see Nathaniel who was looking out the window then turned to face me with a mischievous smirk on his face.

“Good job, Seth. And I thought you didn’t study.”

I chuckle softly and turn to face front.

“Shut up. Thanks, Nathan.”

--

“You didn’t study? Really, Seth, really?”

I shrug at Renn and look at Alice who was staring at me as if I was some odd creature from a distant land.

“Oh, I’m so curious, yeah, where did you get all that knowledge? Since I am aware you didn’t study yesterday.”
“Alice, of course I must have remembered something during discussions. It just… sparked, came into mind all of a sudden, you know?
“But that earpiece… what was that for, by the way?”
“Oh, this?”

I take the earpiece out of my ear and give it back to Nathaniel.

“It’s nothing, no need to fret about it. Seth could only hear songs, that’s it. Because from what I know, if you listen to music, it helps you remember what you’ve learned.”

I glance at Nathaniel and he gives me a quick wink, making me laugh inside.

“Yup, he’s right. The song playing was Help is on the Way, and it seemed like it helped me remember. Like what it states in the title of the song, obviously.”
“Hey, that’s unfair! Why don’t we have ones too?” whined Renn.
“It’s no biggie, really, and plus, I only have one, so… it’s obviously for Seth and Seth only.”

Alice laughs softly under her breath and finishes the last of her red velvet cupcake.

“Pfft, yeah right, jush becaush you li—“

Nathaniel immediately covers Alice’s mouth like a ninja and looks at her with widened eyes, causing me to laugh out loud.

Nathaniel, you lovesick fool.

“What’s funny?”

Aiden watches us with a curious expression plastered on his innocent face.

“It was because some red velvet bits were stuck in between Alice’s teeth and Nathan had to cover her mouth to stop her from embarrassing herself.”

Alice pushes Nathaniel’s hand away and wipes her mouth with her handkerchief.

“As if.”

We continue to joke around and talk about random things until the end of recess break, happy with our lives.

Definitely happy.

© thought hemorrhage. 2010-2012