Heart and Soul [bxb]

Chapter Five

Mrs Abrahams did not fail on her word. She had a reputation not to.

Carter could see in his classmates' faces, as he walked into class on Friday, that he hadn't been the only one hoping she had just meant to scare them. That feeble hope melted into a pained expression as they found a question sheet flipped upside down over each desk.

The test was relatively simple. No trick questions. Most problems were as basic as multiple questions came, with one very obviously wrong answer, one option for the most distracted ones and a couple of really similar ones including the correct choice. Carter finished in half the time, leaving his answer sheet on Mrs Abrahams's desk and going back to his seat. The teacher was known to never let her students leave the room before the appointed end of class.

Despite Carter's impression of the test, next to him, Seth appeared to be struggling. A couple of minutes before the bell rang, Carter saw his best friend give up and drop his pen. The rest of their class seemed to share Seth's sentiment, judging by the faces around them as everyone packed up to leave the room.

Before he could make it out, Mrs Abrahams called Carter's name and asked him to hold. Carter hung back, telling Seth to go ahead without him. He approached the teacher's desk a little nervously and waited as the room cleared. Once they were alone, Mrs Abrahams dropped an already marked answer sheet on her desk for Carter to see.

"That's entirely correct," the teacher stated, pointing a long finger at the red-marked grade on the paper. Carter read the name scribbled above the large red A+. It was his test.

"That's good," Carter said slowly, unsure whether he should reach for the paper.

Mrs Abrahams nodded. "It is," she agreed. "I checked your record, Mr Parrish. Your academic performance is satisfactory in all your classes, with the exception of mathematics. Your results in math subjects are always outstanding."

Carter scratched the back of his neck. "Thanks."

"It is not a compliment, Mr Parrish. It's a factual observation," Mrs Abrahams said. "With these results in mind, I believe Mr Thomas's class would be a more suitable option for you. It would make more sense for you develop these abilities in his class than to have you waste them here."

"Mr Thomas?" Carter asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Yes, I will arrange for the transfer today. You can expect to go to Mr Thomas's classroom as soon as next Monday."

"Okay?"

Mrs Abrahams peered at him from behind square rimless glasses. "I believe you have football practice now, Mr Parrish." She cocked one thin eyebrow at him.

Carter nodded. "Right, ma'am. Uhm, bye."

Mrs Abrahams dismissed him with a distracted wave of her hand.

Later on, in the evening, Carter found himself sitting down at the dinner table with his mom and the Santoros, since there was no Friday night football game that week. 

Joey Ashley was firing up his phone to know when he was coming to the party. Carter stopped replying, or even checking, when his texts became just a string of GIFs of the Madagascar penguins. Meanwhile, they were still waiting for half the family to sit down.

"How was school today, honey?" Carter's mom asked from her seat. She didn't look as tired as usual, that night. She had also not come home as late as usual.

Carter smiled. "It was good."

Mike came down the stairs then, picking Charlie up from the ground on the way to the dinner table. Bella set her phone down when her older brother dropped the youngest Santoro on his seat by Carter's side. Opposite her, Frankie was playing on his phone.