The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 01

Andrew wondered how all of these people would influence his life. Would they make his days joyous, or miserable? He knew that most of them would be like him, background music to the lives lived within those halls. Looking at the faces around him one last time, he quickly made his way to his first class of the day.

A couple of students were already seated near the front of the Physics classroom. These were the "A" students, their calculators out and their pencils and notebooks at the ready.

The teacher reclined behind his desk at the head of the classroom; a dark plaque with "Dr. Blake" in bold white letters was fastened to the desk's front. Andrew headed to the back of the room, taking his mechanical pencil and notebook out of his bag before slinging his rucksack over his chair. The students watched him with confused and questioning faces, while the teacher obliviously thumbed quickly through a 'Science' magazine.

The room slowly filled as students entered in small groups. Conversation and laughter faded as each group spotted Andrew in the back of the room. Whispers added to the sense of curiosity as questioning eyes darted back periodically until the final bell rang signaling the start of class. The teacher closed the door and leaned against the front of his desk.

"As many of you know, I am 'Dr.' Blake," he stated as he tapped the plaque with his pen right as he said 'Dr'. "Welcome to Physics, the study of the forces that govern our world. Before we get into today's lesson I am required to take roll," and with that he flipped a page on his clipboard and began calling names.

After each name Andrew could sense a peak of interest in the students until they either recognized the name or someone other than Andrew said here. Dr. Blake said, "Sara Carson," and Andrew's heart jumped with excitement. He knew that his Sara was not there.

His Sara? Andrew wondered why he thought, "his Sara." She was not his. *I barely know this girl for God's sake!* he admonished himself.

One of the cheerleaders near the front of the room said, "Here, Dr. Blake," and Andrew's excitement faded.

Eventually the teacher reached the W's and stated, "Andrew Williams."

Andrew responded, "Here," just loud enough to be heard. The room filled with the sound of whispers as students seemed to take turns looking at him. He shook his head, finding the whole process stupid.

*It's a name you idiots,* he thought to himself before remembering how excited he had been just a moment ago when he thought he had learned the last name of his mystery girl. *Stop it stupid!* He admonished himself, realizing he was thinking of her possessively again. Andrew wondered what the hell he was doing. Even now at the start of his first class she was dominating his thoughts.

He realized that all eyes were on him expectantly. The teacher barely contained his frustration. Dr. Blake rolled his eyes and asked, "Well, Mr. Williams? Would you like to tell the class a little about yourself?"

Andrew flushed with embarrassment as he looked down at his desk. "Not really Dr. Blake."

With that the teacher started walking towards the white board, "All right Andy, if that is your choice then we can-"

Andrew stated firmly, "Andrew sir," before he could stop himself.

The entire class turned to face him, shocked expressions accompanying eager anticipation.

"Excuse me, young man?" Dr. Blake asked in surprise.

Andrew's heart raced. He had always found it easier to let things happen around him, preferring to ignore all of the slights and offenses that were thrown his way. Heck, calling him Andy was probably the subtlest form of bullying he had ever received, and yet for some reason he could not stop himself from trying to address this minor slight. To a teacher no less.

"My name is Andrew, sir. Not Andy."

Dr. Blake's expression darkened as his eyes narrowed. "All right, 'Andrew', that is noted."

The teacher finished walking to the whiteboard and wrote in large letters, "Acceleration." The students were looking back and forth between Andrew and the teacher. Andrew sensed they were anticipating something that he did not yet comprehend. A mixture of pity and schadenfreude appeared on the eager faces.

"Can anyone tell me what the relationship between velocity and acceleration is?"

Two hands near the front of the class shot up instantly, while most students watched the teacher, seeming to know where this was going. "How about you, 'Andrew'?" Suddenly, all eyes were on him again.

Andrew immediately understood what was happening. Looking down at his unopened textbook he recognized that this teacher wanted to humiliate him. Andrew looked directly at Dr. Blake. The teacher savored the fear and indecision that he saw on the young man's face. Andrew, on the other hand, was fighting to say that he did not know the answer, to let this little man have his victory and be done with it. A growing voice within him wanted to humiliate this poor excuse for an educator.

"No Dr. Blake, I don't." The words tasted like poison and a part of Andrew's mind screamed and thrashed in pure white rage.

Andrew grasped the edges of his desk. His face turned slightly red as perspiration formed on his forehead. To everyone else it looked as if he was just barely holding himself together. The two "A" students looked at him with smug superiority as the teacher called one of their names. They provided the answer and smiled at Andrew as if he was the dumbest person in the world.

Andrew calmed down as the teacher began his lecture in earnest. Flipping through the textbook, Andrew realized that he already knew all of this. Natural sciences came trivially easy to him. As he looked at the diagrams, formulas, and various visual aids, Andrew hated himself for being so weak. He hated the teacher for being so petty and a part of him knew that he would get even someday. Andrew noticed a few students periodically looking at him, some with pity but many with some strange form of satisfaction. One jock in particularly seemed to get a lot of enjoyment out of what had happened to him.

Andrew absentmindedly doodled in his notebook while paying just enough attention to the teacher to know that he was not being called on. He wasn't really focusing on what he was drawing either as his imagination kept taking him back to feline irises and sexy red hair. He wrote that he could smell moss and wildflowers just as the bell rang and everyone quickly packed their bags to head to their next class. Andrew distractedly threw his pencil into his bag and was fumbling to get his binder in his rucksack when he turned a corner and ran directly into the jock who kept looking at him during class.

"Hey, watch where you're going."

The jock turned and looked down at Andrew, his face lighting up as a huge laugh broke loose. Pointing, the jock yelled, "You gross little spaz. You know we have bathrooms here, right?"

Looking down Andrew saw a large wet spot on his loose jeans. "Fuck" was all that Andrew could say before running for the bathroom.

He could hear the jock say, "What a little freak," as he high fived one of his friends and they all exploded in laughter behind him.

Andrew locked himself into a stall. His dick was still hard and he was thankful that he had worn baggy pants. He pulled back his underwear. Strings of pre-cum connected his abdomen to his shorts in a much larger area than what showed on his jeans. Pulling down his pants he sat on the toilet. *What the hell is going on with you today Andrew?* he wondered as he cleaned up. His erection started to soften as the pre-cum finally stopped dribbling from the tip of his dick.

***** Escalation *****

He was pulling his pants back up when the bell signaling the start of second period rang. Flushing the toilet Andrew grabbed his bag and rushed to class. The halls were completely empty which allowed him to make record time to his next class. Many of the same students from his last class were in this one, and his heart sank as he saw the jock and his friends seated in the middle of the room. They looked at him and laughed while the jock pantomimed trying to stop himself from pissing which caused many of the students around him to giggle and laugh.

Andrew hung his head and took a seat at the back of the room. "Sorry for being late, Ms. Anderson," he said, a bit of sadness evident in his words.

"That's all right, and please call me Karen," she responded with a warmth that Andrew found comforting.

Karen was in her mid-40s, with long curly brown hair and an average build hidden under a full-length dress. She continued through roll call and while a few students seemed to be waiting for Andrew to identify himself it seemed that his presence was far less of a mystery in this class.

Andrew suspected that he had the jock to thank for their awareness of who he was. He knew that if he could not change this narrative he would be social kryptonite for the rest of the year. It was in that moment when he heard the teacher repeat, "Sara Mitchel" and Andrew started scanning the room. She wasn't there. He was painfully aware that if she had been he would be able to focus on little else.

"Has anyone seen Sara Mitchel?" the teacher asked.

"She was supposed to be in my last class, but she wasn't there either," a girl at the edge of the room responded helpfully.

The teacher wrote something down on the clipboard while saying, "Well I guess she found a better place to nap today." Many of the students shared in her light-hearted and merry laugh. Andrew was shocked. He was beginning to worry that everyone at this school was cruel.

Karen continued through the names and eventually "Zack Taylor" elicited a "Here" from the jock. Andrew narrowed his eyes.

Within moments the teacher called, "Andrew Williams."

As Andrew said, "Here, Ms. Anderson," he heard the jock making a "Pssssssssssss" noise which set many of the other students into fits of giggles and barely contained laughter.

Karen looked from student to student. The joy in her eyes was replaced with anger as she looked directly at Zack. "Mr. Taylor, if you continue to disrupt my classroom there will be consequences. Do you understand?" Her eyes flashed from Zack to numerous of the other students who were giggling and tittering. She repeated, "Do you understand me, Mr. Taylor?"

Zack's face was red with embarrassment. He could not even look at her as he said, "Yes, Ma'am."

Karen looked at Andrew for a long moment, seeming to appraise something about him, before she again smiled. All anger quickly replaced with infectious joy.

"As many of you know I am the local literary nut job, and you have all made the grave yet fortunate mistake to take my class," she said, starting her lecture with a laugh.

English had always been one of Andrew's least favorite classes. While he loved to read, grammatical rules and syntactical structure eluded him. So he was shocked when the bell rang and he realized he had just spent a full hour laughing and learning from a marvelous and distinguished woman. He was struggling to reconcile his natural desire to like this woman with the cruel comment she had made about his Sara.

*Damnit, Andrew, she is not yours* he scolded himself again as he realized this girl may not even be the Sara that he had met.

***** Forty Five *****

After a few minutes of wandering around the halls Andrew eventually found the path to the gym and from there he quickly made his way to the boy's locker room. With practiced ease he found an isolated corner and changed into his shorts, t-shirt and running shoes. He locked his rucksack and clothes into a locker and made his way to the gym. The room was dominated by a full-sized basketball court with the bleachers collapsed against the walls.

Andrew walked into line with the rest of the students. He was at least a head shorter than all of the boys and was shorter than most of the girls. The teacher, Mr. Spencer, walked down the row looking each and every student in the eye. He was a tall, heavily muscled man with no hair who wore a tight green shirt and baggy pants. Andrew recognized the continence of a military man, a man who was completely and totally regimented. Andrew knew with absolute certainty they were all about to suffer, and that Mr. Spencer would be the cause of their shared pain.

"None of you children know who I am. I am Mr. Spencer."

The only place Andrew looked was forward, but he could hear other students shuffling about and could sense that many of them were upset at being called children.

Mr. Spencer looked at the group. "I need to know what kind of little babies I am dealing with and for the next forty-five minutes I am going to find out. You will do exactly what I say, when I say it. If you are too tired to continue you may leave at any time, but know that your grade for this class will be based solely on the effort you give me."

The room filled with murmurs and worried glances which were all cut off as Mr. Spencer yelled, "Am I understood?"

Andrew responded, "Sir, yes, sir!" while still looking straight ahead.

Everyone except for Mr. Spencer looked at Andrew and started to chuckle when they all heard, "I said, AM I UNDERSTOOD?"

All of the students yelled back, "Sir, yes, sir!".

"You will run around this gym until I tell you to stop!" Mr. Spencer pointed towards one of the corners of the room and yelled, "RUN! RUN! RUN!" while chasing them into a clockwise run around the room.

Many of the students started off in a near sprint. Andrew recognized the boy in the lead as Zach who was remarkably fast. Zack looked back at Mr. Spencer, staring daggers into the man. Andrew carefully set off at a light jog, a pace he knew he could maintain. He was easily at the back of the class with many of the girls who seemed scared and worried. Andrew tried to smile at them in an effort to provide comfort but they sped up to distance themselves from him.

Andrew was quickly passed by Zach who made a "Psssssss" noise as he rushed by laughing.

"What do I have here!" Mr. Spencer was right at Andrews side, yelling in his ear, "I'm sorry, did I interrupt your little stroll through the park. Get them legs up and double time it, boy!"

Andrew remembered Mr. Spencer's command (You will do exactly what I say, when I say it) With a large breath he dug deep and set a faster pace until Mr. Spencer seemed satisfied and found another student to torment.

Sweat quickly formed all over Andrew's body and after only five minutes of running Andrew was struggling for breath. Zack's speed had decreased, but he was still setting a remarkable pace. It didn't prevent him from making snide comments as he passed Andrew. After another five minutes Andrew's heart was pounding and his vision was starting to get hazy; sensing he was about to faint, he reduced his speed until the color started returning to his vision.

Mr. Spencer again appeared at his side, easily keeping pace as he studied Andrew.

"In five minutes, I damn well better see you back up to a respectful speed." Andrew attempted but failed to speak, so he nodded and Mr. Spencer left.

Zach passed him, again making a "Psssss" noise but this time Andrew saw that Zach was starting to struggle as one of his legs seemed to be cramping.

A few minutes later Andrew was still struggling for breath, but his heart had settled and he knew he needed to push his pace back up. He sped up and settled into a pace somewhere between his resting pace and the previous pace that had almost caused him to faint. Many of the students had already given up and were resting in the center of the room watching the survivors wheeze their way around the track.

Andrew had never attempted to run this long. He knew he was jogging and he was doing everything wrong. Watching Zach, he recognized that while Zack was not setting a realistic pace for a forty five minute run, Zack did know how to run. Andrew studied the boy and realized one key thing. Zach's breathing was deep and measured; in for two steps and then out for two steps.

Andrew adopted Zack's breathing pattern and immediately felt a difference and clarity in his vision. His heart was still racing, but it was no longer climbing steadily towards another fainting spell. He wondered if this might be his new resting pace as his pulse seemed to settle into a steady rhythm. Andrew focused on his breathing and making sure that each foot landed in front of the other.

Looking up at the clock, Andrew realized that they had been running for thirty minutes. He felt like he just might be able to do this. Sure, he might not be going fast, but by god he was still in this thing. His confidence rose as he heard from across the room, "Well, I'll be damned! We might have ourselves some adults here after all. Now drop and give me twenty!"

Andrew dropped to the ground, planting his hands in front of him and raising his body up into a perfect plank. He lowered himself down and called out, "One," before slowly and unevenly pushing himself up. Back down, "Two," and this time his arms shook as drops of sweat fell to the floor in front of him. He barely got himself up and his body resisted as he tried to lower himself again.

Down and "Threeeeee," he put all of his strength into getting himself up. His arms shook and tears formed in his eyes as he failed to get more than halfway back up. The next thing Andrew knew his face hit the floor hard sending a loud slapping noise around the gym. Stars filled his vision as he again planted his hands under himself, this time pushing himself up on his knees instead of his feet. Struggling, he managed to get back up.

Down and, "FOUUUUR," he fought to push himself up before his face again smashed into the floor with a resounding thud.

Andrew heard Zack laughing from across the gym over the pounding in his chest and the ringing in his ears. Andrew again battled to push himself up. He was only able to get his chest a few inches from the floor when he again got stuck and was unable to progress any further. As his arms trembled violently, his strength completely failed him and again he collapsed. The thud this time was softer, but still caused Zack's laughter to build.

"I'm sorry, princess. I had no idea that you found me so God damned funny!" Mr. Spencer yelled, standing directly beside Zack. "Since you seem to be the Jack Fucking Lalanne of this class, you won't mind giving me wind sprints from free-throw line to free-throw line."

Zack looked up at Mr. Spencer with a scowl as he stood.

"Did I stutter, princess? I said give me wind sprints!"

Zack walked to the free-throw line while favoring his left leg. Andrew was again struggling pitifully to push himself up. A puddle of sweat had formed beneath him. His arms trembled, threatening to drop him into it.

"Boy, knock that off, you are breaking my fucking heart. I want to see you run, and I mean run these last ten minutes out," Mr. Spencer yelled at Andrew.

Andrew's arms felt worthless, so he rolled to his back where he was able to sit up and get to his feet. He started jogging around the gym at the pace he was using before they did the push-ups. From there, he worked his way up until he was at the pace he had almost fainted at last time. Andrew hoped that the new breathing techniques would enable him to maintain this pace for the ten minutes left on the clock.

Zack's limp was getting really pronounced as Zack struggled to run. Mr. Spencer yelled, "Alright, princess, I want sit-ups."

The only other people still active were two of Zack's friends who were also running around the basketball court. Like Andrew, they were on the verge of losing their balance from exhaustion; unlike Andrew, they were definitely running.

"Boy, I know I said I wanted to see a run, not that Sunday morning stroll bullshit."