The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 03

Glancing to his side Andrew saw the concerned face of the freshman from the previous morning looking back at him.

"No problem man," the kid's proud voice registered as Andrew stabilized beside him.

"How are you doing?" Andrew asked the kid as he continued to catch his breath.

The young teen looked at Andrew with confusion as he said, "Good, things aren't nearly as bad as I thought they might be." Looking back towards the jocks the kid asked, "How about you?"

Andrew stretched his sore back as he said, "Oh, you know, another day in paradise," with a sardonic chuckle. Shouldering his rucksack Andrew asked, "What's your name?"

"Stewart, but my friends call me Stew."

Smiling at the young teen, Andrew said, "Well, Stew, my name's Andrew. I hope things continue going well for you. Thanks again."

As he started to walk away Stewart asked, "Hey man, are you sure you're OK?"

Turning back towards the young teen Andrew smiled while again rubbing his shoulder, "Yeah, small price to pay."

Again, Steward looked confused as Andrew started walking away again.

"Price to pay for what?"

Andrew continued walking with a smile as he stretched his back, glancing around at the many onlookers. Sara may be worth the price, but it didn't mean he had to pay with his own blood. Andrew resolved himself to speak with Mr. Spencer, this couldn't continue.

Arriving in class he was happy to see that Seth was already set up at their table with some wax that he was shaping with care. Many of the other students were already working on projects of their own. Walking to his table he noticed Allison who was molding some clay at the front of the room. She watched him and rolled her eyes with a smile before returning her attention to her project. Setting down his bag Andrew winced as a sharp pain arced across his shoulder.

Seth noticed Andrew cringe for a second and was about to ask him about it when the teacher said, "Mr. Williams, I would like to have a word with you in my office please."

Andrew raised his eyes at his friend, "Sure thing Mrs. Rose, I just need one second and I will be right there." He reached into his rucksack, pulling out Sara's phone and charger. Setting them down on the table he said to Seth, "Take a look at these, I am curious what you think."

Seth nodded and asked, "You OK?"

Waving his hand Andrew dismissed his friends concern as he said, "Yeah, just got jumped by a gorilla again. It'll be fine."

Entering the office he found Mrs. Rose leaning against the front of her desk. The room was filled with paintings and sculptures. Some of them were pretty pleasing while many of them were pretty awful. She waved her hand indicating for Andrew to close the door, and as it latched behind him she sighed while studying him with her careful gaze.

"You know Andrew, I really hope you aren't here because you think this will be an easy grade."

Andrew's face flushed a subtle red. "No, ma'am. I am sorry for leaving early yesterday. It won't happen again, I swear."

The beautiful teacher considered him and his words before responding, "Normally, I try and keep this class free form and self driven. I think for you I am going to require a bit more transparency."

Andrew took a nervous swallow before responding, "OK, yeah, I guess that seems fair."

"Tomorrow, at the beginning of class, I want you to explain to me what medium you plan on using and at least a rough idea of what you are going to create with it."

He could feel his pulse rise, knowing that he still had no idea what he wanted to do. "OK, Mrs. Rose. Tomorrow first thing."

The teacher waved her hand dismissing him. Andrew opened the door and sped out of her office, almost sprinting over to the art supplies. After several minutes he again returned to the table with the small block of pristine clay. Seth had almost taken Sara's phone completely apart, and was looking at the various components in shocked disbelief. Looking at the fused chips and melted wires Andrew was not surprised by what he saw.

"How did she do this?" Seth asked glancing over at Andrew.

"She has no idea. She hooked it up to the charger last night and it was like this today."

Shaking his head Seth said, "There is no way this was from a surge through the charger."

Andrew smiled with excitement. "I know, the amount of power required would have melted the charging cable and prevented most of this damage." He picked up a circuit board and pointed out multiple melted and charred segments between electrical pathways as they both shook their heads.

Taking the microSD card Andrew confirmed that it was damaged beyond recovery. He took the jeweler's screwdriver and started reassembling the phone.

"So what the hell happened then?" Seth asked.

Andrew shook his head and smiled at his friend. "Act of god maybe?" They both laughed before Andrew continued, "The only thing that makes any kind of sense is a MASSIVE E.M.P. The problem with that theory is something powerful enough to cause this much damage would have knocked out power in the entire town."

They both considered Andrew's words while he finished putting the phone back together. Tucking everything back into his bag Andrew waved the screwdriver at Seth and asked, "You just walk around with a jeweler's screwdriver?"

Laughing, Seth shook his head and pointed towards a cupboard in the art supplies area. Andrew walked over and opened a couple of drawers seeing several spools of various gauges of silver wire before he found where the screwdriver belonged. Grabbing some wire he returned to his table and started trying to think of what he wanted to do for this stupid class.

"So are you going to talk about the gorilla attack?"

Andrew again stretched out his back, with a slight wince he said, "No, not really." He looked sideways at the concerned look on his friends face.

"Are you going to ask Sara to do something then? This can't keep happening."

Andrew smiled at his friend. "No, I think this all started because of Sara's intervention with Zack. If I can't solve this on my own I don't think it will ever really go away."

Shaking his head Seth smiled at Andrew and said, "You are one tough fucking kid, I gotta give you that."

Chuckling Andrew responded, "And you are a good friend. Thank you, truly."

Seth gave Andrew's shoulder a gentle and dismissive punch, causing Andrew to wince in pain.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry."

They both laughed at Seth's honest mistake and settled into a more benign conversation.

By the end of class Andrew was smiling at his block of untouched clay and spool of unused silver wire. "Know what you're going to do?" Seth asked with interest.

"I think I do," Andrew said with confidence as he realized class was about to finish. Andrew put his unused supplies away, noticing that Mrs. Rose was shaking her head as she watched him return to his desk. Seth tucked his wax figurine into his art locker before latching the door with a lock.

As the bell rang, Andrew said his farewells to Seth before heading off to the gym to speak with Mr. Spencer. He made his way with careful determination, suspicious and wary with every step. He hoped that the teacher would be willing to help him. His plan to settle things with this new bully hinged on assistance that only Mr. Spencer could provide.