Ted: Part 4

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If it's possible to hate someone more just by looking at their house...then that's what happened when I stepped in Johan's place. It was small first off. It was dim and there was a flickering light. The colors of the walls were so plain and they had a scratchy carpet. 5 children were running around. I felt cramped in my own house and there was only 4 of us plus our help. But 8 people living in this hobbit hole?

"Yeah come on in." Johan said when he opened the door. "I would usually say 'mi casa es su casa'  but you're not really welcome here." He turned his back and walked toward the stairs. I could have strangled him then and there. I followed him up the stairs and cursed when my foot sank down on a loose step. "Watch out for the loose step." He called carelessly.

'Keep your cool.' I told myself.

"I must ask you to refrain from using foul language here, as you can see there are children." Johan muttered just as three of the kids ran past and into one of the upstairs rooms. He rolled his eyes and walked into the room. "Out!" He called.

"Aw but Jojo!" They chorused.

"Out!" He said again.

"But we know you have candy! Mom won't let us have any! How come you can?!" Said the smallest of the three.

"Because I'm mature and I don't run around like a lunatic when I have it. Now get out before I call your mom in here."

They frowned and walked toward the door. I moved aside to let them out.

"Are you one of Johan's friends? One of them stopped and asked me.

"No." I said.

"Then why are you here?" Another asked.

"Out!" Johan yelled.

I could swear the small one gave me the evil eye as they walked out.

Johan sat down on his bed in a huff and pointed to a desk chair. "Sit there."

I hated being ordered around-no less by a nerd- but I composed myself and walked to it. Just as I sat down the door burst open.

"Johan!" A woman said she looked to be in her late 30's with a stern but kind gaze. She was tall and definitely Latina. She looked nothing like Johan.

"Amie." Was all he said.

"What's with all the screaming?"

"Maxine, Leanne, and Tina were bouncing all over my room looking for candy.".

"Well calm them down. Put on a movie or something."

"Why can't you? I'm trying to...."

She cut him off with a look. "I'm busy with stuff."

"Alright I get it." He put down his textbook and got up.

The woman looked at me. "Sorry for the distraction." Then she turned and left. I sat thoroughly annoyed at the constant distractions. I just wanted to get this dumb project over with.

Johan left the room calling "don't touch anything" over his shoulder. I rolled my eyes and sat back in the desk chair. I looked around and my eyes fell on a small framed photo of a woman with dark black hair and green eyes. She was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower with a little boy who looked almost identical. With a start I realized that must be Johan and his mom. So he must be adopted. I was in this thought when he walked back in the room.

"I thought I told you not to touch anything!" He snatched the picture from my hand and placed it on top of his bookshelf. I strained from rolling my eyes again and picked up my chemistry book mentally scolding myself. I don't care who that woman is or why Johan was adopted. Maybe she died or couldn't take care of him anymore....

"Are you paying attention?" His voice cut through my thoughts.

"What?" I asked, refocusing on my book.

Johan sighed. "I asked you what you want to do for the project?"

"I don't know, I'm not good with ideas." I said waving him off. He muttered something under his breath and I bit my tongue to keep from yelling at him. "What about something to do with chemical changes?" I asked. It was the only really interesting topic in chemistry.

"That's so trivial." He said like I was stupid. I felt my blood boiling. This nerd was testing my patience.

"At least I'm trying to think of something, nerd." I said and continued flipping through pages of the book.

"Alright. Sorry. We'll go with a chemical change." He said impishly.

I ignored him but turned to the section in the chemistry book on chemical changes. I was about to ask about what kind of change we should do for the project when he called my name.

"Ted?" His voice sounded so soft I was compelled to instantly look up against my own will.

"What?" I asked. My voice sounded harsh and hard compared to his and I was glad for it. It took my thoughts away from how he said my name. Thoughts that should not be there, thoughts that were disturbing me...

"About what happened..." He began.

"No." That's where I drew the line. "That never happened. Don't ever bring that up to me again." I closed my book and stood up. "Think of a freaking idea and we can go from there." I stalked out of the room and down the stairs hitting my foot again on the loose step. I cursed under my breath and hurried out to my car. The harsh cold wind was biting at me but I shook it off and slid into the warm interior of my car. I started it up and drove home with my mind in the questions I was burning to ask. What happened to his mother, why was he adopted, why was he such a nerd, why does he always tolerate it.
I don't know why I wanted to know these things but once I got something in my head I never let it go.
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I looked up from the clock in French just as the bell rang for lunch. I stepped outside the classroom and was immediately swarmed by Jake and those annoying wannabes that follow me around. Jake threw an arm over my shoulder which I thought might have been difficult since I'm so much taller than him. I like Jake, he's a cool dude but right now I just wanted to punch him. Or, no, I wanted to punch everybody. I was in such a bad mood after yesterday that I almost yelled at Mayrse. I, of course, apologized profoundly.

"Earth to Ted." Jake was saying, then proceeded to wave a hand in front of my face.

"What?" I asked, shoving his hand away pretty annoyed.

"You've been staring at that nerd over there since we sat down. Jake said indicating to the table we were at. I didn't even realize we sat down. I knew Jake would drag it out so I said the first this that came to my mind.

"I'm trying to think of the best way to beat him up. I gotta change it up. Ted Baxter isn't repetitive." I winced at my own words. I didn't know anyone could be as big of an ass hole as I am. I don't know why I was feeling bad for the nerd but I was. I wanted to stop but I couldn't.

"Hey man!" Jake was now snapping his fingers under my nose. "Stop zoning out dude."

I rolled my eyes at him but tried to keep my mind on the present moment.
Half an hour later I found myself on my way to Chemistry with no recollection on the previous hour.

"Hey," Jake nudged me and pointed towards the lockers. "There he is." He pointed over to where Johan was standing hurriedly shoving books in his locker. I felt everyone staring at me and would usually give it to them by tossing him too the floor but today I walked straight past him and sat at my lab table without a word. I saw Jake walk past the shaking his head and knew I would have to deal with him later.

Class began and straight away and the teacher said "please sit with your Science Fair partner."

Today was just not my day.

He sat next to me and mumbled out a hello which I didn't return. Today was apparently dedicated to just project research so I pulled out my laptop and started silently researching the idea Johan came up with yesterday.

"I'll work on the first ten questions and you can work on the second ten." He said indicating to the paper the teacher passed out. I didn't say anything but I looked at the questions and pulled up Google. I heard him sigh and rolled my eyes just waiting for the bell to go off. It went like that for the rest of the class and when it was done I couldn't be happier to leave. I headed off to Physical Education and into the locker rooms where Jake was waiting. What the heck was that about man you could have done some serious damage!"

"I wasn't in the mood Jake." I said while changing out.

"What happened to 'I'm trying too think of the best way to beat him up'" Jake asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and walked past him out to the gym area and over to the weights. I started lifting like I normally did during that class completely ignoring Jake who went to some other friends after staring at me for a minute like I was crazy. I used to be super cool with Jake, we used to hang out all the time but just lately I always feel like I want to be alone, and Jake's constant upbeat mood was driving me crazy. I shook my head to try and clear my thoughts.

Stop being so flipping weird I told myself. I was so lost in thought I almost dropped one of the weights on my foot. Everyone was looking at me so weird when the dumbbell hit the floor. I picked it up then chastised myself again. I've been spacing out so much and I needed to chill out. I took a deep breath to calm myself and continued lifting.

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