FicWad

" Mr Iero, your punctuality, or extreme lack of it, is really not acceptable. What's the matter with you?" I've barely set foot in the classroom and Mr Nicholson is shrieking at me. I glance at the clock, I'm two minutes late.
"Well? Aren't you going to apologize for waltzing into my classroom late?"
No.
"Sorry I'm late sir..." I mumble and dive for my seat. I'm sat next to Maria, another clone. She makes a point of sitting as far away from me as physically possible every French lesson. It doesn't bother me though, as it means her fake-tan smell is just that bit less powerful.
"Right, now Frank has decided to join us, let's get on with the lesson shall we?" Mr Nicholson says, glaring at me. " Aujourd'hui, nous allons parler de ce que nous voulons faire dans le futur." Oh great, we're going to have to talk about jobs. I look around at my classmates, this should be fun to listen to. I open my planner and get ready to start counting how many say "footballer" or "celebrity".
"Chris, qu'est-ce que tu veux faire comme travail?"
"uuhhh..." Great start Chris. I stifle a giggle and look at him. " Je voudrais....uhh...uhh ... être... un footballeur de Premier League."
" Very good Chris!" the teacher writes down Chris' "imaginative" answer on the board, then scans the room for another unwilling example. He picks Maria, "Maria, qu'est-ce que tu veux faire comme travail?" I have to practically bit my lips off and look down at the desk to stop myself from bursting out laughing at the look of sheer terror on her face.
" Mr Iero, what is so funny?" Oh shit. I look up to see the whole class staring at me, including a very pissed off french teacher. " Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire comme travail, Frank?" He asks, slowly crossing the classroom and hovering over me. I hear giggles around me and my face turns an unattractive shade of pink. " Je veux être dans un groupe rock..." I say. I see the traces of a smile flash across the teachers face, and I know he's desperately trying not to laugh too. " Very good Frank. You see, you know what you're doing when you pay attention. That's your last warning." he replies. His voice cracks, and he turns away from me and goes back to the board. Someone behind me whispers " Yeah right, as if Frank would ever get into a rock band. Seriously, how stupid can you get?" Anger makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but I can't say anything back. It is a ridiculous dream. I slump down in my seat, feeling foolish and stupid. Mr Nicholson continues to write stuff on the board, asking each of us to give an example of what we want to do in the future. As I guessed, about 99% of them are celebrity , footballer and the occasional dentist from the nerdier members of the class. I zone out after about the fifth answer, twiddling my pen on my sheet of paper.
" Grâce, que voulez-vous faire?" I look up sharply. Did he just say Grace? My eye sweeps over the small room, and I spot her, front row. She's sat next to Rob, yet another brainless popular guy. I've never even noticed she was in my french class, I thought she was a new girl the other day. "Je voudrais être dans un groupe de rock car la musique est tout pour moi" she reads from her sheet of paper where she'd written her answer. She's wearing glasses today, black ones with RedorDead printed on the side.
" Excellent Grace! That is a very descriptive and imaginative answer." Mr N says, although he has the same look on his face as he did when I answered.
" What did she say?" Rob mumbles, looking at Grace as if she were dog crap. What an A-hole. Grace rolls her eyes at him, " I said I want to be in a rock band because music is everything to me, you dimwit." Wow, she was awesome! I can't help smiling, and she turns and smiles back at me. " Ooooh, well pardon me! Just because you're amazing at french..." Rob says in a high-pitched, squeaky voice. The class giggles at her answer. Grace simply rolls her eyes at them again and goes back to writing down the excersise from our textbooks onto her paper.

The bell rings and everyone stuffs their french files and pencil cases into their bags, ready to charge off to activity period. This is where I normally find some corner in the quad, shove my headphones in and try not to get stuff thrown at me, but not today. As I leave the class room I feel a tap on the back. I turn my head to see Grace behind me. " Hi!" She flicks her hair out of her face, making her long ponytail swish down her back. " What you doing this activity?"
" Nothing actually." Oh my god, someone actually wants to spend time with me...
" Want to come and chill in the music room with me? Mr Harrison is my form tutor, he lets me in there all the time." She pushes her glasses further up her nose.
" Sure..." I hesitate, is she winding me up?
"Come on then!" She sets off in the direction of the music department and I follow her. Well, this makes a change from being alone.