Chapter 160: It's Me! Kevin!
Chapter 160: It's Me! Kevin!
"Are you alright, teacher?"
"Y-Y-Yes. Thank you."
Mark nodded and slowly released her from his grasp as she found her footing once more. Once she was back on her feet, Linda immediately felt embarrassed by her reaction, and she quickly tried to regain her composure.
"Mark, you're late."
"Sorry, the headmaster wanted to talk with me."
"T-That's okay then. Please take your seat."
Mark nodded before making his way to his seat and settling down beside Arit. Arit turned to smile at him, and he just smiled back as he took his book and pen from her. The rest of the class was all staring at Mark like he was some sort of alien, but Mark was just ignoring it expertly.
He looked at Linda and nodded his head at her, and she seemed to also snap out of a daze as she cleared her throat and hit her book on the table twice to get the attention of the other students.
"Please try to pay attention. Let's continue. The reconnaissance era had many artists that…"
The rest of the class was rather uneventful, and Linda could tell that more than half of the class was no longer listening after Mark came in. They were all glancing at Mark and whispering among themselves, and Linda couldn't really do anything about it. She couldn't blame them for their reaction since she was also a little flustered by Mark's presence.
It was like having a movie star walk in and sit down among the other students, they would surely draw a lot of attention.
After some time, Linda left and the next teacher came into the class. They also had a similar reaction to Linda, and it was only their professionalism that prevented them from completely losing it.
By the third period, Arit could tell that Mark was already bored with the classes, and she was not surprised when Mark put his head down on the desk and passed out in the middle of the teacher's explanation of integrals and differentials. Arit elbowed Mark from the side with a frown, but Mark didn't even budge as he continued sleeping.
Arit sighed tiredly as she knew that there was no way he would be waking up anytime soon, so she just took his book and started copying his notes for him along with hers.
Ring!!
"Alright class, that will be all for today. Don't forget to bring your assignments in tomorrow."
The math teacher closed his book once the bell rang to signal the break, and he left the class quickly. The students in the class all quickly stood up and started talking animatedly with each other in groups. Arit turned to Mark and smiled as she rested her head on her table while facing him. She poked his cheek and chuckled as he huffed in annoyance and tried to swat her away like a fly.
"Mark, it's time for lunch. Aren't you hungry?"
"Did you make anything for me?"
"Of course I did."
Mark slowly sat up and yawned as he stretched. His hair was disheveled, and Arit used her hand to cover the small blush on her face as she saw him look around in slight confusion. He looked like a lost puppy. He turned to her and smiled.
"Thanks."
Arit couldn't stop her own smile from spreading as she brought out two flasks and handed one of them to Mark. Arit made rice and spicy tomato stew for them with fried plantains, and Mark could feel his stomach grumble once he smelt the aroma wafting out from the flask. It was extremely spicy, just the way he liked it.
Mark ate quietly while ignoring the murmurs from the class as they talked in their groups. He spoke with Arit about some of the things he missed in the previous classes, and he thanked her when she handed him his book that she jotted in for him.
"Hey, Mark. How you doing?"
Silence.
The entire class went silent as they saw a boy walk up to Mark and greet him in a friendly tone. No one said it, but everyone was watching silently to see what would happen. There was no denying that they all wanted to talk to Mark, but most of the students in the class were hesitant to walk up to him because they had never spoken to Mark before that day.
They all kept their distance from Mark before finding out that he was a superhuman because they thought that he was a delinquent, but now that they knew it was not true, it was difficult for them to just walk up to Mark and start talking to him like they have always known him.
But some people were more daring than others!
The person that spoke to Mark was one of the most popular boys in the class. He was handsome with blond hair, bright green eyes, and a nice smile that would make any girl swoon in his presence.
One of his hands was stretched out to Mark for a handshake, but Mark just stared at the hand for a moment before he turned back to the meal and picked out a diced piece of plantain to eat while ignoring the boy.
The blond boy closed his outstretched hand in embarrassment and pulled it back before putting both hands in his pocket. Mark might have ignored him, but he did not allow that to stop him from asking Mark what he wanted to ask him.
"So, I was really impressed when I saw you on TV the other day. That was an amazing fight." experience-NovelFire-content
Mark sighed.
"Do I know you?"
The boy blinked in surprise.
"I'm Kevin…"
There was no reaction from Mark.
"…We've been in the same class since middle school! Kevin! Kevin!"
Saying it twice wasn't going to help anything. Mark's brow furrowed into a frown as he tried to remember ever knowing a Kevin, but he was not able to remember anyone by that name and he just shrugged.
"Doesn't ring a bell. What do you want?"
Mark's frigid tone was not surprising to anyone in the class. They have always known Mark to be quite antisocial and intense with his words, but Kevin couldn't help but feel a little put off since this was the first time that he would be talking to Mark directly. He turned to look at his group of friends who were standing at the side, and one of them nodded to Kevin as a form of support.
Kevin cleared his throat as he continued talking to Mark with a smile on his face.
"I and some friends are planning to hang out after class. I was just wondering if you'd like to come along."
Mark ran a hand through his hair as he took another spoonful of food, and he groaned internally as he felt the spicy food go down. Oh yeah, nothing beats Arit's food. This amount of pepper would normally be unbearable for a normal person, but for Mark, it was just right. Kevin blinked in surprise, and blinked again after a few moments as he realized that he had been completely ignored by Mark!
Kevin turned to see that Arit was reading through the notes that she jotted down from the earlier class, and Arit jolted as he called her name.
"Arit."
"Eh! Yes, Kevin. Sorry, I wasn't listening. What is it?"
"Well, I was wondering if you and Mark would want to come out with some friends after school."
Kevin was going to use the age-old tactic that has always worked! If the husband is proving difficult, then just go through the wife and have her convince him instead! Kevin has spoken to Arit once or twice since she was the class president, so he knew that she was the sort of person who found it hard to say no when you asked for something nicely.
He was certain that she would agree to come and she would try to convince Mark as well.
But he was surprised when she put her hands together with a sheepish smile on her face.
"Sorry, Kevin. Mark is really tired after that Anima fight from a few days ago. I don't think he has the energy to go out right now."
A sweat traveled down the side of Kevin's face as he heard that excuse! Kevin was very popular, so he was already knowledgeable of all the sorts of excuses people could give when they were asked to hang out! He has even given many excuses as well before and he knew how to work around most excuses to make sure that he still got what he wanted!
But what the hell can you do when someone gives you an excuse like this!? fighting against a Calamity class isn't something that should be spoken about so casually and yet here Arit was, giving it as an excuse as if it was the most normal thing in the world!
Kevin was slowly realising that the Mark he thought he knew and the real Mark were completely different people! Mark lived in a completely different world from the rest of them!