03: The Not So Popular

“Write 230,000,000,000 in scientific notation,” Abigail read the next problem on Knox’s assigned homework. Since meeting up with him at noon as promised they’d only gotten as far as the fifth problem; five out of twenty-five. Abigail had quickly lost patience with the numerous bad jokes and sexual innuendoes continuously spouting from Knox’s mouth.

It was close to 3:00 p.m. and she was ready to get out of there and find a more constructive use of her time. “Easy, 23 x 100!”

“Actually the proper rule is ‘Ax10ⁿ’. ‘A’ represents the real number, in this case 2.3 and 10ⁿ represents the number of times you move the decimal. You count those and place them after the 10 as an exponent. The answer would be 2.3 x 10¹¹.”

“Oh I get it. Give me another one.”

“Write 13,000,000 in scientific notation.”

“1.3 x 10⁷, ha!”

“Not bad. Let’s move on to equations. Evaluate the problem -18 + 4(6 ÷ 2)².”

“Um…” Knox tapped his pencil against the book and squinted as if the answer would somehow magically appear in front of him.

“According to the order of operations we start with the inner brackets so -18 + 4(6 ÷ 2)² = -18 + 4(3)². Next you work the exponents so -18 + 4*9 would become -18 + 36. Then solve for the answer of 18.”

“Huh?”

“Alright it sounds like you need to get the basic rules of order of operation down. So what you have to remember is to solve the stuff in the parentheses first if there are any before moving on to exponents, multiplication, division and the addition and subtraction. Although the last four can be switched sometimes like you can divide before you multiply or add before you subtract. But it’s best you stick to the order.”

“Ok…”

“Do you understand?”

“Sorta…not really,” he grunted as he stared at the words on the page again.

“How about we put this in terms you’ll remember. Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally’?”

“No, I don’t have an Aunt Sally.”

“The phrase is a mnemonic device where each word represents the letters of PEMDAS, the order of operation: parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction.”

“Oh now I get it!”

“Alright you do the next one.”

“30 - 12 ÷ 3 × 2,” Knox read the problem aloud. “Ok so I’d do the multiplication and division first so it’s 12 ÷ 3 × 2 which is 4 × 2, the answer is 8!”

“Keep going,” Abigail prompted, pointing to the first part of the equation.

“Oh right, um the 30 - 8 so the answer is 22?” Abby had to keep from laughing as she watched his lips moving as he calculated the answer on his fingers.

“Great job! Let’s try something else, true or false.”

“Ok.”

“The inequality |x + 1| < 0 has no solution.”

“False.”

“The answer is true. The absolute value of a real expression is either positive or equal to zero. Therefore there is no value of x that makes |x + 1| negative and therefore |x + 1| < 0 is never true. Ok how about this one, the slope of the line 2x + 2y = 2 is equal to 2.”

“False, no true!”

“Knox, you’re just guessing!”

“Well it’s like a 50/50 chance I get it right though. See that, I can do math!” he chuckled and she sighed her grievance.

“Look, if you’re not gonna take this seriously, I can go. I have my own homework to do!” Abigail scolded and started collecting her things.

“No, no wait, you’re right, I’m sorry. I just don’t get this stuff. And I don’t understand why I need this for my major!”

“What’s your major?”

“Phys Ed. I wanna be a football coach,” he grinned and wiggled his eyebrows before chomping the head off a gummy worm. “Now you tell me at what point I’ll need to know why x has suddenly become a 3!”

“Um…” Abigail’s eyebrows rose as she pondered his question, he had a point. But if he expected to remain a member of the West Valley Tech football team, he needed to get his head on straight. The bell tower in the quad rang and she glanced at the time on his laptop. “Ok look, it’s 3:00 p.m. and I have to get some of my own homework done. We made a dent though. At least you were able to wrap your head around a little of this stuff. Next time we’ll tackle linear equations.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Knox nodded and saw Abigail to the door. “Oh hey, when you see Jemma tell her that her little Knoxxy’s waiting to get his head licked,” he made a crude gesture with his tongue and she simply rolled her eyes and started down the hallway to the stairs.

The bell of the elevator chimed and Zach stepped off, just as she disappeared down the first flight. Knox was still at the door as his roommate turned the corner and he gave his friend a small head nod in greeting. “Hey.”

“Hey man! What’s the new batch of students looking like? Any hot chicks?”

“If you find a middle-aged mother of five, a really cranky grandmother and a plus-sized smoker hot, sure,” slipping past Knox whose large form consumed most of the doorway, he stepped into the room and dropped his bag on the floor beside his bed. 

“Depends, did granny still have her teeth or was she all gums?” Knox asked with a sick grin on his face.

“Gross, man,” Zach frowned. Knox shrugged and shut the door before slamming his 6’1” frame onto the bed. “What have you been up to?”

“Oh you know, chilling like a villain waiting for my Bro to get back so we can hit the town. I’m thinking drinks at Joe’s before a little gawking at the mall! I think I need to scope some new talent, get over this hump with Jemma.”

“Right. And five minutes after we get there you’ll be whining for me to bring you home. Sorry, I’m not in the mood to Knox-sit tonight. What’s that smell?” Zach asked, looking towards the door with a hint of a smile. 

“Uh…is it fishy like the half eaten tuna sandwich that’s been sitting on the desk the better part of the day? Or tangy like someone took a piss and let it run down their leg and forgot to wash?”

“Dude! You’re disgusting. Next semester I’m requesting a new roommate. And let me stop you before you find another way to make me gag and say it’s sweet like a fruit basket. Was there somebody here?”

“What? No. Why would you ask that?”

“Because I smell a girl, Knox, who was it?”

“It was no one, geez; I think you’ve been out in the sun too long.”

“Yeah maybe,” Zach sighed and dropped onto the bed and began undoing his shoes. Three months after first experiencing the aroma of orange blossoms and he was still searching for it wherever he went. Maybe it really had worn him down until he thought he smelled it everywhere. Zach fell back into his pillows and closed his eyes thinking back to the New Year’s party. 

The girl had to be someone from the school; Marla wouldn’t have invited some random person. Then again she was pretty popular. It was possible she may have met her while on vacation with her family. Regardless of the probability of never seeing her again, Zach had been persistent in his hunt going as far as to ask Marla if she had any clue about the girl’s identity. Unfortunately for him, she couldn’t even account for half of the people at the party that night.

“Green apples, orange blossoms and emerald eyes,” Zach reminisced over the few things he did know about her. She was a girl capable of bending perception simply by her presence and it drove him crazy that he let her get away. The search seemed hopeless but the fact still remained, he needed to find her.

Abigail walked through the courtyard heading back to her room. A small group of students had gathered near the student union as a member of the council took the stage to make the announcements of upcoming events. She briefly glanced in the direction as she stopped at the vending machine to make a purchase. After the afternoon she had with Knox, her batteries needed recharging. 

And while she would have preferred a White Chocolate Mocha Grande Espresso from the coffee shop at the edge of campus, her time was a bit limited at the moment. She had to get back to her room and grab her photography gear to shoot more scenes for ‘Campus life’ as part of Jemma’s yearbook exposé, finish writing the dissertation for her journalism class, three articles for the West Valley Tech Herald and still had a paper to complete. “And if you’re interested in going on this year’s Academic Field trip, please check out the bulletin board outside the student union or contact your student rep for more information,” the voice announced over the loud speaker.

“Shoot!” she growled aloud and rushed towards the dorm. She found Jemma lying on her bed reading as she flew through the door. “Jemma!”

“Hey, Abs! Why are you so out of breath?”

“The Academic Field trip, I forgot to sign up for it! I have to find my portfolio and submit it to Professor Chauncey for the Herald to join the students this year. Where is it?”

“Relax, Abby,” Jemma laughed watching the girl frantically toss things around her desk. “That’s what you have me for. I turned in the consent form along with your portfolio Monday. We’re already signed up to go.”

“Oh thank goodness.”

“How did the tutoring go?”

“As well as could be expected I suppose. Knox was right he really is bad with math. Teaching him the very basics took up the majority of our time. And I don’t know when he wants to try again but he has his next exam on Wednesday, he has to be ready by then.”

Jemma sighed and moved to the edge of her bed as she listened. The doleful expression on her face changed to expectation as she asked, “Did he ask about me?”

“Nothing I care to repeat. Jemma, what do you see in him anyway?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged and pulled her leg under her, “He’s good to me. Although he may not seem like it, he’s so sweet and he makes me laugh. I guess though the main reason, he’s great in bed. It’s hard finding a guy who knows what you like and is willing to do it, you know?”

“I can’t say that I do,” Abigail frowned and leaned forward on her bed. “That’s the life of the not so popular though.”

“Then a trip to the woods might be just the boost you need!”

“Yeah, great. Maybe I’ll meet a nice, big grizzly bear willing to whisk me away to his den where we could live happily ever after. Oh no don’t worry, he just seems kind of scary and murderous on the outside but really he’s just a mushy, little teddy bear on the inside! Thanks, Jemma. But I don’t expect to find love in the woods.”

“Don’t give in so easily, Abs. You never know what could happen.”

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