Chapter 16: Class Anomaly
Alexander set aside everything else after the teacher started the morning greetings and attendances.
He had no time to reminisce about how this certain teacher gave him good grades or comment about the dullness of the grade-level lessons.
His pencil was focused on the paper on his desk as he drew a kitted DeLorean with its car door opened upwards.
He was not the Alex who drew doodles to remember his mother's fondness of art but the Alexander who had an ample amount of time to improve his art to greater levels.
If young Alex can draw a shoddy Fred Flinstone, then this Alexander can somewhat rival Kim Jung Gi in mastery but not in the craziness.
Anyone familiar with drawing levels can say that Alexander just jumped from beginner to master within a matter of days.
The jerkiness in his pencil strokes are noticeable though as he is used to adult hands and not the kid hands he has today.
It wasn't all downside though as the young hands were more dexterous and quick on their deviations.
Alexander's DeLorean was as detailed as it can be with faulty refitting being noticeable as if it was made by a subpar engineer with an incredibly low budget.
Albeit, it was only half of the car as something else would fill most of the page.
The weirdly upward opened door must have someone either entering or leaving it, so that was next on Alexander's agenda.
He drew a cool jacketed teen with cool shades raised up his head as he looked with shock towards his wristwatch.
The style was of Western animation to make the shocked face hover in between Broderick, Fox, or Reeves.
All that was left was the lettering of the title with Back to the Future being fonted as how he remembered it.
One of the things that stood out in his memories from this classic film trilogy was the posters after all.
Alexander then flashed out his Faber-Castell color pencils and colored his artwork.
He didn't opt to color the entire page though as he felt it was a waste with the bond paper being spacious as it is.
While the rest of the class was reciting what the teacher had written on the board, Alexander reviewed what he had done and gave a nod of approval.
He felt that it was alright for something that was done within an hour. It wasn't overly detailed but just enough for the timeframe and overall image he wanted to convey.
He didn't care for the odd looks that the kid beside him was giving or the stern glare of his teacher.
He simply kept the finished artwork among the folder for safekeeping and chose to bring out another paper to draw the next ones.
In the same manner as last time, he drew half of an upward opened car, drew the passenger, drew the title, and colored most of what should be colored.
This time, the car had obvious modifications with its wheel turning downwards and emitting white shades of color to emulate propulsion.
He did his best with color blending given that color pencils aren't really the best things to work with.
The hip teen had a new outfit but besides him is an old man who was having a shocked expression on his face as they looked at each of their wristwatches.
Back to the Future II was fonted in a cool and customed way.
At this point, lesson breaks and a bit of recess were happening but Alexander didn't pay much attention to that as he moved on to the next art he would be working on.
The DeLorean was drawn first once again with the characters, title, and color on successive completion.
Back to the Future III was clear to see and there was now a trio of shocked characters.
They each had a wild west vibe with a lady being the addition. The boys held up their cowboy hats with their wristwatches changed to a handheld one appropriate for the wild west era.
Alexander finally cooled down on his artistic drive as he kept his artworks and returned his attention to his surrounding.
He could tell that most of his classmates were turning themselves to him from time to time. It somehow helped his case that his seat was somewhat in the back end of things.
What gave him some trouble though was how some kids in the front couldn't help themselves but turn their attention to his direction.
--------
Before Alexander could make sense of everything, the teacher who had enough of his mourning boy antics.
"It looks like Alexander is done with his side project." The lady teacher smiled and explain while something told Alexander that her smile meant something else.
"I'm sorry Miss Hansen." He still inadvertently apologized for the awkwardness of being called out. He was an adult on the inside but student responsibilities still got to him.
"Well, since you aren't too busy now. Can you tell me what is 43 plus 8?" The teacher, Miss Hansen, suddenly asked without warning and Alexander realized that he was in a cliche situation where the teacher would triumphantly embarrass the troublesome student.
It was too bad for her that Alexander wasn't any other cliche student to mess with.
"I think the answer should be 51, Miss Hansen." He stood up to answer like a good student and even gave a phrased calculation. "43 plus 8 equals 51."
"Correct." Miss Hansen was stumped by his quick and correct answer but she didn't stop yet. "What is 77 plus 22?"
"I believe 77 plus 22 equal to 99, Miss Hansen." Alexander gave a nod of affirmation to his answer.
His classmates look at him with weirdness while Miss Hansen sounded ticked as she hesitantly said. "That is correct again."
Not satisfied with the result of her failed derogation, Miss Hansen asked again before the boy could take his seat. "Since you are such a genius, Alexander. Can you tell me what is 3 times 4?"
Alexander knew that it was a trap so he stopped his cheekiness while everything was still salvageable. "12."
"Oh!" Miss Hansen narrowed her eyes for her clincher. "What is 127 times 44?"
"I don't know." Alexander answered with this, hoping to not escalate things any further. He did know the answer but he did not want to come up as an advanced calculator and be drafted as a budding Mathlete.
"Hmm. Not so genius now are you? Sit down and don't ever disrupt my class again." Miss Hansen was finally satisfied with his answer and let him go. She didn't pile on him much as she turned her attention back to the confused students with a triumphant smile. "Let's carry on with math then so you would know what I just asked him."
Alexander just slumped back to his seat and tried to be inconspicuous. He didn't need to care for the teacher's selfish vanity to establish her authority as he successfully dodged a Gifted movie moment.
His grandfather wasn't Chris Evans and he didn't have the abnormality to try and solve a Millenium Prize Problem.
He just wanted to cement himself as a drawing enthusiast before he could attract unnecessary attention and have his skulls opened up for study. In any case, Alexander would steer into the skid as a class anomaly and make them think that he is just too invested in art.