Jack hustled toward the building. He’d never had a class in Allen Hall. He never thought he would. It was his own fault for waiting too long to register for something else.
The football program could have pulled strings for him. He didn’t want any favors, not after they yanked the rung out from under him with only one season left. Even if they owed him for what Larry Connors had done, Jack had no interest in collecting.
He checked the directory inside the main doors for the location of the lecture hall. He took the stairs. He checked his phone. He wasn’t late, but he was cutting it close.
Jack pushed on the double doors. A flurry of eyes looked his way. Those who recognized him seemed surprised by his presence.
He looked through the gaps in the rows for a good place to sit. He saw Lonnie in the left corner of the third row. He had three empty seats next to him. Jack’s feet carried him in Lonnie’s direction before Jack’s brain could redirect them.
Lonnie stared at Jack with every step. He pulled in his knees, allowing Jack to squeeze past.
Jack sat next to Lonnie. He turned his face back to his phone.
“There’s another one next to you,” Lonnie said.
Jack smiled. “You don’t want me sitting here?”
“I’m just stating facts.”
“We’re teammates.”
“You don’t like me, Jack.”
“We’re still teammates.”
Lonnie shook his head. “Why are you in a freshman class?”
“I take the classes I can get into.”
“What’s your major?”
“Not physics.”
Lonnie looked at him. “There’s got to be easier electives.”
Jack shrugged. “They were full.”
“So? We’re on the football team.”
“I decided to give this a try. I can always change classes. I’m learning a lot about change. I’m even working on my left-handed pass.”
Lonnie turned back to his phone. “How many of our conversations are going to come back to that?”
“It depends on how many conversations we have.”
The door opened again. The sound drew Jack’s attention. An older woman entered, with long white hair and glasses. The room became quieter as she moved toward the desk at the front of the room.
“This is good,” Jack said. “The teacher is a grandma. Grandmas like me.”
“Are you saying you like grandmas?”
A cough from Carolyn made the murmur slip to silence.
Jack winked at Lonnie. “I like grandmas more than I like you.”
Lonnie nudged an elbow into Jack’s arm. Lonnie nodded forward. Jack’s face pivoted. She was watching them, waiting for Jack and Lonnie to join the rest of the students in directing their attention to her.
She continued to watch them, after they had complied.
“What’s her deal?” Jack mumbled from the corner of his mouth.
Lonnie put his hand under his nose. “Maybe not all grandmas like you.”
She kept staring. Lonnie put his hand back in his lap.
“The course is Introduction to Physics I,” she said, speaking directly to them at first before stepping back to address the rest of the class. “It is as basic as it gets. I give you my word: I will not short-circuit your brains. I will defer to your cellular devices for that.”
Laughter rolled through the room. Jack liked the way she fought back a smile.
“I have been teaching here for more than fifty years,” she said. “I will not divulge my age, but I will share one fact with you. I survived polio, before Jonas Salk developed his vaccine at this very institution.”
“She must be a hundred,” Jack whispered.
“Shut up,” Lonnie said through lips that didn’t move.
“This is one of three classes I currently teach. The others are Basic Physics for Science and Engineering I, which has been known to short-circuit more than a few brains, and Physics and Science Fiction, which if nothing else will help you identify the many failures of TV, film, and popular culture to accurately depict the way things truly work.”
“I should have signed up for that one,” Jack said to Lonnie.
Carolyn’s head jerked toward Jack. “Sir? Do you have a question?”
He pointed a thumb at Lonnie. “I was just saying something to him.”
“As was I,” she said.
Jack’s thumb drooped. “Excuse me?”
“Did you just belch?” she said.
“I—no.”
“Then you are not excused. I was speaking to the young man to your right, and to the rest of the students who have registered for this class and who have chosen to show up for its first session. If you have something to say to him or to anyone else in this room for the next fifty minutes, I suggest you wait fifty-one minutes to do so.”
Some of the others laughed at that. When her head snapped in their direction, it stopped instantly.
She removed her glasses and looked at Jack again. “Sir, are we clear?”
“I’m sorry,” Jack said.
“I did not ask for an apology. I asked you, ‘Are we clear?’”
Jack shook his head and muttered to Lonnie. “She should have been a football coach.”
“Excuse me?” she said.
Jack smiled at her. “Did you just belch?”
The laughter returned. She allowed it. This time, she didn’t try to suppress her smile.
“I walked into that one,” she said. “But I will caution you here and now. Charm will only get you so far in this world. And it will get you nowhere in this classroom, other than potentially being removed from it without warning.”