Chapter 94

1:30 p.m. Friday

Andy's exam week turned out to be an effort in monotony. He had expected his Senior Finals to be far more exacting than the midterms he had taken in January.

He had been wrong.

Almost all of his teachers took the path of least resistance, providing an examination that even the worst student could have passed with a little bit of effort.

Even his Advanced Placement classes - for which he received college credit - had offered no challenge. Both he and Elizabeth had finished their Calculus exam in less than an hour - and their Civics exam had barely lasted 40 minutes.

But, for Andy, his final exam was the worst. Contemporary Business Concepts had been a joke from the outset. The textbook was outdated - thus the idea of it being "contemporary" in any form was ludicrous. Andy had learned early on that the teacher wanted simple regurgitation of ideas disproven 20 years earlier rather than spirited discussion about why the ideas were wrong.

The exams in the class consisted of 100 multiple choice questions directly from the textbook and the final was no different. The teacher graded on a curve, so Andy always purposefully missed five questions. The teacher graded the exams by slipping the answer sheet into a clear plastic sleeve with dots over the correct responses. If anything appeared outside of the pre-marked areas, it was wrong.

This time, he didn't even bother with the first five questions. He started at question six and wrapped up the exam in 20 minutes. He took another 10 minutes to check over his answers before walked up and putting it on the teacher's desk.

The woman didn't even look up until she saw the blank spaces for the first five questions.

"Didn't want to wreck the curve," Andy said blithely. The woman frowned and stuck the paper in her answer key. She smiled triumphantly when she hit question 63. She put a big red check mark next to it and continued on.

"Ninety-four," she said smugly. "Looks like you should have only skipped four questions."

"Looks like you should check your answer key," Andy replied as he looked at the paper. "That's in Chapter 88. I just read it right before I came in the door."

"Ninety-four," the teacher said with finality.

Andy shrugged.

"It won't affect me," he said in a low voice. "Once you scale it, it'll be a hundred and we both know it. But it might affect a few of the others. Look at Chapter 88 and see if I'm not right. Hell, drop me down to a 90 if you want. I could have skipped this altogether and still pulled a B."

He walked out the door, leaving the steaming teacher in his wake.

"What a fucking joke," he said loud enough that he was certain the teacher could hear it. He looked at his phone and shook his head. Regan's exams had been a lot more comprehensive than his, covering everything taught in the class and not just the material since the last test. He had spent very little time with her during the week - and none of it alone.

The only chance the couple had to be alone had been on Wednesday night - a "rest day" for exams. That has been pre-empted by Regan's parents inviting Andy's family out to the house for dinner. The meal had extended into game night so Andy and Regan had been forced to be content with spending time with everyone else.

It had been fun - but not as much fun as it would have been if they had been able to play the games that interested them both.

Now, Andy had more time to kill. Regan wouldn't be home from her final exam until at least three. His mother was at work and Evan and Anne had flown to Toronto to meet with potential investors in one of Evan's businesses. He found himself walking down the Foreign Language hallway. He glanced in Mrs. Herrera's classroom and saw several freshmen working diligently on the papers in front of them.

His Spanish exam had taken him almost the entire two hours he'd been allotted. He figured the freshmen were in for the same treatment the following week. He opened the door gently and found Mrs. Herrera sitting at her desk watching the students. She looked toward the open door and gave him a big smile.

"I just came to say goodbye," Andy said softly, using English for one of the rare times in her classroom. "It's truly been a pleasure and I'm going to miss you."

Mrs. Herrera gestured for him to go back into the hallway and she followed him.

"And I will miss you," she said. "Will you continue to study at Stanford?"

"I'm sure I will," Andy said. "And with Esperanza. I won't let what I've learned go to waste."

The teacher's smile widened. She looked down the hallway in each direction and then gave Andy a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"It is never good for a teacher to admit that she has favorites," she said. "But you are one of mine. The other students in Spanish Three and Four come from households where the language is frequently used. They viewed the course as a way to achieve a high grade with little work. You were different. You worked hard and you continued to work long after you were assured of an A for the year. You also scored higher on the exam that many people who have spoken the language since birth. You earned a 97 percent on the translation portion and a perfect mark on the cultural section. I'm very proud of what you've accomplished."

"I had a great teacher," Andy said, blushing at the praise. "In fact, I told some of my friends that you and Mr. Ochs are the best teachers I've ever had. You made the class fun and original. I enjoyed coming to class - and believe me when I tell you that wasn't always the case in other classes."

"I'm glad I could contribute to your education," Mrs. Herrera said. She glanced back into the classroom to ensure that no one was using her absence as an opportunity to cheat.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your class," Andy said. "I was leaving ... I guess for good ... and I wanted to make sure I told you that I think you're great and to thank you for putting in the time to help us learn."

Mrs. Herrera had tears in her eyes when she reached up and patted Andy softly on the cheek. She had been in the educational system for almost 25 years and she could count on one hand the number of students who had bothered to offer thanks. She was still smiling as she watched Andy walk down the hallway and turn to the physical sciences hallway. She hoped that he was going to visit with Don Ochs next. She would imagine that the physics teacher had heard praiseful words far less frequently that she had.

Andy did, indeed, stop in the physics department. Mr. Ochs was in his room by himself with no students to be found. Very few students took anything more than the required science courses at Eisenhower. Despite his skill, Don Ochs spent the majority of his day teaching General Science to kids who only needed a D to graduate - and put forth just that much effort. He was grading his physics exams during his planning period when Andy knocked lightly on the doorframe.

"Ah, Mr. Drayton," the man said in his usual jovial tones. It never ceased to amaze Andy that someone could spend so much time around delinquents and malcontents and still remain happy - but Don Ochs did just that. "I finished grading your exam not five minutes ago. Congratulations."

Andy wasn't sure if the teacher was offering it for finishing school or for doing well on the exam so he simply nodded his thanks.

"I ... I wish I'd taken more classes from you," Andy said. "I got stuck in physics because it was one of the only decent courses offered first period. The guidance counselor put me in here without really talking to me about it. But I learned a lot."

"I hope you learned that you never want to be a physics teacher," Mr. Ochs joked. Andy was never going to win a Nobel Prize for his scientific prowess. He was competent but little more.

"I already had that one pegged," Andy replied, joining his teacher in laughter. "I liked the class even if I did almost cause the universe to collapse in on itself."

"You should have taken me for chemistry," Mr. Ochs said. "We could have had a lot of fun there. Can you imagine some of the things we could have created?"

"Assuming the school actually bought some chemistry supplies," Andy remarked. He had taken the course as a sophomore and budget cuts had meant that actual experiments were few. It was one of the reasons he was so well versed in the theories that plagued Regan.

"For you?" Mr. Ochs said. "I would have paid out of my pocket! It was a joy to have you in class, Andy, particularly the past few weeks. I'm glad you've seemed to find the small portion of the universe that is all your own."

"I have," Andy admitted. "You know, I always looked forward to coming to school because I had you first period and Mrs. Herrera second. I might be the only kid here that dreaded the end of his day more than the start of it."

"Caroline is an excellent teacher," Mr. Ochs said. "She deserves so much better than this school."

"Politics is alive and well even in the educational system," Andy agreed. "I think it's a shame that the school board fell in step with the Mexican-American parents."

"Oh, you know about that?" Mr. Ochs asked.

Andy nodded.

"I lived in a building with a large group of Hispanics," he said. "It was just like she taught us - they came from all over the globe at one point in time. Still, Kennedy's loss is our gain."

"True," Mr. Ochs said with a smile.

"I ... I often wondered why you haven't departed for greener pastures," Andy admitted.

Don Ochs looked at the student for a moment before deciding upon the truth.

"If I leave here, upper level science goes with me," he said. "The administration would dearly love to have physics, advanced chemistry and anatomy go away. The truth is, Andy, it is students such as you and your friend Elizabeth that keep me here. You need these classes - not necessarily for a transcript but to teach you to think. It's the great thing about math and science. It's absolute. There is no gray area. You're right or you're wrong."

"And I was wrong more often than not," Andy said with a laugh.

"The first time you tried something, yes," Mr. Ochs agreed with a smile. "But rarely the second time. Our educational system has gone through a systematic 'dumbing down' process in the past 20 years. A teacher can no longer give constructive criticism without a parent claiming he damaged the child's self-image. We're creating a generation of mediocre thinkers because we are required to spoon-feed them the answers so they feel good about themselves.

"But every now and then, a student like you comes along and makes it all worth it. I could tell from the first day in class that you were never going to be a great scientist - but you had potential to be a great thinker. Now, Miss Pena has the aptitude to be a wonderful scientist. She's what I call a plodder - and if you tell her I said that I'll tell her about all the times I've seen you checking out her bottom!"

Andy couldn't help but laugh and the teacher joined in.

"Yes, that is an idle threat," Mr. Ochs said. "It appears that she is well aware of your lecherous gazes - and probably of mine, too. But, back on topic, Miss Pena has a scientific mind. I can truly see her following her father into the medical field."

"The only problem with that would be those pesky patient confidentiality laws," Andy joked.

"Indeed," Mr. Ochs said with a nod. "It did appear that she likes to be on the cusp of the information cycle."

"First a plodder and now a blabbermouth," Andy said. "You're digging yourself quite a hole."

"Do you recall what I told you at the beginning of the year?" Mr. Ochs asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging," they recited in unison.

"Probably the only lesson from here that I'll actually get to use in the future," Andy replied.

"Lord Above, I certainly hope so," the teacher replied. "The fate of the universe hinges upon you leaving physics in the past."

Andy saw a car he didn't recognize parked in the Rileys' driveway when he pulled his new Kia Sorrento in front of the house.

Regan wouldn't be home for a while but Andy had nothing else to do - and the Rileys always seemed glad to see him.

He rang the doorbell and was surprised when Robert opened it.

"Oh, come in," he said brightly. "Regan isn't here yet but that will let us get the introductions out of the way."