Cranky Doodle’s Algebra 1 class was one of the more humdrum classes in CHS as the teacher wasn’t the type to accept lollygagging, mischief, or anything that didn’t involve focusing on the tasks he’d given his students. The slightest hint of tomfoolery would be cause for any culprit and accomplices to be immediately sent to detention, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. So for most students, this was completely dreadful. Especially for someone like Zero Gravity.
Thankfully, Zero didn’t have this class.
His sister, Solar Wind, was currently sitting in the back row as she was taking down notes and doing what she was supposed to do. Unlike her older brother, she wasn’t someone who would typically mess around in class, at least not normally. She always took school seriously and wanted to make sure she could at least avoid getting yelled at by her mother in the middle of a parent-teacher conference in front of everyone like Zero had, and thankfully she’d never gotten in trouble with Mr. Doodle over the semester so far. Nor were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in this period to bother her, so she was absolutely free from her worries.
With the exception of her neighbor.
The boy on her right by the window wore a red, yellow and peach propeller beanie with lime-colored fan blades. He had dark amber skin, bright amber eyes, a light brown jacket and dark blue shorts. On his white T-shirt was a picture of a directional pad from a game controller. Wind only really knew two things about him: that his name was Button Mash, and the fact that he was always fooling around in any class she shared with him. Wind finished the last assignment on her desk and gave a sigh of relief. Quickly growing bored, she peeked over to see what Button was up to today.
Button was currently taking out his action figures, all of which looked quite dirty. If she had to count them, she’d say there were about twenty-five of them altogether. Each of them looked like they’d fallen in a pile of mud or were just recently discovered.
Wind took a moment to think and she recalled seeing Button in the park yesterday while going shopping with her mother. She thought it was a little strange for someone in her age group to be playing with action figures in public like a toddler, but who was she to judge?
Button then reached under his desk and took out a sealed bucket of water from his backpack, making Wind’s eyes widen. He took out several cleaning supplies such as a toothbrush, paper towels, liquid soap, Goo Gone, and a variety of other tools as he lined up everything properly. He put on some rubber gloves and started getting to work by dropping his figurines in the warm water.
Scratching her head in utter bewilderment, Wind gestured for Button to put everything away before Mr. Cranky Doodle saw him. Normally, Button never got in trouble as he was sitting behind Bulk Biceps. According to her brother, Bulk didn’t do well in this class and needed to retake it in order to graduate. And thanks to his large body, it made it difficult for the teacher to see Button. Additionally, the juniors playing baseball outside for gym made it difficult to hear the splashing and brushing noises Button was making.
It’s no wonder he gets away with pretty much anything, Wind thought to herself. Though one could only imagine what his report card actually looks like. Unless he has a way around that too.
Button simply ignored Wind. He knew she wasn’t a tattletail and just continued cleaning his action figures. First, he dropped all of his toys in the bucket and put an hourglass on the desk for five minutes. Once the sand had reach the bottom, Button took out a single toy and started getting to work. He took out a small toothbrush and added some soap to it before brushing away at it gently, using short, even strokes. After taking his time, he examined it from head to toe and even took out a desktop magnifying glass from his bag and did a proper examination. Wind gave up wondering how he managed to fit all the objects in his bag and was more intrigued by how seriously he was taking this. He reminded her of that one old man who cleaned Woody in Toy Story 2. Maybe it was a possible job for him in the future. He could even sell classic action figures at auctions or something.
Eventually, by the second half of the class period, Button had finished cleaning all of his action figures and smiled happily as they looked completely brand new. Wind smiled and did a quiet clap for him, both for making the toys look like they came right out of the box and for not getting caught or drawing suspicion to himself.
But Button wasn’t done yet.
After putting his toys away neatly, he took out a completely different set of cleaning supplies from inside his desk like polishing wax, fast drying putty, distilled water, and so on. He started putting the putty on his desk gently to cover up any nail holes and other imperfections and used the steel scraper to remove the extra putty and let the remaining putty sink into the desk. After a few minutes, he took out his polishing wax and started polishing his desk.
Wind went back to doing her work as she began to lose interest in Button’s clean freak mood. But she felt something shining in her face and winced. She turned to see what it was and saw Button’s desk was completely spotless. The sun even shone off of it and Button could see his own reflection. But despite this, Button looked unhappy. Wind assumed he had nothing left to clean or do now that he finished sooner than she expected.
That’s when Button turned to her and he smiled. He held up his cleaning supplies and offered to clean her desk with an excited smile. But Wind shook her head frantically and covered her desk before he could get his hands on it. She didn’t want to risk Button getting her in trouble, and unlike him, she didn’t have a tall, bulky person in front of her to shield her from Mr. Doodle. Button didn’t take the rejection well and started putting his things away with a frown as he put head down and just kept wiping his polished desk down some more with a rag. Wind started returning to her work once more, but every so often, she’d glance at him. She couldn’t help but have a bit of sympathy for the poor boy. Yes, he should be doing his work and try to get an education, but she felt like she owed him for always relieving her boredom all the time. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t always enjoy his antics after she finished her work in class or on days where the work was tedious—so ninety percent of Mr. Doodle’s classes. So she supposed letting Button clean something to satisfy him wouldn’t be so bad. That and she didn’t want to be charged with animal abuse for not throwing him a bone.
She took out a blue pencil board to use for a better writing surface, something her father gave her from an Eastern client from last week. She didn’t use it much, but she figured Button could do something with it. She passed it to him and his face lit up. He took it and gave her a heart-shaped lollipop. Wind took it and blushed a little before eating it and letting him get to work. After a few short minutes went by with occasional quiet, squeaky cleaning sounds, he slid the pencil board back over to Wind. She picked it up and smiled as she could see her own reflection in the mirror-like shine. She had to hand it to Button Mash, if he ever got a career in cleaning duties or domestic service, she was positive he’d be a great one.
However, Button’s constant rubbing of the board with his rag had caused it to build up static electricity.Once Wind got her hands on the pencil board,Wind’s hair stood straight up into the air. Mr. Doodle finally noticed Wind’s hair and stopped teaching to see what was going on. The rest of the class followed his glance and they all saw Wind trying to put her hair down as she gave an embarrassed blush, mortified at the attention she was drawing to herself. She shot a glare at Button Mash who had put all of his things away and had out his notebook, worksheet, and writing utensils as if he had been working the whole time to fool the rest of the class so Wind couldn’t blame him.
But Button’s hair was also standing up thanks to the static electricity from the board.
Mr. Doodle just told Wind to stop fooling around and eating candy before he went back to teaching. Wind crossed her arms and pouted as she was ready for her turn to lecture Button Mash after class. But she heard Button chuckling a little because of her hair, which she had to admit looked ridiculous. Wind looked at her hair and then at Button’s before she lost her pouty face and giggled along with him.
As Zero was walking down the hallway with Twilight, they walked past Button Mash and Wind, both of them with their hair sticking up. Zero and Twilight stopped to look at them as they were chatting happily. Twilight raised an eyebrow at Zero wondering if he knew something, to which he only replied with a shrug as he was just as confused as she before the two headed off to their next class.