Chương 18: Poking and Prodding

Trisha Atwood. A major fixture among Ridgeview High's elite. Even as a freshman, she managed to quickly carve out a spot among the popular crowd and establish herself as a central pillar of the school's social scene. A level of dominance that seemed as though it would carry her through graduation and even beyond—until it suddenly didn't. At least, that's how the rumors had made it sound. But Olivia had never met the girl in person. Not that she remembered, at least.

She only vaguely recalled what she looked like, being more of a folktale than an actual person in her mind. Even now, standing before her, it was only that vague feeling of familiarity that made Olivia think it was the right person. I didn't realize we shared a class. Then again, it still could be a different girl. I could be misremembering. Olivia surreptitiously glanced at the girl's stomach despite herself. But the cheerleader was just as thin as one would expect.

It made sense, given that the whole pregnancy scandal hadn't taken the school by storm until sophomore year. That's when she'd apparently dropped out, disappearing from the public eye and resurfacing only in rumors and speculation. It was such a huge deal that even Olivia hadn't been able to escape the drama.

"Oh gosh, don't get all weird about it," Trisha giggled.

"I don't bite, promise!" It was at that point that Olivia realized she was staring.

"Sorry. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too…?" She arched an eyebrow expectantly.

"Olivia," she supplied. For a moment, she was grateful that quiet and awkward was exactly the impression she was going for.

"Olivia. Cool!" The cheerleader beamed.

"Do you think you can draw me next?" She cocked her head in confusion. Was this what the girl really wanted? A portrait? Or was there more to it?

"I mean… I could. Do you really want me to, though? I'm not that good." Olivia's attempt to downplay her skill was met with a scoff.

"Pssh.

'Not that good.' Girl, are you seeing the same thing I am?" Trisha nodded meaningfully to the picture of George on the desk. Olivia did have to admit, it looked dang good. There was still plenty of room for improvement, of course, but even a week of practice had done wonders. It helped that she had plenty of time to hone her craft.

"... All right." Olivia agreed with a nod. As unexpected as this was, the situation was staring her in the face now. And old Olivia certainly wouldn't have mustered up the spine to turn down such a request.

"It might take me a few days, though." Trisha clapped her hands with delight.

"Awesome! I'm looking forward to it. If you need me to, like, model or something, let me know, ok?" With that, the girl waved goodbye and strolled off to join a group of gossiping girls. Olivia just shook her head. It was textbook popular girl behavior. Approach a shy kid, overwhelm them with sheer confidence and force of presence, and go in for the kill while they were stunned. It wasn't particularly subtle—most of the manipulations she'd seen from her "fellow" high schoolers hadn't been so far.

Though the girl had come off surprisingly genuine. Still, it wasn't like she had much better to do. Why not? Maybe drawing someone else for a change might take her mind off things, if only for a little bit. And maybe branching out would help her to refine her skills further. With a small sigh, Olivia bent over her son's picture once again. She had a few more adjustments to make. Then, she'd work on Trisha's picture.

"There are seven different taxonomic ranks in total, with species as the least inclusive and kingdom as the most." Mr. Ambrose began writing them all out on the board.

"A species is extremely specific, down to this particular type of snaggletoothed cave fish, while kingdoms… Not so much.

"There's only six of them. Bacteria, which are… bacteria. Fungi. Animalia and Plantae, which is you, your dog, and pretty much every plant or animal you've ever thought about or seen. Protista, which are the special little snowflakes that don't fit into the last three—moss, kelp, mold, things like that. And there's Archaea, which are kind of like bacteria except not at all. We'll get into those last two a bit more when we cover prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

"Now, you can remember the order of the different ranks with a clever mnemonic—King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti." Mr. Ambrose wrote each word out on the board beside the corresponding taxonomic term.

"But really, are you guys gonna remember that? I don't. Instead, I use this simple and easy-to-remember abbreviation— sgfocpk!" The man pronounced the mishmash of letters as though he were spitting or swearing in some foreign language, much to the amusement of the class. Olivia couldn't help but smile along with them. The man was right. She did remember that abbreviation, even now. She'd even gone so far as to teach it to her own students during college.

Despite their initial disbelief, she fondly remembered a few TA reviews that even mentioned it like some sort of inside joke. Although… wasn't there a "d" as well? For sgfocpkd? What happened to domain?

"Rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?" Mr. Ambrose grinned.

"Now! How you remember the order doesn't matter to me. What does matter is that it manages to worm its way into your brain somehow. Because I guarantee it'll be on the test…" Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The biology teacher continued to lecture about some of the more antiquated systems of taxonomical classification and how, shockingly, just because dragonflies and bats and birds all had wings did not mean they were even remotely related. Olivia listened intently.

While much of the material was basic stuff that she already knew, there were some details and concepts that she hadn't thought about since this class. High school biology covered a much more broad range of topics than her Cellular Biology degree had. Fortunately, it didn't cover them with enough depth to really give her trouble yet. Instead, most of her focus went towards analyzing his teaching techniques. He knows his stuff, obviously. But it's more than that.

His own legitimate enthusiasm is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. He keeps things entertaining, asking questions to make it feel like a back-and-forth instead of just a lecture. Even if he doesn't get responses, it makes you think about the answer without even realizing it. Clever. The man's great sense of humor also helped, of course. But it was far from the only thing he had going for him, even if it was the one that most kids seemed to remember. Although I really am curious about the domain thing.

And where do viruses and viroids fit into that structure? To be fair, whether or not they even count as "alive" is still up for debate, last I checked, but… Wait, have viroids even been discovered yet? A soft snore interrupted Olivia's thoughts. A quick glance to the side confirmed what she'd already suspected—her neighbor was fast asleep, using his backpack as what had to be the world's least comfortable pillow. At the very least it was in the running.

But that was clearly no deterrent to the pale teen's ambitions. It's fourth period—we're over halfway through the day. How is he still this tired? Or maybe he's fine for the first three classes and just uses this one to get a good nap in? She was still wondering about the logistics of the boy's sleep schedule when Mr. Ambrose turned to regard the class.

"All right. Now, even though I'm certain that none of you will forget a single moment of that riveting discussion, let me reinforce a few points for you." His voice dropped to a whisper.

"That means you should write this down. Hint, hint." There came a general rustling as the students who hadn't already been taking notes dug in their bags for paper. Those who had also flipped to a new page in anticipation of the announcement. Olivia did the same, less out of necessity and more to simply continue blending in. Yet to her surprise, Mr. Ambrose's gaze locked on to her. Before she could wonder whether the eye contact was chance or the man had seen through her act, she got her answer.

He subtly flicked his eyes toward Olivia's neighbor, then back to her. She grimaced. What he was asking for was clear. But she really had no desire to bother the boy. And Mr. Ambrose had never seemed put off by his dozing off before. Besides, if he wanted him awake, wasn't it the teacher's job to wake him? A questioning raise of her eyebrows communicated all of this back to Mr.

Ambrose, whose meaningful glance toward the long aisle indicated that doing it himself would both take longer and call far more attention to both of them—not ideal, if she was looking to avoid embarrassment. Though he did spare an ominously thoughtful look for the baseball on his desk. Olivia glanced at her pale faced neighbor once again and sighed with resignation. Before her biology teacher could get any ideas—or worse, act on them—Olivia reached over and gave the boy a quick poke in the ribs.

His snoring cut off abruptly. His head rose, then the rest of his body, ratty black hoodie laboriously separating from the matching backpack as though the two were undergoing cell division. His hood fell back to reveal half-lidded eyes blinking slowly. Huh. I half expected that he would keep sleeping. The boy took a long moment to pull himself out of whatever mire of dreams he'd been swimming in. Then, his head slowly swiveled to face Olivia.

"Wuh?" His voice was surprisingly deep, yet also thick. As though he were trying to speak with a bubble in his throat—which, to be fair, may well have been the case. Rather than try and pretend that she, as the only one around, hadn't been responsible for waking him, Olivia decided to answer.

"Mr. Ambrose is giving hints for the test. Thought you might find it useful." Mr. Ambrose gave her a subtle nod of approval, then began as if on cue.

"So! First thing's first—make sure you know the different taxonomy ranks. Again, don't care how you do it, just know them. Also how we define species as separate from one another. Another big one is…" The boy watched their teacher for a long moment as though processing. Then, with a sleepy nod, he mechanically retrieved a piece of paper and a pencil. She continued to listen as her teacher went on, detailing exactly what kinds of information to focus on for the test.

She wrote down a couple of things, just to fix them in her mind, but for the most part didn't bother. Even in her last life, she'd rarely referenced her notes or studied them. It hadn't been necessary, except for in a few classes. Her neighbor managed to stay awake throughout, his pencil scrawling down whatever was on the board word for word. As soon as Mr. Ambrose was done, however, his head fell right back to his makeshift pillow for the last few minutes of class.

He fell asleep instantly, heedless of the loud conversations between their classmates as they waited for the bell. Mr. Ambrose even joined in, offering a story from his life that elicited a round of loud laughter. Man, this kid is lucky. I wish I could fall asleep like that. It would've made the kids' newborn phases so much easier. Olivia went back to her drawing until the bell released them to lunch, rousing the sleepy boy in the process.

She watched him stumble toward the door, doubtless headed to find another nap spot after getting in a few quick bites. Well, assuming he kept himself awake long enough to eat. Reminds me of Jason when his sleep schedule gets really off. Though he's never shown his tiredness nearly that much. I wonder if he's got insomnia as well? Setting her curiosity aside, Olivia shouldered her own backpack and headed for the door. But before leaving, she couldn't help but stop by her teacher's desk.

"Hey, Mr. Ambrose?"

"Hmm?" The man looked back from where he was erasing the board.

"Oh! Olivia! What can I do for you? Thanks for your help, by the way. Hopefully Luke appreciated your efforts. Luke. That's his name. She'd heard it during attendance, but made an effort to file it away now.

"Sure. I just wanted to ask… Are there really only seven taxa? I thought there was an eighth." The man's eyes lit up as he snapped his fingers.

"Right you are! There is, in fact, a secret eighth rank that I didn't tell you about! It's pretty new, not even twenty years old, so it's not the most widely accepted yet. And considering how long textbooks take to catch up with current science… well, I suppose I'll be retiring before they add that one to the curriculum. So worry not! I'm lying to you with a purpose." She couldn't help but chuckle.

"I see. Thank you. I was just curious."

"Of course! Ask away anytime." He struck a dramatic pose.

"What is a teacher, if not a wellspring of knowledge from which students may sate their thirst?" Shaking her head at the man's antics, Olivia bid him goodbye and left. She had about half an hour to eat and explore before PE. And if what they'd said last week was true, today would finally have them exercising and participating in sports as the class intended. Or, in her case, trying to participate. Olivia smiled grimly. Time to relive one of my favorite pastimes—failing at sports.