Outnumbered (eBook)

Malou Theisen (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
248 Seiten
novum publishing (Verlag)
978-1-64268-690-6 (ISBN)

Infos

17-year-old Kai likes going to school. Not only because he can expand his knowledge in his favorite subject, math, but also because of his best friends Peter and Trina. When the three of them find themselves at the mercy of a teacher one day, they realize that they have to take action. Abandoned by the school administration and their trusted teacher, the class grows even closer together and tries to make itself heard with the facts. However, when the incident repeats itself, Kai knows that he will not remain silent this time and finds his own way to process what has happened - while at the same time holding up a mirror to the school administration.

Textauszug

Chapter 2

Over the course of the afternoon, Kai's condition gradually improved; he had slept through most of it. In the evening, he sat on the sofa in his bathrobe and watched TV. He didn't catch much of the program as he still felt tired and exhausted. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to go to school the next day. This caused some difficulties: he didn't have a doctor's note and would therefore have to take the maths test. But that wasn't actually possible, as he had dropped out of the last lesson before the exam. In such cases, the school's rules stipulated that the exam had to be re-written. That would mean more work for his teacher, who would then have to put together two tests on the same subject. Kai was sure that the re-test would be a lot harder. He slumped sideways on the sofa, laid his aching head on a cool pillow and closed his eyes. Then there was also the matter of Paula. He hadn't found last night too great. She had seemed superficial and a little silly when she had told him that his way of dressing and his friends didn't actually suit her. The fact that he had paid for the meal had been fine with her, though. He hadn't even contacted her to ask if she had also fallen ill. He found that rather unlikely, as he had had a different dessert to her. When they had said goodbye to each other, he had almost been relieved that she had only kissed him on the cheek. He hadn't had much experience with girls and relationships, but he realized that this date hadn't gone well.

His gloomy thoughts were interrupted when he heard Ulli's key at the front door. He knew that Yvonne and his father could not yet be back from the swimming pool, which the two of them visited together every week. It had taken Kai quite a bit of persuasion for them to finally leave him on his own, but they knew he would manage. He had already been through the worst of it.

"Hello Kai," Ulli called out as he hung up his jacket. "Are you still alive?"

He came into the living room, took one look at his brother's face and couldn't help but grin.

"Gee, you look bad! If a girl makes you that sick, you better let her go!" he laughed.

Kai groaned and shook his head slightly, but then he had to laugh a little too.

"Oh Ulli, I think you're right. It's probably not going to work out with Paula and me."

"You know, she's quite nice to look at, but I've often wondered what you like about her," Ulli admitted.

He didn't want to hurt Kai's feelings, especially as he could see that he still wasn't feeling very well.

"Do you mind if I make myself a sandwich and then join you? How bad is the nausea?" he asked.

Kai waved him off.

"Yvonne got me some great stuff, I don't feel sick at all any more, I just have a headache and feel tired. You're welcome to eat in front of me, I'm not going to be sick all over you."

Ulli disappeared into the kitchen. When he came back into the living room a short time later, he had brought tea and salt sticks for Kai as well as his own supper. They watched a rather hollow TV movie together, glad of the other's company without having to talk. They had always been friends as well as brothers. Kai lay in his bed later and was glad to leave this exhausting day behind. His last thoughts before he fell asleep revolved around his family, his people, who had been there for him as a matter of course and on whom he could always rely ... and they on him.

 

Seven o'clock! Time to wake up! Kai sat up and quickly silenced his alarm clock. Why did he feel this strange? Then he remembered: Math teacher, trip home vaguely outlined, the horrible sickness..., drowsy afternoon, dinner with Ulli in front of the TV! He was amazed to discover that, contrary to all expectations, it seemed possible for him to get up and actually go to school. His father had already told him that he had probably contracted a mild case of food poisoning. This comes on as brutally as an express train, but subsides quite quickly in otherwise healthy and strong people. His insides still felt a little watery and his stomach and head were still a little unhappy, but he would manage. After a light breakfast he would go to class, at least that would be the solution as far as the maths test was concerned. He wasn't yet sure how things would develop with Paula, but he knew that it couldn't go on like this. Anyway, what kind of way was that to think about his girlfriend: the thing with Paula. Was she even his girlfriend? If so, why wasn't he drawn to her? If not, why didn't he tell her before things got even more complicated? First get today's performance over with, luckily, she didn't go to the same school. Performance, Kai thought and had to grin despite all his worries, because he was looking forward to the rehearsal later. He would have had to skip that too if he hadn't turned up for class. All in all, his decision to attend school was the right one, even if he still felt a little shaky. He would still manage the maths test.

Or maybe not. Somehow, Tasnoff had once again managed to create fear and uncertainty among his students when handing out the exam questions. He had a habit of insisting that the sheet of paper had to lie face down on the school desk until he had finished handing them out. This was to prevent any attempts to quickly pass on information to each other while the teacher was distracted and thus to suppress any kind of solidarity. He then stood in front of his desk and barked "Turn it over!" into the classroom. Kai saw at a glance that the test contained particularly difficult questions and that three of the five tasks built on each other. This meant a lot of pressure for him and his classmates, as even one mistake or misplaced number would affect the rest of the tasks. Tasnoff was known for the fact that, from his point of view, such a mistake resulted in zero points on the entire exercise. He was not in the habit of praising his students' perhaps correct train of thought and grading it accordingly, even if the end result was maybe faulty.

When the lesson was finally over, the whole class seemed depressed. With his usual sardonic smile, the teacher collected the last tests, not shying away from pulling the paper from under the pen of the student who might still be writing.

"That's enough!" he would say, "that won't save you either!"

The class left the room in the direction of the sports hall. Everyone dragged themselves down the corridor in an unmotivated way and Kai ended up next to Trina. She looked at him briefly and he was concerned to see that she was crying.

"Trina, what's wrong? You're crying!" he said, stating the obvious.

She quickly wiped her eyes with her handkerchief and shrugged her shoulders.

"I messed up the exam ... again," she said quietly. "This can't go on, I'm so worried about my promotion."

Kai was at a loss and didn't know what to say. He thought for a moment and then said:

"I have two suggestions for you: why don't you come along to our theatre rehearsal after the last lesson this afternoon? It might distract you and you can watch Peter and me doing pantomime impressions and laugh your head off as we try to portray melting ice cream."

Peter, who had heard his name, caught up with them. He had overheard what Kai had said and immediately nodded his head enthusiastically.

"It's good fun," he confirmed, "it would be nice to find a few more people who want to join in."

"So, we've gone from watching to participating in no time at all, have we?" Trina said, smiling a little again. "Wow, and the Oscars are scheduled for the end of the year, aren't they?"

The two boys looked at each other and grinned at their success.

"What's your second suggestion?" Trina wanted to know.

She looked at Kai with eyes that were still sad, but he could already see her curiosity.

"If we get a little organized, I could work through the maths curriculum with you and maybe help you out."

"Phew, voluntarily studying in your free time? You would do that?" she asked incredulously.

"I hate to admit it, but ..." Kai didn't get any further, because Peter leaned towards Trina and whispered to her conspiratorially:

"You must know, this boy LOVES maths! I know that for a fact, after all, we share a school desk!"

Kai looked a little embarrassed and Peter almost felt sorry for having behaved this childishly.

"Hey, you know what, it would do me good too!" he added quickly, and that was exactly the right thing to say.

The three young people looked at each other kindly and each thought to themselves that it was nice to feel accepted and understood by others. By now they had arrived at the gym; they parted ways in front of the changing rooms.

 

Hours later, Kai entered another dressing room, this time the one of the ballroom. The somewhat dusty room was located behind the stage and was packed with costumes and props. To the right of the entrance door stood a golden throne made of papier-mâché, half covered by a thin goatskin. The shelves were overflowing with all kinds of masks and fabrics, more or less neatly bundled together. There were heavy velvets in dark colours, almost transparent artificial silks in various tones, knitted, woven and ribbed ribbons of different widths and baskets full of scraps of wool and fabric. Painted canvases were rolled up and piled up on every available surface. Worn-out sofas and wing chairs formed a large semi-circle with mismatched chairs and stools around a huge table against the wall. On it stood a kettle, a coffee machine and an interesting...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.3.2025
• Verlagsort: Neckenmarkt
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: 11-12 • Jugend • Malou Theisen
• ISBN-10: 1-64268-690-5 / 1642686905
• ISBN-13: 978-1-64268-690-6 / 9781642686906