10
We got our first math work back two weeks later. Strahl always writes our grades on the board beforehand to create tension. This time, there was an A, that, was impossible. Strahl’s favorite saying is: A is only for the god. But Strahl was also our math teacher and he was disturbing. There were two Bs, countless Cs and Ds, and a single F. I kinda wished for the A, math was the only subject in which I could land a goal now and then. But then I got a B minus. Always. With Strahl, a B minus is almost an A. I turned around to see where the cheers (because of the A) were. But nobody cheered. Neither Lucas or Kevin, not the other math tryhards. But Strahl had the last one in the hand and personally brought it to Tschichatschow in the last row. Tschick sat there and chewed on peppermint gum. He didn’t look at Strahl and only continued chewing and breathing. Strahl weighed himself down, opened his lips and said: “Andrej.”
There was almost no reaction. A small turn of the head like a gangster in a film, behind which a click of a weapon can be heard.
“Your work. I don’t know what it is…” Strahl said and put a hand on Tschick’s desk. “I mean, if you didn’t learn it at your previous school – you have to re-do it. You didn’t – you didn’t even try.” Strahl flipped through the pages and his voice sank, but you could still understand him. “This joke – I mean, if you didn’t have it, I completely understand. I had to give you an F, but they are in parenthesis. I would suggest you ask Kevin or Lucas for help. You can give your homework to them. Stuff from the last two months. And when you have questions. Because, if not, this won’t do.”
Tschick nodded. He nodded with surprisingly understanding, and then it happened. he fell from the chair, direct in front of Strahl’s feet. Strahl twitched, and Patrick and Julia jumped up. Tschick was lying on the ground as if he were dead.
We’ve been with this Russian for a bit, but nobody would think he’d fall from a chair because of an F in math. As it later came out, it had nothing to do with it. He didn’t eat anything for the whole morning, and with the alcohol, it was obvious. Tschick puked a whole sink in the secretary’s office, and then he was sent home.
What he wrote in his work was unclear, and I also forgot who got the A. But what I’ve always remembered and will never forget, is Strahl’s face when he saw a Russian fall to his feet.
The irritating thing about this story was not Tschick’s falling from the chair or his getting an F. The irritating thing was, that he got a B three weeks later. And then a D. And then a B again. Strahl was a total different person. He said something from “good revision” to “not behind now”, but even blind people could see that the Bs had nothing to do with Tschick’s good revision or what. It was only because he cheated sometimes and sometimes not.
So, as time went on, the teachers also got hold of that, so Tschick was warned and sent home for a few times. There were also talks with him in private, but the school didn’t take it seriously. Tschick always had a heavy fate or so what, and because after the PISA-test everyone wanted to know whether the Asian, pickled Russian stood a chance at a German high school, he never got any real penalties. After some time, the whole thing with Tschick started to cool down. What’s up with him, still knows nobody. But he did catch up in most subjects. He chewed fewer peppermint gum in class. And he hardly disturbed. If he didn’t have his occasional dropout, maybe you would even forget his existence.