An hour later, Anna walked into her math class, scanning the faces of those already seated. Part of her wondered if Luke was playing some sort of joke on her. She’d never seen him before that she could remember – maybe he wasn’t really in her class. Or maybe he was, and he was just teasing her, pretending he’d leave a seat for her.
Anna searched for a moment or two before she found Luke in the back corner farthest away from the door. No wonder she’d never noticed him; she usually sat at the opposite side of the room – at the front, ready to learn. As she cautiously approached, she saw an empty desk in front of him. When he saw her, he smiled knowingly, making Anna feel slightly annoyed. What did he know, anyway?
“Ah.” he said. “I knew you’d come over here.”
So that was it. He thought she was predictable. If there was one thing Anna hated above all else, it was someone thinking they could read her. She didn’t even try to hide her mild annoyance as she greeted him. Of course, Luke picked up on it.
“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by that.” he said quickly. “I just meant that…well…” he trailed off.
It seemed as though Anna had made him uncomfortable for a second time today. Looked like she wasn’t the only one getting nervous whenever the two spoke. Suddenly feeling guilty, Anna spoke up.
“No, I’m sorry. I know you weren’t trying to be rude.” Anna decided to change the subject. “So how was science?”
It was the only thing she could think to say. Luke seemed glad for the change in topic.
“It was good.” he replied. “We’re doing taxonomy. I love categorizing all the animals and plants – especially the animals.”
“Why?” Anna asked him, bewildered. It had always seemed so pointless to her. Just because you called something a plant or an animal didn’t mean anything. Did it tell you any more about that species than you knew before? No. But when she told Luke so, he vehemently disagreed.
“No way. It’s interesting how they come up with these categories. I mean, yeah, a lot of them are just arbitrary groups. But I like seeing how people think different animals are related. Especially the ones that aren’t easy to categorize.”
“How can it be hard to categorize them? It’s either a plant, or it’s not, right?” she asked.
“Well, not always.” he told her. “Take the Euglena for example.” he said brightening, and Anna could see just how interested in science he really was. “I mean, it’s got chloroplasts, so it does photosynthesis. So, it’s a plant, right? But it can move on its own and can sense light. So it’s an animal, right? But it can’t be both. So what is it?”
Anna was at a loss, and told him so.
Leaning forward in his chair, Luke explained. “Well…it’s neither. It’s in a different category altogether. But if you only had two kingdoms – animal and plant – you’d never be able to classify it. I like the tricky things like that – where it’s got things from two categories that you wouldn’t think could exist together.”
Anna nodded, mulling it over. Even though she didn’t say anything right away, Luke was still grinning at her, a gleam in his eye. Anna couldn’t tell if it was from the joy of talking about something he loved, or from stumping her on something she was so sure she knew.
As she continued to stare at him, Luke pointed casually to the front of the classroom with the tip of his pencil. Miss Molthrop was already at the front of the classroom writing problems from last night’s homework on the board for the class to go over together.