"Humans rule the earth, but why is that? What makes us the species that has managed to do what no other has? What makes us the exception? Perhaps it is due to our curiosity; that which has made us venture out into the unknown and discover the truths about this world. Or perhaps it is because of our creativity which has given life to numerous inventions and thus advanced our evolution at an amazing rate. The truth is… none of those are the answer. Because if we hadn't had the time and energy to do all of those activities then it's likely we would still just be monkeys sitting on the ground - eating grass. So then what is it that has managed to give us the energy we need in a time short enough for us to be able to focus on our unending curiosity and creativity? Because of the classroom you're currently sitting in, I assume you can all already guess the answer… the secret to mankind's success is… cooking!!!"
And while yelling the answer to that grandiose speech, our home economics teacher, Mr. Pearson raised his arms up towards the roof. As if trying to reach for the culinary Gods.
But he shortly exited this mad preaching position of his and made eye contact with the teenagers who were all painfully used to these crazed sermons by now; all but one that is…
"Wouldn't you agree, Mrs. Dawn?"
"W-what? Me?", The person in question, the transfer student to which today was still just the second day of this new environment, was sitting besides me and I had seen it all. This girl, not yet familiar with Mr.Pearsons long winded speeches had fallen prey to their sleep inducing effect and I had firsthand witnessed her struggle as she had fought to stay awake, jolting back and forth between dreams and reality. It was cruel then that she now, once again, suffered the consequences of simple inexperience. But if I'm being completely honest, I also found it rather gratifying to see that I wasn't the only one who had suffered the consequences from yesterday's late night meeting.
"Yes, your name is Dawn, is it not?", Mr. Pearson answered with a joking tone while trying to get the class with him.
We were all sitting by a rectangular table in two rows while Mr.Pearson stood at the left end of the table. Me and Dawn had chosen chairs that were basically placed at the exact middle of this table, which meant the most everyone else had to do was tilt their head slightly and we would be in view. Not that I had anything to worry about, because everyone's eyes were glued only to this girl sitting besides me.
With tired eyes she looked around at her now fellow classmates, without showing much of any emotion, until she finally faced the one who had prompted all of this. "Can't you just… buy it?"
"Huh, what exactly do you mean?", Mr.Pearson asked for the whole class.
"Buy the food, I mean." Our home-EC teacher stood still with a frozen expression of disbelief, seemingly unable to comprehend what this new student of his was saying. But to Dawn this didn't seem to register because she just continued. "Like, you don't have to cook it yourself. The most you have to do is simply heat it up in the microwave"
"What are you trying to say? That my lessons are unnecessary?", Mr.Pearson was rather calm for someone who had just gotten his job questioned.
"I mean yeah, kinda. It takes about an hour to cook a meal, doesn't it? If you count doing the dishes, saving leftovers and stuff then that's about how long it takes, isn't it? So, I mean, if there's a quicker option which saves time then why not go for it?"
Our teacher nodded slowly as he heard these radical arguments. Then he answered, "Well, first off, if you're just cooking something basic for yourself then it hardly takes an hour to make something good, even counting dishes and that stuff and then you also get to decide exactly what the dish is going to contain. Plus it's a fun activity:"
The one who had been answered didn't look convinced. "If I'm just cooking something basic for myself then I might as well just buy it ready and done; thus saving myself some time. I suppose I can understand it being seen as a fun activity to some, but for others it's anything but."
Once again Mr.Pearson nodded while he listened to dawn. "But you yourself said that something that took up the time when cooking was saving the leftovers, so doesn't that mean that if you cook a lot one day you basically have dishes to microwave for a long time, both tailored to your taste and needs. Also, since many students that live alone have a very tight budget doing this becomes cheaper in the long run."
"First off, I don't think it's cheaper in the long run. You can find a lot of great offers as a student or just someone living alone that will provide you with food for an extremely cheap price. I agree of course that having cooked your own food is both healthier and provides a greater variety as to not get bored of always eating the same dish, but a lot of people simply don't have the time or energy for that. Studies, for example, take up a lot of time and energy and then different people have different interests which they wish to entertain. This makes it so that having enough energy to cock something, no matter how simple, can be very hard to manage."
I could barely get myself to look at the man who had just received those words, words which were questioning the very core principles behind that man's teachings. But despite the strong cringe I felt, I managed it. Then the response clad Mr.Pearson's face and he… smiled? It wasn't just an awkward smile made from a desperate need to emote, but a big and vagrant one. "I'm glad that you're so honest"
For a flashing moment I saw Dawn puzzled at how to respond, but her confident demeanor returned so quickly that I thought I might just have been imagining things. "Yeah well, that tends to be a big positive or negative for most people"
"Experiencing it firsthand, I'm not surprised" Our teacher chuckled. "But if it's okay with you I think it best we put a pin in this debate for now so as to not talk away this entire lesson."
Dawn waved her hand half heartedly as to dismiss the idea that she had cared nearly enough about this debate to object against that question. "Whatever you say"
"Good! Then shall we get cooking class!?" Our teacher exclaimed with a fiery energy in his eyes, an energy that unfortunately could not be found reflective in any of his students.
"Today we'll be cooking chicken soup in pairs, exciting right!?" If there was ever a point in life where the cicadas sound effect should've played, it was now…
After failing horribly to incite excitement within the class our teacher calmed himself. "How are we going to decide the pairs you ask?... well… it's not like anyone cares…" Perhaps he did a little more than just calm himself… "I dunno, maybe we can draw lots or somethin? No James, that's too much of a hassle… and not like it matters to them anyways…" Was he… mumbling to himself? In front of everyone?
Suddenly Mr.Pearson jolted, "Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to wander away like that." Supposedly he had woken up from his mumbling, or at least that's what he acted like.
"I think it would be fine if you all just paired yourselfs up with the person sitting besides you, so let's just do that." After clearly losing his creative drive, that half-assed solution was the one our teacher reached.
And so going by that logic my partner would be… oh no…
The girl sitting besides me who had just spent the entire beginning portion of this lesson telling everyone how useless she thought cooking was, slowly turned towards me.
Then she gave a big thumbs up, "Let's show them how it's done, partner!"
It's just chicken soup Grey… what could possibly go wrong?