Class Time: Pay Attention

Sometimes the second year could be patient, but other times he could hardly sit still. At this moment, he couldn't contain himself. This had to be the most boring lesson ever, he watched the professor fill a pot with dirt. He saw no entertainment in this class, there was no point in it. Besides, if he tried to do anything that had to with plants, he'd just kill them. He didn't have a green thumb and he was good at drowning plants in tons of water. The young boy sighed and let his eyes wander around the room.

He planted some plant that Cameron already forgot the name of. Professor Ellis then began to water it and explain something that the second year wwasnt listening to. Instead, he found entertainment in clicking his shoes together. He realized too late that they were supposed to be doing something, but he didn't know what. "Hey," he turned the the person beside him. "What are we supposed to be doing?"

Wolfgang wasn't a school type of person. He wasn't exactly dumb, a little bit naïve, yes, but not stupid, but he could never seem to focus in lecture like situations. Wolfgang learned by doing things and usually Herbology had an element of participation. Save on days like these when the entire class was a lecture/demonstration on repotting some plant Wolfgang wasn't paying enough attention to know what it was called.

He played with the small spade resting on the table, knocking it against the wood, the pots, other tools without much rhythm. Once he got bored with that, he turned to the piles of soil they were supposed to place in the pots. He could see a worm wiggling it's way through the dirt. Wolfgang grinned and dug his fingers into the soil to pick it out.

"Hmmmm?" He said as Cameron suddenly asked him a question. "Beats me, but check out this worm!" He held the long night crawler up for his mate to see.

It was no use, Wolf hadn't been paying attention either. At least now he knew that he wasn't the only one not paying attention. Cameron wasn't a big fan of creepy crawlies, there were many things that the boy didn't like or was afraid of. He wasn't afraid of bugs, he just didn't like them. And when his friend pointed out a worm, he refused to look at it. Of course he knew that there were going to be worms and other gross things in Herbology. But that didn't mean that he liked any of it. He didn't want to work with them unless he truly had to. "I'm not looking," he said. "Worms are gross."

He knew that Wolf wouldn't judge him, much, so he was okay with saying that he didn't like bugs. If it were someone else, he would have acted as if he hadn't heard them. "I don't like worms."

Neither of them knew what it was they were supposed to be doing, but Wolfgang didn't seem to mind. They might get into trouble for not participating in the activity, but Wolfgang was more entertained with the long worm he plucked from the dirt. He waved it around, laughing at how it jiggled, but his best mate didn't seem as humored as he was.

"That's why they're awesome!" Wolfgang replied as Cameron called worms gross. Wolfgang loved playing in the dirt and getting messy. He didn't realize Cameron was genuinely grossed out by the worm until he said something. "Oh," Wolfgang uttered, dropping the worm onto the table away from Cameron. "Okay, no worries. I'll take all the worms out of the dirt then. It'll be fun!" They were supposed to be doing something with the dirt after all, and once theirs was de-wormed, Cameron would be able to participate.

Cameron didn't like a lot of things. Usually because he was scared of them or because he just didn't find them appealing. He didn't find worms appealing and didn't like seeing the squirming bodies moving around in the dirt or on sidewalks. They were just really gross. He knew that Wolfie wasn't going to judge him and was glad that he hadn't said anything else about it. And a grin spread on his face when he said he'd pick out the worms for him.

Cameron would not be watching his friend pick the worms out of their dirt. Instead, he tried to focus on anything but that. "Thanks," he said without looking over at his friend. "I think we should just play in the dirt instead of doing anything," he suggested. Maybe class would get done faster that way and maybe they'd get away with doing nothing.

Wolfgang was learning a lot during this lesson. He learned that worms came in all different lengths and thicknesses and some were pink whereas others were more of a brown color. He was having a blast, even though nothing that the professor had taught them had stuck in his mind. He hummed as he pulled worm after worm from the dirt. "Woah!" He gasped as he saw the bump of a thick worm appear in the dirt. He pinched it between his fingers and extracted the creepy crawly, gaping at it's size as it slowly emerged from the soil. "Wormzilla!" He announced. The worm was so perfectly disgusting it was beautiful to him. Wolfgang simply couldn't put it with the squirming pile of average worms. He wanted to keep it forever.

"That was my plan, regardless," Wolfgang answered with a laugh as he snagged a petri dish from a nearby shelf and placed Wormzilla inside of it. He shut it and then pocketed it, planning to keep it as a pet for a few days and then maybe placing it in someone's trousers for a fun surprise. "Dirt is all clean," He announced and then reached for a spade and a pot. "Let's make dirt castles!" He decided, filling the pot like one would a bucket with dirt rather than sand and patting down the soft soil. "Ready?" He flipped the pot and then tapped the bottom until the sculpted dirt fell out. "Fantastic!" Wolfgang exclaimed and laughed. "We'll make an awesome dirt castle for the worms!"

Cameron snuck a glance over at the pile of worms and quickly regretted it. The moving pile made his tummy do flips and it made him a little ill. Not enough to run towards a trash can, but enough to make him quickly look away with a sick feeling in his stomach. He refused to look over again when his friend claimed to have picked out a huge worm. If he looked at it there would be no doubt in his mind that he would be running to the nearest waste basket. Just the thought of it made a shiver run down his back, it sounded so disgusting.

He let out a sigh and turned towards the dirt. "Dirt castles?" That did sound like fun. "Okay, let's do it." The second year grabbed a pot and began to pack it with dirt. "You don't find it weird that worms creep me out, right?" The boy was afraid of a lot of things and some were the joke of others. "I'm pretty much afraid of everything," he admitted with a shrug. He flipped over pot and carefully lifted it off of the table. "Crap." He didn't pack the dirt in hard enough so his castle fell apart.

Wolfgang was too distracted with Wormzilla to notice his friend getting squeamish. He refrained from waving the worm in Cameron's face, which if he was partnered with anyone else besides Cameron, he would totally be doing, regardless of their comfort with worms.

He was pleased with the turret he made and began to work on another one. "I think worms are really cool, but we don't have to like all the same things," Wolfgang answered, nonchalantly as he packed another pot full of dirt. "You're not afraid of me." He pointed out. "I'll just have to protect you then. That's what friends are for. Plus, dogs always protect their friends and I'm an honorary dog." He placed his hand on Cam's for support, forgetting that it was completely covered in dirt. He chuckled as Cameron's castle comically fell to pieces. "Here. Trying use dirt that's more wet. It sticks better." Especially to hands.