A student sitting in front of Rahul stood up from his seat. He had his hair combed backward and a beard with hair that's barely poking out of his skin. Is he the one who helped me?

"Do you think this is funny? Just because you can solve a question or two, doesn't mean you can go against the teacher and help another student. Students nowadays have forgotten the importance of teachers and the difference in status. Maybe it's time to teach you your position again."

Mr. Piyush once again picked up another chalk from the box placed on his table. The diagram he drew for this question was completely different compared to what he did before. He drew a pulley suspended from a string. A block of 5 kg is attached to its other end which is placed on a rough surface with a coefficient of friction 0.6. Two blocks of different mass are suspended from the sides of the pulley. The pulley and the string are massless. The problem was to find the friction acting on the 5 kg block.

"If you think you can solve anything, then give this question a try." The corners of his mouth once again curved into a smile. I had seen pulley questions while flipping through the advanced physics volume two. It is one of the most important and difficult topics of laws of motion. It utilizes all the fundamentals of the chapter. Mr. Piyush had yet to cover the pulley-related topics, nevertheless, he blatantly presented a question involving those mechanics. it was a low blow. That being said it does not really surprise me that he would stoop so low in order to take the win. Even if Abed is a genius, solving something that hasn't been taught yet is not possible.

Any student would have been devastated considering the situation he was in, but he seemed to be under no pressure of his situation. He uncapped his pen and began solving the question in his notebook. I at least expected to see him nervous or any signs of being afraid but what I saw surprised me. He had wide-open eyes focused on the blackboard and a big smile on his face. The expression on his face wasn't the one of someone scared, it was excitement.

He took his time. He put the pen in his mouth and occasionally bit on its cap. Looking up at the ceiling, muttering the formulas to himself, calculating with his fingers in the air and once again writing something on his notebook. He repeated this cycle a couple of times.

"Done. The frictional force acting on the block is 80/3 Newtons " He said as he capped his pen and placed it down on the bench.

Mr. Piyush's jaw dropped on listening to the answer. His eyes were wide open and sweat ran down his pale face. "What?" This time his expression wasn't just surprised but horrified because he had just witnessed something that wasn't logical, "Nonsense! How did you solve it? You don't even know the formula yet. I haven't taught anyone how to solve this problem. On top of that, this question has a trick that cannot be solved just by using the formula."

"The formula wasn't the problem anymore once I derived it. With the fundamentals, anyone can easily do that." Abed replied with a passionate smile on his face.

Easily? His explanation did not make any sense. How did he derive it? Who is this guy?

"He derived it!?" Rahul couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

Abed resumed his explanation"All one needs to know is how friction and gravity works and the working of a pulley isn't that difficult. The trick part. Umm… well… to be honest, it wasn't that tricky."

Mr. Piyush rushed to Abed's table and snatched his notebook. His eyes went through the pages of the book as he checked Abed's answer. All of the remaining hope left his eyes as he placed the book down, "Impossible. You must have studied this topic at home. There's no way someone can solve it using just the basics." He was still denying to accept his defeat.

Few gossips about Abed winning against Mr. Piyush could be heard in the small confined space of the classroom. He clenched his teeth and glared at Abed who was the reason for his embarrassment.

The bell rang. He looked relieved to hear the bell put an end to his humiliation, "This will be it for today." With that, he promptly left the class.

I walked over to Abed's seat, "Thank you for saving me."

"Don't mention it. He was boring everyone with his teaching, which wasn't very different from just narrating the textbook. By the way, I saw you studying botany. I can understand your pain."

Abed stood up from his seat, "Speaking of which did you solve the questions of Motion in a plane from the advanced section? Weren't they just exhilarating? I really love when a topic is finished. That means I can finally solve all the questions. Sometimes I start solving when the topic isn't even finished in the class. It's like this urge to see what you can solve on your own. Do you feel me? But when a new topic starts it's just an explanation on top of explanations." One could feel the excitement radiating out of him. His eyes glimmered with passion as he talked.

I was nowhere near his level. But he didn't look down on me. He talked to me as an equal. 

"Umm… I am still on Motion in a Straight line." I replied.

"Motion in a straight line. Did you solve the stone in a balloon question from the advanced section? Those are the most fun to solve. You can solve it if you add the acceleration of the balloon to the stone. I had so much fun solving it. But I solved it even before college started. Solving it again sounds like a good idea."

Solving it again? I haven't even solved it once! Talking to him anymore will only end up with me getting depressed, "I just started it." I have to end this conversation.

"Oh. Lucky you. It means the fun is just beginning."

Lucky? Fun? Is this how he normally talks? The words fun, exhilarating and interesting are something I never expected to hear in a conversation about physics. Confused. I turned to Rahul for help. Rahul immediately understood what I was trying to say.

"This must be your first time meeting Abed and entering into his weird world. Don't worry, he is not a complete bookworm. He acts like this only when he talks about Physics and sometimes even in chemistry. Abed is the only student I know who enjoys studying. Sometimes he solves questions that even the teachers have trouble with. Well, he has weaknesses too. Calling it laziness would be more appropriate. He doesn't like memorizing things. That's why botany and zoology aren't his strong points. But in the problem-solving sector, he has no match." Rahul scowled at Abed with an annoyed look.

"Hehe" Abed just waved the back of the head in reply.

"Don't hehe me. Everyone hates an 'I love to study' geek like you. Ahh just looking at him tires me up." Rahul let out an exasperated sigh.

"Can you show me how you solved it?" I asked Abed. I try to correct my mistakes at the same instant I make them, even if it meant asking a human for help.

"Sure." He opened his book, "You first find out the friction acting on the block and then you calculate the acceleration using f=ma and then….

I take back what I had said in the beginning. Humans are fascinating creatures and they only get more interesting with every passing day.