The whole class was eerily silent unlike class fifteen, the class known for being the most loud compared in comparison to the other classes.
All the students leaned forward in their desks and anticipated the ending of the historic program they were watching on the projector.
Josh adjusted his prescription glasses as they slipped from the bridge of his nose. He didn't normally put on glasses at school because if he wasn't mocked for being a nerd, then it'll be knocked off his eyes. But he'd come late to history class and the only available seat was at the back of his class so he couldn't see clearly.
Fregley pushed himself forward in his desk, attentively eating the projector with his eyes. Spit slobbered all over the floor as he stuck his hand in his nose and brought out a large boogie and sent it sailing into the deep abyss of his mouth. Disgusted "eews" and "gross" echoed round but he didn't seem to care.
On the screen projector, shots taken in World War two were displayed. Gruesome images of soldiers, bleeding and shooting back. Dead bodies littered the ground as they dropped one by one, shot at by an approaching enemy battalion. The only sounds heard in the movie which was in black and white was incoherent shouting, girly shrieks and screams of men pleading mercy when pitchfork thingies were plunged onto their chests. Dying groans emitted from their mouths.
The really cool kids had sunglasses on, while the scaredy cats covered their eyes with the
The other kids attention were solely on the movie playing when the video paused.
"What the-"
"Play it back"
No amount of pleading could move the petite figure sitting at her desk, marking scripts. Mrs Allan raised her head and announced. "Its almost time for lunch break. You guys should-". She got interrupted by the bell, ringing loudly as all the kids packed their bags and dashed out of the room.
One kid in particular was being chased round the class by Fregley holding another boogie he'd collected from his nose. Fregley always had his harry potter glasses on and he didn't really have any friends.
"Aaaaaerhh! Fregley get that thing away from me! She yelled.
"Let me introduce you to Laura!" He replied, cornering her in the edge of the room.
A bored Mrs Allen looked at them through the corners of her eyes, satisfied there wasn't any blood spilling or any head rolling on the floor, she resumed marking her scripts.
Meanwhile a scared Abby was running out the room, relieved that she didn't touch Fregley's boogie when she tripped over someone's foot and fell in the hallway. "Oops!" She heard a voice say as she fell and landed on the side of her elbow.
A distinct shout could be heard even down the halls.
Fregley smiled and latched the boogie unto her nose.
Another distinct shout pierced the eardrums of the few students walking through the hallway.
📛📛📛📛📛📛📛📛📛
The lunch line moved slowly still. The rich kids sat at the center of the room, attracting all the stares and waggles in the room. The soccer studs sat in a corner of the room, most of them wearing hoodies and head warmers. The nerds sat in the father most table, shy of the population. They were hosting a kind of intellectual quiz between themselves.
Josh and Hunter were already seated at their table waiting for Zoey to get her lunch.
Zoey stood three students away from the lunch table. Directly in front of her was Bianca, the queen bee.
Currently, she was shrieking out. "Aaaarh". Her wannabes, Linda and Michelle started shrieking too. "Aaaarh" they screamed.
Michelle suddenly stopped. "Bianca, what's the matter?" She asked.
"Look" Bianca said, holding up a strip of lettuce dangling from her gloved hand "she put lettuce in my food!" She scrunched up her nose in disgust.
"Edwin! Edwin!" She shouted.
"Yes miss? Is anything the matter?"
She tossed the offending price of lettuce at him. "Dispose this immediately".
"Yes miss". He saluted. Edwin, her butler carried the price of lettuce gingerly and dropped it inside the garbage can. He'd a perfect chiseled jaw and looked about twenty six.
He was wearing a straight black shirt and waistcoat which dragged behind him. Zoey rolled her eyes at Bianca's behavior.
"Zis gal throw away my lettuce and spinach special?" Freya, the head lunch lady asked with her thick Irish tongue. She rolled her eyes at the nuisance. "What an insolent child" she thought.
After getting served, Zoey gave a bright smile and said "thanks".
"Welcome" she replied.
She took her meat of meatloaf, two burgers and a glob of God-knows-what to their table.
"Hi guys" she said. "Any news about the prankster?"
Josh leaned forward excitedly, his glasses slipping off his face. "I think its the principal"
"Huh?" The guys responded.
"Think about it. The principal didn't even seem happy to see his students. Maybe he got so tired of us, he pranked us so we could go home and he'd have his alone time". He leaned back, satisfied he'd made his point.
"You're nuts" Hunter said. "He's the principal, so if he didn't want to see us, then he wouldn't have to"
"I don't understand". Zoey said.
"He didn't have to come to school but he came. Its not like he's a teacher who has to come everyday".
"The principal is nice. I like him". Three pairs of eyes raised upwards, observing the speaker from head to toe.
Chirag Kumar stared right back at them, his eyes boring insistent holes on their faces. "Who're you?" Hunter asked.
"My name is Chirag Kumar. I am from Mumbai in India".
"You're from India? Zoey asked surprised. "Then why are you here?"
"I'm an exchange student". The trio responded "ooooh".
"Can I sit here? He asked, indicating a empty chair. Josh and Hunter looked at each other undecidedly.
"Sure you can" Zoey said.
Chirag sat down and adjusted the seat. "Tell me more about India".
A large smile lit up Chirag's light skinned face. He cleared his throat feebly. "In India, we have elephants. Very big ones, where we use it as transportation and to hunt"
"How can you use an elephant to hunt" Josh scoffed. "Hypothetically speaking, the elephant is too big to run. I might estimate a mature elephant weighs about 600pounds"
"What do you hunt for anyway?" Hunter asked, interested in the conversation.
Chirag looked left and right before speaking, as if he was afraid some one would hear him. He hushed his voice. "We use them to hunt the tiger"
"Say the what now?" Hunter asked.
"The Tiger. The most dangerous beast in India".
"Impossible". Josh admonished.
"Hmmmmn" Zoey breathed out. "I wish I was popular". Zoey mumbled, stared dreamily at the rich kids table.
"What did you say?" Chirag asked.
"Never mind". She returned her attention to her friends, shelving her worries in her mind.
They would have gone on arguing if they hadn't heard Michelle scream. All the students suddenly turned their heads in that direction.
"There's a lizard in my lunch!" She screamed, jumping up from her chair.
Presently, all the cool kids had jumped up on their chairs. Hunter almost laughed out loud. Josh scoffed. Zoey looked amused. Chirag was offended."Get it away!" Michelle was screaming.Chirag pushed back his chair and marched to their table. "What're you doing? Come back!" Zoey called. But Chirag was determined and took nine short paces to the table.With a jab, he yanked the lizard out of the sauce and laid it reverently on the ground. Nearby kids scampered away in fear."Don't come near me!" Linda said, shooing him away with her hands. "I h
"Detention's over. You're free to leave". The podgy teacher announces.Hunter doesn't hear whatever she said because he's asleep, drooling at the mouth. The other kid shakes him awake and he rubs his eyes, trying to wake himself fully."Let's go, detention's over". The boy repeats. Hunter stands up hurriedly, slamming his head to the kid's forehead."Ow!" He cried, jumping on one foot. "You did that on purpose!" He accused."No i didn't. It was a mistake". Hunter apologized. "I'm sorry". He slung his bag over his shoulder. "Let's get out"."OK".They're about to leave the room when the teacher said "Feel free to visit anytime". Hunter and the kid run out of the building."I'm Carl". He said, holding out his hand. His cheeks are rosy from running too much. His blond hair is disheveled and almost covers his eyes. He looked about
Zoey breezed into Hunter's yard, jumping off her bike, almost crashing her bike and Josh.She bent down on the gravelled driveway and picked up some smooth pebbles which she thought would be enough for signalling Hunter."What are you doing?" Josh asked."I'm going to throw these at his window, dummy". She replied."You're really out to break windows, aren't you?" Josh brought his phone out of his pocket. "Why don't we text him".Zoey smiled. "You know, since I've known you, that's the only sensible thing you've said". She taunted.Josh scowled."Sent that text yet". Zoey asked, keeping herself busy by removing dirt from her nails. Josh peered into his phone, not seeing much because he'd dimmed the brightness."Scoot over". Zoey said. Josh scooted a bit on the steps. "Hey, why is your phone so dark?" She asked,
It was AP Geography. Mr. Lance Gilbert lectured on and on about longitudes and latitudes. Most of the students in the class weren't paying attention.But Hunter was.Ashley wasn't taking this period so his focus was totally on the teacher. The other students were sending notes to each other, whispering about the latest TV series or exchanging a kiss or two when they thought the teacher wasn't looking.Hunter noticed that Josh had bent his head down on his desk and was slipping his hand into his bag pretty often. A small, satisfied smile flickered on his face every now and then.The queen bee, Bianca was resting her hand on her desk, supporting her shin as she stared at the teacher, absorbing all the information. Small dark bags were on her eyes and her eyes d
The door opened just as Hunter was about to finish his sentence. A tall, lanky nurse stepped into the room. She was dressed in a knee length, nurse uniform complete with a matching flat cap. She didn't look friendly."Is he awake?" She asked.Zoey nodded yes."I'll have to ask you girls to wait outside. I want to do some checkups".Reluctantly, Zoey pushed up from her seat. Ashley wasn't ready to go out yet but the stern look on the nurse's face simulated her body upwards.
Hunter is already at Hunter's treehouse earlier than they agreed thinking about nothing and everythingSchool... His scholarship...His friends....Their life in grinding poverty...Finding a jobThe thing was, times were tough and jobs were scarce. He'd wanted to look for a job before but the neighbourhood grocer, Mr Miller had discouraged him, saying he was too little to get a job.But then, he'd seen Kenny, a neighbour kid who was exactly his age and who lived one block away riding his bike every morning delivering newspapers to people's doorsteps, his search intensified.It didn't have to be a well paying job, if he was at least able to take some pressure off his mom, then he was okay with it. Only the Lord knows how hard it is for her. A single mom with three kids.The ladder leading to the penthouse leaned and rattled and Hunter forced his thoughts away from his troubles to the entrance of
The throng of other recruited janitors fill the halls as they burst the balloons and bag them in huge trash bags. The loud burst of the huge balloons keep interrupting the teachers in mid sentence. Frustrated lines are creased onto Mrs Julia Roberts's face and Hunter is very sure he can spot a few gray hairs on her head. Economics class was no child's play. Mrs. Roberts was interrupted every now and then by the sporadic 'pop' sound the balloons made as they burst. In her hands was a large marker which she used to draw illustrations of the board to enunciate her point. The economics class was very quiet today. Mrs. Roberts was known to be very tongue lashing with her words. Her outward appearance was plain mean. She was in her late thirties and as far as Zoey knew, she always wore matching suit and skirt to school. She was on the lean side of tall and sported blond hair pulled tightly into a bun. Today's topic was Inflation which she had made sure to circle round on the markerboard. "Be
" Chirag, wait a minute" Hunter said. "What about that stuff you told me in school. I still haven't understood it. One minute, Zoey tells me a kid called Jaden slumped in the Economics class, now you're saying someone else died in that same class?"" It could just be a misunderstood rumor. Maybe they thought Jaden died because he was carried by the students". Josh suggested." I don't think it is" Chirag defended. " I heard it from Dorathy". The boys groaned collectively." Dorathy?" Zoey asked in disbelief. " Dorathy is the biggest talkative in school. 99% of the things she says aren't true. If Dorathy tells the truth, then I'm the queen of England. Do you know last year she spread a rumor that she saw the principal and a senior alone in his office after school hours? She almost got herself expelled"." She didn't look like she was lying" Chirag countered." As if you'd know if someone was lying even if it was right in front of you" Hunter muttere