Laura flinched with a grin "I'm sorry, sir", she replied and hurried off to her desk, not paying attention to the piercing stares and glares from her colleagues, especially Ben and his friends, Fred and Patrick who always find Laura irritating.
Mr. Mark's gaze followed her with a scornful look; slightly shaking his head, he deftly turned to the board continuing the lesson.
Alixes, being in a hurry to find out why Laura was late; hastily picked up her bag from Laura's desk with a quizzical look.
"What's that look for?", whispered Laura with a cold tone as she settled down.
Alixes gasped; ranting " You of all people? What happened and Why are you late, Laura?".
Laura ignored her, rummaging through her bag in search of her Literature and Acts textbook along with her notepad. Alixes; now sure Laura wasn't ready to answer her, snapped her fingers in front of her face, pissed.
"Hey, answer me, girlfriend ", she cried.
Laura rolled her eyes and sighed, " Gosh, Alixes, not now, please. I'm not ready for your troubles. Let's talk about this after class, okay", she whispered; turning towards the board " I'm already late and that's enough trouble. No need to get us into another with Mr. Mark, huh?".
Alixes nodded her approval although not so happy with her unwillingness to talk.
" Um, right. Fine, let's talk, lunch time, okay? ", she cried but had no response from Laura.
" Now, introducing today's topic, let's turn our textbooks to page 16 , "Acts and Scenes", Mr. Mark's voice announced drawing Laura and Alixes attention.
" Acts and Scenes are part of theatre act; Ben Hansel, tell us what you understand by this topic".
Ben was so immersed in his phone that he didn't know what was going on. Ben Hansel is the son of the director of EXCELLENT BRAINS COLLEGE, Mr. Hansel Graham. He always had issues with his teachers due to his notorious attitude and less attentiveness in class and on campus. He does whatever he liked without any punishment.
Fred quickly nudged Ben who was busily surfing through his phone without any knowledge of what was going on. He lifted his head only to find those piercing eyes of his colleagues and the tutor on him. He sharply looked around; at sea.
" What's going on? why is everyone staring at me?", he queried.
" I just called you, Ben; explain what you understand by "Acts and Scenes in theatre act", Mr. Mark repeated.
Ben hived; settling back in his desk, less concerned," Um, actually, sir, I kind of don't know what that means. I got no idea on that", he said.
Mr. Mark sighed; shaking his head,"Laura Roberts, kindly help us out on this topic", he called at Laura who was busily jotting down some notes she missed earlier on.
Alixes shoved her on the shoulder, drawing her attention but unfortunately caused her to rather cancel what she wrote . Laura glared at her, furious.
"Hey, Alixes, what was that for? I can see you are so bent on distracting me today, right?",she mumbled.
Alixes flinched, " Hey, chill...bestie. Mr Mark called you", she answered; pointing to the board.
"Yes, Laura, I called. You seem out of class today. Is everything alright with you?", Mr. Mark's voice echoed, interrupting the two ladies.
Laura grinned sheepishly as she rose to her feet,
" Yes, sir. I'm perfectly good."
"Alright, now kindly help us with the topic on the board".
"Acts and Scenes; An act is a part of play defined by elements such as rising action, climax and resolution while a scene normally represents actions happening at one place at a time, and usually marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a blackout or a brief emptying of the stage", she stated.
Mr. Mark smiled, satisfied by Laura's explanation.
"Very good dear. Thanks; you may have your seat now "
Laura nodded with a smile and settled back in her seat while lessons continued. Alixes playfully nudged her, "way to go girl; your level of intelligence never seize to marvel me", she cried and drew closer to her; whispering "Tell me, what's your charm", she teased.
Laura gasped and shoved her off, chuckling "knock it off, Alixes; stop flattering me".
They giggled and turned their attention back to the lesson.
Ben stared at them from his desk; furious and scoffed " I so hate this girl and her Miss perfect attitude. Every tutor and student seem to sing her praises every time. This really gets on my nerves", he groaned " Its so irritating ".
His friends, Fred and Patrick who shared a desk next to him nodded in support.
" I agree with you, Ben. She's so full of herself. We ought to find a way to break her sense of confidence and bring her under our control like any other student in this school", said Fred.
"I'm in for this ", Patrick added.
They all nodded with a broad evil smirk, gazing at her direction.
" We'll know what to do with her after class", Ben announced with his eyes fixed on her.
" Enjoy all you can now ,Laura because very soon; you'll be just one dumped bastard with no recognition. You'll be my pet, Laura Roberts", he whispered underneath his breath with a satisfied smile.