Previously: In the Middle of History Class, Deidre Fareware is bothered by his bully Jimari McGee. Mrs. Gilmore threatens to call Jimari's patrol officer when he assaults Deidre in class.
I don't know what's worst. The fact that I'm alive and bruised or me finding out the school's fullback is a vampire with pink eyes.
That's cool.
I sit in the nurse's clinic with a bandage on my left cheek. An eyepatch over my left eye, and a busted lip. Nurse Hamilton's response to my injured body, "I'm not a doctor but I'm sure some hugs and kisses from mom will do you well, Deidre."
My mom's dead. Whatever.
I can't help but think back to the classroom. This six feet six motherfucker bit a chunk out of Jimari. I thought Vampires had red eyes? Because of blood flow or some shit. I'll ask Google. Digging in my pant's pocket I pull out my cracked phone. The corner of the screen is so busted I can see the wiring. But it still works and that's all that matters.
Google: Why are vampire eyes red?
Instead of looking at the first snippet of info the site gives me. I scroll down and see a website. BRAINSOCIETY.hid.me.web
Strange fucking site. Why so many dots? The hyperlink directs to /WHY PINK/. Upon clicking the link, it's a long forum. Cool.
Cannibalism amongst vamps? I scoff at the assumption. But I've never actually thought about it either. If Dracula ate another vampire. Would he die? If a snake bit himself, they say it wouldn't be a reaction.
But vampires aren't real anyhow. Neither are witches. It's urban lore for simple ass-minded people who can't deal with reality and make up fantasy bullshit to deal with their piss poor animes.
Ninjas exist but then Japan fucked up their own history by applying magic. How the fuck does a blonde kid exists in Japan which I assume is some ancient civilization. Why does Mount Rushmore exist? Why is there a school for ninjas? Why anything.
Why would a vampire bite another vampire?
I continue looking at the forum. It's interesting but then my phone becomes red hot in my palms and I drop it. Ms. Hamilton looks from her desk at me near the door. "No phones in the clinic Mr. Fareware. Unless you're calling your mother."
Bitch ass—you don't have patients. This is a school, not a goddamn health care. You aren't qualified to treat the sick. If the school gets shot up, you can't be prepared!
PUT A BANDAID ON A BULLET WOUND and all hell breaks loose. WE JUST LOST A STUDENT.
Why am I such an asshole? "I need my pass to leave Ms. H." I swear to god you can't let a woman with short-term memory lost to run a fucking office. Did she forget I was even in here?
"Oh, I almost forgot..."
You did. Whore.
She starts scribbling on a note and calls me to take it. It reads: Student is healthy and ready to leave 😊
Bitch, what?
Putting the note in my pocket. I guess I'm supposed to leave. Limping on one leg just to see if I get a reaction. I don't.
My head is pounding. Our school is supposed to be the best in Maine but we aren't allowed aspirins because somebody decided to start selling over-the-counter drugs. Who wakes up and decided I'm going to boil some water and drop about five aspirins in with a couple of cough drops?
People died.
Seraphim Prime held a four-point nine score and tanked to 3.6. If Maine had one town it could call ghetto it would be Rottingham. It took us two years to get a roof. We've been through seven principles and the 5th one was smoking crack. He came to work and thought, let's remodel the school... for two years we DIDN'T HAVE A FUCKING ROOF.
He stole money from the school's funding to buy drugs, got arrested, attempted to escape jail, and shocked himself to death by licking a plug. He told us it was powdered donuts.
My next class is POTIONS that means CHEMISTRY and I'm still single. Usually, Mr. Burgess is THERE but that's always a question and his twin is the assistant and acts as the substitute.
Chaim and Ollie Burgess. I think the two like switching out thinking the class doesn't know. Chaim lacks a beauty mark and Ollie has a giant mole on the side of his face that looks like if you press it, it could cause World War 3.
I check my phone and now the corner is more enlarged than ever. But the real question is does it work. I press the power button. Then I hold the power button. After that, I shake it and hold the power button for five minutes.
Nothing works, it's a solid black screen.
I need a job.
"Fuck. Why."
The phone became so hot in my hand. That was a long-ass URL. I probably have a virus, but I have virus protection on my phone. I downloaded that app, BettyrSAFE. Oh wait, that was the free trial three months ago.
Finally reaching my chemistry class. Mr. Burgess is there at his desk in front of the door. "Mr. Burgess I have a question about the homework assignment."
"Mr. Fareware!" He grins, leaning back in his chair. "What questions? Because the assignment I gave was fucking easy. It was a quiz, with five questions, and a bonus."
"Well... I have a question about, um, number 5."
Mr. Burgess has a big set of brown eyes. I started asking at the beginning of the year if he was on crack. Why am I so obsessed with cocaine? "You have a question about defining the definition to the word Atomic?" When I think about it, I never do my homework nor did I do it last night. "Caught you Mr. Fareware. I know you threw the assignment in the trash upon leaving my classroom yesterday. So, let's cut the bullshit."
"Ok." Fuck.
"You have at this moment, a fat ass thirty one in my class," He exclaims. Homework is worth ten points, tests are sixty points and quizzes are worth 30 points. You get an extra 25 for regular-ass classwork. "Am I passing?" Why the fuck did I even ask?
"No!" he cocks his head to the side in disbelief. Why couldn't my teacher be a woman? I could fuck for a free grade. "Mr. Fareware, your teachers had a meeting concerning your education."
I have it.
"You're making a basic F in my class, history is an F, math doesn't even have a grade, gym is a D. English is a C, by the grace of God. And all the three classes have kicked you out giving you..." he starts twiddling his fingers in the air. "No credit."
"What does that mean?"
"It means, if you fail another class, you are getting kicked out!" To be honest, we've been missing a lot of teens in school. We went from 8,030 students to 1,324. That's a massive drop. Seraphim Prime has 1,324 students, you can take eight classes. Seven elective classes. They used to offer Band, but the teacher went missing and we used to have Theater. Once upon a time, we had Art and that was completely removed and replaced with Writing.
In my opinion, the school doesn't have the funds to hold education and the teachers are losing their minds.
"What happens if I get kicked out?" I don't know why I asked. I could be homeless, I'm already jobless and live in an apartment next to a couple that has outrageous amount of sex.
"Did you have a scholarship?"
"No... I'm in the Walk Free program. My tuition is paid for."
"That means you probably have a new program. The Walk Free program no longer works for previously attending students or other. Did you receive your checks in the mail?"
NO ONE TOLD ME I WAS FUCKING UNINSURED. "Um, I had a card. I pick it up at Western Union."
He turns in his chair to start typing on the computer. "That's bullshit. Those checks don't go to Western Union."
Then where the fuck is my money? "Well, that's where I've been getting them."
"Impossible," I peek to see him go to google. Typing in The Walk Free program by GetrightEducation.com. "Amazing the site still works." On the site, he clicks under, PROGRAMS. He starts reading my pain, "at this time, GetRightEducation is no longer supporting the Walk Free Program."
The message is clear at the top of the page in bright yellow and red. Scrolling down, there's another message. "The Last Repercussion Checks were delivered to the addresses on file." Mr. Burgess reads. He turns to me again and my heart is beating inside my throat. "How much money did you get?"
"Seven hundred dollars." I would have about 200 saved and pay rent with that. Buy food, my phone bill is fucking 75 dollars a month, rent is 340. My grocery bill is 180. My books are high price to the point I was like, I'm not buying a 155-dollar textbook. "Rottingham School district as declared SPA inoperable. The school has been trying with tutoring programs but to put it simply, we have no money. The last principal doomed us."
"What's happening to the students?" I ask. "Mr. Burgess, I live in an apartment. I'm an orphan."
"Are you also in another program for that?"
I feel as if my eyes might swell. "No." My voice is so shaky; I'm expecting him to say April Fools. "Well, that might save you. The last result for students still enrolled is Home Care for the Orphaned. I'll give you the address here in Maine." He searches through his desk drawer for a clean white note and grabs a pen off his desk. "This is supported by the government. If you stay in school, you receive up to 350 dollars for the number of years you attend a school. Doesn't have to be SPA. The conditions are you must not miss no more than 3 days out of a week. Your grades must meet a C, B, or A. Here's the address, Deidre."