Mrs. Crigler hit the stack of papers in her hands on the table, attracting the attention of the students.
"Class, I have wonderful news for you. I'm done scoring your tests," she paused and scanned around the classroom, taking in the expression of her bemused audience.
She shook her head and stared at the papers, then back at us, "In all my ten years of teaching, I've never seen a mass failure this bad..."
"...I could have literally given this to a ninth grader and he or she would have done way better than this," she waved the papers in the air.
"It was almost like you all intentionally wrote badly to fail. And I must say, I'm very disappointed."
No one had studied for her test. How would they know they were to study? It was a pop quiz, after all.
We all found it so cruel that she would do such in Biology. Of all subjects!
No one read, and no one was prepared- Except me, of course!
I smiled as I noticed Mrs. Crigler's gaze reach mine, and she stretched her lips in return.
I always wondered why she smiled in such a manner.
"And thank goodness Sage exists. Because obviously, she's the only one who actually pays attention in class. At least I know that all my boring speech doesn't just wash up into thin air."
I could feel all eyes centered on me as whispers and hushed discussions filled the classroom.
What? I wasn't the one who told you guys to never read until test time.
She walked along the aisle between the second and third rows, handing the students their scripts.
"Take a good look at your scripts and read my mini notes. You guys really need to study hard. This is your final lap and you wouldn't want scores like this messing up your result."
Mrs. Crigler handed me my script before gently ruffling my hair, making sure she didn't mess it up.
Smiling cheekily, I took a good look at my score.
I suddenly felt a sharp jab on my right shoulder. The pain ran through my arm and then, stopped.
"Feeling so powerful, eh?" My seat partner and best friend, Amaya, teased.
"First of all, ouch!" I rubbed my sore spot, "Two, of course, I feel powerful. I scored the highest."
Amaya rolled her eyes, "As usual. Sometimes, I wish I could just steal your brain and elope the country or something."
I could still fish out Mrs. Crigler as she walked around the class, handing the remaining students their scripts.
I laughed at Amaya, "What was your score?"
She held her paper up to my face so that I could almost perceive the peculiar scent of red ink that wrote out '37' on her script.
"You tried actually. For someone who didn't read, you-"
Amaya held her index finger to my lips.
"Just shut the fuck up, Sage. I don't want to hear that deluding nonsense today. I failed and that's that. There's no need to be sucking up to my ass."
I raised my hands in defeat, "Sure thing, boss."
I and Amaya's eyes simultaneously trailed over to the table by our left. Mrs Amaya folded the paper down and stretched it toward the victim.
"And you, young man, see me after class," she said, crimping her brows.
He stared at the script in her hand blankly.
"Have your script," she shook the paper in front of him.
He pulled the folded script from her hand and placed it on his table, then rubbed his eyes before going ahead to rest his head on the paper.
My eyes slowly widened.
Does he... want to cry?
I stared at Amaya for a quick second before my eyes trailed back to him.
Did his failure on the test mean that much?
I squinted my eyes to catch a clearer glimpse of his face before making any attempt to reach him.
Yes, he was! He was.... watching a movie?
The sneaky blue light rays that shone from underneath his table were enough evidence. And here I thought that he was even bothered by his score.
I turned to my right and met eyes with a smirking Amaya. She jiggled her brows and left me no other option than to smack her arm before bursting into a soft giggle.
Lucas Martell. That ominous guy. When we were taught to not be deceived by looks, I'm sure he was the reason for that.
Jet-black wavy hair. Icy-blue eyes. Pink lips that vividly gave off its soft texture. A perfectly chiseled face. Masculine figure that was a little too masculine for his age, unlike the others endowed with spaghetti arms.
Hardly had we ever seen him stand, he was either laying face down in class or somewhere else during break. Yet, we still glued our eyes on him whenever he got up to leave the classroom.
Around 6 feet? I won't know. How will I? I'm 5'3. You can't say what you haven't experienced.
I took a quick gulp of our class star once more. Like he knew I was being entertained by him, he comfortably cracked his fingers with his head down on the table. Still, I could easily see as the veins on his hands danced to the beat of his joints.
Turning to the girl behind him, she impulsively met eyes with mine. We smiled, silently congratulating each other before going back to our private breathtaking scenery.
I smiled. Isn't life just great?
I slid my gaze back to the teacher who had long begun another speech. She partly sat on the teacher's desk, folding her arms across her breasts.
"I plead with you all, study. Life's not that great out there. So, you better not mess it up for yourself while you're here."
The bell went off, and like it was an indicator, the classroom immediately became uninterested in whatever she was saying. She must have noticed it too because she quickly rounded up her speech and left.
I got up from the woody chair that flattened my ass, even more, every day.
"How about we go meet the others?" I turned to Amaya.
"Yeah, sure. I just don't want to ever go close to that cafeteria or I'm going to puke. That today's lunch was not it at all," she said, getting up also.
"Maybe tomorrow's menu will be alright?"
"Sure. Till I pass out from food poisoning."
I laughed as we walked out of the class and along the hallway.
"What do you think of Mrs. Crigler's new shoes?"
"New shoes? I didn't notice," I furrowed my brows, "What about the shoes?"
"Fuck! You didn't see them? I wondered why you hadn't tapped my shoulder to tell me to check it out yet. They were so pretty."
"Oh really? It looked really expensive?"
"Yeah. One of this year's Gucci collection."
"Are you fucking serious? That's a whole lot."
"I know right? It makes me wonder who buys all these things for her. And I know it can never be from her purse because the teachers' salary is not it at all. If it was, Mr. Humphrey wouldn't be dressing the way he does."
"Maybe it is her salary she uses to buy them. Maybe Mr. Humphrey just decides to save his."
"Who would have money and then decide to not take good care of themselves, all in the name of saving?"
"I'm sure it's not that he doesn't take care of himself. Some people just rather keep the money than spend it on flashy items, since they know they have their most important needs acquired."
"Well, for sure I know I'm not some people," Amaya, laughed.
"Hey, suckers!"
Amaya and I looked up ahead and met eyes with Erik.
"I was just on my way to call you-"
Amaya punched him in the arm before he could even land his statement safely.
"Who the fuck are you calling a sucker?"
Holding the exact spot he was punched, he curved his height to meet Amaya's stout figure.
He laughed, "Wow, babe. You're really throwing it these days, huh?"
"And I'll throw it again if you don't shut the hell up," she gritted her teeth before using her index finger to push his forehead.
I rolled my eyes and walked right in between them, slightly pushing them away from each other.
"Keep it together, love birds. Can't you just hold it in for a second?"
Erik snickered, walking behind me with his girlfriend, "I mean, we weren't the ones that told you to be single."
I wanted to turn around and glare at him but was held back by the loud smack that emitted from behind me. That should have been enough for him.
"It's been almost an hour. What's the hold-up?" Caleb beckoned to us from the back seat as we walked into Class A, the room of sciences.
"How about next time, you send someone else that's not in love with Amaya to get us?" I drew a chair and sat adjacent to him.
Loren giggled from beside Caleb, making sure her hand found its way to his.
The crew was back and complete. Bonded again after the wave of classes.
The classroom was already quite scanty and it surprised me how quickly the students in this class dispersed home.
However, it felt nice to be alone, just with the ones you love.
I looked at the sky that ran gloomy outside the window and pulled on a smile.
I wish it was just like this at home.
I shook my head and concentrated on what was going on.
We leave what happens at home for home.
Snacks covered the table courtesy of our rich sugar-daddy friend, Caleb.
I thank the stars for the day I met him.
I grabbed a bag of potato chips, "It seems like it's going to rain."
Erik took a chip from my pack and fed it to Amaya, "Well, it's good we already planned to stay back in school."
"I'd rather you guys stay in my house than in here. The Vice-principal may patrol at any time," Loren countered.
"I agree," Amaya added, "I think we've gotten in trouble a little too much now for Sage's good character to save us anymore. We better leave before it starts to rain."
Erik, Amaya, and I all looked at one other before diving in at once for the snacks that interested us, then left the rest for Loren and Caleb to take care of.
"Did anyone bring an umbrella?" Amaya asked as we heard the rain start to drizzle.
"No, but I can shield you with my love," flirted Erik.
"SHUT UP!" We all chorused.