Page 8 of Withered

The bell rings, signaling that we need to rush to our respective classes. We wave our goodbyes and promise to meet in the cafeteria during lunchtime.

Math class is just around the corner, so I get there on time before the second bell goes off. When I open the door and walk inside the classroom, there are barely a few kids seated. I find myself in the middle. The front is too much, and the back is occupied by the jocks. The middle benches are the best for people like me. As the class starts to fill, I recognize the faces, but there are only a few that I know of. Everyone is talking; some are shouting, while others, like myself, are simply staring around.

I was rummaging through my stuff when the class went silent. I lift my head to find a woman in her late thirties entering the class.

“Good morning, class. I am Professor Dorris Williams, and I’ll be taking your Math. You can call me Mrs. Dorris.” She introduces herself. Everybody greets her in return, and I have a feeling Math will go great throughout the year.

“Okay, today we will start with trigonometry. Just the basics,” she informs us.

She goes to the board and starts writing the formulae. The door opens five minutes into the session, drawing everyone’s attention, even Mrs. Dorris.

Jake walks inside the classroom. Every single eye is on him. A few girls begin to pull their tops down low, while the boys cast him an envious glance.

Mrs. Dorris clears her throat. It goes unnoticed at first, but she manages to catch everyone’s attention again.

“Who are you?” She asks, pointing a finger at Jake, who is now sitting at the extreme back.

“You don’t know me?” He raises an eyebrow.

Wait, wasn’t he early this morning?

“As long as you’re not Obama, I don’t see you as of any importance.” She smiles sweetly at him, but the humor doesn’t go unnoticed.

The boys start howling, and the girls, including me, have their mouths wide open. My teacher is a tyrant.

He chuckles, unfazed by the insult thrown at him. “Oh, that’s a shame. Well, Mrs. Dorris, I am Jake Henderson. I’m sure you’ll get to know me by the end of the day.” He smiles back at her.

She blushes at him. Did I just call her savage? I take my words back.

She clears her throat and says, “Make sure you are on time tomorrow.”

His gaze wanders across the room until it lands on me, and he offers me a smirk. What’s the deal with smirks?

“You don’t have to be concerned about it. I most certainly will.” He responds, his gaze fixed on me. Everyone appears to be aware that he is staring at me, which makes me nervous.

I break the contact and shake it off, but my mind is screaming as I mutter more to myself. “What the hell did I do?”

I roll my eyes as the girls stare at me. Come on, people. You can still hit on him, even though he is no one to me. He is not mine, and I don’t even want to be friends with him. He is nothing but a rude jerk and a goddamn, infuriating pain in the head.

The class goes by in a blur. People keep staring at me for some reason that I don’t even know of, but I focus my attention on the board. Math is not going to be good. I’m starting to hate this class now.

Next is World History. Unfortunately for me, I do not have one familiar face in this class, which gives me a reason to make friends, and fortunately enough, I don’t have Jake. The class goes smoothly. The professor thought it would be nice to start tomorrow, not today. I like him already.

As I stand here in the lunch line, I want it to magically disappear because I am starving and this line is pissing me off. After a whole five minutes, I finally get my lunch and make my way to my seat.

The cafeteria is as noisy as ever, with jocks in the middle, nerds on the far-left end, and others scattered around. My seat is on the right side, near the window. It’s meant for four or five people, but it’s mostly Kristy and myself here. We are occasionally joined by some of our other pals.

I take a few sips of water as I wait for Kristy when the cafeteria suddenly goes silent and everyone is staring at something, or more accurately, someone. I look around to see what caught their attention.

Jake and Tyler, in particular, enter the cafeteria and glance around. They sit directly next to the jock’s table, and half the females from the adjacent table rush over to surround them.

I tear my gaze from the scene.Now, where is Kristy?

The apple is already in my stomach by the time she arrives, surely cursing me for chewing it so roughly. I am extremely annoyed. Who abandons their best friend in the middle of a crowded cafeteria?

Kristy flops down on her seat with her lunch box. She rarely eats cafeteria food.

“Where were you?” I whisper yell at her.

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