Chapter Four
“Hey, why’d you bolt so quickly?” Nik asks as he and Addam catch up with me.
I shrug “not feeling very good, was hoping to get some Advil from Mr. Sullivan.” I replied.
“I’m sorry, Fal, anything I can do to help?” Nik asks as we go into the classroom.
I shake my head slightly, my minor headache going to a massive migraine. “Mr. Sullivan?” I ask in a quiet voice. I almost expect him not to hear it.
“Miss. Black?” He asks, looking up from whatever he was doing on his laptop.
“I was wondering if you had any Advil I could take?”
“Of course, do you need to go to the nurse’s station?”
“No, I don’t want to miss class; I think as long as I get some medicine, I should be ok.”
Mr. Sullivan nods and hands me four liquid-capsule Advil, and I walk to my seat at the back and gulp down the pills with water out of my tumbler.
“Everything alright? You disappeared on me.” Addam asks as he approaches me.
I look at him and nod “sorry, just not feeling well, and Mr. Sullivan usually has some headache medicine.”
“I can understand that. Do you think you need to go to the nurses’ station?” He asks.
“Nah, I will be alright; I think I just need to drink more water and grab some food when lunch comes around after class.”
As if hearing my need for food, Mr. Sullivan stands up at the front of the class as the last of the stragglers make it into the room before the bell rings. “Alright, class, we’re going to be doing something a little bit different today, I had originally thought about taking the class down to the library computer lab and setting you up in groups of three for a project, but instead of doing that today, we’re going to start our projects tomorrow; however, today we’re going to be celebrating one of your classmates with a pizza party.”
Everyone cheers, making my ears ring; I lay my head down on my arms on top of the table, covering my head with my hood and closing my eyes.
“You sure you’re alright, Falencia?” Nik asks concern, lacing each syllable he speaks.
“I think I just need to eat something, I didn’t sleep well last night, and I only had a banana for breakfast this morning.”
Our conversation is cut short when Mr. Sullivan calls my name. “Miss. Black?”
I lift my head to look at the teacher “yes, Mr. Sullivan?”
“Happy Birthday!”
The whole class chimes in with their birthday wishes, and I smile as best as I can and nod my head in thanks.
“The pizza is down in the office. Can I get a couple of volunteers to help me bring everything up?” He asks as several students get up and follow him to the office.
I doze off for a couple of seconds, but it’s enough to make me jerk my head up in terror as screams fill my ears; I look around the room and notice that Mr. Sullivan and the others aren’t even back yet.
“Hey, everything is ok. You’re safe!” Nik says as he puts a soothing arm around my shoulders.
“Thanks, Nik!” I say as I lay my head back on the table.
The delicious smell of pizza wafts through the room as Mr. Sullivan sets up a table at the front of the classroom and has the students place the pizza and drinks on it; there are also cupcakes. “Miss. Black, since it’s your birthday, it’s only fair that you get to start us off; why don’t you come up and grab a plate.”
I get up out of my seat and head towards the front of the class to grab a plate with pizza, a bottle of soda, and a cupcake. The rest of the class is lined up single-file behind me waiting to get their plates. When I reach my seat, I notice a new text message on my phone.
T -Happy Birthday, sweetie, I know you hate when people know it's your birthday, but I just couldn’t keep from telling that hunk of a history teacher. I hope you’ll forgive me!
F - You’re forgiven! We had a pizza party with a movie, so the whole class was happy.
T - That's a nice thing for Mr. Sullivan to do! What movie are you guys watching?
I look up from my phone as the beginning credits of the movie come on, and I notice that it just so happens to be one of my all-time favorites. “Looks like he decided to go with my favorite movie!”
T - The Covenant?
F - :)
T - Looks like he may be one of us?
F - Or he’s just got great taste.
This ends our texting tirade as I eat my pizza and watch the movie with enthusiasm. The rest of class passes by in a blur of pizza, soda, cupcakes, and film; when the bell rings for lunch, none of us get up, as we are already being treated.
The movie ends just before the lunch hour is over. We all pack up our bags and throw away our trash, heading to our following classes. As we walk down the hall to get to our next class, I am shoved into the wall hard.
“Damn wide-load, you really should start wearing a sign or something.” Anderson, my biggest bully and nemesis, says while laughing maniacally.
“The only person needing a ‘wide-load’ sign is you,” I growl out.
“Oh, now that you have a couple of guys on your arms, you think it’s ok to come back at me with your witty retorts?” He asks as Addam and Nik help me up off the floor and grab the books that are scattered around as a result of the shove.
“I never have, nor will I ever, need someone to fight my battles for me, Anderson; I have been standing up to you for myself all these years, and you just can’t seem to get the fact that I don’t care about what you think of me through your thick skull.” I spit at him, glaring daggers at him.
He glares at me, not saying a word as I walk away from him and head into our speech class, which happens to be my last class for the day. I head towards my usual seat at the back and sit down, trying to calm myself down when Ms. Morgan comes into the room. “Good Afternoon, class!”
“Good Afternoon!” we all reply in unison.
“Miss. Black, would you be willing to hand out these packets to the class, please?” she asks, since I’m not only her student, I am also her TA.
“No problem, Ms. Morgan.” I reply as I head up to the front to grab the packet of papers she has sitting on her desk. I pass by Anderson’s desk when I see his foot slide out. I smirk and jump over his foot discreetly, making sure not to attract any attention to us. I grab the papers, count how many students are in each row, and give that amount to the first person in each row; I give one less to the person at the front of my row since I will be going back to my seat. As I am walking back to my seat, I miss a foot being slid out in front of me and end up falling face down to the ground. I groan as my palms meet the floor.
“Falencia, are you alright?” Ms. Morgan asks with concern.
“I’m good. I just wasn’t watching where I was going and ended up tripping over my own two feet.” I replied.
She looks at me skeptically and turns around to continue writing her lesson on the dry erase board that sits at the front by her desk.
Anderson looks at me with surprise written all over his face. “You didn’t tell on me?” He asks me in a low tone.
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “Now, where is the fun in that when I can exact such sweet revenge all on my own?” I say in a dangerous tone that is equally as low.
His eyes grow wide as he lets my threat sink in. “Is that a threat?” He asks. I just smirk in response. “You don’t scare me, bitch.”
I shake my head in response. “I don’t need you to be scared of me; I need you to understand that I am NOT scared of you.” I say, emphasizing the word ‘not’ “plus, the only bitch I see in this classroom is you.”
“You’ll pay for that.”
I roll my eyes as I sit in my seat and pay attention to the teacher, knowing that Anderson is all talk and no action; he would sooner attack me when I’m alone or have someone else do his dirty work.
“Alright, class, I am going to split you all up into groups of two. No, you will not get to pick your partners. I have already picked your partners for you; I expect you to interview each other and then make a speech about each other. The packets that I had Falencia pass out to you all are interview questions, and I expect every question to be asked; as well as answered.” The class groans, me included.
“Nik, you will be paired with Allison.” Ms. Morgan tells Nik as he looks towards the front of the classroom to a pretty petite brunette who wears glasses and is a major bookworm.
“Seriously? She had to put me with the nerd?” He whispers, to which I punch him in the arm as hard as I can. “OW!” He practically screams like a chick making the whole class stare at him as Ms. Morgan goes through the roster putting people together.
“Falencia, you are with Anderson.” She says, and I feel my face drain of all color.
“Can I please be put with someone else?” Anderson whines like a two-year-old. “I don’t want to contract, loser.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head, just sitting in my seat waiting for him to stop his tantrum, which seems to last more than half the class time. I’m working on other classwork when his shadow comes across my desk, making me look up at him. “Meet me after school, and we’ll go over these stupid questions.”
“Do you have class next hour?” I ask, trying to keep the venom from my voice.
“No, do you?”
“No, I have a free hour, plus I have to wait for my sister to be finished with her last class, so we can meet up in the library and go over these ‘stupid questions,’ as you so eloquently put it” I reply.
He stalks off toward his seat and huffs as he sits down. I envision his seat breaking under his weight and am surprised as Anderson finds himself on the floor as there is a loud CRACK that reverberates through the room. Everyone looks at Anderson as he tries to pick himself up off the floor and gets himself stuck on a broken part of the chair, his jeans ripped from the pant leg to halfway up his thigh.
“Falencia?” I hear someone say my name, but they sound like they are so far away. The only thing I can see is Anderson fighting to get the broken chair leg unattached from his pant leg. I feel a warm embrace followed by the scent of lavender surrounding me. “Falencia, you need to calm down.” I hear someone whisper in my ear as the rest of the classroom starts to come back into focus.