Chapter: 1
Welcome to Mr. Timble's Class
(Or What I Like to Call It, Hell)
Walking to third period on Wednesday, I was thinking of Shay's party that was coming up on Saturday and how excited I was for it. I haven't been free for a weekend for three months, and now I was finally able to actually have fun for once! But before I get to that, let me introduce myself. My name is Emily Adams and I go to Cabot High School in Cabot, Arkansas. I'm 18 years-old and I have dark blue eyes with short messy brown hair. I like to draw, play music, and joke around. I'm in the Art Club, the Music Club, and on the Volleyball team. Now, that's all I'm going to tell you about and the rest your just going to have to piece together because then I would be rambling on and on about how awesome I am- which I am- and I would be sounding all stuck-up and narcissist and 'look-at-me-and-my-awesomeness,-bow-down-to-me', which I think is really unappealing and shit, and I would just really hate to be one of those-
Off subject. Sorry.
Now, back on track, the reason I haven't been 'available' is that I've been working, and no, it's not one of the stupid part/time jobs that you find in ads in the newspaper or stapled to wooden poles and fences. I wish it were one of those, because my life would be a whole lot easier, but no, my life is not what one would call normal. The reason I say this is because... I have a secret. This secret is so huge that if anyone knew, my life would never be normal. But then again, it wouldn't be normal even IF that happened, but I mean even if it was normal, it would still be less normal..er.
Have I lost you yet? Sorry. Let me just cut to the chase.
I'm secretly Lilly Knightley, the Drummer for the new-uprising band, Criss-Crossed.
You shocked? Eh, don't be. It's not a big deal, really. It's just that if this secret is revealed, my whole life will be ruined. No pressure, right? And since this is supposed to be a 'hush-hush,-no-telly-anybody' secret, the only ones who know are my family...and my best friends... and the principal...and my manager. Not too many.
Now, back to my fantabulous school. Ah, Cabot High. It's actually a pretty nice lookin' school. It's a grayish-brownish brick-layered building with a white flat roof that has the entrance coming out more than the surrounding building. I was spacing out as I continued walking, not looking where I was going; someone just had to open the door right in front of me. Did I mention that the doors at my school open out? Well, you can just guess what happened. BAM! I actually heard the sound of my face slide off the wooden door and on to the floor.
"Owww…" I muttered.
"You know, Mrs. Adams, normal people use their hands to open doors, not their heads." the mature male voice said sarcastically towards me, as I looked up to see who it was.
It was my new, cool, not bad-looking math teacher, Mr. Charlie Timble, or as everyone else called him, "Mr. T."
Mr. Timble is a 21 year-old glasses-wearing math teacher with blue-grayish eyes and messy ebony black hair. This is his first year teaching here because our last math teacher, Mrs. Dunn, had a mental breakdown and went to the hospital. Don't worry; she's fine… (if she's tranquilized in a straight-jacket.)
'You did that on purpose, didn't you?' I thought as I glared at him. He just stared at me with that stupid smirk, so I sighed and walked into class.
"Yo, Em! Over here!" a male voice shouted.
"Yeah, Em, we saved you a seat! Right in the front, next to us 'cause we know you'd love it!" an identical male voice yelled.
It was 2 of my best friends, Aiden and Scotty Banks. Aiden and Scotty are almost-identical twins and the same age as me. They both have light-brown hair, but have different eye colors. Scotty has chocolate brown eyes, and is also a snowboarder, in the Music Club, and on the Soccer team. On the other hand, Aiden has sapphire-colored eyes, is also a snowboarder and in the Music Club, but he's on the Basketball team. I swear they are the devil's seed. I mean don't get me wrong; they're nice guys and all, but they just have way too much free time.
"Gee, thanks, guys." I thanked them sarcastically, as I sat down in the first seat in the middle row. Mr. T walked in just as the bell rang.
"Okay, class, let's begin." Mr. T started. "Now, today I will be teaching you about something that most of you have learned, but for some of you, it is something that will be new to you." He always says that when we are learning a new lesson, and he always stares at me when he says 'some.' He starts to write on the board and says as he writes, "Chapter 12: Lesson 1: Geometrical Figures." 'Oh how I love this class! It's like sunshine and rainbows with pretty flying unicorns running in a meadow filled with talking daisies.'
I stopped thinking for a second. 'What the hell? Did I just seriously think that?' Now I know that thinking too much will hurt your brain.
Mr. T slammed his hands on the desk, scaring the flying crap out of me as he shouted, "Miss Adams! Would you like to answer the problem or drift off into 'La-La-Land'?" I opened my mouth to answer. "Don't answer that." I closed my mouth. I could hear the twins laughing it up next to me along with the rest of the class.
"Shut up…" I whispered to the twins. They laughed even harder.
"What were you thinking about this time, Spongebob?" Aiden managed to snicker out.
"Or was it about Mr. T?" Scotty whispered with a very wide smile.
I looked at those things I call my best friends oddly. "Actually it was how I love math class and compared it with sunshines, rainbows, and flying unicorns running in a meadow filled with talking daisies." I said with my head on my desk, lifting up my head up only enough for them to hear me. They stopped laughing, so I looked up and saw their expressions.
"Emily, we're worried about you." Aiden puts his hand on my shoulder, in an adult-like manner.
"Yes, Emily, we are concerned for your health and welfare." Scotty said with a stern look.
I sighed. "Guys, do you even know what the word 'welfare' means?" I raised an eyebrow as I smirk at them. They paused and broke out with goofy smiles.
"Nope, but I doubt you know either!" Aiden and Scotty said together. We laughed at our stupidity. Of course, it is short lived.
"Mr. Banks, Miss Adams, Mr. Banks; Come get your 'Golden Ticket.'" Mr. T says, holding 3 'Golden Tickets.'
"Aw, sweet! We're going to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!" Aiden shouted out with glee. The whole class started laughing.
"No, stupid, it's a detention slip. You got to use that walnut-sized brain of yours more often," I stated with a smirk, tapping the side of my head. I watched Aiden's face drop and Scotty laugh at him.
"Shut up; it's not funny…"Aiden mumbled as he pouted.
"Seriously, bro, you should have seen that coming." Scotty laughed at his brother as Aiden stuck his tongue out at him. I chuckled at their childish antics.
"Ah-hem. You do know that we are still in class, correct?" Mr.T's voice echoed inside the class room, lightning appearing in the background as we stared in awe.
'How does he do that?' we wondered.
'Oh- well.' I thought.
The time passed in a blur; now it was lunch. Ah, lunch; oh, how I hate those evil lunch ladies. They are a pain especially when we, the students, don't eat what they, the lunch brigade, 'so lovingly' cooked for us, the students a.k.a. the victims.
The twins and I found our way to the lunchroom and got in line. I checked what was for lunch: Mystery Meat. Ugh. What the hell is that anyway? I'm gonna guess that it's what a hot pocket is made out of: a combination of nasty meat. I grimaced at the thought of hot pockets and how they make me ill.
We continued to move down the line and came to a stop in front of the evilest thing in Cabot: Edna the lunch lady- man- person. I'm just going to call it 'It.' I can't identify the gender of 'it' because 'it' looks like a lady, but 'it' has a mustache. 'It' looks down at me with a glare. I looked up and glared back. Edna took 'it's' ladle filled with what looked like to be green beans and plopped it down on my plate. Then, 'it' took the mystery meat and threw it right next to the unidentified mass of green blob. I looked down at the food then I looked at the lunch lad- ma- person. I walked out of the line, and threw it in the trashcan; I made sure 'it' saw me do so. It's pretty funny watching an adult blow their top.
"Man, Em, you just love doing that, don't you?" Aiden said while he and Scotty were chuckling at the lunch person.
"Are you accusing me of being merciless? Now, why would you so rudely blame an act of crime on lil' ol' me?" I said with an innocent face. The twins laughed at my antics as we walked towards our table.
There, we met up with the last two people in our little group.
The one on the left is Carly Dares. She is the same age as me with brown eyes and curly ebony hair. She is in the Art Club and on the Volleyball Team with me.
The one on the right is Shay Correl. She is also the same age as me with hazel eyes and straight Blonde hair. She is in the Art Club and on the Cheerleading Squad.
"So how was class with Mr. T?" Shay questioned us as we sat down.
"Yeah, did he pick on you again, Em?" Carly teased with a grin.
"Doesn't he always?" The twins chorused together as they grinned their 'special' grin at each other.
I glared at the twins.
"Thanks for the moral support, guys. I really appreciate it." I muttered under my breath. "By the way, why do you always bring that up when we just had his class? Do you just love to torment me or something?" I questioned.
"Well, best friends do teases each other, so it's not our fault."Carly shrugged.
"Yeah, thanks. Do you like pay him to target me or something?" I exclaimed with a joking demeanor.
"...No..."The other four said nervously in unison as they look away, whistling to themselves.
"I really feel the love from you guys. No, really. It's swelling around me. I feel it." I stated sarcastically, folding my arms together, putting my feet on the table, and crossing them.
"Are you comfortable?" A big, scary shadow asked, lurking behind me.
"Very. Thank-" I froze.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
I slowly turned around and was overcome by a smoke-induced cloud.
I started coughing like crazy. 'Oh my god. There's only one person I know that smokes this obsessively.'
"Miss Adams, care to take a stroll to my office?" Mr. Truman's voice boomed in my ears. He waved his hand in the direction of his office.
I slumped, sighed, and walked sluggishly towards his office. 'Great. Just beautiful. This week was supposed to be perfect. I was finally going to be able to go to a party. Way to go, Em. You really did it this time.'
I finally made my way to his office. I sat down and waited for him to come. I looked around and finally looked at my watch.
1 minute. 2 minutes. 3 minutes. 4 minutes. 6 minutes.
I start to tap my foot on the ground in boredom, and I was getting agitated. What is taking him so long? The lunchroom isn't that far away.
I watched the door waiting for him to come. 'Where the hell is King Kong?'
Blink. Nothing so far.
Blink. Blink. Blink. Still nothing.
Blink. Bli- Ah! There's that blubber butt of a principal! He walked around his desk, and sat down, staying silent.
"Do you know why I called you down here?" He glared at me, hands entwined.
"Because I threw a smoke bomb in a plastic trash can and it caught on fire? Or was it when I closed the closed the school for a week when I impersonated your voice on the intercom saying that the school is having electrical problems, and that it could blow at any minute?" I guessed.
"What?" He exclaimed, seemingly appalled and astonished at the new information.
"Nothing." I said quickly, looking at the ceiling. Ha-ha, sucker.
He sighed and rubbed his head. "Emily, this is the fourth time this week. When will you stop disgracing the cafeteria by putting your feet on the tables? Other students have to eat there also, and they don't want to see the dirt from your shoes."
I huffed and stayed silent. 'Why is he always on my case?'
"I have no choice, Emily. I'm going to have to give you a detention. You will report to school Saturday morning at 9 A.M. sharp. Your dismissed."
"But Principal Truman I have a 'thing' to go to on the day!" He knew I was referring to my alter ego job.
He gave me a 'no-shit,-sherlock' look. "I am well aware. That's why I said 'A.M.' Now go. I have other important business to attend to..." He finished, waving his hand back and forth towards the door.
I dropped my head, hunched over, and walked slowly out the door. As I left walked out the door, I heard a loud snoring coming from his office. I rolled my eyes. Important business, my ass. I continued to make my way towards the cafeteria and sat down at my usual chair where the rest of the my group of friends were still sitting there, waiting for an answer from me about what happened with the principal. The four other seniors just stared at me. Half a second later, the bell rang. I sigh, still feeling frustrated, got up and silently, walked to my Homeroom. The four seniors were still so confused.
After Homeroom, I started to walked to my next class, which happened to be my favorite class, Music. I started to head off towards it, but suddenly I ran into what felt like a brick wall and was on the ground in the middle of the busy hallway. I confusedly looked up and saw Mr. T looking down at me with the same confused expression I was wearing.
This look quickly turned into amusement as he remarked, "Quite the klutz, Miss Adams. I wouldn't want my favorite pupil to get injured, now would I?"
I know it sounds strange, but I think he wanted something. I was befuddled by his comment. It was awfully cryptic. I retorted back," Um...thank you..., Mr. T, but why would that be?"
For a second, he had a gleam in his eye, and then, in a flash, it was gone. "Well, I wouldn't want my 'special' student to get hurt because of me, hmm?"
I glared at him for a second when he called me 'special.' "Right, right…"I mumbled."Well, I gotta go or I'll be late for class. Bye!" I said, quickly trying to run off to my next class, but was pulled back by my collar.
"Not so fast, Miss Adams. I need you to do me a small favor." He said with his sugar-coated voice and his fingers pinched together, indicating his "small favor". Oh, no. There's that evil glint in his eyes again. "You see, last night, I went to Office Depot to copy the class' test because I just knew how much you all wanted to take it-" After that, all I heard was 'blah, blah, blah' and that's where he lost me.
I stopped for a second and thought about what he said. I didn't know teachers had normal things to do outside of school. Then I remembered seeing Mr. Truman in spandex at the swim club. I shuddered at the memory, that horrible dreadful memory. It will scar me for life. I suddenly blurted out what I was thinking. "I didn't know teachers had lives." I instantly covered my mouth, and mentally cursed. I'm screwed.
He stopped talking and I saw his eye start to twitch. I swear I would have thought he would have bitten off my head. He bitter-sweetly said as he clenched my collar tighter, "You'd be surprised about what we teachers do outside these halls." The way he said it was just so mysterious, making me want to know more about what he does in his off-school time. "Anyways, follow me."
"Wait, but-" I stammered.
He cut me off with a smirk and said," You can skip class. I'll write you a note saying you were assisting me."
I stopped listening after 'skip class' and he knew he had me hook, line, and sinker. 'He doesn't seem that bad anymore. I can't remember why I hated him.' I sighed and followed him like a lost puppy towards the parking lot. We weaved our way to the end of the parking lot. I looked up and my mouth opened in awe and amazement as I saw his car. 'Hmm. Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren Roadster. Nice.' I was deeply impressed. "I didn't know that he could afford it with a teacher's salary." There goes my big mouth again.
I saw Mr. T's face twitch again. "I won it on a radio show." He then turned around and saw the expression on my face. "Pick up your jaw, Miss Adams. I need your hands." He said with little irritation as he pushed my mouth up to close it. "Now, this will take at least 20 trips, so... get to it." He said, patting me on the back and quickly retreated back inside before I could protest.
'I now remember why I hate him so much.' I thought, glaring at where he used to be standing. 'manipulative bastard...' "Well," I said to no one in particular, "better get this over with." I grabbed the first box. Scratch that. I tried to grab the first box, but I couldn't seem to actually get it off the bottom of his car. I stopped for a second, feeling an eerie aura. 'Why do I feel like someone is spying on me?' I quickly turned around to see nothing. 'My God, I'm paranoid.'
I was struggling and straining with the heavy load; it was killing me. All of a sudden, I feel a tap on my shoulders. I jumped up and turned around, about to knock the living daylights out of the stranger when I recognized his face and his voice.
"Hey, put your arms down, slugger." He said teasingly. "You look happy to see me. You need help there, Adams?" He smirked at me as I crossed my arms.
"Humph. Maybe. You willing to help, Collins?" I replied. Yeah, that's right. I'm talking to the town bad boy/rebel, Jeffery Collins. The rumors say he's so bad that he has a criminal record. They also say he isn't scared of anyone or anything, which I know is not true. He's actually scared of London Jacobs and turtles, which I think is just hilarious, so I tease him like crazy about it!
"Well, I'll have to look at my little black book to see if I'm free. I have a class ditching appointment at 1:15 and a nap at 2, so..." I jokingly hit him on his shoulder as he pretends to thumb through the pages of his invisible schedule.
"Oh, just help me out, you jerk." I said, putting the heavy boxes in his hands. It went a lot fast with two people instead of one. We finished ten minutes later with a lot of class time left. Then I just realized something. "That lazy, good-for-nothing bastard! He never gave me a note for class!" I shouted my thoughts aloud.
"Hey, I was planning on skipping the rest of school, so just come with me." He held out his hand to me and I grab it.
"Eh, why not? It's not like Gym is important." I shrugged as we ran to his car and he drove towards the ice cream parlor, FROZEN FRENZY.
When we got there, there was hardly anyone there, mostly because people were still in school. We sat down in the booth next to the window and looked at the menus.
"Hmm...I'm thinking about getting Cookies 'n Cream, but I also like Bunny Tracks..." I voiced out.
"I have the same problem. Rocky Road is a classic, but Caramel Delight is just as good." Jeffery said seriously.
"Well, I think I'll decide to go with...BUNNY TRACKS!" I stated confidently, as if my answer would win me a million dollars as I closing the menu.
"Then I'll think I'll take Rocky Road."He said calmly, placing the menu on the table.
"Psssh, you're only choosing Rocky Road to be manly." I said to him.
He hesitated. Haa, I got him. "N-no, I just like Rocky Road."
"Uh-huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night." I replied, grinning widely. I then shouted out," Yo! Paulie! Get us the usual!"
Paul "Paulie" Samson, the proud owner of the FROZEN FRENZY, yelled back," You got it, Adams!" He headed towards the back to make our ice creams. Paulie built the place when I was little and I have come here ever since. I'm his best and loyal customer.
"So, Adams, what should we do to pass the time?" Jeffery asked, leaning back in the booth.
"Why are you asking me? You come up with something!" I retorted.
He started to think, rubbing his chin with his hand. He then shot up with his hand pointing in the air. "I got it! Why don't we talk about the funniest thing that has ever happened to us!"
I looked at him. "It took you that long to come up with that?"
"Well, would you rather talk about your feelings?" He replied.
"NO! No,no,no,no,no,no. That's fine. So why don't you start us off?" I implied, wanting to quickly get off that subject.
"Well...um...Ah! When I was little, I used to think that the car was magical and that only the earth was moving." Jeffery said sheepishly.
I laughed at him. "Wow, really? Well when I was little, I was playing outside, when my dad called me because he made cookies. I ran so fast towards the door inside, but I forgot that we have a clear glass door. I ran face first into it with a bang and bounced off of the door. My dad rushed outside and saw me with a completely red face. He then started laughing and pointing at me. He still reminds me of that incident." I told him.
"Wow, that is pretty cruel. It reminds me of this thing I saw the other day. It was the most cruelest commercial towards kids I'd ever seen. It was back to school time and the song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", was playing while a dad and his two kids were looking for school supplies. The dad is like, doing synchronized swimming up and down the aisles with a shopping cart, only that it's on land, while the kids looked mortified."
"My God, you're right! What are they trying to do to us poor children!" I faked gasped.
We then started to laugh at our actions when a shady-looking man approached us, but we didn't stop laughing. "What's so funny that you had to skip school for?" A familiar male voice questioned.
"Well, you see, Jeffery told me about a commercial that had-"I stopped and opened my eyes to see, in all of his mean glory, Mr. Timbles wearing a deep scowl. Man, I got to learn how to not tell the truth.
"Now, why do you think that I'm pissed off beyond reason, Miss Adams?" He bellowed out while I shrunk in my seat.
"Um... well..." I stuttered out but was interrupted by Jeffery.
"It's not her fault because you didn't give her a pass to go back to class." Jeffery defended. My Savior!
"Well, if she waited where she was or if she came to see me, then I would have given it to her!" Mr. Timble argued back.
"If you told her to do so, then she wouldn't have left." Jeffery retorted.
"Well, if she used her brain every once in a while, she would've thought of it for herself!" Mr. Timble yelled.
At this point, I was looking from one guy to the other and my head was hurting. I quietly got up from my seat, took the ice cream from Paulie's hands with a finger on my mouth, telling him to not tell them, and snuck out, running with my ice cream in hand. 'That was the best escape I've ever done.' I thought to myself as I walked home licking my ice cream cone with glee. Those guys are suckers.
