Disclaimer- I don't own flight 29 down or any of it characters

I resign to a state of total lethargy. The great effort I was making to keep my eye lids from meeting is void. My shoulders slump and I make a comfortable cradle for my head on the cold, unwelcoming desk. My teacher drones on about plate tectonics or something along those lines but all I hear is a long slur of words. I get that wonderful light headed feeling before everything goes black and I no longer have to think.

"Eric!" A sharp voice yells, taking me from my precious sleep.

"Yes Mrs. Porter?" I ask innocently while adjusting to the harsh florescent lights. How she is a 'Mrs' is beyond me. It's difficult to imagine wanting to wake up to this everyday.

"Is it too much to ask that you not sleep in my class?" She screeches. Ugh, my ears.

"Not at all," I answer with spurious politeness. "Might help if you talked about something that wasn't so freakin' boring." I muttered to myself resentfully.

"Oh is that so?" Mrs. Porter says haughtily. Shit, she heard me. "Well maybe the principal could talk to you about something more attuned to your interests? How about you go down to the principal's office and find out."

"Ok," I grumble before rising from my seat and walking towards the door.

"Oh and Eric?" Mrs. Porter calls to me. I turn and see a pompous smile plastered on her face. "Don't fall asleep on the way." This elicits a low hum of laughter from the class.

Ha, wow, she should really take up stand up comedy. Not.

"Yeah, sure," I mutter submissively as I exit the classroom at last.

I leisurely stalk the halls walking past the office. I decide that if I have to go to the office, I'd rather prolong it as long as possible. Of course I could totally skip going to the office just to piss Mrs. Porter off but the last thing I want to do is get in more trouble. I'd gotten a decent amount of detentions lately and my mom was really coming down on me.

"Eric?" I turn around and see Melissa looking at me suspiciously. I realize that I had ended up in the arts corridor of the school.

"Hey." I say casually.

"What are you doing in the arts corridor? I didn't think you took any arts classes." The arts wing was sort of displaced from the rest of the school. There were no lockers and the only people who were in this part of the school were the ones who took art. I didn't.

"Oh no, I don't. I was just walking around and kind of ended up here."

"Oh. Do you have a spare?" She asks curiously.

"Naw. Mrs. Porter sent me to the office and I was just kind of delaying it."

"Oh I see." Melissa adds quietly. She shuffles her feet as we settle into an awkward silence.

"Well I should probably go now. To the office I mean." I say finally.

"Ok, see you." She says as she walks past me and into a classroom. I head in the opposite direction to the office.

I knew the conversation had to eventually happen and at least it wasn't that awkward. Ever since going back to school after the island Melissa and I hadn't talked. Although on the island we had survived together and she'd saved my life twice, it was not significant enough for us to become friends or anything. We were just two high school students who mindlessly passed each other in the hall. It's odd how things change so suddenly.

I come to the entrance to the office and brace myself. Hopefully Mrs. McCrea, the principal, wouldn't call my parents or something. Yet other horrid woman whose surname was accompanied by the proud prefix 'Mrs.'. I honestly felt bad for these husbands.

I entered the office and was immersed in the sweet smell of vanilla and lavender. The school secretary Mrs. Petch, or Linda as she'd told me to call her, had a fixation with scented candles and insisted on lighting them inside the office even though the school regularly told her it was a fire hazard.

"Hello Eric," Mrs. Petch/Linda welcomes me.

"Hello Mrs. Petch." I nod to her politely as I take my regular seat in the waiting room outside Mrs. McCrea's door.

"Oh please, call me Linda. You know that Eric." I did. I just preferred to call her Mrs. Petch. It felt awkward to call her Linda.

"Of course Linda," She smiles then picks up her phone and punches in some numbers.

"Hello Mrs. McCrea I've got Eric out here for you." She talks into the phone. She listens for a couple seconds then hangs up.

"She's ready for you Eric."

I stand up and walk towards her door. On it is a small plaque that reads 'Mrs. McCrea' and underneath it the subtitle states 'Principal'. It probably just makes her feel professional to have the plaque. Everyone one knew where her office was anyway.

I open the door and hear her cold voice. "Hello Eric."

"Mrs. McCrea." I say while taking a seat in front of her desk.

"Who sent you?" She asks me tiredly. My daily visits have begun to bore her.

"Mrs. Porter."

"What did you do Eric?" She asks following usual procedure.

"I fell asleep in her class."

"I see." She notes. "Perhaps after your detention today after school you could try taking a nap."

"That sounds like a smart idea." I nod. I'm eager to leave.

"Good then. Be at study hall at 3:15. You're free to go." She dismisses me. She turns back to her computer as I walk out of her office.

Mrs. McCrea had given up on trying to cease my recalcitrant behavior. A visit to her office was a quick punishment then a dismissal. I don't see why I was so eager to avoid it before. Maybe because I was afraid she'd get sick of my persistent trips to the office and get my mom involved.

I walked back to class resenting the moment I would have to face Mrs. Porter and her pretentious mannerisms. As the classroom came in view I cursed inwardly. I was defiantly not taking geography next year.

I walked in the door and the entire class looked up at me. It was silent and I assumed they were working on some superfluous torture forced on them just so they could fail. Mrs. Porter was evil like that.

"Ah, Eric, I see you finally made it back." Mrs. Porter says, acknowledging my presence. "Mrs. McCrea must have given you quite the talking to."

God I hate her. "Yeah, she did."

Just then sweet bliss blessed me with its presence. The bell sang, echoing through the halls. Everyone began to pack up. I shoved my binder into my bag and sprinted out the door.

Mmm… lunchtime.

A/N: I know that chapter was kind of boring but I just wanted you to get a feel for the story. It'll get better, I promise. I think I'll change up the point of view between characters. So please review to encourage me to continue this story.

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