A/N-I would like to take this opportunity to reply to all of the reviews I've gotten so far:
PennTheWriter: Why thank you! And you're not a sucky beta, that's silly. You're great!
Guest: Thank you! I'm glad to here that you're excited about this chapter! I am too!
Guest: Well, this chapter is longer. And thank you, it's meant to be dark. Also, I'd like it if you didn't refer to my other work as "shit". It's not the best feeling in the world, to have something that's become a part of you called shit. If you like darker fics, I recommend checking out SilenceIsGolden15. Her stories are very serious, and she's a great writer.
Now, without further ado...your chapter.
Scarlet woke up and stretched. Another day to live through. Great.
She got up out of bed, stopped the beeping coming from the alarm on her waterproof watch, and took a shower. (It wasn't really a shower. She kinda just stood there and let the water hit her.) She sighed. Looks like it's gonna be another bad day, she thought.
She got dressed robotically: jeans, t-shirt, flannel shirt, don't button it 'cause it's not that cold, boots, brush hair, put hair into a bun, army knife and phone in her back pocket, handgun in the concealed holster at her hip, pepper spray in her other back pocket.
She went through her morning routine, waiting for the sun to come up. She went out and collected eggs from her chickens, even though she asked herself what the point was. She made breakfast for three people, then put two thirds of it in the fridge. Wolf would be by later and he couldn't cook, so if she didn't make him breakfast, he'd probably burn the house down.
She ate what was left of the scrambled eggs and headed outside to start her morning chores. She finished them more quickly than usual, since all she wanted to do was go back inside and lie down.
She laid down on her couch, then fell back asleep.
Wolf woke her up by shaking her shoulder.
"C'mon Scar, you gotta get up."
Scarlet mumbled, "I don't wanna."
"Callie Benoit-Tanner, you get up right now, or I'll be forced to tickle you."
"Okay, okay. I'm up, Z."
Her boyfriend of two years looked into her half-asleep eyes.
"On a scale of one to I wish I could kill myself but Z won't let me, how bad was today?"
He asked her the same question every day, whether it was over the phone, video chat, or in person.
"Somewhere between Functioning and Completely Numb."
Today, compared to her other bad days, hadn't been that bad. Her depression hadn't really been bothering her that much lately, and she had been waiting for another bad day to happen. This wasn't too bad. She suspected that tomorrow would be worse.
"There's breakfast for you, Z. I left it on the counter."
"Thanks."
Scarlet checked her watch. It was nine a.m.
"Shit! I need to get ready for my class at the high school!"
Wolf walked over, his mouth full of food.
"What class?"
"They asked me to teach a class about farming over at Luna High School. Don't know why they picked me, but apparently I'm the most qualified for the job. Can you take those eggs and the peppers I picked to the market for me today?"
"Sure."
"Thanks."
She ran upstairs and put some makeup on, hiding her chapped lips and the bags under her eyes, then ran back downstairs and grabbed her bag and the keys to her car. She waved to Wolf, who was carrying two dozen eggs to put in his own car, and ran out the door.
She got in her car and breathed in, trying to prepare herself for teaching a class full of kids.
"Hey, Darling."
Her grandmother had named the car when she was still alive. Scarlet's last memory of her grandma not in a hospital bed was in this car. They had gotten in, her grandma had said, "Hey Darling," and she had driven to the hospital and checked herself in. She knew something was wrong. It turned out that she had cancer and she had died two months later. Scarlet had been eight. Scarlet was then sent to live with foster families. Thirty-four of them. None of the families who claimed to be able to handle unruly kids could take her for long. She had finally turned eighteen and gotten away, back to her grandmother's farm, which had been left to her. She met Wolf a few weeks later.
Scarlet started the car and turned on the CD player in the dash. She stuck a CD in, turned up the volume, and started singing along to Heart of Fire.
Four songs later, she was at Luna High. She parked where she thought the teachers would park and headed inside, trying to remember which classroom she was supposed to be in. Someone bumped into her, a man with bright orange hair and a sharp face.
He extended his hand. "Aimery Park. Sorry about that."
She shook his hand, and tried to pull away, but he didn't let go. "No problem, Mr. Park. Um, I'm supposed to teach a science class here, but I'm not sure where to-"
He cut her off. "Sorry, but I have my own class to teach. Can't help you."
Scarlet yanked her hand away (finally) and put it on her hip. "Well, excuse me, Mr. Park. I can see I'm wasting your valuable time. If you'll excuse me, I have a science classroom to find. On my own."
When he made no move to get out of her way, she stepped around him and continued peeking into classrooms to try and guess which one was the science one. When she looked inside one room and saw a teacher wearing a lab coat and holding a dead rat up by the tail, she guessed that was the science room. She then headed up to the teachers' lounge to wait until third period, which was when she had to teach. She sat down in one of the chairs and put her earbuds in. She scrolled through her playlists until she found Linkin Park and then leaned back and closed her eyes, letting the music absorb her.
Scarlet took a couple of deep breaths. It was time. She walked back down to the science classroom a few minutes early so she could meet the science teacher.
She stuck out her hand and he shook it, saying, "Hi. My name is Ryu Hvit-ulv. But since that's a bit hard to pronounce, you can just call me Ryu."
"I'm Callie Benoit-Tanner."
He had an accent that Scarlet couldn't place, but it was captivating. It explained why she hadn't heard a sound from the students through the thin door of the science room. Also, he was pretty cute. He had shaggy white hair and pearly white teeth, and his eyes were almost like a dog's…or a wolf's. He grinned at her.
"Are you ready?"
Scarlet shook her head.
"Too bad, 'cause here come the students."
A total of twelve kids walked in.
The first was a group of four girls who looked like models all fawning over the same guy. He looked like a football player, while the girls were unnaturally beautiful. One wore white, one wore red, and two wore black. They all had perfect hair, perfect faces, and perfect figures. Scarlet was slightly jealous, even though Wolf would have told her she had nothing to worry about.
Then an Asian girl whose gait listed to the left. She winced as a boy, presumably her boyfriend, helped her into her seat. She let out a soft hiss as she leaned against the back of the chair and immediately straightened back up.
The girl's boyfriend also looked Asian, with messy black hair and a gray hoodie. He moved his chair really close to his girlfriend before sitting down.
A small blonde girl with turquoise eyes and lavender bangs over one eye. She was wearing long sleeves and tall boots. In 60-degree weather.
An African-American girl with dark, frizzy, curly hair whose face was one of the prettiest Scarlet had ever seen, even prettier than the supermodel girls.
The blonde boy who sat next to the curly-haired girl looked deadly serious, and the phrase "if looks could kill" came to mind when he glanced at Scarlet's face.
An Indian girl with about a hundred tiny electric blue braids in her hair and nails to match. She looked sickly and too skinny, but her expertly applied makeup did a good job of trying to hide it.
Another blonde boy, wearing almost exactly the same thing as the first one, sat next to her. He had dark purple bruises under his eyes, and he looked like he hadn't slept but was trying to stay awake and so had gotten himself hyped up on caffeine.
Ryu picked up his attendance sheet and read off the names. Scarlet tried to attach names to faces as he went down the list.
"Iko Blackburn."
The girl with the blue hair raised her hand. "Here."
"Jacin Clay."
The blonde boy with the killing stare raised his hand. "Here."
"Jade Daley."
The supermodel in white raised her hand. "Here."
"Cress Darnel."
The girl with the lavender bangs raised her hand, holding on to her shirt sleeve to make sure it didn't slide down. "Here."
"Zima Hayle."
The curly-haired girl. "Here."
"Topaz Jackson."
One of the supermodels in black. "Here."
"Liam Kinney."
The tired-looking blonde boy yawned. "Here."
"Selene Linh."
The girl who needed help getting into her chair and winced whenever she moved. "Here."
"Crystal Matthews."
The supermodel in red. "Here."
"Amber Miller."
The other supermodel in black. "Here."
"Kai Rikan."
The boy in the hoodie. "Here."
"Al Strom."
The boy who could have been a football player. "Here."
Ryu set the sheet down. "Since we're all here, please welcome our guest speaker for today, Miss Callie Benoit-Tanner."
The students clapped. Jade, Crystal, Topaz, Amber, and Al had impossibly huge smiles on their faces. The other seven looked either distant, in pain, or about to fall asleep. A couple even managed all three.
Scarlet shuffled her papers and grinned.
"Call me Scarlet."
A/N-Review please!
Love,
Baz
