3. SCHOOL DAYS
"Catharine? Whoo hoo, ya home?" I lifted my head from my desk, yawning and rubbing at my blurry eyes.
"What is it Grace?" I grumbled. I was having a really nice dream, which my friend had once again managed to interrupt.
"Why so tired? Stay up late watching the DVDs I gave you?" She asked pulling her chair up next to my desk, leaning in on her elbows until her face was inches away from mine.
"Way too close!" I growled , playfully pushing her a few inches back by her forehead, "and for your information, no I didn't. Sorry, I'll watch them soon. Higurashi really does seem interesting." I quickly added the last part when she pouted at me.
"Why do you take forever and a day to watch the things I give you?" I rolled my eyes, eying the open notebook on her lap.
"Because, unlike some people, I actually do my homework." Her face flushed and scrunched up her face, sticking her tongue out at me.
"Excuse me for having a life." She scoffed, scribbling a few more answers on the page. I rolled my eyes a second time. Grace had always had bad time management skills and was a procrastinator at heart, something I should have been annoyed by, but she was just as kind hearted and caring as she was good at making excuses.
"All right, fine, I'll help you." I sighed. Thankfully she was almost done. I prayed Lit. was the only subject she'd decided to wait until the last moment to finish. Literally a few seconds after I helped explain the answer to the final problem, our teacher stepped in and clapped her hands.
For a freshmen teacher, Ms. Kendal was quite young. She looked to be in her early 20s but insisted on keeping her age a secret. What was more disturbing then her young appearance, was the number of guys who made lewd comments behind her back.
"Alright, who here finished the assignment for today? I hope you all understand this is a good portion of your grade right here." The majority of the class raised their hands, except for a few kids near the back.
"Brent?" Everyone in the class turned around in their seats to look at the kid sitting right behind me. He opened his mouth to say something, then suddenly leaned over and grabbed something on the floor.
"Sorry, just found it." He said giving me a wide grin that slightly resembled a jack-o-lantern. I looked down by my desk where I had left my book bag. It lay on its side, a few folders sticking out of the top and one laying open a few inches away from the bag itself, papers surrounding it. I quickly scrambled to gather the papers. Last weeks homework, worksheets, assigned reading sheets…where's the homework for today?!
I started panicking, riffling quickly through my papers, praying I hadn't left it at home. There was a soft chuckle from behind me, and I froze. I turned around and looked back and forth between the smirk on Brent's face and the now wrinkled paper in his hands.
"Looks like someone forgot to do their homework."
"I can't believe he did that to you!" Both Grace and I were in the girl's bathroom. It was right before lunch and I was already starting to get a major headache. As many kids in our school know, Ms. Kendal doesn't tolerate late work, so I had managed to get a nice big zero on an assignment that was a good portion of this trimester's grade.
"Grace, let it go… I bet I can make it up some how… extra credit or something…" I sighed massaging my temples.
"Here, take these." I dropped my hands from my forehead, gawking at the medication in Grace's hand.
"You know we're not supposed to have medication on our person during school! More or less, why do you even have it with you?" I whispered. Grace just rolled her eyes and put the Advil in my right hand.
"Sorry, after what the nurse did to me at my old school, I don't want to trust anyone else with my medicine." I hadn't heard the exact story about what happened, mostly because I didn't want to ask her directly, but from the infinite gossip that flies around the inside of our school doors, I had pieced together that Grace had transferred from her old school because she had eaten something that had something she was deathly allergic to in it. Apparently the nurse wouldn't let her use her Epi Pen, and call 911. It wasn't until she vomited and passed out in her Biology class that someone called an ambulance.
"Are you gonna take it or just stand there?" She asked, turning towards the other mirror, redoing her blonde streaked ponytail. I looked back at my own reflection, and then downed the pills dry.
"Seriously, Cathy, are you gonna let Brent take credit for your work?" She asked me again, grabbing her book and lunch bag off the sink counter.
"He's a jock, and I'm a…" I cringed as I said it, "I'm a geek. I can't even look certain people in the eye; more or less call them out for doing something wrong." I sighed leaning against a stall. The loud hum of students outside the restroom was beginning to settle down, when suddenly two girls in tight fitting clothing and thick perfume that made me light headed, walked through the door. I looked back at Grace and her jaw line hardened. Grabbing her by the wrist, I led her to the door, as the two girls continued to giggle and whisper. As the door closed behind them, the explosion of laughter was hard for both of us to ignore.
"Hey Grace, you ever head of a game called "The World"?" Outdoor lunch was one of the saving graces of our high school.
"Yeah, I used to play a bunch of MMORPGs before Pluto's Kiss, but there was only a beta of that game floating around at the time. I haven't played it yet, but I've heard its pretty good," she took a bite out of her turkey sandwich, "why you ask?" she mumbled, her mouth still full of food.
"I got a new computer yesterday, one of the ALTIMIT ones, and I purchased a copy of it online."
Grace nearly choked.
"Really?! Can I come over and play? I've only read about it, but I've never actually tried it! Isn't it neat how you can use PS2 controllers instead of having to buy new ones-" She stopped when I snapped my fingers.
"Just remembered. I gotta go to Game Stop and buy a pair of those Face Mount Display goggles," I said, taking a bite of my tuna wrap, "I've been told that's the best way to play. You have some of your own?" Grace nodded, a wide smile on her face.
"My brother has a few personal games that use it. It's sad really that all online games except for the world are now gone. He said first person shooters just aren't the same with AIs." I nodded. Grace tended to be the type of person who could ramble off on a specific subject for hours, though when the topic was bad, it was even longer.
"So you wanna come with me after school? I might even treat you to something nice at Angel Mort if I have enough money left on my card." Grace practically squealed at the idea. I stood up, pulling my wind breaker tighter around me.
"Come on time to head back." I said offering Grace a hand. She groaned and rolled her eyes.
"You do realize that I'd rather have gone through Deadly Flash than deal with Mr. Thompson." I laughed lobbing my trash at the waste bin. It bounced on the edge and landed off to the side.
"Damn! Still no better than I was in middle school." I snickered, picking it up and throwing it back, this time making sure it went in.
"Well, see you after school!" I shouted back to Grace as I ran for the school building. Ms. Shlifske would kill you if you were a few seconds late. Mr. Thompson was a little more relaxed about entrance time. She waved back, and at that point, I couldn't care less about my stolen Lit. assignment or whatever the rest of the day had to throw at me.
I was really beginning to like the idea of slashing into monsters after a hard day in hell.