Chapter 6:

I pulled into a parking space and tugged my keys out of the ignition. I walked to the school alone as usual. Once I got in the building, I headed straight for Mr. Mill's room. I kept my head straight, I didn't look at anyone. I opened the heavy wood door and slipped in his room.

"Good morning, Elaine." His gravel voice graded against the words in a way that most girls would fall on their face by hearing.

"Morning. Can I get the packet you handed out for Unit 4 yesterday?" I missed it due to a doctor's appointment for my mom.

"Of course you can. Just so you know your grade dropped about two points from the last test." He added. I couldn't remember what my grade was before but hearing this scared me. AP Chemistry is not an easy course, but I've always had an A+.

"Well... What is it?" I asked nervously.

"Oh, it's a 102," He smiled, knowing what he said before was going to freak me out. "I know you cared about your grades."

I rolled my eyes and took the packet of makeup work out of his hands.

Some tenth graders strolled in and out, talking loudly and acting obnoxious. Britt walked in after them.

I hate her.

When Felix died, she acted like she broke. Britt had a weird crush on him freshman year. Sophomore year, when he passed away, she cried in classes for days. Classes as in every class she had. Felix never talked to her, ever. He barely knew she was alive until when she threw herself at him every day. The poor thing lost her virginity to try to make him jealous. That was an awkward conversation.

She basically tried to embarrass him by telling everyone he had sexually harassed her. She was the talk of the school; some people believed her, most didn't and pitied her instead. There were only a select few that hated her as strong as I did.

She talked to the news about how she thought that she would never get over his death. She held these grief meetings every Thursdays for three months until no one came anymore. Wes, Lillian, and I called them sad sessions when we would make fun of them.

Wes and Lillian were our closest friends. They started dating in eighth grade and have been ever since. They were a grade above me, same grade as Felix. They're in college right now, of course. We hang out when they come back on occasion.

How would they respond to his return?

I finished the packet in five minutes prior to receiving it. Easy.

Mr. Mill walked by with a red pen and skimmed my papers, leaving no mark of ugly red on it.

"Nice work." He rewarded.

I smiled while looking down.

The bell rang and I gathered my things. I headed to AP Calculus, one room down.

I went through my day, not talking to anyone, listening to the lectures that my teachers gave, focusing but in the back of my head there was always that pang of excitement for my arrival to Felix.

I almost didn't know what to say to myself. Do I believe him now? Do I believe myself now?

How could he be fake if his touch feels so real? How could he be a façade if he looked so alive?

Maybe, just maybe, he is real.

I was startled back into reality by a flat bell ringing that indicated the end of my English Literature and Composition class. Also, the end of the day and in the process, I knocked all the things off my desk.

One of the seniors with my class rushed over to the accident scene.

His name was Carter, maybe? I'm almost positive it was. He had been in my grade for 5 years. I had him in classes every year.

He picked up my books and handed my pencils and highlighters to me.

I smiled weakly and thanked him in a hushed tone.

"Hey, I saw you taking notes all during class. I'm an awful note taker. Is there any way I can borrow them?" Carter struggled to make conversation but it was true, Carter had never been the brightest kid in the class. Makes me wonder why he is in my English Lit and Composition class.

"Oh yeah, sure, I basically have this memorized."

"Thanks. Can I get your number so I can tell you when I finish with them?" He held out a piece of paper.

Oh… Okay. I get it.

"Oh yeah, that's no problem." Why not? I do need to study sometimes.

I scribbled my number down.

"Has anyone ever told you your handwriting looks sort of like a doctors?" He inquired.

I nodded with my head low, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

Great.

After my collision with Carter, I was heading out of the class room when I was stopped by the creator of all things bad, sadistic, and ugly.

Mrs. Peppers.

The thought of her very name made my shudder. I hated this teacher. She was unfair, challenging, and one of the strictest teachers in the whole state of Washington. She had no reasoning skills, what so ever.

"Hi, Mrs. Peppers." I spit out as nice as I could.

"Elaine. I just want you to know you have a B in my class."

There was no way in heaven, earth, hell, purgatory, and every solar system in the damn universe I had a B in her class.

"That's impossible. I've never made below a 95 on any of your tests. Considering that I also make nothing but 100's on your quizzes and daily grades and your class is an accelerated class, so it had a 0.05-0.10 percent curve on the overall average, I cannot possibly have a B." This woman was crazy.

"In fact, Ms. Hunt, you made an 80 on your last test that I graded about…" She looked at her watch for a few moments, "Twenty-three minutes ago."

See what I mean.

"Thanks for the alert. I'll make sure I max it out on the next test." Maybe there's a law that allows me to do something absolutely awful to her and not get pinned for it. Or maybe, I can just disguise it. No one will know.

"Yes, I hope you're studying. But if your grade continues to drop, I will have to call your parents."

What am I, 10 years old?

"That won't be necessary. I will have it taken care of by our next assignment."

"Our next assignment is group work. I will assign it next class."

Oh joy. Mrs. Peppers is notorious for her hard core grading on group work. Knowing how much she hates me, she'll assign me to a group of the dumb, ignorant jocks and lower my grade for "Unevenly distributed group participation" like usual. I need a perfect grade.

"How low is this B I have?"

"It's 0.70 points away from becoming an A, but beside the point, you have a B."

"I'm late for an event. I will see what I can do." Goodness, I hate her.

"As am I." She said with fire blazing in her eyes, like her pulling me over was MY fault.

I stormed out of the door and headed to my car with feet that pounded against the concrete like boulders falling from the sky.

I threw my stuff in the back of my car. I slammed the door so loud; I could have activated a bomb in China from the sound wave exerted from the doors connection with the metal.

I sped home in an angry fuss.

I pulled in the garage and stumbled out. I was so hungry. That was really the only event on my calendar.

I opened the door and my nose was tingling with the sweet sensation of chocolate and the overwhelming scent of buttery popcorn.

My favorite, especially when put together.

I walked around the corner to reveal Felix with two chocolate milkshakes with bacon and two bowls of popcorn.

"Salt?" I always loved salt in my popcorn but only when there's…

"I put about 600 cups of salt and yes, there are M&M's in the popcorn." He set everything down in the living room and had my all time favorite movie, Burlesque; already up for us to watch.

The Grand Canyon couldn't compare to the insanely humongous smile that was spread across my face.

When he turned around, his muscular arm found their way to the underside of my thighs. His lips found mine just in time to pull my legs around his also muscular waist. I smiled as we kissed.

Crap. It feels so real now.

AUTHORS NOTE:

So the only reason I did this chapter the way I did was to give y'all some insight on how Elaine's school life is. If you didn't pick up, she is a senior. I hope you guys enjoyed it! I appreciate y'all so so so much. Make sure you favorite and follow this story and don't forget to write a review! I would love to hear your thoughts. I should have chapter 7 up by Saturday night at the latest. Thank you for your support!