School Woes - A short story
Ok, this is my first posting on this site, so I'm still a little shaky on the details. This is really a test to make sure that this works. It is also a piece of fiction.
Summary: This is a prequel to my [unpublished] novel. It just wasn't a good day.
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I felt his eyes on me for the last half hour.
A part of me wanted to turn around to get confirmation. But unfortunately I was smart enough to realize that if he was staring at me, he’d get the wrong idea. Like that I might like him or something. That thought was cringe-worthy.
I silently cursed my wardrobe decision today. My shirt was tight--so tight it practically had to be sewn onto my torso--and came pretty low. And my jeans rested low on my hips, so whenever I sat down--like I was now--a good two inches of skin was visible. I thought I looked pretty damn cute when I walked out of the house this morning. But I should’ve remembered my stalker. Odd thing to forget about.
Shane looked up from the worksheet we were supposed to be working on. He had turned around so he worked off my desk instead of his own. Mr. J, our government teacher with an incredibly complicated Polish name that I don’t think even he knew how to pronounce, never cared enough to say anything.
“Blake’s still staring at you.”
“Well aware of that.” I tried to ignore my friend and the creepy guy staring at me. Neither seemed very possible.
“You shouldn’t have worn that shirt. Shows too much cleavage.” I didn’t even have all that much cleavage to show off. But he was right. Shane usually was.
I slammed my pen down on my desk and glared at him. “Am I supposed to limit my clothing choices because some poor sap has a crush on me?” Just because I agreed with him didn't mean I had to tell him that.
Shane shook his head. “This isn’t just a crush, this is an obsession. Not to mention, he has a girlfriend.” I visibly shuttered at the mere mention of Mary.
Mary Clemmons was that kid in elementary school who stole your lunch money and pushed you in the mud because she thought it was funny. Unfortunately, when we reached high school, she thought it was just too much fun to stop because of something stupid like puberty.
And she was dating my stalker.
“I’m not doing anything with Blake," I said, barely containing my nausea. "Unless creeping me out so bad I’m tempted to get a restraining order is a new type of foreplay.”
Shane scratched the stubble on his chin. “Actually I think that’s how they met.” We shared a small chuckle.
Finally the bell rang. I jumped up out of my seat and started packing up my things. My worksheet was only halfway done. Shane, on the other hand, was completely done. Jerk.
As we stepped out of the classroom, he handed the paper over to me without ever looking at me. I smiled widely. “I love you.”
“I know.”
We walked together to my locker, talking nonstop about the stupidest things imaginable, including the purpose of starch on clothes.
“Hey Cole!” I stopped mid-step and mid-sentence about the evils of unnecessary cleaning products when I heard my name come from that mouth.
As if by some miracle-or more likely since we were still in high school and people figured a fight was about to happen and wanted to watch-everyone went silent. Slowly I turned around to face my arch nemesis.
Mary Clemmons.
She was over six feet tall, her face was covered in pimples, her sandy blonde hair looked like she washed it in pizza grease, and she probably weighed about a hundred pounds more than me.
Half of which was pure muscle. Of course, some little ninety pound twerp couldn’t confront me, oh no, it had to be the Neanderthal on Roid Rage.
“I heard you were checking out my boyfriend.”
I didn’t want to deal with this.
I nodded once in acknowledgement, then shrugged. “You heard wrong.” I turned around, fully prepared to walk away, but Mary stopped me again.
“Are you calling me a liar?”
I groaned. This wasn’t going to end well, I could tell that already. I turned around to face her, yet again. “Not at all, the person who gave you your information, however, is another story.”
She glared at me. “Blake told me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well that explains a lot.” I sighed heavily. “I have no interest in your boyfriend. And I wasn’t checking him out. Actually it was more him checking me out.”
I heard people around us chuckle. Teenagers.
Mary turned a deep purple color in anger. “You’re lying. He thinks you’re a slut that he wouldn’t be caught dead with.”
Ouch.
“He’s lying. Ask anybody who’s in our class. They’ll tell you the truth.” A few people nodded in agreement.
I knew I was striking a nerve in Mary. By now, she was visibly shaking and clenching her mouth shut way too tightly. “Blake loves me.”
I rolled my eyes again and made a gagging sound. “Blake’s eighteen, and you’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks, you can’t possibly be serious.” I was a bit skeptical about teenage love.
“You’re just jealous ‘cause I have a boyfriend.”
Gag me.
I pretended to think about that. “Actually, I think I prefer being single over dating a guy who’d rather ogle someone else than touch me.” Everyone around us started catcalling and howling.
Shane leaned a little closer. “So what message do you want me to put on your headstone?” I turned on my heel and strode away from the ever purpling juiced up giant.
Before I even opened my mouth, something grabbed onto my pony-tail and pulled me back. Mary stood before me with her fists in front of her face.
I ducked just as she swung at my face. “How about; ‘She could never keep her mouth shut.’” By now everyone was cheering even louder, yet no teacher was visible. Seriously, where were the people trying to stop me from getting murdered?
I swirled out of her way as she tried to lunge at me. Hitting her back and trying to avoid the fight could very well mean the difference between suspension and detention. Granted, neither option looked very promising, but what can you do?
There are no teachers around.
Oh yeah. Hmm, quite the dilemma.
Mary finally caught me off guard and hit me with a backhanded punch. I stumbled to the side as pain shot through my face and stars exploded in front of my eyes. I think maybe the sun was one of them.
I heard a lot of ‘ooh’s’ and ‘that’s gotta hurt’s’ from the surrounding crowd. I shook my head around before facing her again. She gave me a smug grin that I desperately wanted to wipe off her face.
I was going to regret doing this, particularly when my mother beat the life out of me. But regardless, I whipped my arm out and clobbered her right in the nose.
She flew back into a locker. Blood spurted out of her nose. I was almost ready to jump up and down for joy. I knew I was tough.
That feeling left when she tried to attack me again. And when I say ‘tried,’ I mean ‘tried and failed.’ She pushed off the locker only to slam back, loudly and painfully.
Nobody touched her either.
She tried again, but again smashed into the cold unrelenting metal. Nobody moved, nobody said anything. We all just stood and watched as she repeatedly flew into the wall.
I slowly slid against the opposite wall, trying to stay quiet. Everyone ignored me, too enthralled in what was happening with Mary. While everyone was too busy thinking how cool, or creepy, it was, I just wanted to run and hide in the fetal position. It was all way too Exorcist for my taste.
With one final crack, Mary hit the lockers for the last time. And immediately turned to me. Half of her face was red and puffy. No doubt she was going to have one hell of a bruise tomorrow. And the way she looked at me, I literally felt the thermostat drop twenty degrees.
I straightened up and held my arms up by my head. “I didn’t do it.” Somehow, I don’t think she believed me.
Screaming, she ran at me. Definitely didn’t believe me. Now, keep in mind, the hallway wasn’t all that big. Running wasn’t actually necessary, since a few short steps and she reached me. So I didn’t actually have a lot of time to move.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Before I could so much as blink, Mary cocked her arm back and punched me in the jaw. My head snapped back and slammed into a locker.
I could feel my brain rattle in my head. Somewhere in the distance, I heard someone call my name. But it was faded and fuzzy and I could barely stay awake.
My vision blurred as my eyelids drooped.
The last thing I saw was Mary flying through the air into the row of lockers again. Everything went black after that.
My name is Taryn Cole, and this is my life. Blows, don’t it?
Summary: This is a prequel to my [unpublished] novel. It just wasn't a good day.
********************************************************************
I felt his eyes on me for the last half hour.
A part of me wanted to turn around to get confirmation. But unfortunately I was smart enough to realize that if he was staring at me, he’d get the wrong idea. Like that I might like him or something. That thought was cringe-worthy.
I silently cursed my wardrobe decision today. My shirt was tight--so tight it practically had to be sewn onto my torso--and came pretty low. And my jeans rested low on my hips, so whenever I sat down--like I was now--a good two inches of skin was visible. I thought I looked pretty damn cute when I walked out of the house this morning. But I should’ve remembered my stalker. Odd thing to forget about.
Shane looked up from the worksheet we were supposed to be working on. He had turned around so he worked off my desk instead of his own. Mr. J, our government teacher with an incredibly complicated Polish name that I don’t think even he knew how to pronounce, never cared enough to say anything.
“Blake’s still staring at you.”
“Well aware of that.” I tried to ignore my friend and the creepy guy staring at me. Neither seemed very possible.
“You shouldn’t have worn that shirt. Shows too much cleavage.” I didn’t even have all that much cleavage to show off. But he was right. Shane usually was.
I slammed my pen down on my desk and glared at him. “Am I supposed to limit my clothing choices because some poor sap has a crush on me?” Just because I agreed with him didn't mean I had to tell him that.
Shane shook his head. “This isn’t just a crush, this is an obsession. Not to mention, he has a girlfriend.” I visibly shuttered at the mere mention of Mary.
Mary Clemmons was that kid in elementary school who stole your lunch money and pushed you in the mud because she thought it was funny. Unfortunately, when we reached high school, she thought it was just too much fun to stop because of something stupid like puberty.
And she was dating my stalker.
“I’m not doing anything with Blake," I said, barely containing my nausea. "Unless creeping me out so bad I’m tempted to get a restraining order is a new type of foreplay.”
Shane scratched the stubble on his chin. “Actually I think that’s how they met.” We shared a small chuckle.
Finally the bell rang. I jumped up out of my seat and started packing up my things. My worksheet was only halfway done. Shane, on the other hand, was completely done. Jerk.
As we stepped out of the classroom, he handed the paper over to me without ever looking at me. I smiled widely. “I love you.”
“I know.”
We walked together to my locker, talking nonstop about the stupidest things imaginable, including the purpose of starch on clothes.
“Hey Cole!” I stopped mid-step and mid-sentence about the evils of unnecessary cleaning products when I heard my name come from that mouth.
As if by some miracle-or more likely since we were still in high school and people figured a fight was about to happen and wanted to watch-everyone went silent. Slowly I turned around to face my arch nemesis.
Mary Clemmons.
She was over six feet tall, her face was covered in pimples, her sandy blonde hair looked like she washed it in pizza grease, and she probably weighed about a hundred pounds more than me.
Half of which was pure muscle. Of course, some little ninety pound twerp couldn’t confront me, oh no, it had to be the Neanderthal on Roid Rage.
“I heard you were checking out my boyfriend.”
I didn’t want to deal with this.
I nodded once in acknowledgement, then shrugged. “You heard wrong.” I turned around, fully prepared to walk away, but Mary stopped me again.
“Are you calling me a liar?”
I groaned. This wasn’t going to end well, I could tell that already. I turned around to face her, yet again. “Not at all, the person who gave you your information, however, is another story.”
She glared at me. “Blake told me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well that explains a lot.” I sighed heavily. “I have no interest in your boyfriend. And I wasn’t checking him out. Actually it was more him checking me out.”
I heard people around us chuckle. Teenagers.
Mary turned a deep purple color in anger. “You’re lying. He thinks you’re a slut that he wouldn’t be caught dead with.”
Ouch.
“He’s lying. Ask anybody who’s in our class. They’ll tell you the truth.” A few people nodded in agreement.
I knew I was striking a nerve in Mary. By now, she was visibly shaking and clenching her mouth shut way too tightly. “Blake loves me.”
I rolled my eyes again and made a gagging sound. “Blake’s eighteen, and you’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks, you can’t possibly be serious.” I was a bit skeptical about teenage love.
“You’re just jealous ‘cause I have a boyfriend.”
Gag me.
I pretended to think about that. “Actually, I think I prefer being single over dating a guy who’d rather ogle someone else than touch me.” Everyone around us started catcalling and howling.
Shane leaned a little closer. “So what message do you want me to put on your headstone?” I turned on my heel and strode away from the ever purpling juiced up giant.
Before I even opened my mouth, something grabbed onto my pony-tail and pulled me back. Mary stood before me with her fists in front of her face.
I ducked just as she swung at my face. “How about; ‘She could never keep her mouth shut.’” By now everyone was cheering even louder, yet no teacher was visible. Seriously, where were the people trying to stop me from getting murdered?
I swirled out of her way as she tried to lunge at me. Hitting her back and trying to avoid the fight could very well mean the difference between suspension and detention. Granted, neither option looked very promising, but what can you do?
There are no teachers around.
Oh yeah. Hmm, quite the dilemma.
Mary finally caught me off guard and hit me with a backhanded punch. I stumbled to the side as pain shot through my face and stars exploded in front of my eyes. I think maybe the sun was one of them.
I heard a lot of ‘ooh’s’ and ‘that’s gotta hurt’s’ from the surrounding crowd. I shook my head around before facing her again. She gave me a smug grin that I desperately wanted to wipe off her face.
I was going to regret doing this, particularly when my mother beat the life out of me. But regardless, I whipped my arm out and clobbered her right in the nose.
She flew back into a locker. Blood spurted out of her nose. I was almost ready to jump up and down for joy. I knew I was tough.
That feeling left when she tried to attack me again. And when I say ‘tried,’ I mean ‘tried and failed.’ She pushed off the locker only to slam back, loudly and painfully.
Nobody touched her either.
She tried again, but again smashed into the cold unrelenting metal. Nobody moved, nobody said anything. We all just stood and watched as she repeatedly flew into the wall.
I slowly slid against the opposite wall, trying to stay quiet. Everyone ignored me, too enthralled in what was happening with Mary. While everyone was too busy thinking how cool, or creepy, it was, I just wanted to run and hide in the fetal position. It was all way too Exorcist for my taste.
With one final crack, Mary hit the lockers for the last time. And immediately turned to me. Half of her face was red and puffy. No doubt she was going to have one hell of a bruise tomorrow. And the way she looked at me, I literally felt the thermostat drop twenty degrees.
I straightened up and held my arms up by my head. “I didn’t do it.” Somehow, I don’t think she believed me.
Screaming, she ran at me. Definitely didn’t believe me. Now, keep in mind, the hallway wasn’t all that big. Running wasn’t actually necessary, since a few short steps and she reached me. So I didn’t actually have a lot of time to move.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Before I could so much as blink, Mary cocked her arm back and punched me in the jaw. My head snapped back and slammed into a locker.
I could feel my brain rattle in my head. Somewhere in the distance, I heard someone call my name. But it was faded and fuzzy and I could barely stay awake.
My vision blurred as my eyelids drooped.
The last thing I saw was Mary flying through the air into the row of lockers again. Everything went black after that.
My name is Taryn Cole, and this is my life. Blows, don’t it?