Chapter 7

I banged my head on the dash of our car while I listened to the most amazing voice in the world (note sarcasm) sing any random ear piercing song at the top of his lungs. Why I had agreed to letting John drive me to school, even I didn’t know. It was proof of how much I had missed him. 

Sending furious glances at him I sighed giving up hope that he might have read my mind and realized how annoyed I was. At the sound of this he laughed and raised one of his hands in victory.

“I win!” He sang laughing.

“If you mean you just won last place in any singing competition in the world, than yes I agree. You won that! Congratulations!” I agreed.

“Hey! I wasn’t that bad… but I will accept any award above that happily!” He objected, still laughing.

“No can do. Last place or nothing.” I answered shaking my head.

“Okay, I deserve something better than that! Like I already said, I wasn’t that bad.” He objected again.

“Nope, you were horrible, terrible! Heck, there isn’t even a word that will describe what I just had to listen to.” I told him laughing along now.

“I know a few! Fantastic, amazing, wonderful…” He said between laughs.

“You wish!” I laughed.

“Oh, I don’t have to since I already am!” He told me self consciously.

“Sorry to break your bubble but you’re the opposite of that in this field.” I replied shaking my head again, hoping to clear his voice out of my head. It wasn’t something I wanted to live through again.

“I’ll prove I’m good! One more song and you will be begging me to sing!” He told me.

“NO, please don’t! I’ll do anything just don’t sing again! I will die if you do! Seriously!” I begged him now.

“Why? I really am not that bad! I can sing pretty well, just hear me out!” He begged me. This was going to end up pretty funny. One of us was going to give in sooner or later; I just didn’t know who it was yet. Hopefully we’ll cut the decision short though.

“I will not hear you out! You can do everything well, but you need to get the fact that you CAN’T sing through your mind! And yes, you are that bad!” I replied hoping he would give in. Just like I had hoped he did.

“Aww, your no fun!” He whined.

“Then I’ll be a boring girl just like how boring my classes and days are.” I replied without any emotion is my voice. I couldn’t let him find out the truth, even though after the looks he had given me yesterday it was obvious he knew something was up.

“That reminds me! Ash what really goes on in school?” He asked me turning serious now.

“I told you yesterday--” I started while trying to block my mind.

“Don’t go on giving me this. I know your hiding something. I saw it in your mind yesterday and the fact that you’re blocking your mind seems to prove this too.” He urged me. I knew this was something he wouldn’t give up on, especially if he could tell the problem was serious.

“It’s no big deal. Just a few personal issues… They’ll work themselves out. Hopefully...” I waved him off muttering the last part under my breath, inaudibly as far as I know.

“Sis, I know you better than to believe that. Oh, and just so you know, you’re already late to first period, but aren’t going anywhere till you tell me!” He off handedly replied.

“What?! I’m late? My teachers are going to kill me! I was late yesterday too!” I panicked.

“Don’t worry I’ve got you covered.” He smirked waving a note in his hand. “But you aren’t getting this until you reveal everything. And I mean everything.”

“You really are going to go to any length to get this out of me aren’t you?” I asked on the verge of giving in. Maybe, just maybe I could get away with some fake problem. Ideas started swarming my head just as my brother guessed my thoughts.

“Yep, and you know lies won’t work with me, so you better tell the truth. I always know what you’re up to.” He chuckled answering my question that I hadn’t even asked yet.

“Sooo you really want me to tell you?” I asked him, hoping I could drag this out a little longer. My last hope was that I would be able to get away with ‘telling’ him this afternoon. I would be able to figure something out by then.

“Yes I really want you to tell me! And I want you to tell me right now!” He answered getting frustrated. Again he had read my mind making me remember we could do that. It was obvious how he knew what I was up to then…

“How about I tell you later in case they get fixed?” I questioned him hoping he would agree. Oh, please, please let me get away with this.

“How about not? I have a feeling your problems aren’t going to be fixed in a day, so start talking.”

I sighed and was almost begging him now. “Please let me wait until this afternoon. I’m already late enough!” I even brought out my puppy dog eyes. This was truly my last chance he would give in.

“Nice try! Now let’s hear that story.” He chuckled, and that was how I ended up telling him the whole story. Beginning to end, not being able to leave out parts due to his prying questions and ability to look into my mind. With every one of his comments he just made the whole situation even more confusing. He said he had gone through the same, loved Mrs. Wolfe… Each one became even more unbelievable to my ears as he and I went on.

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By the time I finally finished and got my note from John I had already missed 1st and 2nd period which meant I was only going to make it to homeroom on time. The one class I would have happily missed. Why was I such a lucky person? And why had John been thrilled when he heard my homeroom? Why was my life the one that had to be messed up?  The unanswered questions roamed my mind along with many others.

Just like on the first day of school I walked through the full, but empty parking lot. Yeah it was full of cars, but the lack of students made it seem empty. The only sounds were the ones of nature, my steps as I neared the school and my brother calling out after me to let me know he would be the one picking me up after school. Well, if I survived until then.

The loud, shrilling bell ending second period rang just as I stepped into school. It was a relief to my body to be able to blend in with the crowd. Swiftly I pushed through like everyone always has to making my way to homeroom. I had expected tons of people to skip after yesterday but nobody seemed to dare to. Almost everyone was there from the day before, and even the ones who hadn’t arrived by the time I had, came soon.

Cautiously we all took our seats and waited for Mrs. Wolfe in the same silence we had the day before. Besides Kristina, not one of us dared to speak to each other, probably out of the fear that if we acknowledged what was happening we would be stuck in this class forever. It was a stated fact for example that half the class went to the attendance office to correct their ‘mistake’ and switch homerooms. This fact also made our class just look even creepier.

Kristina though was happily chattering away with any one of us who she could catch, telling them that soon they were going to be great friends. She sounded exactly like the group who had stopped me yesterday, trying to get people to hang out with her… The whole class was hoping we wouldn’t be her next victims.

Before she could make a move on any of us though the bell rang and Mrs. Wolfe came rushing into the classroom.

“Ah! Welcome my favorite students! I hope we are going to be a little more open than we were yesterday!” She cooed.

“Yes! Of course we will!” Kristina shouted out full of excitement and the whole class answered with mummers of disagreement.

“How about we start by getting to know our classmates by name? I already know everyone, and everything about them, but you should be able to get to know each other also.” Mrs. Wolfe paused, waiting for our reactions which she did get. Confusion, shock, disbelief all crossed our faces and our eyes.

“It might be awkward that I know all of this, but you’ll soon find out why! Anyways each one of you will state your name as we go around. I think this will be enough new information about the class for today. Then we will continue with homeroom stuff and opening up to me.” She finished with a dazzling smile. We all groaned, but didn’t object. That was one thing we wouldn’t do in this class.

She glanced at us and we started reciting our names from back to front. There was not time or reason to be nervous during this. It wasn’t a big deal. We just called out our names... not really paying attention to any of the other names. Memorizing them wasn’t even an option since we were going so fast.  All the names just ended up flowing together.

“Great, so now that you all know each other we can start homeroom.” Mrs. Wolfe stated oblivious to the fact that we still didn’t know each other.

“First things first. Does anybody have something to share?” She asked us. The class’s response was unmoving silence, though Kristina decided she had to make herself known. She had both her hands waving frantically in the air.

“Kristina! Go ahead! The spotlight is yours.” Mrs. Wolfe joked.

“Well, yesterday my parents finally told me everything on a specific subject, so now I have been able to find friends who have gone through the same things, and understand me.” She stated proudly and our jaws dropped. Was she crazy revealing personal things like that? Nobody in their right mind would have just easily told a teacher that, but Mrs. Wolfe seemed to find it more than normal.

 “That’s wonderful! It’s so nice of you to be the first one from the class to work up some courage and share. This is where I want our class to get by the end of the month. Everyone sharing their thoughts, personal problems…” She told us.

“Yes, it feels nice to know that there are people out there just like me, who understand everything that’s going on with me right now.” Kristina agreed. Everyone else just stared at the two of them like they were lunatics and finally, Mrs. Wolfe noted our reactions.

“Well, I know that sooner or later we will be using this class for what it was meant to be used for. Till then I want everyone coping with their problems the best they can, and to talk about them with family members, classmates from THIS class or me.” She informed us, repeating pretty much the same thing she had told us the day before.

“Also please don’t go to the front office to get a class change because that isn’t an option for anyone in this class. Your schedules have been thought out very carefully insuring that you have some of your closest friends in every single one. Your visits to the office… won’t help you get a new schedule because your schedules have been given to me to set up and change. If you want any changes only I will be able to make them.” She told us looking specifically at the people who had demanded a class change the day before.

“How could someone want a class change out of this class?” She asked in general, somewhat directing the question to Mrs. Wolfe. “This is my favorite class! How could someone want to change it?” She continued and we all stared at her like she was going crazy, which she probably was saying something like that about this class.

“That’s the spirit!” Mrs. Wolfe called out proudly. “I hope you will all be thinking that way soon!”

We all exchanged looks in the class silently agreeing that this probably wouldn’t happen. Who was going to call this class their favorite? Definitely not me!

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