2| Fake Smiles and Sticky-Notes

Grace could not be next to him forever. Whenever she wasn't, he just had to go back to keeping his head down.

Clay was sure he looked like a shrimp right now. His back arching over to rest his head on the wooden desk. Using a history book as a makeshift pillow, however, caused pain in his neck. Behind him were the multiple other dead souls trying to cram for the quiz.

His eyes trailed through the glass mere centimetres away. Watching a dog walker desperately trying to control a large Doberman from trampling a bite-sized alley cat brought a grin to his face. The sight reminded him of those old cartoons he and Jacob used to watch on Saturday mornings. Hmmm, what he'd do for one of those homemade pancakes right now.

Wonder if Jonah would ever get them a dog - doubt it. You want a dog? Okay, but don't complain when your allergies start acting up. Yeah, that sounds like something he'd say. Maybe a hamster would be better, Jonah hates those things.

His eyes caught the dog leash right before it snapped and allowed the Doberman to take off at full speed. The man of course was caught off guard and fall into a huge pile of leaves.

A paper found its way on his desk, being placed face down by several sausage fingers.

"The class is on the inside Mr Alister," Mrs Cummings stated sternly. He could feel the fabric of her kitchen cloth dress brushing slightly against his elbow. Though he refused to look at her directly, there was still the sensation of her eyes burning holes into his skull.

"Sorry Miss, I just got distracted," the words came out just above a whisper to ensure that only she heard. Her dress shifted, moving down the rest of the class, allowing Clay to exhale.

He slouched down once again with his chin resting in the palm of his hand. Unlike in the hallways, if he were to do anything abnormal here, Mrs Cummings was sure to start a staring contest with him. No words needed.

She thought she was doing him a favour since, in her terms "He already had no friends so she didn't want to send him to the principal for his ADD, she doesn't think that it's fair to him"

Which are both incorrect. After all, he had Grace, and she counts as a friend and he had other friends before. Secondly, he didn't have ADD, distracting himself just seemed to make the hands on the clock move faster.

His head stayed fixed to the front trying to form words out of "Welcome to History" while kicking around the bag between his legs. Trying to study for a test you know you won't do well in is almost as worse as forgetting to study for a class that you are already failing at.

Ms Cummings returned to the front of the class. Ensuring she walked through the row next to Clay as a threat to not look outside a second time. It was odd the woman didn't scare him. In all honesty, though she did make him feel uncomfortable, it was a relief that she could acknowledge his presence. Except it was very little and apart of her job so he didn't allow himself to get used to it.

Trailing the mop on her head from the right side of the board to the left, he watched as she pushed her eyeglasses back to the bridge of her nose.

"You have thirty-five minutes, turn over your papers, read through the instructions and begin," she said grinning.

Turning over the paper, Clay sighed. Scanning from the first question down to the third, he finally found a question that wasn't too challenging. Reaching down into the bag, his hand shoved the textbook in so he wouldn't be seen as a cheater. Moving in deeper into its compartments, his fingers found their way in every corner in search of anything that felt like a pencil or pen.

No-no-no-no-no.

Why was he so forgetful? The pencil case was in the locker when Grace came up and distracted him.

Maybe he should just raise an arm to go outside? No one would care.

Or maybe he didn't need to finish the quiz?

Listen to himself, why can't he just ask someone to borrow a pencil? It's not going to be the end of the world. They're all classmates taking a test, after all, a pen would surely kill no one. He would give them one if they asked.

Gathering all the strength he could, he counted to three before leaning over to the girl sitting to his right just enough that he would be able to reach the extra pen lying on her desk. She was busy shading in the 'a' in her name at the top of the paper.

"She's even worse off than me," Clay thought.

"Hi- Hey, Audr- Audrey right?" his voice squeaked "canIborrowapen?" He mentally imagined a locker being slamming in his face again. She didn't bother answering him, finally moving onto doodling little flower petals here and there.

Did she not hear him? No, he was sure she heard what he asked.

All she had to do was nudge the pen already between them to him. That way, at least one of them could amass some marks.

Ms Cummings glared. The first warning to stop conversing.

"Come on," Clay pleaded "I forgot mine in my locker." He whispered.

Well if she wasn't responding then she probably would not mind if he borrowed it for a few minutes and put it back where he found it.

His hand slowly shook, moving towards the pen. The closer his hand seemed to get however, the pen seemed to roll just out of his reach. Despite that, he tried again to presumably steal Audrey's possessions and again he couldn't seem to grab it. In the absence of wind, it went from the edge of the table to resting against Audrey's arm.

In a huff of defeat, he returned to his table. A wave of disappointment trying to drown him instantly. Right before he turned to asked another person, he stopped, knowing there was no point. No matter who Clay asked, it would all be the same result.

He should have known better than to ask in the first place.

After a few seconds of sulking, a familiar set of fingers placed a golden number 2 pencil on the table. finally looking upwards, he saw she had her index finger resting on her lips. Mrs Cummings proceeded to travel around the rest of the classroom, leaving him to fail the quiz in discomfort.

...

"She could have at least said no and saved me the embarrassment," He found himself stomping down the sidewalk, making out the roof of the house just ahead. "What's the big deal anyway? Not like she was even doing the quiz in the first place. Ugh. I would have even bought a pen if I had to. Bet she wouldn't have let me do that either." He trailed off once the tears started to pool in his eyes. Doing the utmost to fight them off, he resorted to grunting and low screaming hoping he could trade one emotion for another.

"Dad did the right thing when he got out of here the first chance he could. He should have just taken me with him."

Rounding the corner, he was shocked to notice the crimson jeep stood crookedly half perked in the garage. Clay quickly adjusted his figure, taking many quick breaths and pulling his lips up to form a beaming expression. He opened the door slowly and wandered inside pretending to be clueless.

"Hey Jacob, what are you doing home so early?"

Sure as ever, curled up on the couch, Jacob was still in his sweat-soaked polo shirt. A fail stench filled the house and Clay could not tell whether it was from his brother or the oily burger he was eating.

"J, you're stinking up the house. Go take a shower or eat that burger outside," Clay pinched his nose in disgust removing his school bag and throwing it on the unoccupied two-seater closer to the TV.

"Sure thing dad, right after I finish the new episode of Night Watch." Finally paying mind to what was playing, the younger boy swiftly placed his hands to his ears.

"Since when do you watch Night Watch?! You always complain about it being too childish and stupid."

"I only said that because I need to keep up my macho, angst older brother persona around you. You know, so you don't lose all your respect for me." He grinned.

"I never had respect for you to begin with," Clay tried to quickly swipe the remote from under Jacob's arm but failed horribly. Before he knew it his brother had grabbed his wrist and pinned him down with his arm around his neck. Almost passing out from the scent, he struggled his best to get out before he could no longer hold his breath.

"Struggling is a useless young one, my grip is unbreakable," Jacob said putting on his best wise old man voice. Clay could barely hold in his laughter, getting released when he started to turn red.

The boy's looked near-identical to each other. Anyone who would have seen Jacob's high-school photos would think it was Clay. Excluding the fact that Jacob was much more muscular thanks to his job and Clay's hair was out of control. Not to mention Clay was obviously smarter....in his own words of course.

"So how was school?" his brother had long forgotten about him, returning to spread his arms on either side of the couch.

"Good for the most part, I had a history test today and I think I did good," Jacob's head was facing the TV so he didn't see his fingers twitch.

"How was work?"

"This guy Jerry decided it would be a good idea to steal my lunch and say he didn't see my name on it when I know I put one of those tiny sticky notes on it with my name." He gestured with his hands in hopes of emphasising the severity of the situation "He must have thrown it away. That's how I ended up buying some burgers down the road. I left one on the counter for you since neither of us trusts me on the stove after work."

He saw the large paper bag lying on the counter under a plate disgusted by the grease leaking getting everywhere. On the floor, however, Clay noticed a small light green paper next to the refrigerator. From where he stood he could the choppy chicken scratches spelling out "JACOB".

"Jerry sounds like such a mean person," he rolled his eyes throwing away the post-it note.

"Move over," Clay threw his brother's legs off the couch settling down next to him to continue the rest of the show he ruined "What did I miss in the show?"

"Nope," Jacob attested beginning to push the smaller boy off with both his feet " you just got home, go wash up to eat that burger and go do your homework."

"But-"

"Nope, I am putting on the adult hat. Go do your homework, then you can come down cause I really wanna beat you at monopoly."

Clay dove forward grabbing the remote, landing on the rug with a thud. He quickly got up giddy with a smile on his face. Hitting the off switch he smirked with satisfaction. "If you're putting on the adult hat and I have to do my homework, you have to take a shower and clean the house."

"But-" Jacob shot up to contest trying to grab the remote that Clay managed to keep just out of his reach. "That's not fair! I'm the adult here!"

"Adults don't whine like that J. You will get the remote back when I come out of my room and the house is clean." Clay hastily explained grabbing his bag and making a break for his room.

Once he was safe inside, Clay's smile faded when the thoughts about school came pouring back in.

Thank you, everyone, for all the support and nice comments and the support on chapter one. This one was more on the calmer end but I hope you like it!!

This chapter had me conflicted with my emotions. Its so cruel to treat someone like that in a school. No one should have to go through or feel like that ever.

At the same time, poor Clay holding back his tears like that.

Enough of thag though...lets try to end on a good note. Where are you guys from? Also how have you been staying busy during quarantine?

I'm from the Caribbean and to be honest the only thing keeping me sane right now is my writing schedule. Having to work on two books at once is alot of work but I enjoy it immensely.

Constructive criticism is always welcome. <3

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top