Star Bright

Nineteen: Crash

  "Where've you been?" Gabe asked as Dani took the empty seat beside him. The hall they were in was ringing with talk from the students seated in rows. The jocks (both the swimming and football team) had taken different sections of the hall, cluttering themselves together. Dani wanted to go find Jeremy but the teachers were moving up and down the aisles, shouting sternly for the students to settle down and keep quiet.

  Anyone who was caught wandering about was given a glare that immediately chased them back to their seats. There was no way she would meet Jeremy.

  Then feeling like an idiot, she remembered her phone and reached for it from her pocket. She found Jeremy's number and tapped on it.

  "Why are you calling Jeremy?" Gabe asked, peering at her phone.

  "It's bad, Gabe. Really bad." Was Dani could say as she brought the phone to her ear while at the same time checking to find Jeremy's dirty blonde hair through the sea of heads.

  The phone rang for a while till eventually, Jeremy picked up.

  "Hey babe." Came his cheerful voice.

  "Jer, where are you?"

  Jeremy must have noticed her urgent tone because his tone changed too. "I'm with my team. Where are you? Is everything okay?" Dani guessed he was looking for her too.

  "Can you come to me, please? I have something to tell you." Dani ignored the look Gabe was giving her.

  "I can't find you—oh there you are. Gabe's waving."

   Jeremy stood up and began moving through his row to get into the aisle. However, Mr Evans, the swimming coach, stopped him before he could make it.

  Dani's heart was pounding furiously as she watched Jeremy try to convince Mr Evans to let him through. For a while, it didn't look like the short dark teacher would budge but then, the man sighed and waved Jeremy forward.

  With a wide smile on his face, Jeremy made his way out of his row and towards her. Dani had just gotten up from her seat when someone stepped in front of Jeremy again.

   The smell of strong suffocating perfume hit her nostrils.

  Miss Williams had a hand on Jeremy's chest. "Mr Tonnes, to your seat please."

  "Oh, it's cool. Mr Evans permitted me to see someone real quick. I'll be back to my seat before you know it." He offered an assuring smile.

  Miss Williams glanced over her shoulder and met Dani's eyes directly. It seemed like she smirked. Miss Williams turned back to Jeremy. "I'm sorry, Jeremy, I can't let that happen. Back to your seat, please. You can address any issue after the meeting."

  Jeremy's smile fell off. Dani was almost sure he could sense something wasn't right. "I'll be quick, it's only just Dani Cham—"

  "Mr Tonnes!" Miss Williams said sharply, cutting him off. "Don't let me give you detention. I'm sure you wouldn't like to miss swimming practice with your team..."
 
  Jeremy sighed and glanced at Dani over Miss Williams's shoulder. He mouthed the word, sorry, gave the teacher a sharp glare, and turned away, going back to his seat.

  Miss Williams tossed her hair over her shoulder without glancing at Dani and walked off.

  Fuming, Dani sat down again. She was clenching her fists so badly that her nails were digging into her palms. She bit her bottom lip furiously. Gabe caught notice of this and placed his hand on her left fist.

  "Dani, what's wrong? Talk to me." He said softly.

  Dani exhaled multiple times, trying to get her nerves under control. It wasn't working. "They're gonna announce how I helped catch the drug man at The Summit. They're gonna announce it here, right in this hall."