Fix Me

Chapter 4

*****

I nodded my head slowly as I let the voice in my head hum the melody of the song I was currently writing down. I was seated in the front of my biology class, right next to the door. It was Friday. I lifted my hand to my mouth trying to be as quiet as possible as my coughing cut the melody off.

My cold had somehow gotten much worse in the past day despite the time sent at home. I figured it would disappear eventually...

The bell-ringing had me grabbing my bag. I didn't want to be in the hall when it became overrun by people. I was short and usually, no one saw me which resulted in getting bumped into a lot which was obviously not good when taking my bruises into consideration.

I walked towards English, which was usually my last class, and found the door already open when I got there. I walked into the room and was relieved to find it empty, I didn't feel like interacting with anyone and Mr Creed seemed to like talking. I stopped walking as I entered another coughing fit.

I had just stepped in the direction of my desk when he came in behind me and I groaned internally as he spoke.

"Hannah!" He greeted sounding quite happy. I turned around as he headed over to his desk.

"Sir..." I said.

"Reason for your absenteeism?" He asked as he handed me what I assumed was work from the previous day.

"Sick," I replied.

"Doctor's note?" He raised his brows.

"Didn't see a -" I was cut off my coughing, "Didn't see a doctor," I mumbled softly. He frowned nodding.

"You probably should, that cough sounds terrible. What did you do? Mess in the rain on Wednesday night?" The class was filling up and I could feel eyes on us. I shrugged and he smiled. "Ah. What did you expect, Hannah?" He asked. I felt myself smile but it fell when my busted lip ached at the movement.

"I'll sit down..." I mumbled.

"Nu-uh." He sounded like a child, "What did I tell you about that hood?" He asked seriously as he motioned to my hood.

"You said it was fine to keep it on because without it I would die considering my life-threatening sun allergies," I said quickly. He began laughing.

"Dammit, Hannah. Fine, sit down, we'll talk about that later." He said. No, we won't.

I went to my seat quickly.

The class was buzzing and I noticed that Damien and his friends were actually on time. Mr Creed clapped and surprising the class went silent immediately. They seemed to like him a lot.

"Alright, well, we're doing Othello today." He waved the Shakespearian book around, "I know you guys already started with this Drama, so I'm pairing you up for ten minutes so that you and a partner can write down some things you remember, or what you think is happening so far in this book, just so I can get an understanding of where everyone in this class is." Mr Creed said, "So, pairing works like this. Since there are five seats in each row, we're partnering in pairs. There two rows here, these two, those two. Your partners are beside you. Damien with Kelly and Zain with John. I'll work with Erin because she's alone. Write down everything you find relevant." He said.

I froze as Rick looked at me.

"What? I get her?" He spoke loudly.

I sunk deeper into my seat as everyone looked at me.

"Yes, Rick, that or you get marked down for the work we will be starting in ten minutes." Mr Creed said.

"But she doesn't even speak!" Rick said.