Catch Me If You Can

<Chapter 6>

Much to my chagrin, they didn't carry the textbooks my government class required. They only had older editions that we wouldn't be able to use, knowing we'd come looking. It was a money scheme and I didn't blame them but I wished they were at least cheaper than over a hundred bucks.

Slinking back to the sitting area, I dropped down next to my bag and allowed my eyelids to droop shut. Now that the first wave of adrenaline and excitement has passed, I felt tired. I know that the feeling will go away quickly though, when I get to my literature class in about an hour.

Since I had time to kill, I found the government syllabus and my phone and began inputing all the dates for the grades. That didn't take long either and I was left to virtually nothing else to do. I sat awkwardly, looking around at the shelves and posters for a few minutes before glancing down at my bookbag.

It was the same old bookbag I used in high school which I hadn't cleaned out besides dumping the assignments and graded papers from the binders. My old sketchpad was still tucked into the back and, if I remember correctly, it still had some empty pages.

I shrugged to myself, knowing there wasn't much else to do and pulled out the sketchpad. It's definitely seen better days with its beaten up corners and overflowing pages but it would serve its purpose.

I found a mostly empty page and just began sketching whatever came to mind. It was mostly just small doodles and posing figures but it gave me something to do to pass the time.

<>

I glanced at my phone to check the time and shot up from my spot on the couch. My class was going to start in ten minutes and my mind had drifted away from me while I sketched out some doodles and drawings. I mentally cursed myself while shoving the sketchbook back in my bag and slinging it up over my shoulder as I stood.

I was at least blessed that I chose to sit in the library because the building my class was in was nearby. I just had to speedwalk over there and I would be fine. I did a double check to make sure I had everything and practically ran down and out of the building to get to class.

I smiled to myself, knowing Feshuna would likely tease me about it later when we find time to meet up again and talk about our first day. She knows I'm typically losing track of time and either showing up just on time or a few minutes late. It's something I've tried to get better at but never seems to stick.

Sighing in relief when I found the building quickly, I slowed my pace and allowed myself to breathe. I still had four minutes to go. The air conditioning hit my face as I stepped into the building, cooling me down from the light sweat I built up. My lucky streak continued when I realized my class was right next the the outer door.

I slipped into the classroom, ignoring the few pairs of eyes that followed, and found one of the last few open seats. Just after I finish setting my stuff down, the loud bell outside rings. The woman standing at the front of the room begins passing out papers to all of the students. I dropped my cheek onto my fist, waiting for the papers to reach me and for her to begin talking.

I knew I saw her name at one point when looking at the courses I was signed up for but I couldn't remember it for the life of me. I half-wondered if I looked her up on Grade My Professors. It would have told me what other kids thought of her.

I took one of the papers from the stack I was handed and passed it onto the next kid while skimming over the page. She had the major grades labeled on the sheet but only vaguely stated that we'd have regular class work that would be graded. Her rules for the class were pretty strict, as well. She wanted us to keep any distractions in our bags. That included books, other work, phones, ear buds, and just doodling on paper.

All notes taken had to be on paper, too. We weren't allowed to have computers. I internally groaned, knowing I was a slow writer. It seemed whatever luck I had earlier disappeared completely.

Leaning back in my seat, I waited while she loaded up her presentation. At least this class was relatively quiet compared to my last one. There were maybe a few whispers but most everyone was just ready to be done with the day. The professor cleared her throat as she moved to the center of the room.

"My name is Mrs. Templeton. You will only address me as such. This is English eleven-oh-one. Just because it is a beginning college class does not mean it will be easy. I will be building on what you should already know from last year. If you chose to forget what you learned, that's on you.

"There will be weekly grades that I expect to be turned into me by Friday. Anything later will go straight to the trash and I don't give out work to make up grades. Your summative grades count for seventy-five percent of you total grade. I will only allow one time to make corrections after you turn them in so you should be doing your best from the very beginning." She continued to drone on and I tuned her out, staring blankly at the board.

Templeton definitely sounded familiar to me. If my foggy memory was correct, she had a low rating and some pretty bad reviews. I can see why if she's this uptight about everything. It sounded like she was trying to throw the slightest amount of positivity on her words to make them seem less harsh. Essentially, it was just a few grains of sugar on a mountain of salt.

I sighed again and glanced at the clock on the wall. This class was one and a half hours and it'd ony barely begun. I felt like taking a nap but per her rules, it was strictly prohibited along with everything else.

After she finished her rant about classroom ettiquette and grades and whatever else, she was to the front of the room and began changing the powerpoint over to a different one. I watched with no small feeling of annoyannce as she pulled up her first lesson of the semester.

"Get out paper and pencil. I want to see everyone taking notes. I know for most of you here, this is your first day, but we will not be slacking off at any point."

Part of me wondered how far I would get if I just bolted out of the classroom while the other half stayed planted and did as she said. I began writing notes as quickly as I could so hopefully, I wouldn't fall behind. They were extremely sloppy and barely legible but at least I have notebooks in my room so I can copy them down neater and more organized.

This was going to be a lovely one and a half hours.