The Twist In Life

Chapter 12_ Lucas, help!

Miss David was droning on and on about the revolution in China, and I was really bored. But I was listening to her, with my eyes closed, and my head on the desk.

"Mary," she screeched.

"What?" I sat up suddenly.

Everyone started laughing. I felt something wet on my cheek, and realised that it was my drool. I hastily wiped it off with the back of my hand. Everyone burst into laughter again.

"What's that on your desk, Mary?" asked Martin, pointing at the little pool of drool.

Students craned their necks to see, and started laughing again.

Without thinking, I put my history book on the drool.

"So, you drool while sleeping," said Miss David.

"I ... No. I wasn't sleeping," I said.

"Stand up when I'm talking to you," she spat.

I stood up, this time making as little noise as possible.

"Why were you sleeping while I was lecturing? I work hard to teach you something, and you try to mock me by showing despicable behaviour, as well as disrupt the class with your snoring," she said.

Everyone snickered again.

"I wasn't sleeping, Miss David. I was listening to your lecture," I said.

"You were. Were you? Tell me then, what were we studying about?" she asked.

Of course I knew what she was lecturing about. I have this strange power of listening to lectures while sleeping. It's true, really.

"You were telling us how the people of China struggled for revolution. China was once unrecognised by the world, but now it is an important member of the United Nations. Your last sentence was that revolution is not the cause of ..." I was giving the summary of her lecture, and she butted in.

"So what if you have already read the chapter? That doesn't mean you can snore away during my lecture. There are a lot of things that aren't mentioned in the book. If you don't want to listen to the lecture, then maybe you should stay home, or remain out of the classroom during my lecture. Is that clear?" she asked.

Yep, it was pretty clear that her thirst for revenge wasn't yet clenched. She was trying to provoke me, so that she could get a reason to get even with me, after what happened at the principal's office. But I wouldn't let her.

"I'm sorry, Miss David. I should have given you my undivided attention. I assure you that I won't sleep in your lecture again," I said, looking defeated.

But she was the one defeated. She had, yet again, failed to provoke me into rudeness or misbehaving.

~~~

"Mangy! Are you deaf?"

I kept walking towards the cafeteria, ignoring Hilda.

I was suddenly yanked back. Lisa had tugged at my shoulder forcefully.

"What's your problem?" we both said at the same time.

"What's yours?" I asked.

"You just ignored Hilda," she said.

"First of all, I ignored no one, because no one called me. My name's Mary, not Mangy. And secondly, according to my information, you are not Hilda. So its none of your business, if I talk to her or ignore her," I said, annoyed.

"She's my best friend," said Lisa.

"The last time I checked, there was a difference between best friend and a personal servant," I said.