Almost After

Chapter 1

The ticking of the clock seemed to mock me. Each time the second hand twitched, it took all of my self-control to keep from throwing my pen at it. This behavior was to be expected from any high school student during the last period of the day. On a Friday. Homecoming weekend. Did I mention it was U.S. History? If you weren't itching to bolt from your seat, you were probably fast asleep while Mr. Charleston droned on and on about the Puritans. Seriously Mr. C, just give us the homework and be done with it.

"The woods were a mystery to the Puritans and full of unknown demonic things. Now of course they blamed everything they didn't understand on..." I studied the drawings etched into the desk for the third time in the past hour. There were faceless stick figures next to your typical "school sucks" artwork. Other profane words decorated the desktop, but those could only be defined with Urban Dictionary. Now I was seriously desperate for entertainment. If you asked any member of my family, they would tell you I had the attention span of a squirrel.

The moment I dared to take a peek at the clock, I was sadly disappointed. There were still four minutes left of class. There were four minutes left of class the last time I checked. I bet you if I looked again, the clock would actually slow to a stop. Knowing my luck, it would go back in time.

When my pocket vibrated, it was easy to forget the monotonous clock. I made sure Mr. Charleston was nowhere in sight before I reached for the phone. Who could it be? A smile blossomed on my lips when I noticed the author of the message. Of course, I shouldn't be surprised; his face blessed my screen every time I turned it on.

"Miss Kent?"

My eyes were still glued to the screen when I replied with a, "hmm?"

"Alex, is that a phone?"

A terrifying silence settled throughout the classroom before I noticed thirty pairs of eyes swivel in my direction.

"No, no Mr. Charleston!" My body jolted as I slid the phone beneath my leg. "Of course not. Not in the middle of your fascinating lecture. Puritans? Very intriguing. " I rested my chin against the palm of my hand sweetly.

"Teacher's pet." Kaleb murmured from the chair in front of me.

I slapped his shoulder and hissed into his ear. "It's called charisma."

Kaleb, my best friend and cousin, could've used some of it too. Even after seventeen years of playing house and climbing trees, I had never known him to be a man of many words. His weekend usually consisted of banging on his drum kit and World of Warcraft. As his closest friend, it was my duty to do everything I could to break that shell of his. But it never worked. Never. No matter how much I tried. So I stopped trying to fix something that was never broken in the first place.

I momentarily forgot about my patient teacher as he tapped his foot and eyed me with determination. My smile was hesitant, but it was still a smile. Seconds ticked by and his eyes never faltered. But in the end, Mr. Charleston sent one final glance my way before returning to his PowerPoint. "Please put it away, Alex." Ha, success!

My thumb swept over the send button before I stuffed it in my pocket. "Yes sir."

Kaleb leaned back in his seat. "Are you texting your lover?"

Scarlet devoured my cheeks at the comment. "Shut up, Kaleb."

Mr. Charleston adjusted the collar on his shirt and continued on with his lecture. Really? There was what, thirty seconds left of class? People began to pack up their belongings in anticipation of the bell.

"Excuse me class, but I dismiss you and not the bell." The class groaned collectively. "With this project, I am assigning an accuser and an accused. It is important you understand both sides of the trail. All of the details are within the packet, and your partners will be as follows..."