His Honeybee

chapter 4

a/n: you guys reading my new story means the world to me, thank you so much :) dedicated to the lovely eveninglatte for the elegant cover she made me, shown up top!! isn't it beautiful??

c h a p t e r 4 : snails can sleep for three years

We wait in silence while Mrs. Caruso finishes grading the surprise exams we turned in the day before. No, not pop quizzes. She sprung a fucking exam on us without prior mention.

All I can say is her teacher's evaluation at the end of the year is not gonna sparkle with the love of her students.

"Okay," she says, peering at us distastefully over her glasses. "Looks like the curve is at ninety-seven percent, thanks to Miss Alemi."

I hear groans erupt throughout the class and a couple of people mutter curses at me, but I just roll my eyes. This happens all the time, you'd think they'd learn not to think I'd screw up.

"Why couldn't you at least get a B?" Weston Reynolds asks me as Mrs. Caruso starts handing back the papers to each disgruntled, fed-up student, who're blaming their grades on me. I refuse to responsibility for: number one, their lack of studying, and number two, Mrs. Caruso's shit teaching method. It's as if she thinks making every significant assignment a surprise will shock us into doing well. Witch.

I look at him, offended. "I have Arab parents," I say.

"But the curve would've made it an A," he whines.

I stuck my thumb to my right at Frederick Simpson, who glares at me for getting the best grade again. Petty. "You think my ol' pal Freddy will let up just because I feel sorry for you?"

"What was that, Zunareh?" Freddy asks, his smile forced and his glasses askew as he purposely mispronounces my name. Classic Freddy.

"Nothing, Josh," I say sweetly. "Just talking about how I beat your ass without reading the book again."

His glare deepens in a way that I suppose is meant to scare me, but it has the opposite effect and makes me grin. "My name is Frederick."

I laugh in a fake, tittering kind of way. "Okay, Colin." I hear Mrs. Caruso call Theo's name, and I look from under my lashes as he drags his feet to the front of the room. We haven't spoken since I said I wouldn't tutor him, and it's been about four days since then. He hasn't glared at me for talking too loud nor has he even asked for his Rubik's cube back, which is what really frightens me. He's literally been ignoring my very existence, and I'm not sure if I should be scared that he's going to pop up one day and murder me when I least expect it.

Mrs. Caruso gives Theo his exam, and I know he hasn't done well by the way his fists clench. Mrs. Caruso frowns and says something to him, to which he shakes his head and storms back to his seat. She looks at me, and I want the earth to swallow me whole at the vicious expression on her face.

"Zunaira," she calls. I shove my hands in my pockets and sidle up to her desk as slow as a snail, casting my eyes down so I won't see her thin mouth twist at the sight of me. Snails can sleep for three years, so maybe I should run away and dedicate myself to becoming more snail-like, so I can avoid all this negativity. Not to sound cocky, but people usually like me - especially teachers. It may not seem like it given my interactions with Mrs. Caruso, Theo, and now Freddy, but it's true. These three are just somehow immune to my good nature and I don't understand it.

"Yes?" I ask, trying to pretend as if she doesn't make me want to quake in my boots. I smile widely at her, to which she responds with a mean glare.