Richmond Falls

1

Rio

"You're late," Mrs Edmunds snaps. She says it more like a statement than a question so I figure I don't need to reply. I just keep on walking with my backpack slung over one shoulder before I make it to my seat in the back. I throw the backpack down on the ground as my back hits the wooden seat of the chair. I hate these damn school desks.

"The word you're looking for is sorry."

"Sorry," I mutter, though I'm barely looking at her. This is my way of keeping my cool. If I can just say the bare minimum to keep the confrontation away then we're all good, but if she keeps pressing me we're gonna have a problem. Anger has long been my biggest problem. I'm hot headed like my mom I guess.

"As I was just telling the rest of the class Rio, we're picking up where we left off last class. Chapter 5."

"Joy," I say sarcastically, and a few kids snigger at my remark. Mrs Edmunds simply rolls her eyes. She knows my attitude by now and I think she's given up challenging it.

The rest of the class already has their books out open in front of them, while I take my time reaching in my bag to look for the correct book. It takes me a while, but eventually I find it, and by then everybody has started reading aloud. I guess Mrs E didn't wanna wait for me.

By the time I open my book to chapter 5, they've read a few pages ahead and I start flipping through the pages, trying to catch up. Unfortunately, my concentration doesn't hold out and before I know it, I've stopped looking altogether. Now I'm just staring at Madison Carter's dress. I saw it from my peripheral vision, that it was plunging lower than usual, and now my attention has been diverted. I don't realise I'm full on staring until she cops me looking at her and frowns at me. My bad.

I avert my eyes back to the book and start flipping through the pages, looking for what they're reading aloud. I manage to find the page, and I follow along for a while, but then suddenly I'm lost in my own head and I'm staring off into space.

"Rio!"

"Huh?"

"Do you want to read the next page?"

"Not really," I say on instinct, causing a couple of chuckles and hushed whispering around the class.

"I wasn't really giving you the option."

Well, damn, Mrs E. She is straight thugging today.

I look back down at my book and begin to read, before a few voices start whispering around me.

"Okay, hush!" Mrs E announces, cutting me up in the middle of my sentence.

"Rio, I really need you to concentrate."

I frown. Wasn't I just reading like she asked me to? I think my expression tells her what I'm thinking, and this time, she walks over to my desk, picking the book up and scanning though the pages, before flipping a couple pages ahead. She places it back down on the desk in front of me, tapping her finger on the second paragraph in.

"There."

Everybody is looking at me with a hint of amusement, and I feel like the room closes in on me. I hate being called out like this, and she knows it. So what if I was reading the wrong part? She didn't give me time to even get my book out before they started reading. She's playing me out. My thoughts race with defensive lines and suddenly I'm standing up from my seat, pulling my backpack over my shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I look back at Mrs Edmunds, her mouth open slightly in disbelief. The class is still looking at me with amusement, but this time I'm in control.

"Wherever I want," I tell her, and I hear the awe of the class as I slam the classroom door on my way out.