LIB

Chapter 19

         On Friday morning, Blake and I walked into our Biology class and took our seats. Mr. White wasn’t there yet, so I scooted my chair closer to Blake and laced my fingers with his, talking quietly with him. When the bell rang and the teacher still wasn’t there, the class started murmuring, wondering where he was.

            The door opened, and a man that I didn’t recognize came in. He had white hair and a slightly wrinkled face that seemed to be set in a permanent frown. “Settle down, class,” he called out. “Mr. White is ill today, so I will be teaching. My name is Mr. Grant and I do not tolerate any nonsense.”

            I moved away from Blake with a quiet sigh. “This class is going to be a barrel of fun,” I muttered.

            Blake chuckled, but otherwise didn’t reply. Mr. Grant went up to the blackboard and wrote a few questions down. “Read these and answer them quietly. When you are done, occupy yourselves without speaking.”

            I rolled my eyes and took out some paper and a pencil. Blake scooted his chair a little closer to mine so I could read the questions to him and he could help me answer them. It was the system we had come up with and Mr. White was more then happy to let us work together.

            Apparently, Mr. Grant wasn’t quite as happy with the arrangement. He came up to our table as I was reading the second question to Blake. “What part of quietly did you not understand?” he snapped.

            I looked up in surprise. “Blake and I always do our work together. Mr. White has no problem with it.”

            “Well, I am not Mr. White, and I will not tolerate you talking. Move away from each other and do your work silently.”

            “But sir-”

            “I don’t want to hear your excuses,” he interrupted. “And you, take those sunglasses off immediately.”

            “But-” I tried to speak again.

            “Quiet!” he snapped. “Mr. White might let the two of you canoodle in his class, but I will not! If you refuse to listen, I will send you down to the office. I don’t have the patience to deal with hormone-riddled teenagers. And I told you to take those sunglasses off!”

            My cheeks flamed with embarrassment, but Blake got angry. He slammed his fist down onto the table. “Don’t talk to her like that!” he shouted. “And I’m not taking my sunglasses off, you ignorant asshole.”

            The teacher’s nostrils flared before he reached out and grabbed Blake’s sunglasses, ripping them off of him. “When I tell you to do something, I expect you to listen.”

            Something inside of me snapped a little and I jumped to my feet. “You prick! Give those back right now!”

            Mr. Grant turned his glare back to me. “Both of you, go to the office now!”

            Blake snorted and stood up readily. “Gladly.”

            I put my stuff into my bag and then Blake took it from me and found my hand with his free one. As I passed Mr. Grant, I snatched the glasses out of his hand. “Asshole,” I snarled and then Blake and I walked out of the room.

            I was almost shaking with anger as we headed to the office. Blake rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand gently, but it did nothing to calm me down. I threw the door of the office open with a bang and the secretary jumped a little. “Can I help you?” she asked.