Schizophrenic

Another One

This is a pretty short part but I hope you like it anyways. 

And for those of you who read this before I changed some stuff there are no more "jay's" its just three different names. And Mikhail has become Jad so I hope i didn't confuse you too much.

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School was pretty unusual today. It was already the second month of school. I was now a junior. 

The end of summer party had gone late into the morning of the next day. No one went home until the sun began to rise. Everyone had to make sure a couple of hours before they left that they weren't drunk before they went home to families. It was pretty much like a camp out that night. People were sleeping everywhere you stepped in groups; friends with friends, guys with their girlfriends and so on.  

Jeremy had found me coming out of the trees, disheveled and cold. He walked me over to an open space and lay down with me, his arm around me protectively.  

I headed to my first period class which happened to be US History. I'd fallen into a normal routine by this point of the school year. I knew what routes to take through the building, where I sat in each class and all the people in my classes. So when I walked into class, I knew immediately that something was different.  

I came in with two of the fattest textbooks I had straddled in my arms plus my notebook and pen. I was hoping to set them down on my desk but when I reached it, and yes, it took me that long to notice, I found that it was occupied and surrounded by three girls in their short shorts and tank tops. I recognized them as Jeni, Maya and Vicki. They were three of the popular girls at our school. 

When I cleared my throat to make my presence known, all three of them turned on me with a scowl. 

"Excuse me," I said as I tried to get past them. Jeni threw outt her hand to stop me. 

"Yes, excuse you, Ariella. You just interrupted our conversation with Jad. He's new here," She added as if I hadn't already figured that out. She threw her head towards Jad and fluttered her eyelids. He completely ignored her to her dissatisfaction. 

Mikhail was a naturally tanned guy with dark hair and hazel eyes. He had Arabian look about him that made him different from the rest of the students. At the moment though, his eyes had a distant look about them. He was looking past me and the three sluts at something, his eyes shifting around as if following something. I glanced over my shoulder quickly to see what he was watching. 

At first I didn't see anything but when I focused I saw a little girl at the front of the room holding a lighter to her hair. The flame was getting closer and closer to her hair every second. I fought the urge to run and stop her but my foot stepped forward involuntarily. 

She had been smiling at Jad but when I made that small move in her direction, her eyes flashed to me. Her sudden frown at me turned into a maniacal smile as she watched me watch her set her herself on fire.  

For a moment I wondered why the fire alarm was going off and then it hit me. The little girl's mouth was open and she was shrieking. The books that I had been clutching thumped loudly on the hard floor as my hands flew up to cover my ears. I saw Jad's hands shoot out to cover his ears at the same time.  

All of a sudden it stopped and I became conscious of the fact that half the class was staring at the two of us. Jeni and Maya were giving me odd glares while Vicki fluttered over Jad asking him if he was alright. 

Mr. Bruner stalked into the room just as the second bell rang. He dropped his briefcase on his desk and opened it to pull out a pile of papers. 

"Everyone in your seats!" he ordered, completely oblivious to what had just happened. "Jeni, please pass out these sheets to everyone." 

Jeni nodded and ran up the aisle to take the pile that Mr. Bruner held out for her. She stood at the front of each row and counted out the sheets for each person and then moved onto the next row. 

"Class, we have a new student that just transferred from Heliocen High. Jad," Mr. Bruner said, gesturing to him. "How much do you know about Islamic history?" 

"Quite a bit, I would say," he answered. 

"Then can you tell me what part Muslims had during the colonization of America?" 

And there he went, straight off into the lesson. Mr. Bruner wasn't a man to dillydally. We were still learning about the time after Columbus had found America and started the Columbian Exchange. Europeans tried to get land to build colonies and trade raw materials so that they could produce items and send much of it back to their colonies. I think it was called mercantilism.  

According to Jad, the African slaves were Muslims and they were the ones who farmed and did a lot of the work for the colonies. 

I was sitting in the only previously empty seat which happened to be the one right next to Jadl's seat, also known as my usual desk. When he'd been answering he wasn't watching Mr. Bruner, he was watching me with a strange look just like the one Maya and Jeni had given me. 

When I glanced over at him he didn't stop but his expression changed. He gave me a small smile but his eyes were a little sad. 

I opened my notebook to take notes as Mr. Bruner began his lecture. Normally a lecture would be long and boring but Mr. Bruner made his speeches entertaining. I was never bored in this class. 

Something white flashed in my peripheral vision and landed on my desk. It was a folded piece of paper. I peeked around the class to see Jad urging me to read it with a little hand gesture. 

I slipped the note under my desk and unfolded it. My eyes widened a little and then I quickly scribbled 'yes' under his question while Mr. Bruner had his back to us. I placed it on Mikhail's desk and focused my attention on taking notes again. 

From that day forward, Jad and I became best friends.