Time was standing annoyingly still and I think I may have forgotten how to properly breathe. "Panda you have to come sit down pacing is not going to-" pushing my hand out I stopped him from saying anything. I stopped him from confirming the knowle...
Many of you have asked me to put faces to my characters so I'm going to. Below is Manny:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Change is imminent, and it is no respecter of persons." Speaking to thirty-four pairs of eyes I rambled through my presentation. However that was the only line I could say with strength because it was the only one I believed. Chewing on my bottom lip I awaited Mr. Walsh's critique. Internally rolling my eyes I watched the grey haired old man stroll slowly through the row of chairs. The man can make Satan cry. I watched as he pushed his hand in his pockets and analyzed me. Staring at his salt and pepper mustache I push down the uncomfortable feeling sitting in my stomach. Shifting my weight from one leg to the other I continued to chew on my lip. Presentations in school or public speaking in general are like cruel forms of punishment especially when they were individual and not group. Did you know that more there are more people who feared public speaking than death? I am by no means an exception to that fact.
"Yo Manny let me chew on that lip of yours for you." The classroom erupted in laughter and if I were two shades lighter I would be blushing right now. My eyes connected with the jerk that just spoke. It came from none other than Marco Jenkins the schools resident donkey. The smug bastard winked at me and I felt my skin crawl. Marco was the cherry on top of this God awful day.
"Ms.DeVoux you may have a seat." You don't have to tell me twice. I practically jumped to my seat. 20 steps, that was all that was standing in between my chair and me. Clenching on to the index cards in my hand I tried my best to not draw attention to myself. He continued the lecture from two days ago without making so much as a remark about my presentation. Whatever. I did not even try when it came to this presentation. I started and finished it yesterday so the fact that he did not call BS on it was good enough. I wonder if teachers knew that students spend a majority of the 45-minute class thinking about what they would do once class was over. A tap on my back interrupted my thought process and then a note appeared on my desk.
"Do you like me check yes or no" that was what the scrunched up piece of notebook paper read and I knew exactly who it was from. Where is the "hell no, maybe when hell freezes over and men can carry babies" box? Crumpling the note I counted the seconds before the glorious sound of freedom rang. As soon as it did I shot out of my seat like a bat out of hell straight into the orange hallway.
Welcome to Irissmith high also known as my own personal hell. But as far as parents and benefactors were concerned it was the place that trained and equipped the future leaders of tomorrow. Cue the eye rolls, now. Draped in orange and purple the brick building stood at about four stories high. Sweaty teenagers filled the hallways and front entrances. The school was rather picturesque if you just imagine the whole student body not in it.
"I heard Marco was quite the scumbag today." Alexandria or as I call her Lex said sneaking up behind me.
'Capital S with four exclamation points." I replied with a hair flip even though my hair was up. We both laughed because that was how we met for the first time. The Samson twins always said the whole exclamation point thing and Lex and I met because we were mocking them. The redheaded beauty queens were known for their perky personalities. Laughing Lex linked her arm in mine and we walked to the parking lot. The place was broken up in four groups; group one consisted of the normal people who just parked their cars, I belonged to this group. Then there was the self-proclaimed pharmacist who occupied group two, they don't exactly do much talking. Next there were the hormonal teens of groups three, I guess they don't talk much either. Their mouths were busy. Ewe. The last group was filled with kids who thought these are the glory days.
