SCARRED

Chapter 3

                    TROUBLE 2

       Mr Nat was a thin short man,  he was quite handsome with his chocolatey skin tone. But being attractive didn't mean that one couldn't have a very bad attitude. To Anna, there was everything wrong with him. From the permanent scowl on his face, to the glare he gave to the students he didn't favor Anna being part of them. And then there was the way he wouldn't stop shouting. Always having a reason to yell. That trait of his Anna hated. She always hated it when people shouted at her or near her. 'If it were to be before' she thought to herself, 'I would have told him off.' She stepped out of the art class with her friends and their friends surrounding her.
"Mad ooo." She had heard Precious say, she rolled her eyes at the horrible slang that had slipped out of her friend's mouth. That slang that had managed to reside permanently at the lip of almost all youths in her area. Not hers at least. She had been oblivious to the loud squeal that had escaped the mouth of her friend, but she wasn't oblivious to what she said next.
"Henry!! Are you high? Why did you even bother coming? It's like only one period left."
"Better late than never." That thick and deep voice smugly said.
Henry? Anna thought to herself she couldn't forget that name. That name that was continuously hammered into her head by her friends.
'God if you see Henry you won't be able to look away, in fact you will be drooling.'
'Anna I know you haven't seen Henry before, but I ship you guys. I mean he matches all the characteristics on your list. He is funny,  he is handsome, he is tall and sweet and mature.'

She could hear their words clearly in her head, almost like they were repeating it to her. She felt a hand wrap gently on her arm before pulling her forward.
"Henry!! Meet Anna. Anna meet Henry." Oma had said with so much enthusiasm,  mischief written all over her face. Anna looked up to see the owner of the voice, and she felt trapped. A fair boy stood tall right in front of her, full hair that hair relaxer had obviously not touched unlike most boys in the lesson. His eyes,  his eyes reminded her of hot chocolate drinks. His lips were tugged up in a smile showing off his very white teeth. To Anna,  it felt like those scenes from those cliché romance movies where the girl saw the handsome boy in a light of glory and everything was suddenly in slow motion. Oma cleared her throat snapping Anna from her daze.
"Hi" he said to Anna as though he had said it before and she waved her hand at him with a Cheshire cat smile. He didn't seem to mind her silence he only nodded his smile still perched on his face.
"Let's go to class." Oma said a knowing look on Precious and her face. And as they walked up the now scanty stairs, Precious slipped an 'I told you so' into Anna's ear. As they approached the huge class upstairs, they braced themselves for Mr Nat's rude tantrum but when they stepped into the class, there was nothing. Well there was something, there was the noise of student talking and banging the table and drumming and doing all sorts of stupid things but there was not a sound from Mr Nat. It seemed to be one of those times when the man had slipped out of the class to have a little catch up with other teachers. The group of friends quickly found their way to empty seats, each of them trying to seat with the other. Anna waited behind to scout the class looking for a place where she didn't have to talk. Then her eyes stopped at Ayo her classmate from school. It wasn't the perfect seat since it was behind the people she had come in with but at least it was better than nothing. She carefully found her way to Ayo, trying her best not to trip on her clumsy feet. She tapped the shoulder of the chubby girl with a small smile on her face. Ayo looked up and couldn't stop herself from smiling at her friend. Anna pointed to herself then pointed to the empty space by Ayo. She watched as the girl in front of her furrowed her eyebrows in a thinking way before they went back to how they were and her smile came back in.
"Of course Anne you can seat here." She scooted inside so Anna can seat on the edge. But Anna knew no one really liked sitting in the middle they all loved the edge so she shook her head no. Her friend was kind enough to let her seat with her, she wasn't going to take the edge away.
"Anne just sit alright I have no problem with it at all." She was Anna's classmate and friend she knew Anna was too stubborn and hardly gave up so after a stare down, she finally stood up and let Anna sit inside while she sat at the edge. Just as she sat down,  Mr Nat wobbled in just as Anna would think to herself but in reality, she knew very well that he came in with style. She let out a breath before digging for her Maths note.
"I see you also don't like him." Anna was startled by the familiar voice that spoke. She looked up to Henry and was about to get into the trap when she shook her head no trying to stop her stupid trance but answering his question. He smiled and looked forward. Even though his smile didn't reach his eyes this time. It was obvious that he didn't like her silence and he was beginning to get tired of it. Just as Mr Nat started teaching, Anna tuned him out partially. She tuned out his annoying voice, tuned out his stupid and rude comments about some students at the back  and his bias comment about the ones in the front row. But she did not tune out the maths equation on the board as she saw new ones every time, she couldn't help but be tempted to write them down on her book and solve them. She gave in to the temptation. She was so engrossed in solving the maths problems, she didn't feel Mr Nat's stare neither did she feel Ayo's furious tapping on her leg. When she did, it was already too late. Standing in front of her was good ol' grumpy Mr Nat and staring at her were the eyes of her peers
"Get up." He snapped at her and she did, almost as though her body moved on their own accord.
"I'm sure I told everyone to look at the board while I explained the equation on the board but you decided to just doodle away, not even paying attention to me." Is that why he is angry? Anna thought to herself she wasn't even doodling. It seemed like he just loved getting angry.
"Are you deaf?" His shouting snapped Anna out of her thought as she looked at him quickly with a flinch. Why did he have to shout,  she was standing right there. She so badly wanted to glare at him but she simply kept her cool. She heard the not so subtle whispers of the people around her,
'Make she just talk na.'
'What is she claiming sef?'
'Oh no Mr Nat doesn't know that she doesn't talk'
'Oma should speak up for her.'
'Omo na dis one na just entertainment.'