Publish Or Perish

@Mellow_Supernova | Prompt 2 • Aug '18

CHEAT DEATH

~Mellow_Supernova

[Published on 01/09/2018; word count: 3,057]

'Rachel? Rachel! Wake up!

Wake up already? I had just started dreaming! UGH!

'RACHEL!'

I jerked out of my reverie with a start, almost falling off my chair. My sleepy eyes focused on the person beside me, and I saw Luke staring at me, an apprehensive look on his face.

'What?' I asked him, making a face. 'What's wrong?'

'You.' Mrs. Henderson marched over from her desk, her hands on her hips, and her heels clicking on the floor, and I once again saw myself facing the person I disliked the most in this whole freaking college. 'I think you deserve The Nobel Prize Ms. Evans, now that you've managed to fall asleep in class twice in a row!' she shouted at me, a murderous look on her face.

'I'm sorry,' I replied, even though I didn't want to.

'Out!' she yelled, pointing her hand towards the door. I sat frozen in my seat, looking at her. 'I said get out of my class!' she shouted again. I stood up timidly and walked slowly to the door, careful not to mutter an angry retort. Huh, you may think of me as a total wimp, but I'm really not one! Trust me, if you knew Mrs. Henderson, you'd be scared too. Whenever she's angry, she looks like she's gonna start a knife throwing contest...... Get it?

'And be thankful it's not detention,' she screamed a final insult as I closed the door. I stood there for a few minutes, trying not to start daydreaming when suddenly the door opened and Luke walked out, closing it behind him.

'Luke?!' I stared at him in surprise. I mean, that guy was a model student! What could he be sent out for?

'Didn't finish homework.....' he said leaning on the wall beside me. 'Had to study for Physics.' I don't know how we became friends in the first place, much less best friends... We were so very opposite, to be honest! But really, he was THE best friend ever. Who else would help me geometry.....and Physics.....and history.....and....well, you know, let me stop right there, or else this list's probably gonna go on for some time.

'I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like you.' I blurted out suddenly, not sure why.

'Well, you didn't laugh at me when I showed up with coffee stains on my clothes,' he grinned at me.

'That's all it took huh?'

'What can I say, I'm easily impressed.'

After Mrs. Henderson had marched away, after giving us a final look of hatred after the end of the class, we finally breathed a sigh of relief. The two of us walked down the hallway, talking, and setting off for History. Mr. Brown was much nicer.... But classes were boring sometimes. I kinda felt bad for him since literally everyone fell asleep in his class. But he didn't seem to care. Somehow, Luke alone could resist the soporific power of his words. Sigh.

The first thing that I heard as I walked into class was, 'I've finished correcting the answer scripts.'

'WHAT?!' I blurted out in surprise. There were quite a few mutters of 'Already?' and 'Wow...' around me as everyone stared at Mr. Brown after the pretty surprising news he had given us.

As I took my seat, Mr. Brown picked up the test papers from his desk. I closed my eyes in fear, my heart racing. 'Lisa Green.' He called out the first name, and I shut my eyes even tighter...........