Everyone's Asleep, Mind You

XVIII

November 16th, 2015

I woke up at seven, a time I wasn't used too, but would have too until Thanksgiving Break.
I pulled on some black pants and lace up boots before pulling a maroon sweater over my head. I grabbed my bag and ran downstairs. I ate a bagel that Jenna handed me before hopping into Josh's car and getting to school.
I decided to come early so I could get everything back to normal and so I wouldn't miss band.
The bell to start the day sounded and soon the halls were flooded with endless amounts of kids. I grabbed what I needed for the first half of my day before heading down to the band room.
I walked in and was hit with the smell of wood and citrus, as well as the sound of instruments being put together and warmed up.
"Hello Connie! How was traveling?" Mr. Patterson asked. "Quite nice, I got to see something other than Columbus, Ohio." I smiled. He nodded before helping get a trombone slide to move. I set my things down and checked my slot, which had Christmas music in it for the December concert.
I pulled out the music and sat down at the piano before warming up and looking at the music.
The day started and so did we.

At lunch I got ambushed by an excited Noah.
"CONNIE!" He yelled loud enough for the people on the third floor to hear before jumping on my back. I stumbled before safely getting him on the ground.
"How was traveling?" He asked, rather loudly might I add. "Great, got to see the country and even a few other countries too." I said while sitting down and starting to eat my lunch. "It was lonely here without you." He complained before taking a bite of an apple. "I'm glad someone missed me." I lied before pulling off a smile.

On my way to Literature I was pushed into the wall by an unknown figure. I ended up on the floor with my bag at my side. When I looked up I found a small group of boys staring down at me.
"Traveling, huh? You think you're so high and mighty, don't you?" One of them asked. I shook my head no. "Well I heard you skipped a good chunk of the fall season, no normal student could do that, not unless their parents swindled the school with money." Another, shorter boy said. I stood up and grabbed my bag.
"Well maybe if you boys would pull your heads out of your asses and see that someone is actually smart enough to enroll in online school when not physically in school, you could see that I could easily travel without getting in trouble with the school." I explained before pushing myself through the wall of boys and into Miss Sunseri's classroom just in time for the bell to ring.
When I sat down, I contemplated what I had said. Normally I wouldn't curse, but I just wanted to get my point across. I handed in the report on Arthur Miller I had done. With Tyler's help, I had managed to write something of a college essay. It was thirteen pages.
I turned it in before working on a handout she had given us, so she took the time to look at my report.
When she actually picked it up her jaw dropped. It dropped even more when she counted how many pages there were.
We were dismissed, but she called me up to her desk and spoke to me in a low voice.
"Connie Joseph, I ought to put you in AP Literature. This report was supposed to be three pages at the minimum, you have made the longest report I have ever seen in my career." She stated. I smiled at my accomplishment. "Did anyone help you?" She asked, curiously. "My father, he studied Arthur Miller's plays back in college and was eager to help me with the assignment as well as he could." I explained. It still felt weird to call Jenna, mother and Tyler, father. "I give you an automatic A plus." She declared. I thanked her with all my heart. She nodded and wrote me a pass to History.

Finally school was over, and I was putting my books and such that I didn't need for homework into my locker, and I was almost done when I was shoved into my locker. Luckily I stopped my face from hitting anything, and turned around to face the boys.
"Miss Smarty-Pants thinks she can get an automatic A plus by writing a thirteen page report about some stupid playwright, and get recommended into AP Literature? Oh no, that cannot happen." A boy shook his finger. I scowled at them before turning back to grab my bag. I had everything out of the way, but someone slammed the door onto my arm. I stifled a yell and bit my lip so hard, it started bleeding.
Finally they stopped and I was able to get everything out and lock my locker.
As I walked down the hallway, the boys followed me, taunting me. I finally got sick of it and turned around before punching the nearest boy square in the face. I didn't break anything, sadly, but the kid would most certainly get a bruise and it would be out for the world to see by tomorrow. Suddenly, the boys were attacking me, pulling at my clothing, hair, bag, limbs. I managed to throw my bag away from the commotion and started to dodge everything that came my way, but I was no match up against a group of boys.
I ended up hurting some boys too, but none of them ended up as bad as I looked. My hair was a curly mess, my lip was fully busted and bleeding, I had a cut on the side of my cheek, the hem of my shirt had come undone, and I was most certainly going to have bruises all over my body tomorrow morning, if they didn't appear later tonight.
I pulled out my phone, which hadn't been damaged, and saw I had a missed call from Jenna. I called her back and she picked up after the second ring.
"Hi Nico, why didn't you pick up the first time?" Jenna asked. "I was talking a teacher, what do you need?" I lied. "You're gonna have to walk home, Ty and Josh are out, and I'm shopping. Can you find your way home?" She explained. "Yeah, when do you think you'll be back?" I asked. "In an hour, why?" She asked. "Oh, no reason. Thanks Jenna." I said while walking out the front door of the building. "You're welcome Nico, goodbye." She said cheerfully. "Bye." I said simply before hanging up. I looked up the address of home, and found It wasn't quite far away.
I started walking, not caring if I looked questionable. I constantly tasted blood coming from my lip, which just tasted like copper.
I arrived at home and walked through the door quietly. I thought Tyler and Josh weren't home, but they were, and they were waiting.
They both were talking, but when they turned to me they stopped at looked at me in horror. I walked past them and started up to my room, but I was pulled back by Tyler. He spun me around and cupped my face, which stung a bit because he was tracing the cut on my cheek, and looked all over my face for any more signs of being hurt, though I knew he couldn't find any more.
"What the hell happened?" Josh asked from behind Tyler. "I cut my lip." I stated before gently pulling away from Tyler and going to my room.

This made up for the previous chapter being so short, this is 1319 words
-DLJ