Given Up

Chapter 8

I kept my head down to avoid as many people as possible as I headed towards Maths.  Now we were into the second week of school, the gawking was slightly less:  like the death that followed me was somehow less contagious. 

A guy with acne and a mop of hair was stood at the door as I arrived.  He scowled at me slightly as I came to a stop in front of him.  It was only the lanyard around his neck that made me realise he was a new teacher.

"What is your name?" His voice was sharp and instantly got my back up.

"Kyle Clark."

He didn't look at me but scanned the book in his hand.

"You are late to my class Mr Clark.  Don't let it happen again." He dropped the book down to his side and gestured to the door. "You are seated in name order - third row from the back."

Great, assigned seating.  No chance of avoiding the people I wanted to.  But this douche didn't seem the type to let people talk much so that would work to my advantage.

I shuffled past him and past the rest of the class who were already seated.

I gave a tight nod to the girl I had been assigned to sit next to and swung my bag down.  Before I could sit down, his nasal tones rose to meet my ears.

"Mr Clark? Hand these books out please."

I let out a deep sigh but walked up to the front and grabbed a stack of books.  No chance of hiding now.

I nodded at the few people that met my eyes, most of them giving me either awkward or sympathetic smiles.  Man, I was so tired of all this emotion coming my way.  I could go for an invisibility cape right now.

I half listened as the newbie teacher told us his name - Mr Carter - and what we were going to be doing today - looking at the GCSE Maths syllabus.

Sitting down, I peered out of the window to my left.  We were level with the tops of the trees up here.  Don't ask me what type, I have never been one for nature.  I watched the branches sway in the wind for a long time - a small bird perching on and off of them.  I'd have to see if Cassie fancied sitting outside again today, the weather looked like it would hold.

"Mr Clark!"

I jerked my head back to the centre of the room.  I took in everyone's eyes staring in my direction before locking onto the rapidly reddening face of Mr Carter.

"Is there something more important than your qualifications out there Mr Clark?"  I don't know why he was insisting on calling me 'Mr Clark' when his mocking tone was like he was talking to a 5 year old.  It irritated me no end. "Are you listening at all?"

"No, not at all." My voice was as loud and sharp back, as his was condescending.

The room seemed quieter again and all eyes were now off of me and onto Mr Carter.  His complexion took it up a notch and he now looked like a red bell pepper.

"Well, in that case, you can spend some time catching up on what you haven't been paying attention to during after school Detention."

He spun on his heel and strode back to the front of the class.

Fucking great.

I faced forward and tried to get my head back into the lesson so as not to piss him off any further.  I can't be getting detentions if I am going to get a job after school.

A note slid onto my desk from across the aisle.  I looked over to the other table.  Karly Jenkins smiled and gave me a little wave.  Oh Lord.

We'd been seeing each other on and off last year, but it had been nothing serious.  Snogging at parties mainly.  It didn't take me long to realise that we didn't have much in common.  She liked to use opportunities to get me shirtless - not in a good way - so she could take photos of us with my abs prominently displayed for her Instagram.  She would be disappointed now I had lost weight and hadn't been training: the abs were just about still there but not up to her Insta standards.  The relationship had fizzled out - well I had avoided her honestly and then everything happened.  To be fair to her, she had messaged me over the Summer, but I hadn't replied.  Nothing personal, I hadn't replied to most people.