Chapter 6. Citra's POV

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At lunchtime, I retrieved my packed lunch from my locker and awkwardly looked for somewhere to sit, eventually settling for a table that was empty, apart from a boy in my maths class with mousy brown hair.
"Can I sit here?"
He shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Citra, right?"
I nod.
We fall into an uncomfortable silence as I eat my sandwich.
Halfway through lunch hour, a couple of boys join us. My heart skips a beat. He's one of them.
Calm down, I tell myself. He's just another human being.
"Hey." Asks the other boy "Is it cool if we sit here? Me and Rowan can't find anywhere else."
Rowan. That's his name. It suits him, I think.
"Sure." Greyson shrugs again. "I'm Greyson and that's Citra."
"I think you two were in maths with me", says Rowan. "Have you taken any classes with these two yet, Tyger?"
"I dunno, man. I don't think I'd remember."
"I think you were in my English class, Tyger" I say, "Ms Meir? Period 2?"
He nods. "Guess so."
We idly make small chat until the bell rings, then I hurry off to class.
I think about Rowan, Tyger, and Greyson. Greyson didn't seem to care about anything, Tyger was your average bad boy, but despite his don't- careish demeanour, Rowan struck me as someone who did care about some things.
When I reach the history class, I am mortified. The teacher was coming. I was almost late. I slip quickly to the back, hoping he wouldn't notice. All was well, but after he called out names and we replied "here.", Rowan slumped into the chair next to me. How am I supposed to concentrate next to him?
Mr Faraday walks towards the front.
"Who was Prometheus?"
My hand shoots up.
"He was a Titan and he stole fire from the gods to give to the humans, so he was chained to a mountain and an eagle would devour his liver every day for eternity", I blurt out.
"Well done, Citra. Next question. Who was the shortest reigning monarch in history?"
The Arab girl from my maths class answered, "Lady Jane Grey, the cousin of King Edward VI. She only held the throne for nine days before her cousin Mary claimed it, rightfully."
My mouth opened before I could stop it. "No, it was Louis Antoine. He was king for only twenty minutes before he signed papers declared that he would be abdicating."
The girl gave me a dirty look. "She interrupted me!"
"No, she didn't." Said Mr Faraday calmly. "Citra talked after you'd finished."
"But-"
"Please be quiet, Munira."
She was giving me the death stare now.
"Class, please take out your books and turn to page 472.", instructed our teacher, before she could try to argue, "and read the passage."
She muttered something foul under her  breath, but she followed the instructions.
"Looks like you've made an enemy.", whispers Rowan.
"I guess so"
For the rest of the lesson, Munira and another girl with Auburn hair were looking at us in disgust and hissing things to each other, but all I could hear was the thumping of my heart, averaging 150 beats per minute.
{A/N
All characters belong to Neal Shusterman}

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