You Ain't Bad || Michael Jackson

Chapter 12: First Day

We were given the rest of the day off yesterday to rest up and get ourselves prepared for the first day of school, which is basically ... today.

Dragging myself out of bed, I can't help but glance down at the other three roommates who are all still asleep. It's only fair that I wake Rachel up – after all, I'm lonely.

I walk up to her and shake her gently. "Rachel, wake up, wake up," I say quietly, so that the boys won't wake up.

Her eyelids seem to flicker as she gradually comes out of her sleep.

"C'mon, it's our first day today," I say.

She opens her eyes slowly. "Just five more minutes ... " she says sleepily.

"No! C'mon!" I say with a giggle, pulling her out of bed.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" she says with a laugh.

Our laughter wakes the boys up; Michael's the first to open his eyes. His first sight of the day is me, much to his displeasure and mine. Once he's properly awake, he shakes Elliott. "Elliott man, get up," he says as he does so.

Elliott jerks awake. "What? Yeah, I'm up dude," he says wearily.

I'm trying not to laugh at this. The sleepy voices are way too funny. As I head on into the bathroom, Michael and the rest of the roommates get dressed and all that business. I brush my teeth, my hair, and look at myself in the mirror. It's difficult to like my appearance, but I won't go too far into those thoughts today.

I sigh, but my breath steams up the glass. I draw a smiley face and it makes me giggle. I leave the bathroom, and start to get dressed myself.

To get to my bed, I have to walk by Michael's. As I start to go past, I find myself tripping over. My head turns to see Michael bringing his leg back in from its previously outstretched position. Ugh, he's such an idiot.

"7D, are you ready for your first day?" we hear a voice outside. It's Joe.

"Give us a minute," I say, lifting myself from the ground.

Michael's smug face almost makes me want to slap him as I carry on walking to my bed and start to get dressed.

Rachel comes to me. "Have you got any eyeshadow?" she asks.

Perhaps feeling a little guilty, I shake my head. "I don't wear makeup. Sorry."

"That's okay," she says, going back to her own bed.

I finish getting dressed, and open the door for Joe to enter. We are greeted with a huge, over-the-top grin as he brings out his checklist.

"Elliot?" he says.

"Yeah."

"Rachel?"

"Yep."

"Becky."

"I'm here."

"Michael?"

"Yeah," Michael replies, placing his high tops on.

Joe places his list away. "Okay, then. You all have Math first. I'll show you which room we need you to go to," he explains.

Ugh, Math. Of all the lessons. Math.

"C'mon," he says, ushering us out the door.

We follow him up the corridor to the maths block. We're in room four.

"Good morning class. Seeing as this is the first lesson we've had together, we're gonna start off getting to know each other a little better, okay? I'm Mr Rix, your maths teacher for the year. Let's all start with our name, and a fact about ourselves," our teacher explains.

"Okay, you! Start!" Mr Rix points at Rachel with a smile.

She stands up, using this time to think fast about her fact. "Uh, Rachel Scarlettson ... " she starts.

"Fact about yourself!" sir says.

Rachel takes the time to think, before finally coming up with something. "My favourite colour is blue!" she suddenly blurts out.

Sir smiles, averting his eyes from Rachel, to me. "You, go!" He points at me, which gives me the urge to stand up.

"Becky Costello. Uh ... U-Uh ... I have an obsession with deep eyes," I say.

What the hell was that? Did I just say that! Really?

The teacher smiles, obviously trying to hide his amusement at the randomness of my fact. "Interesting." His eyes fall on the next person. "You, go!" he calls again.

This time, Michael stands up. "Michael Jackson," he starts.

"Fact about yourself!"

"Uh ... I'm a member of the famous gang, "The Jax". No one messes with us. Nobody," he says.

It's impossibly not to roll my eyes. Trust him to be full of himself as usual.

"You, go!" he says to a few other students I've never met.

Once everyone has been, we are allowed to simply hold our own conversations. Rachel and I spend the time talking to each other.

"So, you have an obsession with deep eyes?" she says with a chuckle.

I feel embarrassed I even said it now.

"Uh ... yeah ... " I say awkwardly.

"What about that guy's eyes? You like them?" she asks, pointing at a random dude's eyes.

"Hmm. They're alright I guess," I say.

Rachel points at Elliott's eyes. "How 'bout Elliott's?" she asks.

"They're better I suppose," I answer.

She then points at Michael's eyes. "What about them?" Knowing she's got me, she smirks a little.

I don't wanna answer this ...

"Well?" she asks, after a few moments of silence.

Do I have to answer this?

"Uh ... " I mutter.

She bites her lip, as if she just found out my crush or something. "You like his eyes, don't you?" The smirk grows bigger.

"But he's a jerk ... " I plead.

"A jerk with sexy eyes, right?" she says.

I hate to admit it, but it's true.

He is the biggest jerk I've ever known, but he has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen.

~~

-Edited December 10, 2016-