Dreaming of Cheers (Standing Up to Life Book 3)

Chapter 12:

IN THE MORNING Melanie made breakfast for Amy and me, before driving us off to school. Things seemed a lot calmer that day then they had on Monday. So far nothing else had happened to me, and I was hoping it would stay that way. After school we asked Coach Holt about the moves that we didn't know, and she showed us them so we could work on them. I think we were the only two to look at the routine on Tuesday, because everyone else looked really frustrated just getting through the first easy parts of the routine. I was proud that Amy and I were setting such a good example!

I wanted to go home with Amy again that night, but knew I shouldn't push it with my parents. Instead, I ended up talking to her on the phone for an hour while we worked on the same essay for English. We also made plans for her to come over to my house on Friday, that way my parents wouldn't feel like I was completely abandoning them.

As I walked into the school building on Thursday, I felt like things were going well, and I thought maybe things were going to be going great for a third day in a row.

Science made it kind of a toss-up though.

That day in class we were discussing the periodic table. Mr. Grainger spent some time discussing how we were to read it, atomic weights, and had given us an assignment we were to do in small groups. That was pretty normal for us in class. At the end though he called us all together as a class again, "Okay class, what number is Oxygen?"

I raised my hand high in the air, that was an easy one, "Yes Tiffany?"

"Eight?"

"Very good," he said and then continued onto the other questions he had.

Two minutes before class was to end, I overheard a boy and a girl in the corner whispering, "You know Brandon was an annoying know-it-all before all of this began, and he still is."

I felt my face turning absolutely red.

Mr. Grainger was an intelligent teacher and he seemed to sense that the two of them were not focusing on the assignment so he called out, "Why don't you two tell me how many protons Rubidium has?"

The boy, Erick, sneered, "I don't know, why don't you ask the genius Brandon over there. I'm sure he can tell you all about it."

"Erick I'll see you after class." Mr. Grainger said to him coldly.

I was in shock. I didn't even know what to say. Crying didn't even occur to me at that point because I was taken so aback by his statement. Kyle was sitting a couple desks in front of him. I saw him turn around and mouth something to him... but I wasn't really paying attention.

The bell rang and I found myself moving to Choir with Amy and Lindsey putting their arms around my shoulders. They actually steered me into a bathroom next to the choir room. "Are you okay Tiffany?" Lindsey asked. She looked appalled.

"I think so... What in the world just happened?" I asked them. They both looked at each other and gave me the shrug of their shoulders to emphasize they didn't have a clue either. "I mean I just answered one question – not the whole worksheet. What in the world did I do to Erick?"

"I don't know Tiffany," Amy told me. "Are you going to be alright to go on to choir?"

I nodded, "I think so. I'm too shocked to cry right now." Both of them gave me a friendly hug and we headed to class. The bell rang just as we came in the door. If we were any other girls, I'm sure we probably would have been marked tardy, but in our cases, Ms. Beecher just gave us a concerned look and motioned us with her head towards our spots on the risers.

Since the three of us were sopranos it made it easy enough to make our way in there without separating. We worked on some music for the Christmas concert that was only a month away. I was in the front row due to my shortness, while Amy and Lindsey were behind me. All through class I could feel their eyes watching me as if they were worried I was going to collapse.