I Imagined

Chapter 5

~~~~~The bell rang an hour later and shocked the class from their half sleep. Amara's eyes had been closed but she wasn't sleeping, afraid to drift completely off. Payton and Evelyn were already standing, ready to go, and Delylah was completely asleep, slumped on her desk. Amara cleared her throat and shook Delylah's shoulder.

"The bell rang," She said through a raspy voice. Delylah didn't move. "Delylah." Amara said louder. Delylah finally stirred and groaned as she slowly sat up, back falling against the seat. "You sleep the entire time, you know that right?"

"Mhm." Delylah said, starting to pick up her backpack, Amara laughed a single laugh and started walking to the door.

"I'll see you at lunch, ok?"

"Yup." Amara walked out of the room and headed down the hallway towards her next class: math. She headed down the first set of stairs and down to the first floor. Her heart started to beat slightly faster, not only because of the stairs but because this was the class that Tristian was in, and he sat next to her, talked to her.

When Amara walked in he was already in his seat, head down staring at his phone. Amara stood in the doorway for a split second, watching him, but Tristian had looked up at her entrance, which caused her to continue walking to her seat.

"Hi." Amara said as she sat down.

"Hey." Tristian said smiling at her. "How's your day?"

"Good. I watched a movie last class and now I'm tired."

"I don't have English until fourth period so I can nap and then wake up and go home and nap some more, except not now, because of sports and stuff."

"Right." Amara answered.

"Good morning class." Amara's math teacher Mr. Benson said as he walked in from the hallway.

 "Get out your homework so I can check it and hand you your quiz." He picked up his notebook and started his walk around the room.

"Amara do you have your homework?" He asked her.

"Yes." She answered, handing him her worksheet. He looked it over and nodded before handing her her quiz. He did the same thing to Tristian, checking the homework and handing the quiz. Amara watched as he went up to three students' desks and checked their homework and handed them a quiz.

"Hey," Tristian said, waving a hand in front of her face. She jumped back slightly, thinking that his hand was coming to hit her.

"What, what, sorry." Amara answered, looking down at her blank quiz in front of her, not even her name written. She grabbed her pencil and scribbled down her name.

"You good?" Tristian asked, pausing his quiz.

"I was just watching." Amara answered, looking up at Tristian. Tristian broke eye contact first, focusing back on his quiz, causing the smile and happiness to fade from Amara's face. She was just about to begin her quiz when she heard her phone vibrate from the top of her backpack. Getting a quick glance, Amara looked to see who it was from as the screen lit up. It was a text from Payton, but she couldn't read it because her phone was locked, not getting the face acknowledgement to unlock it. Amara looked back up at her quiz and tried to work her way through it. Tristian finished first, walking up and setting his paper in the turn-in tray. Tristian could see Amara's panicked face when he walked back, he didn't say anything when he sat back down in fear of being called out for cheating, which he wasn't. After sitting he slid his hand underneath the desk and onto Amara's thigh, sliding down the side and off into the air. She watched his hand find its way back into his lap, moving her head up to look him in the eye. He nodded at her, giving Amara the motivation to finish her quiz that seemed to be slipping through her fingers. Tristian watched as Amara scribbled down some work and answers and got up to turn in the paper, being the last one to complete the task.

"Alright class, today we will be reviewing for our test next class. I will hand out review packets and I expect you to work on them until the end of the class. It will be due next class, and I will only accept it if it is completely finished." Mr. Benson dropped a five page packet down on her desk and she watched.

"Are you alright?" Tristian whispered as Mr. Benson walked past.

"Yeah," she started. "Yeah I'm just thinking."

"About what?" Tristian asked, but Amara didn't respond. "Because it's obviously becoming distracting and I've never seen you like this." Tristian sounded worried in Amara's mind, and she didn't want to answer him. She looked down and grabbed phone from her backpack, checking the text from Payton that was not the only one, but three.

Payton: LOOK AT THIS!

Payton: DID YOU SEE THIS!!!!

Payton: AMARA TEXT ME BACK!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!

"Amara?" Her name rang in the background. "Amara?" She looked up and Mr. Benson was standing in front of her desk, watching her check her phone. "Can I speak with you?"

"Yeah." She whispered. Amara walked up to her teachers desk and sat down in the chair sitting beside it.

"Your quiz grade wasn't bad, I'm just concerned about your behavior when I handed you the quiz. You seemed generally worried about the content." Amara felt as though the wind had been knocked from her chest and she couldn't get it back.

Amara had always been better than average at math, "A minus" average. SHe asked questions when needed, paid attention in class, and did the class work and homework. Tristian even tutored her when needed, which is why she started crushing on him. But today seemed off, ever since she left English class.

"I-I um," Amara stuttered, trying to speak. "No, I just forget for a second because it was just the weekend and my brain is still catching up." Mr. Benson nodded at Amara's statement.

"Ok, just let me know if you need help please. I don't want you to fail." Amara nodded in response and returned to her seat.

"Everything ok?" Tristian asked when Amara returned.

"Yeah, I think I'm ok now." Amara had grabbed the pencil from its resting position on her desk and held it in her hand, beginning the review packet in front of her. Tristian could only watch as he didn't know why Amara's behavior was off.