“Miss Williams?” I looked to the front of the room in dismay. Mr. Rawlin was staring at me, probably waiting for an answer.
“Sorry?” I asked, my face heating up already. I mentally cussed my stupid blush cells out.
He sighed. “I asked if anyone had their homework from last night. Since evidently 99 percent of my honors students don’t listen when I assign them homework, I’ll be taking off half of the grade from tomorrow. Are you the one percent?”
I blinked, swallowed nervously. It shouldn’t have been that hard to say yes and hand him my paper. It shouldn’t have been impossible for me to utter a syllable, but it was.
“N-no. Sorry, Mr. Rawlin.” He looked at me, confused and disappointed. I quickly slipped last night’s homework back into my folder and averted my eyes, waiting for him to continue teaching again. He made a slight noise and turned back to the whiteboard, illustrating the routes ancient merchants had sailed.
I slumped back in my chair and let out a long, slow breath. I didn’t feel any better. I was already so much of an outcast that I shouldn’t have cared about what people thought of me, but I still couldn’t bring myself to be the goody-two-shoes that I honestly was. I didn’t want to be the one percent. I would give anything to be the 99, the people that fit in and don’t do their homework on time. I wanted to be them, not me.
The rest of the day dragged as usual. Eating lunch at the misfits’ table, which was almost worse than eating alone. Getting a 98 on my Trigonometry test, because I’d studied for two hours the night before. Watching groups of friends collide, giggle, and disband in between classes. Sitting alone while everyone else pulled a three-seater on the bus ride home.
I threw the door open with a bang, tossed my backpack to the side, and galloped upstairs to change into animal friendly clothes before catching my mom.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hey! How was your day today?”
“Fantastic,” I said drily. She fixed me in her signature glare. “It was okay. I got a 98 on that math test, though.”
Her face lit up. “Nice! See, studying does work.”
I bit my tongue on whatever smartass retort was coming back up. “Yeah, I guess it does. I’m just going to grab a bar or something and then we can go.”
“Okay. I’m going grocery shopping tonight, so I might be back a little later than usual.”
“That’s fine. Mira needs all the help she can get, although…” I trailed off when I remembered the new guy.
“Although?” Mom prompted.
“Nothing. Mira just hired somebody new to help.”
She didn’t say anything until we got out to the car and I began inhaling my food. “Maybe that’s a good thing, Cass.”
“Wharfle?” I decided she’d waited until I had a mouthful so she could talk without me interrupting.
“Well, maybe you’ll be friends! And you don’t need to feel so bad when you can’t help out.”
“Mom, I’m not going to be friends with this guy just so because he works with me.”
“Oh, it’s a guy,” she waggled her eyebrows.
“Oh my God, Mom. I’m just going to walk from here.” I made to open the door.
“It’s like, three seconds away. I’m driving by anyway. Sit your butt down.” I complied and waited until she pulled down the clinic’s driveway. “Now get your butt out and make friends with that kid.”
