Not That Bad #Wattys2018

Chapter One

If Levi touches me one more time I'm going to punch him in his fucking face, I swear. I turn around in my seat and narrow my eyes at him.

"If your fingers make contact with my skin one more time..."

I widen my eyes suddenly, so he knows what comes next. It's scarier when you let their imagination do the work. Because the imagination is a wild thing and most people come up with things I probably wouldn't do. Like gorge their eyes out or something.

That's one of my best techniques. The eye widening thing, I mean. I also do blackmail, but that works best on girls. You see, being a girl myself, it's very easy to hear juicy gossip when you're hiding in a bathroom stall trying to skip a class. 

Like how Hannah did it for grapes. Or that Naomi's boobs are fake.

You know, I think most people at this school are afraid of me. I'm a bad ass and I don't let anyone mess with me.

Levi pokes me with his ruler and I cringe as the plastic scrapes against my neck. I clench my fist and grit my teeth. Then I take a deep breath and count to ten. You know what? I'm just going to ignore him, because if I turn around I'm going to kill him. I swear.

I get up from my seat and sit in the front row, as far away from Levi as possible. I doubt he'll follow me over here. I glance at the clock on the teacher's desk and it says 3:30. In only half an hour I will be out of this hell hole. But then I remember that almost all the clocks at school are ahead and it could be three o'clock for all I know. So I pull out my phone, even if it's against the rules, and check the time. It's actually is 3:30, thank God. Just half an hour left of detention. Half an hour.

I get a sharp pain in my stomach from hunger and it reminds me of period cramps. As if on cue, my phone vibrates and I pick it up and look at the screen, where a notification in a pink box flashes telling me that I would get my period in the next few days. That means I need to stock up on pain killers because I get really terrible cramps. 

The worst of the worst. 

The kind that even a bad ass like me can't tolerate. Once I was even hospitalized because it was so unbearable. Sometimes I wish I was one of the girls who got theirs every three months. I add a reminder on my phone that says: BUY PAIN KILLERS.

"Hand it over Rori." I look up to see Ms Ford standing by my desk with her hands on her hips, "You know the rules. All phones should be off on the school compound."

"Technically, I should be off the school compound." I say.

I'm the only girl here. It's not fair that I got detention for smoking. I know for a fact that Mr Terv, the principal, smokes too. I've seen him. If he didn't get detention, I shouldn't either. And when I pointed that out, he gave me detention for tomorrow too. That's why I'm going to spend Saturday night trashing a certain person's office.

"Now!" Ms Ford yells and I chuck the phone into her out stretched hand and make a big show of rolling my eyes.

This was NO BIG DEAL. In less that 25 minutes, she'll have to give it back. I cross my hands over my chest and notice the boy standing behind Ms Ford. It's the first time I've seen him and I wonder out loud if he was new here. He's holding a lot of books in his arms, piled so high it's covering his mouth. What a teacher's pet.

"Do I put these here, Ms Ford?" he says, in a voice way deeper than I thought it would be.

He walks over to the desk, puts the books down and then separates the pile in half so it doesn't topple over. Then he smooths his white shirt. His pants are really well ironed and his tie hangs loose around his neck like mine. Only somehow, he looks way smarter. I look down at my own uniform, at my blue tie and black mini skirt. 

Most girls wear their skirts with thigh high socks, but I wear stockings because stockings look hot. I guess you could say it's my fault we have to wear uniforms in the first place. Let's just say my shorts were a tad too short last year and it caused pandemonium.

"Oh yes. Thank you." Ms Ford, grips my phone tighter in her hand and then pats the teacher's pet on the back. He runs his hands through his sandy brown hair and returns her smile showing off the dimples in his cheeks.

"You're welcome. Have a good day." he says and Ms Ford blushes. Have a good day? What a goody two-shoes.

I look at him walking to the door and he's really tall. Maybe like 6 '1. He covers the distance to the door in about four steps and steps out into the hallway. Then there's a loud noise and the boy takes a step backward into the classroom just as two boys smash each other into the wall. If he wasn't as fast as he was, he would have only been a memory. Maybe just a picture frame in the Riley Academy Hall of Good Students or 'A's as we like to call them.

Ms Ford runs from her seat to the door and I lean over on my desk trying to get a peek at what was happening. Chase was slamming Kurt's head against the wall. Chase was supposed to be here in detention with me. Ms Ford was shouting at them but she just couldn't get them to stop.

"Punch him again Chase!" I shout encouragingly.

Chase had talked about this at lunch. Kurt was flirting with his girl and he was going to teach him a lesson. I should have known this was going to happen. I lean further trying get a better look but then Levi or someone whistles so I sit.

I listen to the grunts and smacks and try to imagine it all in my head. Chase was sticking his hand up Kurt's nose and Kurt was kicking him in the balls.

Ms Ford lets out of scream of frustration,"Hold this." she says to the boy and gives him MY PHONE. She closes the door so we can't see the fight and then she starts shouting for Mr Terv to come and separate the boys.

The teacher's pet walks back over to the teachers desk and takes a seat. Once the boys realize that there's no teacher, detention class is officially over for them. They start walking out the door and the boy lets them.

I stay in my seat, suspicious.Though the thought of leaving detention ten minutes earlier was extremely tempting I wondered if this was just a trick. Why wasn't the boy stopping us? Was goody two-shoes going to snitch on us after? Get us an additional day of detention?

The class is empty now and it's just the two of us. He looks at me and blinks once, probably wondering why I was still in there. I scowl at him so he knows that I'm no good. 

"Give me my phone." I say dead serious. I have extremely private stuff on my phone that he can't see. A lot of people want to get revenge on me and if my phone falls into the wrong hands I could only imagine what would happen next.

That's when he seems to realize it's my phone he's holding and the corners of his mouth turn up.He ignores me completely and I watch as his face glows from the light of the screen.

"I said give me my phone! Now!"

He raises his eyebrows and chuckles and my stomach lurches at the thought of him looking at my silly selfies and 'stuff'. I get up and stand in front of the boy, arms crossed, waiting for my phone. He didn't want me to force him. I would hurt him bad, I swear.

"Give it to me." I lower my voice, for the scary effect,"Or else."

"Or else what?" the boy says catching me off guard.

I don't have an answer ready for him. He narrows his eyes and I notice that they're blue and not gray like I thought."You'll get your phone at four o'clock."

I reach over to hit him but he gets up super fast and raises my phone above his head so I can't reach. I'm tall but not that tall.

"Listen, boy." I say slowly,"You give me my phone now or I'll hurt you so bad, you won't be able to carry any more books for teachers." 

His laugh is deeper than his normal speaking voice.

"Listen, girl. I said at four..." he starts, but I step on his foot and then reach up and grab him by his tie pulling him down to my level.

"But I said, NOW!" I say. He raises one eyebrow and hands me my phone. I can't help but smile in triumph as he fixes his shirt."I knew you were scared of me."

"I'm not scared of you. It's four o'clock, girl." He says, waving his silver watch in my face and then he turns and walks out the door.