Mirrors

Chapter 2

"Sorry, what?" Morgan frowns, staring  at the picture on her best friend's phone. "No, I was in homeroom the whole time, honest!"

Amelié raises an eyebrow. "But I swear it was you! Same outfit, same terrible posture, how else would you explain it?" Her mouth twists."You're pranking me." Amelié says flatly. The friends had a tendency to play tricks on one another. Well, mostly Amelié pranking Morgan. One day, Morgan would pull off a trick even her brother couldn't think of, the ultimate revenge. Until then, Morgan was stuck with cream pies and junpscaring gum packets.

"Maybe we just have got same fashion sense? Come on, we've got Maths. Tamer will be livid if we're late again." Morgan ends the conversation with a sharp tone. Amelié grimaces but nods begrudgingly.  The girls make their way to Maths class, discussing the best possible outcomes of their lesson.

*****

Twenty sets of stairs later, Morgan and Amelié reach their destination. This classroom is one of Amelié's least favourites; full of dusty multiplication posters and graffitied desks.  Amelié hated their Maths classroom. Her intense hatred for the dusty chalkboard and fifteenth-century grandma curtains only grew.

Morgan didn't mind the room. She found it 'charmingly ancient'. This could describe the main occupant of their Maths classroom, Mr Tamer, as well. Minus the charm. In the entire history of Morgan's schooling career, she has never met a less charming teacher than Mr Tamer. He was, in many ways, like his classroom. Ancient, dusty and an overall eyesore. He wore the same thing every day; stiff, beige pants, a coffee-stained button-up shirt and a paperboy cap that looked like it was made out the same material as the curtains.

Amelié always joked about who wore it better, Mr Tamer or the curtains? The curtains always won.

Amelié drops her books onto the cleanest desk she can find, and sighs in exasperation. "Oh, seriously!?" She lifts her pencilcase to find a wad of pink gum stuck to the bottom of it. "That was my favourite pencilcase too!" She unzips it and tips its contents onto the desk before getting up from her chair to throw it into the bin.

When she returns to her seat, Morgan chastises her. "You know some kids here would love to have the pencilcase you just threw away, right?" Amelié crosses her arms.

"Well, if they want it they can dig it out of the bin," Amelié replies. She can be that way often, making sassy remarks when something doesn't go her way. "Besides, I'll just go buy a new one after school, no big deal."

Judging by the bitter look on Amelié's face, Morgan could tell it was a big deal. "I'll go with you, if you want?" She offers. Whenever Amelié goes shopping, she ends up buying everything except what she went there for. Morgan often accompanies her on such trips to keep her on course.

"I mean, I-" Amelié begins.

"GOOD MORNING, mathletes! Today's the day!" Mr Tamer's obnoxious voice booms. The class mutters in confusion. "You may be asking, 'what day!?'. Well, mathematicians, today we are having... a TEST!" He starts jumping up and down and cheered. The class stares at him blankly. The classroom is silent, besides the occasional 'whoop!' from Mr Tamer.

At that moment, all havoc breaks loose. One girl starts crying, as she hadn't studied. The boys at the back of the classroom start throwing balls of scrunched-up paper at Mr Tamer. Morgan and Amelié just sit there, flabbergasted. Mr Tamer will always give a month's notice before an exam.

After several minutes of this, Mr Tamer manages to reduce the noise. "Kids, the test is only fifty questions!" The class' noise level intensifies again. "Alright! You only need to do thirty!" This calms the class slightly. He begins handing out the test papers, shushing the groaning students.

Morgan frowns. "I didn't even study! This better not go toward my grade." She grumbles. Mr Tamer overhears and smiles at her.

"Oh, it's about... five percent of your grade? No matter, you always score high," He waves his hand dismissively. "Alright, kids! You have forty-five minutes, starting... now!" He claps once and pushes a button on a timer on his desk. The class immediately goes silent and bends their heads into their work.

Amelié, however, is still procrastinating. She leans over to Morgan. "Hey, I have an idea. What if you do the test, then I can copy?" She whispers, covering her mouth with her hand. Morgan sticks her tongue out at her, and Amelié does the same in reply. Twenty minutes go by, and Morgan is halfway through her test. She is known to get her work done quickly and quietly, distracted by nothing. The maths questions are easy, yet she isn't breezing through it like usual.

Her mind constantly floats back to what Amelié said earlier. She claimed to have seen Morgan in the bathroom, yet she had been in homeroom the entire time. Amelié seemed genuinely freaked out too, which was uncharacteristic of her. Morgan's thoughts are interrupted by Mr Tamer's voice.

"Halfway through! Three students have already handed in their papers. Twenty minutes left!" Morgan sits upright.

"Crap," She says before bending over her work once more. Amelié lets out an exasperated huff beside her, flipping through the pages of the test. Morgan smirks. "Need some help?"

Amelié rolls her eyes. "That's a record you've just broken. Congrats on your longest time before asking me!" Morgan holds up a finger, silencing Amelié. After five minutes, she finishes her test and discreetly swaps it with Amelié. Amelié flicks through the pages, writing the question numbers and answers on the inside of her palm.

The girls swap their papers back and Amelié copies down the answers from her palm. She finishes her test fifteen minutes after Morgan, just before Mr Tamer announces the end.

"Aaaaaand that's time! Pencils down, mathletes!"