The Mark of a Beta

thirty- three

I hate Thursdays, which is a fucking shame because I used to like Thursdays. They were close to the end of the week, so I had hope that I was almost done with schoolwork. Now, Thursdays suck because it's the day before I get to see Axel and I constantly wish for the day to fly by faster.

This Thursday sucked because I was almost late to school, Brenden and his posse tried to intimidate and beat the shit out of me, and now I have to stay late after school because Larry wants to do more work. Since he's my ride, I'm forced to stay as well.

"You made me late, so you can suck it up and do homework here. I just need an hour," Larry rolls his eyes. He doesn't even look at me, too caught up in grading papers.

"Ugh, pleeeeaaassseeeee! I'm so fucking bored, Larry!" I whine, stomping my feet on the floor. We've already been here for thirty minutes and I hate the way the air conditioner buzzes in this room. I can't focus.

"It's Mr. Patel," Larry corrects me with a grunt. You would think that I could move to a first name basis with him because I live under his roof, right? Wrong! He still makes me call him Mr. Patel while on school grounds, which is just fucking stupid if you ask me.

"Larry, these chairs are uncomfortable and the air smells weird and I want ice cream," I pout and cross my arms in front of my chest.

Larry is unconvinced.

"Just call a friend to pick you up, you're annoying me," he grumbles. He rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands, then looks down at me from across the room.

"Oh, that's a great idea!" I smile, my mood instantly brightening. Why didn't I think of that 29 minutes ago? I pick up my phone and call Dan because he's the most likely to be able to pick me up.

He answers on the fourth ring.

"One second," he instantly says to me, and then through the phone I hear him raise his voice. "Savannah, for crying out loud, fine! I'll get you ice cream, but please stop crying!"

I hear the phone being moved around, some muffled voices, a cheer from Emery, and then Dan is back on the phone.

"Sorry about that, the kids are complaining about-"

"I want ice cream! Can you pick me up from school, please?" I cut him off, eager to join their family trip to the ice cream parlor. I was just talking about ice cream with Larry, so this couldn't have worked out any better!

"I thought I had two children, not three," Dan grumbles over the phone and then sighs. "I'll be there in ten."

"Fuck yeah!" I cheer, pumping my fist in the air.

"Get the hell out of my classroom!" Larry yells at me, and I share an awkward smile with him and grab my backpack. I guess my phone conversation is distracting him from his work.

"Have fun failing half of your students," I grin at him, then leave the room with the phone still in my hand.

"I will!" Larry screams down the hallway. I snicker.

"No cursing in front of my kids, Cooper. I'm serious," Dan says sternly, reminding me that I'm still on the phone with him.

"Sure, sure. I'll be on my best behavior."

"Why does that concern me?"

"Pick me up by the football fields!" I tell him, then hang up. The football fields have a huge parking lot right next to it, so that will be a low traffic area where Dan can pull up and easily pick me up. I head towards that area, and on my way I remember to call Axel.