The Lucky Charm

chapter 1

"...jay-ine?"

"It's pronounced as Jane, but spelled as Jaine" I said as I raised my hand slowly. I have repeated this for the thousandth, no, millionth time. No one can pronounce my name correctly on their first try. I feel like a broken recorder having to correct people all the time. My eyes were fixed on the words 'Jaine' written on the name header on my worksheet.

"Why does your name have an I in it?"

Honestly, I did not want to answer her, or even move an inch. I had already wasted enough energy today, and that new curious teacher just made it a tad bit worse. I only had a mere 3 hours of sleep and my body was solely running on that morning's coffee, and the cold crisp weather that breathed a light breeze that would wrap around me and shake me awake momentarily. Pulling an all-nighter for a composition was definitely not what my body was made for. Sometimes I envy those kids who can forgo sleep like it's nothing and still be able to function at their highest capacity the next day, and continue to get things done well.

"...I don't know. My parents named me that."

That was all that managed to escape from my mouth. I'm way too tired to compose a reasonable answer to present to her, let alone catch up with the furious pace of life.

I hung my head, and my eyes swerved to the lines on my math worksheet. All the numbers and equations were messing up my mind and were jumbled up. I looked up to scan the sea of students who were all slumped in their chairs together; some were discreetly checking their social media apps under the table, some were actually paying attention with their pens scribbling at lightning speed, and some had completely collapsed on the table. The atmosphere was very unlike the after-school buzz, when people howling with laughter can be heard even 2 floors below.

To describe a bit more about me, my seat is very strategically positioned such that the teacher has no reason to look over at my side and suspect some student is attempting to do something that's banned in a classroom. For a tip for other students like me, the top 5 worst seats are 1. Back row 2. Front row 3. Near the curtains 4. Right in front of the teacher's desk 5. Dead centre. My seat does not fall under this list, therefore, I can for sure say that my seat is perfect for sleeping; sweeped to the side where the teacher won't bother to crane her neck to see. I decided to try a new method that should help me conceal my act of dozing off even more professionally, by using my fist to cover my obviously closed eyes and to provide a support for my heavy head, also described as 'active sleeping' by my teachers. 

Wait, why am I taking sleeping in class so seriously? Why am I describing this in such detail, I'm not writing a manual that goes like 'How To Sleep Professionally In Class By Jaine'.

Soon, the teacher's words just became monotonous background noise to my ears. I'm too used to turning off every time the teacher starts rambling about a new formula that will totally "help us when we grow up in society", so much that I don't know how to actually focus when she mentions something that's going to be tested. I have a horrible habit of shutting down when someone begins a potential monologue, which I'm trying so hard to break.

I glanced over at the most annoying and moody person that I know, also known as my bestie, Mabel. Even though she can be like a prick in my skin sometimes, or maybe majority of the time, she can be a real lifesaver during these draggy lessons.

I had my eyes glued onto her, until her eyes instinctively met mine. Then, we proceed to have an entire silent conversation with only our eyes and eyebrows. And that's the best thing I love about girl code.

Fast forward to a few math sums later, I was pretty much on autopilot mode, until the whiteboard started warping and distorting, and became a screen of black.