Morpheuships

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO: CHARLOTTE

              The academy wasn't far off the streets but to make sure I wasn't late, I took a short-cut in the abandoned apartments beside the grocery shop that was behind our school, leading to a small gate which was a known shortcut for the students who always come in late. I don't always take this path though, but this time called for drastic measures.

              The passageway inside the apartments were dirty. The floors were filled with different types of fungus and are covered in moss. The dried leaves that came in through the huge windows because of the wind crunched underneath my feet as I walk my way to the exit in the back of the building. It took some minutes to walk, but I was soon able to get out of the dirty old apartment. To get to the gate, I have to climb a wall that was separating the school from this old establishment.

"Good thing we wore pants, innit baby?" proud of myself, I grinned. On the wall was the left side of a huge old tree that have been here ever since. I began to climb up the wall using the old tree's roots that were hanging around. "Ha! Finally!" I jiggled out a happy tone as I dust off my clothes and adjust the bag I was carrying.

I went straight into my assigned classroom for my subject in the mornings when I heard two of the students talking about a probable transferee in the higher levels. "Pshh, none of my business." I shrugged off.

              As civilization progressed with the use of technology, so did the education of the students. There are rooms assigned to us for each and different subjects, we get to choose what subjects we take, which is apart from the mandatory subjects need to take to graduate. With the use of our morpheuships, we can record the lessons via real time and re-watch them to study our lessons again if we want, when we want to and where we want to. However, my parents have once told me that the Educational Sector Representatives of the Main City have had a hard time catching up at the technological advancements of the world because it evolves way too quickly and not many humans are well-knowledgeable or cognitively fast enough to follow.

It took the Educational Sectors years to come up with a curriculum that could follow with the evolving world we live in. The tapping of shoes and fingertips on the table were heard as my classmates sighs. I folded my lips, trying to hold on to the chuckle that wanted to go out. Ms. Joireman kept discussing her lesson despite the "we don't want you here" atmosphere that the whole class was emitting. It hadn't always been like this, Ms. Joireman was a well-loved teacher of our academy, that was until she dumped the principal after she was caught cheating with another colleague at school inside the classrooms by a student. Lucky for her, she wasn't fired. Perhaps, because the lady actually has a talent for teaching that the people in charge decided to keep her. But after that incident, the students lost their trust on her. The usual warm smiles of my classmates are now turned into sour frowns when even Ms. Joireman's name is mentioned.

I don't hate her though. She probably has her own reasons why she did what she did, people are quick to assume things after the assumptions that she was cheating is spread. Besides, a woman like her deserves more than to be with a sweaty old man with stinky armpits and balding hair. Just because the principal is rich and somehow influential in their field of work doesn't mean she should stick with him. So, I don't really understand the point of everyone having such strong reactions when they aren't even involved in the story.

"Ah, such hypocrites." My chuckle let out.

I could feel my world stop and my cheeks burn from embarrassment when every head in the room turned to me. I was conflicted if I should laugh it off or apologize, but it the end, I did both. "Ah... Hahaha. I was uhh, uhm... ehem. Hehe, I was just thinking about something... hehe, sorry." I bowed while hugging my bag to my chest.

               Ms. Joireman had probably heard what I said because for a split second, I'm sure I saw her lips curl up into a smile. For some reason, that gave me butterflies in the stomach. Her curves with thick thighs, that collar bone that looks like it's carved by sculptors and her natural red hair in addition to her cat eyes as if she doesn't look edible enough – I mean, beautiful enough... God she looks so fine. After a while, the class ended, but Mrs. Joireman asked me to stay.

I gulped the saliva that was stuck in my throat as she closed the door of our classroom. Suddenly, I could feel the air getting hotter by the second. "Shit..." I cursed through my breath. Ms. Joireman was walking towards the seat I'm sitting on. The clacking of her heels only made me more nervous that my legs became noodle-like.

"Charles, is it?" she asked as if she wasn't sure of my name. I nodded a yes and unknowingly started fidgeting with my hands. "People... people.. person... We're talking to a person..." I can hear myself speak in my mind.

"I want to say thank you, for doing that. It was really hard for me to teach with a setting such as this, so having a student disrupt that silence and ill-treatment was... nice." Her angel-like face plastered a smile and her eyes twinkled brightly as she looked at me.

My heart thumped, beating so hard while I stared at her. I could imagine her doing stuff... like cooking and cleaning and talking and breathing and... Oh fuck, she's just really, really, really...

"Charles?" Ms. Joireman's hand was waving in front of me when I came back to reality. "Oh, that's so embarrassing. I'm sorry... Uhm, will that be all?" I apologized. She just laughed at me like she would with a child who doesn't know how to open her candy. "Well Ms. Ma'am, I sure as hell know how to open yo-" I stopped my thoughts before they could even finish.

"Yes, that is all." Ms. Joireman replied. "You may leave now." She added, still smiling and chuckling at me. I awkwardly walked out of the classroom, closed the door and the moment I knew she wasn't looking, I slapped myself in the face real hard.

"You don't think like that around others, okay?!" I scolded myself. Ah geez, I probably look crazy to the other students. Suddenly, I was met with the same pair of eyes that I saw this morning.

A smirk in his face widened as he looks down on me from his height. "What in the world are you doing here?" I nearly screamed in shock and confusion and well, attraction. "What's up with today? I keep being surrounded by hot people."

"Oh, so you think I'm hot, hm?" using his deep voice, he leaned on the wall beside the door and smirked at me some more. "What do you mean?" I asked. "You blatantly admitted that you've been surrounded by, quote unquote, "hot people", today. Must've been nice, huh?" he giggled. "Uhm... did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did." He furrowed his brows, looking at me as if I was some kind of weirdo. "Well, you're wrong. Because it wasn't you I'm talking about. Now, if you'll excuse me." I walked off with a blush on my face. Seriously, what's up with today? As if being surrounded by hotness isn't enough, now I have to walk around school with a boner!

" Ah great!" I yelled, making another set of heads turn at me while we walk on the school corridors.

I can feel a pair of eyes still watching me even as I motioned away, but when I looked back, just like this morning, he disappeared again. Man, I didn't even get his name. I let out a deep sigh. Well, perks of being an introvert, huh? My shoulder's slumped in disappointment.