Nothing but Hurt

Chapter 3: The Unexpected

I redid my ponytail awkwardly after emptying everything into my locker. It had fallen loose and I had to wrap the hair tie around it three times, which I didn't do most of the time since it usually broke when stretched too much over the thick strands. As soon as I made sure it was secure, I grabbed the notebook for first hour, my phone, and my pencil case along with the school mini Chromebook. 

I adjusted the items in my arms so they wouldn't be too awkward. As I walked to my first class of the day, English, I kept to the side of the wall and avoided making eye contact with anyone, lest anyone noticed me When I reached the room, I ran my eyes over the numerous posters that said stuff like:

'Said' is Dead: Use synonyms like 'told', 'declared' and 'spoke' instead of using 'said'.

There was even a Dr. Suess quote:

The MORE that you READ, the more you will KNOW. The more that you LEARN, the more places you GO. 

I had seen that one far too many times to actually enjoy the meaning. The room looked like half the kids hadn't arrived and those who did had left, leaving their things at their designated spots, even though there were only 6 minutes until the bell rang. The teacher, a strict and sarcastic woman named Ms. Moroz was typing something on her computer, filling the quiet room with the faint clicking of keys. I set my stuff down on my desk, which was located in the corner near the books, which, for me, was quite perfect. As I sat in my chair, sweeping my ponytail on my shoulder so it wouldn't get stuck, Ms. Moroz looked up and noticed me.

"Good morning, Mina," She greeted me, brushing a strand of light blonde-brown hair that had fallen out of her messy bun behind her ear.

"Good morning, Ms. Moroz," I replied politely.

"How are you today?" She asked, arching her eyebrow in a way that told me I had no choice but to converse.

"I'm fine," I said, biting my tongue to keep me from saying something snarky.

"The books you had requested are here, by the way." Ms. Moroz said absentmindedly after a few seconds. "The librarian dropped them off early this morning on the shelf in the far right." She watched me as my face perked up and I practically raced to get the books, which were indeed on one of the shelves with a post it note labelled with my name. "How much is your book count so far?" 

Ms. Moroz found out about my 'book count' when she saw me adding in another book during our reading time and had asked me about it. I quickly replied, "343," (The cube of 7, which I loved) before making an excuse of having to go somewhere and rushing out of the room, books in hand. As soon as I was out of the class, I slowed my pace and stuck to the side of the hallway which were NOT the lockers. Initially, I didn't actually have to do anything, but when exiting the class, I remembered about the math project I was going to check.

As quickly and inconspicuously as I could, I quickly walked back to my locker and shoved my books in a corner, holding it back with one hand as I struggled to get my math project out of my backpack. Being the clumsy person I was, I banged my funny bone on the locker door, but managed to retrieve the papers. I thought about going to the library to complete it, but then remembered that everything else, including my pencil case, was in the class, leaving me no other choice.

Thankfully, when I reached the classroom, there were only a few kids and Ms. Moroz was talking to one of them quietly at her desk. I made it to my seat without them glancing at me and set out the papers. Using my phone, I went through each one of the calculations and double-checked them. To my happiness, they were all correct. I gathered up the papers, used the stapler on the shelf next to me to attach the pages together, and than stood up to go back outside. There was still 8 minutes left until class began, so I could submit my project before.

My math class, which was the very last class, was extremely loud and crazy, so submitting my papers beforehand and not having to deal with the crowd would be a blessing. So I quickly slipped in and out of my math class, having submitted my project in the bin.

By the time I made it back to English, more kids had joined but no one paid me any attention as I finally sat at my seat with no intention to get up and leave until the hour was over. The rest of my classes went just as they usually would. We finished a unit in Science, learnt about internet security in digital apps, started Africa in social studies and I did some last minute touches to my bottle rocket in Applied Engineering. By the time, I entered Math, all I wanted to do was go home and collapse in my bed.

Everyone was buzzing among themselves about the math project. According to our teacher, the grading would be done by the end of the hour since all that was needed to be done was check the final answer and make sure there were workings. The first 30 minutes of class were free and as long as we didn't make too much noise, we could do whatever.

My seat was in the middle row at the very side since seats were arranged by alphabetical order. I opened my chromebook, careful so it wouldn't fall off the slightly tiny desk, and opened up Google Docs. I was writing a dystopian story about two sisters who were separated at birth on different sides of the war. It was one of the possibly 20 or so stories I had left unfinished. The first half of class went by quickly, and then Mrs. Sorani called up everyone one by one to show them their papers. By the time my turn came, half the class was panicking, which made me worried too.

But when I went up to her desk, Mrs. Sorani simply smiled at me and handed me my paper to look at. "Good job, Mina. You got a full score." A smile danced on my lips as I stared at the large 100 written in red pen on the corner of the paper. I returned the paper to her and went back to my seat, secretly celebrating.

"What did you get?" Val, the girl sitting next to me asked, her unique purple eyes wide open. She had a new hairstyle everyday, and today was loose black hair and two small purple braids framing her face. Her dyed hair was one of the reasons her eyes always popped out so well.

I shrugged. "I did okay."

She pouted. "I only got a 60, and that too just because I showed my work."

I nodded, not really wanting to converse. I got my wish because a minute later, she was chatting with someone else next to her. 

By the end of class, I had finished my chapter, which was good since I was on a slight writer's block. I gathered up my stuff to leave, but before I exited the class to join the busy crowd rushing toward their lockers, Val asked loudly, "What was the highest score, Mrs. Sorani? And who got it?"

I could feel Mrs. Sorani grinning at me from the other side of the room. "The highest score was a full 100, the only one in the grade, I believe. As for who got it-"

I left the room before she could finish, but my heart thumped in my chest. I got the highest score?