The Tomorrow War {Dan forester}

Part 2

"Hey honey," said my mom cheerfully in the kitchen. She has a wrap around her head that she likes to wear to cover her almost gone hair. She was dicing tomatoes and peppers to make an omelet.  She started to stir the egg when I finally answered.

"Hey Mum," I said trying to insert as much happiness into my voice as possible. I sat at the table and looked over at my four year old sister who was playing with blocks. I smiled as she dropped one on the floor. I bent down and picked it up for her. She laughed when I set it on top of the other blocks. My mum rushed over and sat an omelet down in front of me.

"Honey, eat quick! It is almost 7, you will miss the bus," my mum exclaimed. I glanced up at the clock. 6:55. I shoveled the omelet in my mouth. I kissed her and my sister goodbye and grabbed my stuff and rushed out. I ran down to the bus stop just as the bus got there. I climbed on but as i sat down I remembered the message from last night. I looked at my phone and texted my mom that I was going to a friend's house after school. A few moments later she texted back a thumbs up. I sighed and put away my phone. I leaned back in the chair and groaned, not looking forward to the days to come.

{-}

"Can anybody tell me what element has the atomic number of 27?" my teacher asked. I was staring out the window. I was watching as every leaf fell from the tree and hit the ground. I started to drift off when I heard my name.

 "Emily?" he asked. I jumped , startled by somebody calling me, and turned around. I saw that everyone was looking at me. I felt my cheeks go bright red. I looked around then back at my teacher.

"Sorry, Mr. Forester," I said glumly. I looked down and started playing with my hands. I have pretty bad anxiety so I do this a lot.

"It seems like we don't really want to talk about this today, so what do we want to talk about?" Mr. Forester asked. One hand shot up. "Anybody," he asked again. The student started waving his hand around frantically. "Anybody except Martin," he said.

"What? Why?" asked Martin with a tone of hurt in his voice.

"Class, what does Martin want to talk about," Mr. Forester asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Volcanoes," everyone said annoyed. While Martin was trying to explain why Volcanoes were cool, Mr. Forester's phone dinged. He picked it up and read the message. He bit his lip then put the phone down.  I squinted my eyes and saw a red message on his screen right before it turned off. He had been called too. He made eye contact with me and smiled. It was forced, i could tell. I do it everyday.