Death

Chapter 7

Although Language Arts was horrible, that didn't mean lunch had to be. Clara normally doesn't eat lunch because she can't afford school lunches and she has nobody to sit with anyway, but today she had Janice. Janice followed Clara to the lunch room and asked Clara where she wanted to sit. Clara felt like she had a loyal friend for once. Alissa sometimes ditched her in elementary school to hang out with boys, Janice would never do that.

"Let's sit outside," Clara replied beaming, "it's supposed to be nice out today."

"Where's your lunch?" asked Janice.

"I didn't bring one."

"You can share mine!" Janice announced giving Clara a banana and a bag of pretzels.

"Thanks." said Clara.

Maybe having friends is a good thing, she thought.They ate lunch and talked about how mean Mrs. Grosse was and about their other classes. As it turned out, their schedules were identical. Clara was actually excited about the rest of the day, besides the detention, today should be one of the best days she has ever had. She was going to miss a few hours of work now, which meant less food for the rest of the week. But at the moment that didn't matter, she had found a friend.

***

In math class Clara sat in the back with Janice. They didn't pay attention at all, they both hated math anyway. They gossiped about Mrs. Grosse and the detention she gave them.

"Girls, please keep it down back there. I'm trying to teach the rest of the class." Mr. Smithen said.

"Sorry," said Clara, "I'm trying to help Janice with this problem."

"You don't even have your book out. You don't have to pay attention but your grade will reflect upon that. Let Janice and the rest of the class learn."

Clara got out her textbook and pencil and pretended to pay attention for the next five minutes, then her and Janice got in a paper wad fight.

Janice threw a small piece of paper at Clara's head and the fight was on. Clara threw four wads at a time at Janice, again and again. Janice was throwing whole pieces of paper. It was fun until they got caught.

"What is the meaning of this girls? This is the second time you've disrupted class today. Clean up this paper and go to the hallway. Now." said Mr. Smithen.

Clara dropped to the ground, collected all the paper and ran to the hallway. Janice and I can still throw paper in the hallway, thought Clara. And they did. They ran up and down the hall hiding behind garbage cans and water fountains.

"Look out Clara! You're about to get hit... with my paper balls!" laughed Janice.

"Not if I hit you first!" giggled Clara, diving behind the trash can and chucking ten paper balls in mid-air.

"Oh no you don't!" Janice yelled dodging the paper wads, "Target found, hand loaded, fire!" shouted Janice pelting Clara with wad after wad.

"Ouch!"

"I win!" Janice took a bow and twirled around. "Good game." she said giggling.

"You too," said Clara, "that was so fun!"

The bell rang and Clara and Janice had to sprint down the hallway back to math class to get their things. Janice tripped over a pencil and fell over in a heap of happiness. Clara helped her up and they were laughing so hard they could barely walk. They got their things and walked to science together, Clara's favorite subject, now it's going to be even better.

In science class Mrs. Phillips let Janice and Clara sit together and be partners in a lab, which was a big mistake. Janice fell off the stool and spilled the water for the experiment. Clara went and got more, but then Alissa bumped into her and made her drop the beaker. It broke and Clara had to sweep it up but Mrs. Phillips wouldn't give her another one. They had to use a paper cup which was very hard to measure with. They ended up using too much water and ruining the experiment. Mrs. Phillips gave them a C+ for trying, but Clara was really upset about it because she had an 'A' in science.

Clara was really mad at Alissa for making her drop the beaker so she took Alissa's beaker and put salt in it. It immediately started to crystallize at the top and made it extremely hard for Alissa to observe the substance they were supposed to make, so Alissa got a C. When Alissa heard her grade she freaked out, Alissa had a B- in science and now she has a C+. Clara and Janice smiled and looked the other way. Karma sucks doesn't it, Clara thought.

After science Clara and Janice went to their lockers and got their stuff to go home. Alissa and her posse came up Clara and were about to push her down when Janice spit in Alissa's hair. They grabbed their stuff and ran out of the school.

Janice followed Clara around to the back of the school and into the woods and found the secret trail.

"Are they chasing us?" asked Janice.

"No, I don't think so. They can't find us here anyway."

"What is this place, where does it lead?"

"To a street near my house. I use it as a shortcut almost everyday. It's really quiet and peaceful."

"Cool."

"So where do you live? I can walk you there in case you run into Alissa and her posse on the way."

"Just down the road, it's fine. They aren't very fast anyway."

"Okay bye.""Wait, do you want to meet here tomorrow... around... 7ish?"

"Yeah, I'd like that." said Clara, and she started walking home.

On the way home Clara walked very slowly. Clara enjoyed her alone time in the woods. She could really think about all the fun they had at school today. Me and Janice are gonna be great friends, thought Clara, I can already tell. Nature was her favorite place to be. Alissa and all the friends at school weren't there to be mean to her. She didn't have to worry about anything. She could be alone, and that was easier.

By the time she got home it was 4 o'clock. She took a two whole hours to walk home today. Her mom was there when she got there.

"Where have you been? You were supposed to be at work half an hour ago! You're gonna get fired!"

"I can't go today. I have too much to do for tomorrow." lied Clara.

"And how exactly do you expect us to eat dinner?"

"Oh, gee— mom I don't know. How about you pay for something every once in a while!"

"Go to your room."

Clara storms off to her room. She picks out one of her nicest outfits for school tomorrow and turns on the TV. She gets out her change purse and recounts what she's saved so far, $580.22. She can't wait till she turns 16 and can drive to work instead of walking alone in the dark.