Heathen Series - Changed

Chapter 3

Stephanie's Pov...

Homeroom was thankfully with my group's favourite teacher; our ONLY favourite teacher, Mr. Cheng. He always got us out of trouble if we were in it and that was unfortunately most of the time. His sarcasm and hilarious insults matched our personality perfectly, and he was closer to our age than most of the other teachers in their school. Not to say that he was young, but he understood us.

He smiled when he saw us, and he didn't try to hide it.

Everyone knew that we were his favourites and he didn't deny it when questioned. He got into trouble for it once but evaded it smoothly. He was one of the most valuable teachers at the school; a part time marine biologist and a young, retired army major - or so we heard. The school couldn't afford to lose him.

I sat in the corner next to the door with my bag on my left side. Tannah and Ntsakela settled in the desks in front of me with their bags draped on the chair. Xelia sat next to them with both her bags close to her; one draped over her chair while the other was placed by her left side on the floor.

I sat next to Dwayne who preferred to sit on my right with his bags in the middle of us. Taylor was next to Dwayne with his bags on his right and in the two desks next to Taylor were Serina and Shaylin; who kept their bags to their right.

I looked around and started counting the seconds till my first lesson started. Unfortunately, Victoria and Jeydon were also in the same homeroom, and they chose to sit as close to us as they could. From the corner of my eyes, I saw that Jeydon tried to grab my attention, but I purposefully ignored him by looking down at my table. I was not in the mood for their nonsense - thank goodness the rest of the group separated me from them.

I remembered the day when we found out about all their lies and how they had used us. We weren't impressed and had confronted Victoria only to hear more lies and excuses.

I looked up from the table as I still felt eyes on me; Mr. Cheng's blue eyes. He beckoned for me to come to him, and I had no choice but to go - just because we were his favourite students, doesn't mean that we got to disrespect him in any way.

'Now what?!'

I made a face and groaned all the way there before forcing myself to quiet down to hear what he had to say. It must be important by the look of it.

"You are strangely quiet today." he stated bluntly while typing on his laptop.

"What do mean, sir?" 

I asked feigning confusion as I stared at the polished wooden floor while I drew invisible circles with my foot.

"I mean, you are one of the most talkative learners I have ever seen - when you are with your group and not working anyway - and it is weird to see you so quiet. I would expect you and your friends to be talking, discussing your holidays or whatever and so forth - you are usually so energetic..."

He looked up from his laptop then. Deep blue eyes focused on me.

"What changed?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, sir. I'm fine. I was just deep in thought and daydreaming." 

I lied still not looking at him.

"Sure...
When you come up with a better lie, I'll be sitting at this desk for most of my day or I'll be in my office taking a... break."

He paused, waiting for me to reply and when I didn't, he sighed before continuing;

"If something has happened, you need to say something... to someone or anyone you know you can trust. Don't be scared to talk; you have more people around you that care than you think.
Don't forget that." he finished fixing his penetrating gaze on me and turned back to his laptop.