Heathen Series - Changed

Chapter 3

Homeroom was thankfully with her group's favourite teacher; their ONLY favourite teacher, Mr Cheng. He always got them out of trouble if they were in it and that was unfortunately most of the time. His sarcasm and hilarious insults matched their group personality perfectly, and he was closer to their age than most of the other teachers in their school.

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

Everyone knew that they 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 they heard. The school couldn't afford to lose him.

Steph sat in the corner next to the door with her bag on her left side. Tannah and Ntsakela settled in the desks in front of her with their bags draped on the chair. Xelia sat in front of 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.

Steph sat next to Dwayne who preferred to sit on her right with his bags in the middle of them. 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.

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

She remembered the day when they found out about all their lies and how they had used them. They weren't impressed and had confronted Victoria only to hear more lies and excuses.

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

'Now what?!'

She made a face and groaned all the way there before forcing herself 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?" she asked feigning confusion as she stared at the polished wooden floor while she drew invisible circles with her 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 her.

"What changed?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, sir. I'm fine. I was just deep in thought and daydreaming." she 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 her to reply and when she 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 her and turned back to his laptop.