Battle Our Present

Skipping and Breakdowns

Mrs. Frankie dragged the chalk up against the chalkboard, making a penetrating sound that annoyed everyone in her class that morning. Stephanie sat in the middle area, and was trying to get some rest. Willow, who was known as more of an outcast, sat in the back with her feet on the desk. Mateo sat in the front, and tried to focus but got bored quickly. Mrs. Frankie rambled on about science, while the rest of the class was taking notes. Willow put her feet down under the desk, and pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of her bag. She took a dull-tipped pen and scribbled on the top edge to get the ink to flow. She then wrote "wanna skip?" And made it into a ball shape. While Mrs. Frankie had her back turned to the class, Willow threw the paper and it hit Stephanie in the side of the head. Stephanie looked back and gave Willow a playfully dirty look. She opened the note, and read it quickly. She looked back to Willow, and nodded at her. Stephanie then wrote another note with her pencil, which read "I'll force Mateo" and she threw it back when she had the chance to. Willow chuckles a little reading the note, and looking up to Mateo in the front obviously struggling with the lesson. Willow, doing what she did best, screamed out like she was in pain. Immediately Mrs. Frankie was alarmed, and turned to Willow, "what's wrong?! Is everything alright?" And Stephanie was ready, "can me and Mateo bring her to the nurse? She's having a panic attack" Stephanie pretended to shed a tear, and Willow acted as if she was having a breakdown. "Uhm, yes quickly." Mrs. Frankie spoke, as if trying to rid the disturbance. Stephanie went over and "helped" Willow up, and forcing Mateo to come with. They all left the class and Willow immediately stopped her act. "Ugh finally. I hate that class anyway." She laughed a little. "What we're we even doing?" Stephanie asked, chuckling a little while they all walked down the hall. "How am I the only one who actually pays attention?" Mateo asked, rolling his eyes. "I don't know, you NEED to pay attention, sped." Stephanie bumped him into a locker playfully. "Hey!" Mateo said bumping her back. Willow laughed at them both. "So where are we even going?" Mateo asked, since he never got the memo. "It's obvious?! We're skipping, Mateo." Stephanie said, scoffing. "You're such a himbo dude." Willow said, scrunching her nose and looking up at Mateo. "Well my bad, nobody told me what was happening" he responded, slightly annoyed but used to their shit. Stephanie walked ahead of Willow and Mateo, and opened the double doors at the end of the hall to go outside. They all went outside, and sat with the door slightly perched open with a door blocker. Willow sighed, as she took in the air. "It's only first period and I'm bored as fuck." She spoke out loud, not caring if she even got a response. Stephanie chuckled a little, then yawned. "I'm bored AND tired." Stephanie scratched her head, and then scooted closer to Mateo. "What?" Mateo said, noticing the sudden movement. "Nothing." Stephanie said, softly. Willow sat there, slowly pulling a cigarette and lighter from her pocket. Mateo looked at her surprised "Why would you bring a blunt to school..." he seemed disappointed, like it was stupid, and it was. You know it's stupid when someone like Mateo realized it. "Well no shit man," she waved it at his face, "why wouldn't I? I skip every day, so I gotta have something." Willow finished, lighting her cigarette with the lighter. She inhaled, and sat for a moment before blowing the smoke in Mateo and Stephanie's face. Stephanie coughed, "ew, nasty" she said slightly chuckling. Only after ten minutes, the bell rang loud throughout the hallways. Mateo jumped up alert, and quickly slipped his bag over his shoulder. "C'mon Steph." He looked down at Stephanie, who was sleeping at that point. Willow shook her, and Stephanie quickly said out loud "IM AWAKE!" Sitting up. They all three then made the way inside, as if nothing happened. Each went there separate way to there locker, to put away anything they needed. Mateo grabbed his math notebook, and a calculator, while the others just wanted to have an excuse to be doing something. Each arrived to the next class at close times. The three all sat in the front row of Mr. Walnuts classroom. He considered them chaotic, so wanted to be amble to keep an eye on them while teaching the lessons. "Everyone, please finish the five problems on the bored and close your notebooks once your finished, then we'll begin lesson 6." Mr. Walnut announced to the class, as he sat down and wrote on his computer. Stephanie sighed, and started to do the work. Willow loathed Mr. Walnut with a passion. She reached into her bag, while Mateo began to work and get confused. She grabbed a small straw, and threw a spit ball at Mr Walnut. He looked up, with an emotionless stare. "Willow, I won't tell you again. Work on your problems." He spoke, in a monotone yet so full of emotion tone. Willow burned with annoyance and rage, and rolled her eyes. She took her notebook out aggressively, and finished the questions close to instantly. After a few minutes, everyone was done but Mateo. Mr. Walnut walked over to him, looking slightly disappointed. He sighed and spoke, "Mateo. We go over this every single day. What are you not understanding." He went over to his side and grabbed a chair so Mateo could explain. "I just don't get it. It's so hard for no reason, I'm not even going to use this in my life." Mateo said, angry at the problems. "Mr. Garcia," started Mr. Walnut, "This math is fairly simple, and I've explained it to you for the past week. Every day you say you understand. What are you not getting?" He spoke, clearly irritated at the boy for not listening. "I already told you, all of it is confusing and I hate it." Mateo said with mild frustration. Mr. Walnut sighed once more, "Mateo, I don't understand what the need to be difficult is. I will be contacting your mother, so we can start tutoring, again." Mateo put his pencil down, and shut his notebook with half of his question finished. "Whatever." He mumbled. Mr. Walnut went back to the front of the class to begin teaching. He started the lesson, with Willow making a snarky comment about every 20 seconds. Mr. Walnut said aloud, "Willow, do you think that you can teach this class?" Willow smirked at him, and put her legs up on the desk, "better than you could." And he had just about enough. "Maybe if you would listen, then the subject would be crystal clear. Even Mateo gets it." Mr. Walnut pointed at Mateo using him as an example, while Mateo looked at him slightly offended. "Excuse me?" Willow said, almost infuriated. "You will not be excused. Excuses, always excuses. If you'd learn to listen instead of making a comment, then you'd be doing better in my class" Mr. Walnut said, while the class got quiet, interested in the drama. Stephanie's left the classroom to go into the bathroom. Willow stood up in her chair aggressively, "do you want to die?!" She was at that point yelling. Mr. Walnut let out a long painful sigh, since he dealt with this every day.