The Curse of King Arthur

Chapter One: Rude Awakenings

It's always the scream that wakes me in the end.

My eyes shoot open, and I half expect to see cold, blue eyes staring down at me, but no. Instead, it's Tracy Thompson's curly head greeting me.

A sigh of relief and annoyance escapes my lips as my mind re-adjusts to my surroundings. The soft buzz of fluorescent lights, lines of students' heads, a deep voice droning on about polynomial functions.

For once, I'm actually glad I've woken up in McKinney's class, but that means... It happened again...

For a week now, that same nightmare has been rattling in my brain, waking me up in a cold sweat and terrorizing me from my favorite activity, and now it seems like it wants to invade my waking dreams too. Joy...

Before I can dive deeper into my depression, a buzz against my butt draws my attention. Usually, I wouldn't risk pulling out my cell in McKinney's class, but I typically avoid sleeping in here as well, so in for a penny. Besides, I could use some normalcy right now, and the ongoing theory/soap opera Katie and Reagan have been arguing about for weeks is right up my alley.

But it's not the group chat on my notifications I see when I light my phone, but a message from the fourth member of our quartet, Blaine Mahiya. Why is Blaine texting me?

My eyes scan the room before locking on the back of Blaine's head several rows away. He's staring at the board like the diligent student that I almost look down to see if I got the time of the text wrong. But then I see brown eyes glance over at me and a flash of Blaine's phone as he types out something on his phone with one hand—my phone vibrating when he finishes.

Clocking where McKinney is, I quickly look down and unlock my phone, curious about what's so important that Blaine would risk texting under McKinney's nose.

My answer comes as a screaming text of 'WAKE UP!!!' with an excessive (at least for Blaine) amount of exclamation points. His next text is quieter than his previous one.

'Took u long enough!'

Another text pops through. 'U remember the last time MK got u?'

One more comes up. 'U look like u saw a ghost.' Great... That's all I need, my nightmare written all over my face.

Ignoring his last text, I quickly type: 'Chill. I'm up. And BTW, last time was totally R's fault. Besides, TT and her hulking BF are covering me from MK's laser vision, so no way he'll see me ZZZing.'

I can't help but add: 'If anything, txting u is going to get me in trouble.'

"Right you are, Austin." A deep voice agrees behind me. It was already quiet, but a literal hush had come over the class.

Shit... I can't help but think as I force myself to turn and come face to face with Satan, aka Mr. McKinney, teacher of Algebra or torture, whatever floats your boat. (You know that thing I said about waking up in his class? Yeah, I was wrong. I much rather be back in the murder dungeon nightmare.)

"Mr. Cavalier..." McKinney draws out, and I suppress a groan, knowing what's coming next. McKinney only uses last names when he wants to 'express' his disappointment for you.

"...I am very disappointed in you (See?). Texting in my class while I am trying to enrich your mind!" He exclaims with so much heartbreak that I would feel guilty if it weren't for the evil smirk on his face.

His guilt wave then turns towards Blaine. "And Mr. Mahiya, I am highly disappointed in you too. I would not expect such blatant disregard for rules from such an exemplary student as yourself!"