Something Peculiar

1

A pool of drool unceremoniously spilled out across my desk, and I had opened my eyes just in time to hear Mr. Nam slam a dictionary down on the table. I had only been here a month, but I had already ascertained that this was his way of waking me up from my daily naps during his History lecture. I knew he got some kind of kick out of startling students awake, so I refused to let myself be jarred or react in anyway. Lately, I had been managing to wake up a second before he tried to wake me, which made it easier to ignore. This time, I didn't do anything at all. In fact I closed my eyes again and pretended to keep sleeping.

"Miss Kim?" Mr. Nam snapped, clearly not happy with my reaction, and I had to fight to keep the smile back. "Miss Kim?"

"Hmm?" I murmured.

I lifted my head and tried to wipe away the drool as discreetly as possible. Surreptitiously, I glanced around to see if anyone had noticed, and that bitch Nancy Mcdonie was looking at me with a devilish smile, so I had a feeling she'd seen it. She pushed her golden locks out of her face and winked at me in a strangely seductive manner, and I had no response to that.

Most of the class seemed pretty oblivious, except for Lalisa Manoban.

She's been here a week, so she was the only kid in school newer than me. There was something oddly still and quiet about her, and I was fairly certain that I had yet to hear her speak, even though she was in four of my classes. Her orange hair was smoothed back, and her eyes, that was partially covered by her bangs, were so dark they were almost black. Whenever I looked at her, she always seemed to be staring at me in a completely unabashed way, like it was perfectly natural to just sit in class and look at me all the time. With her rather striking looks, she was attractive, but there was nothing flattering about the way she looked at me. She just stared, the way I stare at the TV when something boring's on. I feel compelled to look, but I don't really care or even notice what's happening.

"Sorry to disturb your sleep," Mr. Nam cleared his throat so I would look up t him, and I purposely yawned loudly.

"It's okay," I said

"Go easy on her, Mr. Nam," Nancy chimed in, her voice deceptively sweet. "Jennie was just getting her beauty sleep, and she needs all the help she can get." The class snickered at that, and I turned back to glare at her, Nancy just winked at me once more.

Unfortunately, that Lalisa kid sat behind her. She wasn't laughing at her joke, but she didn't disapprove either. For a change of pace, she was looking down at her book, and a strand of hair fell across covering her face.

"Then you must be about due for a coma." I told Nancy, and her plastic smile grew harder. Lalisa almost seemed to smirk at that, but I was probably imagining things. She never had expressions.

"Miss Kim, why don't you go down to the principal's office?" Mr. Nam suggested tiredly, and I groaned. "Since you seem to be making a habit of sleeping in my class, maybe he can come up with some ideas to help you stay awake."

"I'm awake," I insisted hopefully.

"Miss Kim, now." Mr. Nam pointed to the door, as if I had forgotten how to leave and that's what was holding me back.

"Fine," I huffed and shoved my books into my book bag. I don't know why I even took my books out, since I had designated History as my afternoon nap time.

"She's just lucky she didn't drown in her own drool." Nancy sneered as I made my way towards the door.

Restraint had never been my strong suit, but I was really working on it. I gripped the strap of my book bag tightly and gritted my teeth as I walked out of the class, but I didn't pause or look back. You cannot punch Nancy in the face, you cannot punch Nancy in the face. I kept repeating over and over in my head. It had basically been my mantra since I started here, but it was getting harder and harder to uphold.