Ancient Artifact

Missing Presentation

Audrey, a 15-year-old girl, booked it down the stairs, barely giving her mother a goodbye hug before hurrying out the door. She was late for the bus. Again.

She ran down the sidewalk, earning confused glances from bystanders walking by. Once finally reaching the bus stop, she took a second to breathe, then got on the bus that had just arrived, thankfully.

Audrey got onto the bus, chose her seat, and began rummaging through her bookbag, counting the things she rushed to grab.

Computer, check.

Notebooks, check.

Notes?

Where were the notes? She continued to rummage through the bag and couldn't find them. Audrey began to mentally panic; she needed those notes for a presentation today, and she couldn't push it back or else she'd get a zero on it. She must've left it at home and had forgotten to grab them. Shit. She thought, groaning and resting her head against the seat. Audrey hoped that she would remember the notes when the time came.

She almost fell out of the seat when someone tapped her shoulder, and she looked over to see a tall, tanned male.

"Could I sit here?" The boy asked, pointing to her seat.

"Uh, sure." Audrey accepted, scooching to the window seat and letting the boy sit down.

The boy thanked her, then took out his phone and began to play a game. Candy Crush, maybe.

She turned her head and looked at the boy. Sure, he was tall, but he also had dark auburn hair, and dark brown eyes.

Yes, Audrey thought the boy looked fine. Maybe more than fine.

"Hey, question," Audrey finally spoke, and the boy turned her head to her, "What's your name? I've never seen you before."

"Claster." The boy, Claster, said.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Audrey!" She smiled brightly, and he nodded.

Claster turned back to his phone, and the conversation ended as soon as it began. Audrey looked down at her bag and searched for her own phone, before realizing it was in the outer pocket, where she always keeps it.

Time passed and the bus finally arrived at Southton High, and everyone departed, including Claster and Audrey. Claster immediately went left, and towards the left-side doors, while Audrey went straight, and had to bear with a few minutes of waiting in a crowd to enter the doors.

Audrey put her bookbag away and grabbed out her maths notebook and a pen n pencil. Her first class was Math, and she was good at it, yeah, but she hated having it in first period.

She quickly made her way to Maths, weaving through the crowded hallway. The math classroom wasn't all that big, but it still housed 23 students, and two teachers. A second one was needed because the class was too wild for the first.

Audrey seated herself down. Her seat was shared with three others, but she was the one closest to the window, so she could stare out whenever she wanted.

All three of her classmates were already seated and talking loudly. Venessa, the girl across from her, was boasting about how she had already equipped a 6th boyfriend. Her friend, Jane, was approving of this, while a kid named Hunter wasn't so fond of it.

"I'm probably going to dump him soon, once I rid of him of all his delicious cash!" Venessa laughed.

Jane nodded, "Can I have a go at him afterwards?" She asked, setting a pencil down on her notebook.

"Of course, Jane!" Vanessa smiled, patting her friend on the back, "He's all yours after!"

"Settle down, settle down!" The voice of their teacher, Mr. Walsh, bellowed, "Class must start!" He continued.
The Class soon settled down, and Mr. Walsh was able to teach. Of course, without a couple of disturbances, pencils and paper flying around, and talking.

Audrey never minded the class, if she had a high grade, she didn't mind. She made sure to copy note after note, and question after question, to solve and shout out.

An hour went by, and Audrey was staring out the window. She had already finished her work by now. Kids were back to talking and throwing pencils, it was... Something.

Finally, the bell rang, and the kids gathered their things and headed out in a large clump. Audrey was one of the first to leave, and she was making her way to her locker, to grab her Science notebook. This was the class that had the presentation in it, and boy was she not excited.

Audrey slowly made her way to Science class, trying her best to arrive there somewhat late. She was tardy, but it's okay. In this class, there was only one teacher, and 14 students. Audrey was seated in the middle of the classroom, along with one other.

She let out a small groan and set her notebook down onto her table. She hoped that she wasn't first to present. Audrey was sat next to a girl named Mary, and she was a kind girl, Audrey liked her.

One other kid finally arrived, later than her. It was the same kid from the bus, Claster! He seated himself towards the front, next to a girl named Emily. Emily was the type of girl to hit on someone, but then say 'ew, no way' when they'd ask her out.

"As you all know, presentations are due today!" Their teacher, Mrs. Hughes, started. Audrey visibly deflated, obviously not wanting to go first. She felt a hand on her back, and it was Mary.

"Are you okay?" Mary whispered, looking at her with concern.

"Yes, I'm okay. My notes are at home though." Audrey responded, frowning.

"Oh, that sucks." She frowned back, patting Audreys back before fixing her attention up at Mrs. Hughes.

Mrs. Hughes had already started the presentation, and a kid was reluctantly walking up to the board. Oh, how this was going to be a long period.

Many presentations came and went, while Audrey was getting more and more anxious about when she'll be up. Finally, her name was called, right after Mary's presentation was done. Audrey gulped, and slowly made her way up to the board, and her finished slides waiting for her. She got impatient stares from her classmates.

Once Audrey was up there, the presentation finally began, and she was stuttering over her words. If she backed out now, she would face an F! She didn't like that, she had to graduate.

"Audrey, are you okay?" Mrs. Hughes finally asked, tilting her head slightly to the left.

"Yes, I'm okay, I just forgot my notes." Audrey replied, cupping her hands together anxiously.

"Well, by the looks of it, you're almost done." Hughes commented, then added, "Please proceed."
Audrey let out a small sigh, and reluctantly proceeded her horribly said presentation. If she just had her notes, none of this would happen!

After the presentation ended, she raced back to her seat and slumped her head onto her table. Mary rubbed her back, in an attempt to reassure her. Maybe Audrey would get an A! Probably an A-, though, which isn't that bad.

More presentations went by, aswell as Claster's, who had a presentation about evolution. An easy presentation to do. Finally, the class ended, and Audrey hurried to get out of the classroom, and make her way towards the locker. Oh, she definitely got a B, or maybe an A-, she didn't know yet.

For now, she would just have to wait and see.

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WORD COUNT: 1235!