Janice Lance Book 1: Monday Blues (Revised Edition)

Chapter 3

To shake off the guilt I felt for not talking with Andrew earlier, I focused on the middle of the hallway.

"There's no reason to be upset... All I did was not speak to him, not speak bad about him... Besides, most of his friends were laughing while Mr. Watson yelled at him, and it's not like he's gonna hold a grudge over it... "

I lost myself in my thoughts and bumped into someone—a girl. I gripped my forehead in pain. Then I heard a painfully shrill voice, "Watch it!"

That didn't help much.

I rolled my eyes and went on to Ms. Ronette's class. She looked up at me and smiled, and my head already started to feel better. Ms. Ronette was different from all my other teachers. In a good way.

I looked through the front and the back of the worksheet on my desk, and it was only 12 questions. They were simple enough. Just a bunch of 'what is the value of x' stuff. Ms. Ronette never liked us putting our work on her desk because she said it would get lost. She's always said that when we finish our work to put it aside and start doing something else. We could do pretty much anything as long as it's quiet.

Jane Collins took her seat beside me as usual and other students started coming in. She finished the worksheet fast, and whispered to me.

"So, what's the deal with you and Andrew?" Jane gave me a smirk and looked at me expectantly.

I gave her my best eye-roll and jokingly quipped, "What's the deal with you and every guy in this class?"

She playfully ran her fingers through her hair, tilted her head, and whispered, "I'll have you know I've only gone out with one guy for the past two weeks."

I smirked at her and said, "That must be a record for you."

We both quietly laughed.

After a while, Ms. Ronette finished whatever she was doing and went over the questions with us.

"Alright everyone, number 1. 8x+12=52. What is the value of X?"

I never like answering questions in class, even when I know the answer. The moment you know something everyone gangs up on you. If I do answer it's only when I'm called on.

Ms. Ronette looked around the room, and I saw a lot of people looking down at the floor.

"Eric? Would you mind writing the question on the board?"

Eric Jacobs. Probably the laziest student in the entire class. He was turned around talking to Jeremy Collins, Jane's cousin.

He turned to face Ms. Ronette and raised his eyebrow. "Huh?"

Me and Jane were the only people who weren't laughing our heads off. Jane rolled her eyes at Jeremy and he gave her a, I-ain't-do-nothin look.

Ms. Ronette blinked her eyes a few times and looked completely puzzled. She cleared her throat and spoke warmly. "Eric, I said, would you like to write number one on the board?"

His eyes darted around the classroom like he was looking for something. As if something would make him remember three weeks of material he didn't pay attention to.

"Uh... Sure."

He brought his paper with him to the board, and it only had his name on it. Not even the date.

He looked down at it and wrote the question. 8x+12=52. "Well... You have to... Divide?"

"Subtract!" Ms. Ronette said this in the loudest voice I've ever heard her use.

I got worried that Ms. Ronette would freak out or something on us. That's the first time I've heard her even raise her voice. She looked desperate for him to get it right. She took a deep breath, and I breathed right along with her. I've never seen her look like that.

She raised her voice again, "What is 52 minus 12?"

His voice cracked a little bit. And his hands were shaking. I think he was pretty nervous.

"40. It's 40... Now you divide, and 40 divided by 8 is five. So x equals five."

I don't think I've ever seen someone more relieved than Ms. Ronette did right then. Eric took a deep breath, smiled to himself, and strutted back to his desk.

"Right. Who would like to do number two? Janice?"

I looked up at her, and I really didn't want to do it, but I didn't wanna disappoint her. I saw the way she was looking at me like she was counting on me or something, so I walked up to the board and started solving the problem.

I cleared my throat and started speaking. "20x+36=96. 96 Minus 36 equals 60. You have to divide 20x by 20 to isolate the x and divide 20 by 60 to get three. So x equals three."

Unsurprisingly, nobody was really paying attention, and I didn't mind, I was just glad I finished.

Ms. Ronette spoke up. "Thank you, Janice." And I felt like she meant it.

I said, "No problem Ms. Ronette." And walked back to my seat.

Ms. Ronette checked her watch and faced the class. "So, does everyone feel like they know what they're doing?"

Everyone just kinda nodded or ignored her, and the bell rang before she said anything else.

Ms. Ronette quickly spoke as everyone rushed out of their seats.

Almost everyone.

"Have a good day everyone!"

I was on my way out the door when I stopped myself. I felt really awkward doing it, but I turned back and said something to her. "You alright Ms. Ronette?"

She looked at me and I already felt like I wanted to hide somewhere. But I guess there wasn't any looking back now.

"I'm just asking because you seem kind of upset. Not in a bad way though! I just mean-"

She stared at me for a second, like nobody's ever asked her that before. Then she laughed a little. "I'm alright baby. Just tired. You know how it is."

I smiled softly at her. "Yeah, I do. See you tomorrow." And walked out of class feeling better than when I came in.

I wondered what was for lunch.