Rich Re:grets

Chapter 4.1: A Quiet Calm

(NOVEMBER 2010)

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RICH MUTATIO

"YOUR GROUP COSTUME LOOKS IMPRESSIVE," Mr Darley complimented as we entered the classroom. His outfit was complete with a blocky pair of glasses, a checkered button-down, and a fake moustache. Even though Mr Darley looked acceptable as Ned Flanders, something about his costume was uncanny—like it was supposed to be someone else.

"Sir, do you wanna see an interesting photograph?" Mallory asked.

"A what?"

Zoey pulled Mallory back from her stomach while I put her into a light chokehold, covering her mouth.

I chuckled. "Ignore what she said, John."

"It's Mr Darley to you."

I put my mouth against Mallory's ear. "If you show that photo to anyone, we'll kill you."

Zoey vigorously nodded her head.

Mallory wiggled her face free. "It's a we already?"

Conan looked around. "Why is less than half the class here?"

Conan was right. The only other people here were Annie dressed as a thick red crayon, Justice as Agent 47, Sam and Brianna as Akatsuki members, and Carrie as Sailor Moon.

"It's the day after Halloween and I was expecting most people to be late," Mr Darley said. "So I'm giving a one-hour grace period before I start marking people late."

"That's not fair," Mallory complained. "How come you became less strict as soon as we started showing up on time?"

"Because showing up on time isn't optional, it's a responsibility."

"You could have hinted at it."

"I told Charlie when he and Carrie stayed behind for their classroom cleaning duties on Friday."

The five of us looked at Charlie. "Did Mr Darley tell you?"

Charlie's eyebrows curled as he looked up. "Oh yeah. I forgot."

Mr Darley organized snacks and drinks on the round table at the back of the class. The day started off boring with the eleven of us playing UNO and charades. But as more of everyone showed up, the room grew livelier.

Everyone was doing their own thing. People were on the class computers searching stuff up on the internet. Connect Four, Battleship, and Mancala tournaments appeared at different corners of the room. Bond kept winning so the class voted to ban him like what a casino does when someone was winning too often.

Bond chuckled at that news. "The problem with being faster than light is that I only live in darkness."

"What does that even mean?" Sam asked.

Mallory slipped away from the Charades group she was with and went over to Conan, whispering something to him before waiting at the door.

"Sir, how come you're not married?" Conan asked all of a sudden.

Everyone's attention went to him which let Mallory slip out of the classroom without notice.

What's that girl up to?

"What's that girl up to?"

Only Annie heard me. "Huh?"

"Ignore that."