Evan Farrington's Confession | ✔️

ten

Evan blinked herself awake again. The substitute Maths teacher had the most monotonous voice that Evan had ever encountered and the pain in her shoulder had lessened from borderline unbearable to merely distracting. But it was so distracting. She had changed the bandage this morning but the wrapping job wasn't much better. Evan put a light hand on her shoulder, trying to sense the state of her injury through the fabric of her blouse. She didn't press too hard, afraid that the saturated bandage would stain her top. It felt the same as it had this morning: sore but probably not infected. Evan hoped that this assumption was correct but she had no frame of reference.

"And thus concludes exponential functions," the teacher droned. Evan couldn't for the life of her remember her name. She was stout and stern with a withered expression. "Any questions?"

Evan glanced at her watch when the teacher wasn't looking. Half past three. The bell should be going soon. A few of her classmates were flipping thick textbooks closed and surreptitiously unzipping bags. The teacher took in a long breath through her nose. Evan felt herself nodding off again.

"Next lesson we will be beginning logarithmic functions." A drawn-out pause. "I'm sure most-"

The bell rang, drowning out the rest of her sentence. She didn't seem to have noticed that the entire class was packing up their things and hurtling out of the classroom. Evan remained seated, waiting to be dismissed. The teacher blinked three times then focused her eyes on Evan. She smiled minutely.

"You've been doing well, Eve," she said, carefully taking a seat by the desk and pulling her chair in. Evan smiled and put away her textbook and pencil case. The artificial overhead lighting bounced off the scissor blades. Evan sucked in her teeth and covered them with her pencil case. She didn't correct her name.

"I have no worries about you in this class."

Evan swallowed and cleared her throat. "Thank you, Miss," she said then eased her bag onto her back and leaving the classroom. Evan after carrying her backpack all day, her injury complained bitterly at the weight. Evan would not one-strap it. Not in this lifetime. The hallway was crowded and Evan took care to stay close to the back of the crowd where nobody would ram into her shoulder.

A chill enveloped her when she got outside. The rain was heavy enough to drip from the sky. Evan was grateful for the excuse to pull the hood of her jacket up as far over her head as it would go. She paused outside the building, a little way to the left side of the main doors. The rush of students had slowed to a steady trickle hurrying out of the building. Evan watched as hoods went up and her classmates rushed into cars and onto buses to avoid the light but perceptible drizzle.

Loud voices pierced Evan's ears and a group of kids her age spilled out of the doors, giggling and gossiping. Evan started walking, briskly. These were the students she avoided. The Popular ones. One of the bigger boys with sandy hair like straw made no effort to avoid her and plunged into her shoulder. The pain was sudden and sickening. She picked up her pace, hoping against hope that she was already forgotten.

"Dude!" said a vaguely familiar voice from the group behind her. "Watch where you're going."

Evan didn't turn but listened as the comment was met with surprised shrieks of laughter.

"What's going on, Will?" a girl said. There wasn't so much as a trace of concern in her voice. It sounded fake and full of cold amusement. Evan started to walk even more quickly.

"You- I- You just ran into that girl."

Evan listened for the reply but she was too far away. Footsteps slapped the pavement behind her.

"Will! Hey Will! Where the fuck you going?" someone called. The footsteps reached Evan.

"Hi," William panted. "Sorry about Lee. He thinks he's all that and a bag of chips."