Spawn Of Spadille

2

The first lesson today is English- a subject I particularly like but the loquacious teacher ruins for me.

I doodle a knife on the table as Miss. Woth proudly moves onto the next slide. I swear these teachers put more effort in their PowerPoint presentations than their teaching.

"We are going to focus on poetry for this week. Today we will- Jacklynne put your head up please- be starting with challenge writing. So you can write about anything. Make sure to write out the literacy devices we learnt last week and add them in your work. And remember that poems don't always- Jacklynne put your head up when I'm talking."

I look up to see Miss. Woth staring at me expectedly. "Sorry miss," I apologize quickly whiles covering up the doodle with my book as swiftly as I can. The stare lasts a few seconds more before she continues. I stared right back.

"Remember that poems don't always have to rhyme. Everyone, you can begin now."

I look down at the page in slow motion not having a clue what to write about. Clicking the pen, I search my mind for a word I can base my poem on.

"Whoever is doing that stop that please," someone says from the back row.

Hiding the pen under the table, I click it again to please my minor OCD.

I bring it out and see that I have to click it for the ballpoint tip to come out. Covering the top to muffle the sound, I click it one last time and can feel Miss. Woth's gaze on me. As casually as I can, I pretend to write just as she starts to get up from her chair. My panic is relieved when she exits the classroom instead of coming to check my lack of work.

I rest my cheek in my hand and blink repeatedly so that my eyelashes brush my palm. I manage to write down a few lines which I am content with.

When I was three,
I talked to a bee,
Thought it was a he,
But it was a she,
So when I screamed, "Sqeeee!"
Like Michael Jackson, it went, "He hee."

Hours drag by. And somehow I'm able to survive another day of teachers and their failed attempts at jokes. The real funny part is when nobody laughs and the teacher is standing there cackling at themself.

I'm standing at the bus stop early, before the next one in twenty minutes, where it is a dangerous time because everyone is desperate to get on the bus first to get a seat. It is a time when most elderly's fall, people are trampled over (I, in the past, have unfortunately been one of those people), and some mothers with buggies think it is the appropriate time to start swearing in front of their pure children.

The bus arrives and we allow people to push us onto it as they move themselves forward. When I'm on, I spot the girl with braids from the bus this morning. Jiaying and I sit behind her. Jiaying taps her shoulder and waves when she turns around. There's a glint of recognition in her dark brown eyes.

Jiaying offers her hand, "I am a very thankful Jiaying and this is my friend Jacklynne."

The girl shakes her hand as the bus starts moving and introduces herself. "I'm Orabelle."

Suddenly, there's an eruption of laughter from a group of boys standing in the middle. I never saw them come on.

But I do see Jiaying in the corner of my eye sliding down as if that will make her less seen.

What sad hope.

"Oral B? Like the toothpaste? What kind of stupid name is that?" One of them says. There is a glint of silver from the ear of his friend standing beside him when the sunlight comes through.

"Well what kind of stupid face is that?" Orabelle remarks.

"And I never said that either so you'd better turn on your hearing aid." She adds.