e-Bae

5.5

Sinful Secrets by Rye_Bread

Thomas's eyes scanned over the page, the words looking like a foreign language. The text blurred and shifted, dancing in the textbook in front of him. Rubbing his eyes, he glared at it, trying to ignore the snickers of those around him. The poorly concealed whispers filled the classroom, and the glare of the teacher on him made it worse. His voice was stuck in his throat, words he couldn't understand refusing to come out.

"Mr. Murphy, read the passage," the teacher said in a clipped tone, running a hand through her blonde hair in agitation. Gritting his teeth, he began to wonder why Miss Wells always asked him to read although the outcome was always the same. It was almost as if she enjoyed his humiliation.

"I-I can't," he admitted with a sigh, refusing to look up and see the disappointed look on a teacher's face who honestly didn't give a damn. The class stifled their laughs, being badly covered up by coughs and smirks.

"What, are you too stupid to get the material? I thought you were Asian. Doesn't that automatically make you smart?" a voice asked, and Thomas scowled when he recognized its owner. Not looking to see Trey, he knew a smug smile was on his face. Priya would be holding his hand under the table, refusing to spare a glance on someone who only had eyes for her. A murmur of agreement went around the room.

Trying to reign in his temper, Thomas blew out a breath.

"Being Asian does not automatically make you Chinese, or smart. Ask your girlfriend, she was born in India," he responded, rolling his eyes.

"But you not being able to read a basic paragraph automatically makes you an idiot. No wonder you're on academic probation," Trey retorted.

Clenching his fists, Thomas almost leaped across the classroom, but remembered that one more fight and he was out. No GED meant no minimum wage job, a job that wouldn't make enough for the scholarship-less, poor, teenaged delinquent that had already spent enough nights in jail to know that he didn't want to be there again.

"Can we just read it by ourselves?" Savannah Connelly asked, and he could almost hear the eye roll in her voice. The girl was at the top of the class, but that was like comparing a bruised apple to a regular one. No matter how they looked on the outside, they still came from the same tree. Sighing, Miss Wells nodded, going to sit at her desk and play on her phone, like she did every day.

"Whatever. It's not like I'm anything more than a glorified babysitter anyway."

Published 7/28/14