Troubled One (Wilde #2)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

       Here came the day I was regretting. The day I actually had to present in English class about my family. When I got home from rehearsals, I had to work on the project which included finding pictures. I really didn't want to present, but if I didn't, Laughlin was probably going to give me a worse punishment than being in the school play.

       "Class," Mrs. Signer said. "We have one more presentation for the project. Munro, the floor is yours."

       I sighed and stood up, walking to the front of the class. At the start of school, I had to come to the class to give Mrs. Signer my copy of the slideshow with the pictures, which was on my flash drive. She opened the slideshow and turned on the overhead projector. She then gave me a remote to change the slides when I needed to.

       The first picture was of Nick. "This is my younger brother, Nick," I said. "Most of you probably know him as the artistic kid that skipped a grade. He's thirteen right now and we've been really close since, well, forever, I guess. He's my rock, to be honest. He's always there when I need him." Not wanting to get in more personal details, I changed the picture to the next one, of Laughlin. "My older brother Laughlin is also there for me. If any of you think he looks familiar, just think of the ex- second best boxer, Laughlin Wilde at seventeen because that's exactly who he is. He's twenty-three right now and we don't always agree on everything, but I wouldn't ask for a better older brother." The next picture was a recent one that was taken, a few days after Aaron's birth to be exact. It was of Laughlin, Elliot, Elizabeth, and Aaron. "And this is Laughlin's family; his wife Elliot, his daughter Elizabeth, and his son Aaron. Laughlin fell in love with Elliot when he was seventeen and she was sixteen. But he couldn't do anything about it because he was dating Elliot's best friend. Weird, I know. But then something happened and they ended up together. They got married at a young age with Laughlin being twenty and Elliot being nineteen. A lot of people thought they were crazy, but they really do love each other. I'm happy Laughlin found Elliot. She's perfect for him and she's a great addition to our family. So, yeah. That's my family."

       The class applauded, something they were basically required to do. I went back to my seat, slouching down. I didn't even mention my parents, so a lot of people were probably wondering about them. Great.

       I slept for the rest of the class, thankfully not being waken up by Mrs. Signer. I needed the extra sleep after staying up late to work on the stupid project.

       When class ended, Mrs. Signer walked to my desk and handed me a slip. "This is your mark for the presentation."

       She walked back to her desk and without looking at my mark, I shoved the slip in my jeans' pocket and headed to the drama room for rehearsals. We had them almost everyday of the week and it was honestly getting annoying. We didn't need to run through it so many times. At least I didn't think so.

       Like usual, I sat in the back of the class, slouched in my seat. I had tried so many times to convince Miss Conte to not make me be the lead, but she was always refusing.

       Kamille sat down beside me. "That was a great presentation, Munro. It was sweet how you said that Nick is your rock."

       I shrugged. "After all the crap I've been through, he knows exactly how to calm me down."

       "What did you get on the presentation?" Kamille asked.

       "I don't know," I said. "I didn't look. I probably did bad. I don't care, anyway. It's just a stupid presentation."

       "You should still look," Kamille said. "I'm pretty sure you did better than you thought."

       I sighed, pulling the slip out of my pocket. "Fine, I'll show you how bad I...." I looked at the mark on the slip, stopping mid-sentence.

       Kamille leaned over, looking at the mark. "See! You even did better than me!"

       I scoffed of disbelief. "How is this possible? 19.5 out of 20? No way."

       "You need to stop doubting yourself, Munro," Kamille said. "I, personally, loved your presentation. You were talking so happily about them, and you even had a smile on your face."

       I scowled. "I did not. I don't smile."

       "But you did," Kamille said. "I swear, you were smiling ever since you said Nick is your rock."

       "Nope," I said. "Absolutely not."

       "But...."

       "No. I didn't."

       "Munro, you did."

       "No."

       Kamille huffed and crossed her arms. "Why are you so stubborn? I swear, I saw you smiling."

       "I don't smile."

       "Fine," Kamille said. "I'll take that as a challenge."

       I raised an eyebrow. "A challenge?"

       "You better prepare yourself, Munro Wilde," Kamille said. "I will make you crack a smile if it is the last thing I do."

       "Good luck with that," I said.

       She was definitely going to need it.

___________

I really hate short chapters, trust me. cx But there wasn't that much to write for this chapter anyway.

For those who are reading this at the released of many chapters because of me republishing it, this might be the last chapter for the night. I think there's one after this that I was halfway through writing when I unpublished the book.