Gregg

Chapter 5

Ever get that feeling you're being watched? Well, ever since I found out about Pete and Eliza, I feel like they're always watching me. Wait, how many time has she actually seen me staring at her? Oh my gosh, I had a crush on my own daughter. I still don't understand why I believed them without any real explanation of how they got here. This could be some high school, upper class prank. I could be falling into a trap. Whatever, I'll see soon enough. I walk into the building called school.  I usually call it hell; along with the majority of the people here. I push through the crowd of imbeciles and hit a couple of lockers. I see Pete and Eliza not too far from where I am. I duck into a stairwell and make my way upstairs around the twins. Somehow I knew that wasn't going to work because the next thing I knew I was walking side by side with the Jensens. "What's up daddy-o?" Pete says too casually. "There's no way you're my son, Pete. I never would have let my wife name my son Pete. It's almost as stupid as Samandriel." I say Sam's name a little louder than the rest of my sentence, hoping he hears me. "Listen, Gregg, whether you like it or not, we are your children. We can prove it." My curiosity has peaked. "I'm listening. I need some sort of proof from you two." They look at each other as if they were surprised. Again. I feel that they rehearse these conversations with worst case scenario endings. "After school. We'll come over to your house." Eliza starts, "This time through the front door." Pete finishes. I sigh. I hate that the girl of my dreams is about to prove that she's my daughter.

The bell rings and I dash to first period. I get there and my teacher has my name written on the board. "And there you have it class. I told you one student would be late. Who did I say it would be?" He points to the board. "Gregory!" The class shouts. He spelled my name wrong. Again. He forgot a "g" again. "Mr. Hale, I've said this once before and I shall say it again. My name contains three "g"s. Not two, not one, three. Thank you." The class laughs and I take my seat. Mr. Hale smiles and shakes his head at my imitation of him. Class begins and history begins. Blah blah blah, something about guns, blah blah blah, video game reference that I understand, blah blah blah.

The bell rings to indicate that class is over and I'm already out the door. I rush my way to English ii honors class and sit in my seat. I'm never late to this class; I can't be late to this class. The bell rings as the teacher enters the room. "Hello students, I hate you all just a little more today. Get your workbook out and turn to page sixty-four. Work through the bell and I'll grade what you get done. One page is ten points. Good luck." He sits behind his desk and puts his headphones on. The class begins talking about answers but I just keep my head low and do my work. I help no one and talk to no one. I don't look up until I hear a knock at the door. I'm up and at the door before anyone cares to turn their head toward the door. A girl about my age is at the door. I've never seen her around here before. She smiles at me and I let her into the classroom. "I wouldn't really bother with the teacher if I were you." I say to the new girl. "Haha, I think I'll be okay." She walks up to Mr. Angelico and kicks his chair. Oh gosh this may not end well. "Hey sleez bag! Why don't you get up and teach the class for once!" The tall, stocky teacher stands up. He looks embarrassed and amused at the same time. He scratches his dark, thick beard and laughs. I've never heard him laugh before. He has a deep laugh. Soon enough the young teacher and younger students are all laughing. "Enough!" His mean booming voice silences the room in an instant. "Hey Charlie. Nice to see you again." Wait, he knows her? "Hey Uncle Martin. Been awhile hasn't it?" Uncle? They're related? Wow. Didn't see that coming at all. "Angelico! Since when do you have family?" Some kid yells from the back of the class. I'm gonna say this one more time, I'm surrounded by imbeciles. "Shut up and work Marcus. We all know you're gonna fail without talking. Don't make it worse." Dang. My teacher really hates us. Probably why I love this class so much.

Charlie takes a seat next to me and works in her new workbook. The class remains silent until right before the bell rings when Angelico adds "Turn in what you have and pray you finished enough." I ask Charlie what her schedule is and it turns out that we have all but one class together. I walk her to our next class where she sits next to me again. "So what brings you to Brunsworth so late in the year?" I ask the brunette. She looks at me with her brown eyes and ponders her answer and explanations. She looks as if she is trying to come up with an answer. "I don't know. I just kinda ended up here." She spoke softly as if she would break if she spoke any louder.

She has a small stature, unlike her large uncle. She stands at about 5'5" which is not too much smaller than me. She's wearing a shirt with rainbow colors and black skinny jeans. That's pretty typical for a high school junior but her spotted furry cat ear beanie makes her stand out. I like it; I'm surprised a teacher hasn't told her to take it off. Her hair barely shows under her beanie, it's so short. I realize that I'm staring at her, lost in thought. I know she knows that I'm staring at her because she's staring right back at me. I blush profusely and I don't know why. I'm not attracted to her, am I? I mean, who knows, she could be my daughter too! I hate this situation. There's no way Eliza and Pete are my children from the future, who have come back to kill me. "Sorry." I say and turn away. "That's okay. I like it when people look at me. It means they're thinking about so deeply that they forget they're looking at me. Or I'm just in the space in which they're looking as they think or don't think about something. Does that make sense or am I babbling again? I do that a lot. I'm kind of an extrovert and I talk a lot. I have a lot to say. But usually I don't know how to say it. I'm blabbering. I'm sorry." She didn't stop smiling as she stumbled on her words.

Maybe I am attracted to her. She's cute and I like how bubbly she is. Her happiness never stops. "Don't worry. I like to listen instead of talk. I was actually wondering if you'd like to come over after school to study for Hale's class. I noticed you have him too and he'd be impressed if you knew some of the content before your first day in there." I smile warmly as if I'd scare her away if I didn't. "Sure. I'd love to. What class is that again?" She tilts her head like a confused cat. That's adorable. "Haha, it's world history. It's an easy class. You won't be too confused, especially if we study some of the previous lessons as well." Class begins as I finish my sentence, Charlie gets up to introduce herself to the teacher.