The One Who Ran Away

Chapter Three

Frankie and Jo walked into six period Calculus side by side. Mr. Robark had not yet entered the room but was instead speaking to a portly man with bright, white hair and rosy cheeks. The men didn't bother acknowledging the girls as they passed.

Frankie snatched Jo's arm and led her down an aisle to the back of the room. Frankie plopped down in the desk next to the back right corner and motioned for Jo to sit beside to her. Frankie tried to catch Tina's  eye from across the room, but she was busy switching her glare from her text book to Claire, who was also in the class.

When the girls were comfortable and had placed the books they needed under their chairs, Frankie spoke up. "My name is Francine Zupther. Can you imagine a worse name?" Frankie rolled her eyes. "Anyways, the point is, I'm last for anything alphabetical at this school. The "z-u" ensures that. The chair you're so graciously occupying is the only one empty. Mr. Robark will sit you there whether I put you there or not."

Jo nodded and grinned at her new friend's choice of words. "I'm glad it's next to you and not Claire over there." She pointed towards the front of the room where Claire sat chatting loudly with two other girls.

"Yeah, that's the posse she struts around with. Claire Summers, Samantha Mercedes, and Willa Hathaway. No relation to Anne Hathaway, fortunately. It's already bad enough listening to her brag twenty four seven. The one with the brunette bob is Samantha. 'Not Sammie, not Sam, Samantha!'" Frankie raised her voice an octave to what Jo assumed was mimicking Samantha. Jo laughed while Frankie giggled.

"The girl with the obvious dye job is Willa. Such a beautiful name wasted on such little personality. Willa is about as interesting is a stick," Frankie explained. "When she speaks, I can feel my brain cells killing themselves. Her hair is a different color a lot. She changes her mind about it frequently. Last week it was cherry red. The platinum blonde is recent."

"She's pretty though," Jo observed. "They all are. Not like, drop dead gorgeous, but very pretty."

"Unfortunately," Frankie muttered as Mr. Robark entered. Jo looked up to find the clock. Class should have started ten minutes ago.

"Ms. Josephine Hall? Where is she?" Mr. Robark called in a nasally voice. He was a thin man with thick rimmed glasses. They made his eyes look twice the size they should be. Jo raised her hand.

"Oh good, that's where I placed you. After much deliberation, I decided being next to Francine would benefit you greatly." Jo widened her eyes as she looked around the room. There were no other open seats, just like Frankie had said. Mr. Robark wasn't joking, but was completely serious. Jo felt like banging her head against the desk.

"He's brilliant at Calculus, but he's a real idiot in the common sense department," Frankie whispered to Jo as the instructor began his lesson.

"No kidding," Jo whisper giggled back. As class droned on for the next forty minutes, Mr. Robark's monotone voice lulling Jo's eyes closed.

***

"Ms. Hall?" The frail woman at the front of the room addressed Jo as she walked into the classroom. Jo offered her a small smile. "Yes, ma'am?"

The petite woman smiled back. She pushed her spectacles up her nose. She reminded Jo of a librarian. Her greying, black hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her neck and she wore a plain, floral dress that looked as though it belonged to the early 1800s.

"Please take the seat next to Mr. Michaels. He's in the second row, towards the left." Mrs. Illsen pointed vaguely at a boy with a hood pulled up, covering his features. Jo smiled at the woman and departed, making her way towards the boy.