Into the Realm

Chapter Three: How It All Starts

Tessa was late. Of course she was. After the embarrassment of the fight with Brown and the second coffee spill of the day, she decided to camp out in the bathroom and play games on her phone until the next bell rang. She knew Mr. Lee wouldn't get her in trouble; she was his favorite student and she definitely knew how to play him to get something done in her favor. So she went to the bathroom after she was scalded with coffee (yet again) and tried to clean the stain out of her other jacket. Just like her mother's sweater, the jacket was ruined and there was no way she could wear it.

Robin. Robin was bound to have something she could wear. With this thought in mind, Tessa ran out of the bathroom and to the west wing of the school. Tessa knew Robin's combination and was sure that she wouldn't mind if Tessa stole a cardigan to wear. It was bound to be wrinkled and smell like Robin's strong vanilla perfume, but it was better than nothing. Tessa rounded the corner and found Robin's locker, 178, and spun the dial. She found the white cardigan under two textbooks and shrugged it on. It was wrinkled as hell and definitely smelled like Robin poured an entire bottle of vanilla extract on it. Typical.

The bell rang. Tessa's next class was on the very opposite side of the school and there was no way she would get there on time. Of course. She took off and tried her best to not get trampled by the crowd. There was no way she would make it on time! Absolutely no way. So why even try? Tessa slowed down and took a leisurely stroll on her way to English. Her day was already questionable, so why not enjoy the last few seconds before the--

The bell rang right when Tessa made it to class and she watched from the end of the hall as the door closed. Late. Not that she cared, which was so unlike her. She supposed that getting coffee dumped on her twice in one day had something to do with it. Tessa knocked on the door to be let in. A young woman opened the door with a frown.

"Tessa Matthews, care to explain why you're late?" the woman said. She was the youngest and the prettiest of the teachers; thin, with bright orange hair and soft green eyes. Rumor has it that she just completed her student teaching last spring.

Tessa shrugged. She really had no reason as to why she was late. She didn't have the energy to explain  exactly what happened to her that made her so uncharacteristically lax about her attitude. Miss Keene was the type of teacher who didn't really care why a student wasn't in class, just as long as they made up the work.

"Sorry, Miss Keene," she ended up saying lamely. The woman arched an eyebrow and Tessa continued, "I had a headache."

Tessa glanced at the rest of the class, all twenty-two of them, who all stared at her as though she had murdered someone, as how everyone did when one walked into class late. Everyone, that is, except for Brown, who sat at his desk hunched over a piece of paper. He paused in his scribbling and glanced up at her and she felt her face grow hot from his stare. She narrowed her eyes dangerously and he pushed his glasses farther up his nose before he turned his head away to continue whatever he was working on. Tessa sighed and rolled her eyes.

Miss Keene nodded her head like she understood and gestured to a seat in the front of the room. "Just get to your seat. I was about going to announce something to the class. And next time, lay off the perfume. You smell like a vanilla bean threw up on you."

Tessa flushed pink, cursing Robin under her breath. She obliged and suddenly noticed that the entire room had been rearranged into little groups: four desks in a group with six desk clusters total. She sat down in the front and waited for Miss Keene to speak.

Miss Keene stood in front of the room and clapped her hands excitedly. "Alright, class, I'm pretty sure you all have noticed the change in scenery. The reason why I moved the desks around is because we're going to do a project!"