"Love is a rather wonderful and usually confusing thing."
Unedited
Lauren
I groan as a packet of paper is dropped on my desk by the teacher. I knew it was too good to be true. The teacher, Mr.Martin told the class that we would be getting a review sheet for homework, but I didn't expect to get a whole packet. Nowhere in his two-hour lecture did he mention a packet of homework. I slide the packet closer to myself and lazily flip through the pages. My eyes land upon the countless short answer questions and in that moment I find that I'll be doing this work for hours.
"This is the packet due next week right?" I call out with a hopeful look on my face. The teacher gives me an unimpressed look and I shrink lower in my seat dreading the fact that I asked in the first place.
"Raise your hand Ms.Jauregui, next time it will be a detention." He scolds me , "And no, this packet is due Wednesday."
"What?" I flip through the pages bewildered. "This has like twenty pages!"
"Lower your voice this instant!" He yells at me.
"If you want me to lower mine why are you raising yours?"
"Lauren." The teacher warns and I roll my eyes.
"I fucking hate this class."
Mr. Martin motions with his finger for me to follow him as he begins to walk towards the door. I let out a groan and snatched my bag off the ground and walked out with the feeling of eyes on my back. I stood against the wall and the hallway was silent. Mr. Martin waited until the class door shut before looking me dead in the eye. He gave me a look of disapproval and pursed his lips and didn't say anything for a while.
"Ok. What's gotten into you lately?" He looked concerned and I was confused as to why he even cared. Teachers weren't supposed to care about their students personal lives, the only thing they were good at was ruining them.
"Why do you care?" I ask playing with my fingers.
"Lauren I know you're a good kid, and you've never acted like this before. Is there something going on at home?"
"Don't you have a class to teach?" I dodge the question and he gives me a knowing look.
"Lau-"
"I'm just tired." I lie through my teeth and he stares at me for what seems like hours before nodding slowly. He pulls out a pass from his pocket and a pen. He scribbles something on the pad and hands it to me. I look up from the book and raise my eyebrow.
"Consider this a get out of class for the day card," he smiles "just know that I realize you're lying to me. Lauren I won't force you to tell me anything, but sometimes it helps to get it out of your system. You end up feeling way better at the end of the day. Go take a walk."
I nod curtly before taking the pass from his hands, "Thanks."
I readjust the backpack strap on my shoulder before giving a small wave to my English teacher and advancing down the hallway. I can't believe what just happened, my teacher literally just gave me a hallway pass for the whole day. It finally sinks in that I can technically skip the rest of my classes and roam the halls for the remainder of the day. But what would I do in an empty school hallway. I bring my hand to my chin as I try to think of ways to effectively use this hallway pass. I could roam the halls, take a nap in the nurse's office, or I could use this pass to get out of class when I wanted. I look over the small slip of paper in my hands before deciding that I'd just use the pass to get out of class. I smiled to myself.
