A cLiChÈ lOvE sToRy

7 - KeEpInG tHe UnInTeNdEd CoNsEqUeNcEs To ThE mInImUm

The room was silent. Mr. Spring stared at all of us one by one and we looked back at him, except for Oscar and I, who stared out of the window. I could feel the beads of sweat at the back of my neck course down it like a rollercoaster going down a steep track.

Soon, the janitor walked in with the papers in his hands. He handed them to Mr. Spring and they whispered to each other.

"Did you find them in my locker Mr. Spring?" Oscar piped up from the back of the class, his voice booming through the room.

"Do you think you're smart Mr Bdight?" Mr. Spring fumed, his nose hairs flaming. "Just because the papers weren't found in your locker doesn't mean you didn't take them."

"It means just that now doesn't it?" he really was playing this well. "So whose locker did you find it in? Be a sport, tell us."

"Chris, would you mind telling me how I found these papers in your locker?" Mr. Spring turned to Chris Omaha, the most depressing human to ever walk on the face of this earth, ever.

Chris looked up at him, clearly confused.

"Chris?" Mr. Spring reached towards him.

"I don't know!" Chris started yelling. "I never didn't want  to do the literature test but I didn't want to either. I might have taken the papers , but I don't ever remember going to your table! I don't know! I don't remember!" He started repeatedly hitting his head against the table.

"Stop!" Mr. Spring pushed him back and held him up. "Marcus! Get him to the nurse."

The janitor pulled him up and took him out of the room, leaving it quiet.

The bell rang.

"Get out!All of you!"

Students picked up their stuff and headed towards the door. Once I got outside, still fazed at what had just happened, Oscar walked up to me .

"Shit roadkill what you did back there was sick!" he smiled at me.

"Lower your voice if you don't want us to get caught." I avoided meeting his eye.

"Sorry. But seriously - hiding the papers then blaming it on the special kid - you're almost as evil as Flaca. You're a monster. Keep up the good work, Deen." he clicked his fingers at me and then went to meet his friends.

"It's Aber. Or Aberdeen." I yelled pointlessly after him.

As I walked to my next class I thought to myself. The old me would never have been able to do something like this. The old me would never taint my reputation by being with Oscar Bdight. But now, its more than my reputation on the line, my father could get his job back if I play this perfectly. Was I a monster? I made a boy bang his head on the table repeatedly - that was a bully's job - taking advantage of the helpless but I wasn't a bully. I promised myself then that I would do my best to help Oscar, but with keeping the unintended consequences to the minimum. I couldn't become like Flaca Dains.

As I walked into the Biology lab, I recoiled form the smell of dead frogs. I cringed as I walked into the lab which had dead frogs on every table. I walked to the middle of the room and sat next to Amanda.

"Hey, how are you?" she smiled at me.

"Feeling monstrous, you?" I sighed.

"What happened?"

"Haven't you heard by now? About what happened to the literature test papers?"

"Yeah, they found it in that freak Chris Omaha's locker. I've got to say, I never thought he had it in him."

"He doesn't."

"What are you saying?" She leaned forward.

"I put the papers in his locker." I whispered.

"Woah. I mean. I knew you didn't like literature but.. whoa."

"It's not my fault - I didn't know the locker was his and Oscar was about to get caught-"

"Wait a minute, you helped Oscar Bdight?" she stared at me with a look of disbelief.

"Yes, I did, okay? I have my reasons - don't look at me like that."

"Okay no judgement here. Anyways me and the girls are having a sleepover soon and I want you to be there, can you make it?"

"If I didn't come, would I be your best friend?" I placed my hand under my chin.

"That's true I guess. Be there - I'll text you the date when the girls fix it." she turned away and looked towards the teacher.

A day out with the girls would lift my spirits a little bit and make me forget about Oscar and the monster he was turning me into. Apart from Amanda, there was Crystal Kodux, the goth geek who helped me with my chemistry test once ; Bella Caputo, the girl who had had braces since first grade; and Brie Lannisteria, the girl who had been in love with Oscar Bdight since the first day she had seen him. I was in for a girls night to remember.

"Today, we are going to be having a practical lesson. We will be dissecting an amphibian and then taking down the appearance of its internal organs graphically." Mrs. Rainwater (that's really her name I'm serious) chirped happily.

"So we are going to cut a frog open and draw its insides?" Roy Franco, a member of Oscar's crew yelled from behind, provoking a dull laughter from the classroom.

"Well, you can put it that way." she smiled. Mrs Rainwater was always chirpy and happily, filling the room with positivity even during a terrorist attack. "Okay now kids, pick up your knives and cut open those frogs!"

Gruesome, I tell ya.

~*~

I walked out of the gates.

I smiled at the cool wind brushed against my face and ran into my hair. The weather was perfect, chilly but still able to warm your heart.

Then the horn sounded.

It was so close to me I jumped up and then turned to the red Ferrari next to me just to find Oscar Bdight with his passenger window down.

"Need a ride?" he practically yelled over the loud music booming from his car.

I ignored him and began to walk. He turned off the radio and moved slowly next to me.

"Do you need a ride?" his voice was mere audible now, and he wasn't shouting.

"No, I'm fine." I kept on walking but he didn't speed up.

The breeze got cooler and I began to shiver.

"It's going to rain soon - and you're obviously cold." he said, sighing.

"Don't worry, I'll be at home by the time the rain gets heavy." I chirped.

As if to contradict my theory, the heavens opened and it began to rain. Heavily. The water poured down and within seconds, the once dry sidewalk had deep puddles in it.

"Are you sure you wanna pass up on this offer, road kill?" Oscar smirked.

"Fine, I'll get in the stupid car." I sighed, defeated.

I opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat. Oscar rolled up my window and turned on the radio. I sighed inwardly. 

Why, oh why?