What He Thinks I've Done

Chapter One

It was just another boring day in my life and I was daydreaming about a sudden zombie apocalypse during the discussion of U.S. presidents' life histories. I knew it was silly and I was lucky that no one else could read my mind.

I imagined the students playing in the field turning into monsters, staring at me. They had stopped playing football and made a business of watching our school building. My eyes were fixed at the guy who was closest to us, he had a mark on his face and he was wearing a blank expression, as if processing something on his mind. He tilted his head and suddenly began to move. He walked slowly, dragging his left foot and slumping one shoulder at the same side. His left arm just hung on it without life. The other students followed him, every single one stared blankly at us.

My eyes caught the mark at the guy's face who led the group and then I came to the realization that it was not just a simple mark.

It was reddish... like blood. Flesh was revealing underneath and I couldn't think of anything that would cause it on his pale toned face. 

He got nearer, closer to me that I'd soon gotten a view of his eyes.

He was the captain of the football team, the guy with thick dark hair and stormy eyes.

But then he wasn't.

His eyes were no longer black but grey. Green veins were peeking out through his pale face.

He was walking faster and the crowd of students at his back were also advancing their paces, imitating the captain. 

The hair on my arms stood up, chills running through my spines. 

I unconsciously began tapping my index finger on the table and my right foot did the same on the floor anxiously.

I created plans in my head, like running to the school cafeteria for food supply and then to the gymnasium which, I've decided, was the safest place to hide. It was fully covered and the doors were made out of metal. There were bats and gears stored in the-

"Johnson!" I turned my head quickly to Mr. Samuels who's already standing at my side, face flushed. Even his bald head turned red out of anger and I knew it's because of me.

"Sir?" I asked innocently, placing my hands on my lap and steadying my feet below the desk. I looked around, suddenly conscious of the stares that were spared for me. Some of my classmates grinned and others just watched boringly. I bit my lip and returned my attention to my teacher.

"I told you to stop tapping your table! You've been disturbing my class!" He shouted at my face. I noticed the bulging veins on the side of his forehead and bullish neck. They were like those at the zombies'. 

"I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again," I said, trying to show my casual expression. Even though I was already dying of embarrassment.

"Well, I wish your sorry could make you pass my pop-up quiz today because-" He was cut off by the ringing of the bell, signaling for class dismissal. My classmates quickly stood up and packed their things inside their bags. The bald man roamed his eyes around, annoyance evident on his face.

I noticed his bear-like fist clenched tighter on his sides and even the slacking of his jaws couldn't be concealed despite of the rich flesh bound to it.

He looked back at me, and I was already smiling at him naively. He furrowed his thick eyebrows and walked away like a defeated beast. 

I sighed, grateful for my luck. 

I looked at the field again but the players were no longer there. 

I stood up and began packing. I realized that I was the only one left in the classroom.

I didn't have anything to do when I returned back home and there were still a lot of students in the campus. I hated walking alone in a crowd of people so I sat back on my chair, pulled out my copy of ''Cinder" by Melissa Meyer and decided to read for thirty minutes.

After an hour and a half, I finally walked out of the room. 

The hallways were empty and filled with relaxing silence due to the absence of students. 

I thought of walking to the lockers and getting my Chemistry book for the test on the next day. I descended through the stairs, taking my time, imagining that I was the only person in the world. I looked around, pretending that it was the first day that I'd been in the school. The place was too plain, with shining white marble tiles the same color as the ceiling. The only thing that gave life to the walls were the posters with announcements from club projects and activities. "Suntime" (a band formed by the students) would hold a concert two weeks by then. I didn't like the band, not just because of the members who were obnoxious and stupid-looking, trying hard to be cool, but also the music. Believe me when I say I have a good taste in music. I appreciate classical, pop, rock etc. but theirs was something I'd never consider music.

The thing that they called music was just a loud noise banging through my ears, making me dizzy and suddenly drained out of energy. And those performers who called themselves artists were just a bunch of fools for me. It made me wonder why no one had ever told them about that.

I was approaching the lockers when I realized that I wasn't the only student left in the building. A guy, in a height of 5'8 or 5'9 with shoulder-length, wavy dark-brown hair was rummaging through his locker. He was wearing dark jeans, plain-white shirt and black converse shoes. He looked at me as I came nearer, expression changing from (I'm not sure) irritated or bothered -confused to an innocent/ vulnerable one. He was wearing a thin-rimmed eyeglasses and a little bit good-looking, I could say attractive but I was only favouring my own taste of guys who were more of a cute nerd than hot.

I haven't seen him before. Is he a transferee?

I went to my own locker and got my Chemistry book, putting it inside my bag pack . 

"Excuse me, may I ask where the boy's comfort room is?" he asked as I locked my locker. I looked at him, taking in his dark eyes. I pointed at the end of the opposite hallway.

"There, just walk 'till the end of this hallway." I said in a normal tone.

"Thank you." He muttered. He passed at my back and I got to smell his cologne though I wasn't sure if it was really cologne or just his soap. He smelled like vanilla. Plain fresh and mild unlike the other guys from school who seemed to pour the whole bottled-cologne to themselves every time.

I walked to the opposite direction and made my way to the first floor and the parking lot where my bike was already waiting for me, alone in the bicycle rack. My schoolmates had cars while I pedaled my way to the school. We didn't have enough money to buy another one but also I preferred a bike because it was nice to ride one. I wanted to stay active from time to time and another thing was that, the distance from the house to the school was not even that far.

I removed the chain from the rack and pedaled my way home.