Murder

Chapter 11- First Day Back

"You're going to do what? Where?" Rob looks at me like I'm crazy. I woke up at 6 a.m. and got ready to walk out of the door for school, I had finally decided to go, since it's been about a week since I got shot. I think I'm ready. "I'm going to school. Normal people go to school, I want to go to school." I said. He sighed. "Listen, school is going to be a little bit complicated with your memory loss. And you're gonna have a lot of makeup work to do and-" I decide to cut him off. "And if I don't go now I'll have even more makeup work. And if I don't go now people will start to think I'm the one that got murdered. And I need to do this! I need to feel somewhat normal! You have too trust me when I say I'm ready to do this! I want to go to school!" I'm nearly screaming. I've never wanted to actually go to school. He should be happy I'm finally showing an interest in something other than finding a freaking killer. "Fine. You want to go? Fine. I'll be in school too, but I don't want to be because I always am. I hope you enjoy it. Call me with any problems." he pointed towards the door. "The bus should be at your stop soon. I'd go now so you don't miss it." "Thanks." I walk out of the door and towards my bus stop.

I pull up to school and get off of the bus. It's Friday, I guess I picked a good day to go back because if I change my mind I can always have the weekend to think it over. All of the students are dressed in either blue or gray, because every Friday is Spirit Day. Girls are in the hallways chanting "Go Greyhounds!" They must be cheerleaders. I get a lot of funny looks as I walk through the hallway, I try to ignore it and keep my head down as I head towards homeroom. I'm met with a lot of whispers. "I thought she died." "No that was her brother." "I heard she went crazy." "I heard she got shot." "I heard she ran over Oprah" That's a reference from a TV show, probably one of my friends probably said that, making fun of all those stupid rumors. "I heard she killed her brother." Okay, that crossed the line. So many whispers. "Who said that?" I say, trying to keep calm. "Who said I killed my brother? I want names. Now." I said. The class got quiet. "I. Said. Now. I'm not going to repeat myself again." I walk towards the direction of whoever said that, I don't know his name. "Uh, I'm not sure exactly. It's just been floating around." he's nervous. Good, he should be. "I want to know who you heard it from and where." I glare at him. "In the hallway. Some girl was talking to her friend about it." he looked scared. I look him in the eye. "You hear it again, you tell me. You tell me when, where and by who. Understand?" "Yes!" I walk back to my chair. I'm next to my friends, so that's nice. The teacher walks in right as we start talking, just like she always does. She looks at me. "You're finally back. How was your time off?" she asked. Hell on Earth thank you for asking. Maybe that wouldn't be the smartest thing to say. "Coulda been better." I mumble and look down at my notes. I'm so far behind. This is nothing but a jumble of numbers and letters what is this supposed to be? I turn to Bella, my friend, she sits next to me. "Do you understand any of this?" I whisper. "Yeah. Subtract x from z and divide by y. Distribute the exponents and if it's got negative exponents move it to the denominator. She doesn't like negative exponents." Wait what? Is that english? "Uh... one more time?" I'm really clueless. She shows me on the paper. "See? It doesn't make sense to me either but I'm getting the answers right so there's that." she looked at me. "Thanks." "Can I have your attention?" Mrs. Knook asked. "Sorry, she was explaining what we're doing since I've been out for so long." I explained. "Why were you out for so long?" she asked. Crap. Think. What's a good excuse? "I uh... died." perfect excuse. The class erupted in laughter. "If you don't want to tell me, fine. But don't make jokes to disrupt the class." she went back to teaching. That wasn't supposed to be a joke, I panicked. That's always what I say when I panic. I look down at my desk and continue to do my work.

The rest of the day isn't much better. After theater arts with Becca, Gym with Becca and Nate, LA with AJ, lunch with Ciara, and Spanish with Nate, I'm ready to go home. There's still three periods left in the day. I still have science with Becca, ROGATE with Becca and American history with Taylor. don't want to go. I want to go home and sleep. Sleep isn't my best option right now though. Ever since I've gotten shot, my dreams don't help me figure out who killed my brother, they just give me nightmares. I've been spending my night's at Rob's house and he's been considering getting me a therapist for my nightmares. I wonder if I can just leave. Just walk out the front door and walk back to Florence. Is that an option? I don't think it is.

I walk to science with Becca. "Okay so we're doing a whole new unit. You don't need to know anything you knew before." she's explaining the science. "Oh good so it's something I won't be completely lost in." we walk into the classroom. "Hey you're back!! I thought you got hit by a truck" Mr. Young said. "Oh gee thanks." I walk to my seat. "So where were you?" "Why were you gone for so long?" "Did somebody die?" "I heard there were cops at your house what happened?" Surrounded by people. People with questions. People with questions I can't answer, I don't want to answer. If I answer, if I say it. Everyone will know. They can't know. I get up and walk out of the classroom. I'm not dealing with that. Mr. Young steps into the hallway. "Where do you think you're going Ms. Kenny?" he asks. "Out. Bye." I hate when people call me Ms. Kenny. I don't like my last name. I only liked it because it's Russ' last name, but it doesn't matter anymore. Now I hate it all over again. I keep walking. "If you don't get back to class right now you have detention!" "I don't care." I walk out of the school and down the street. I don't care anymore. I'm not going back there. No way.

After about an hour of walking, I'm finally home. That's the downside of going to Northern instead of Florence. Northern is about a half hour away by car. So it's about an hour walk. Florence is three blocks down the street from my house. Well, the middle school that I go to is. The high school is across the highway. I can't go inside though. I don't want to get shot again. I'll just walk to the park. I'd call this a pretty... alright first day back. I would've never had the guts to walk out of school like that before. Something's definitely changed me, I can't believe it took me until the first day back at school to realize that. I can't figure out what it is yet though. Maybe I've just stopped caring, I'm not sure. But whatever it is, it showed itself today.