Flower

Chapter 8: Raven

Mr. Lee was blind as a bat, which was funny because he was a bat.  He was a plump man with thinning, gray hair and a small nose.  He wore a pair of nice kakis with a black, bulging belt that was nearly undone.  As for his shirt, he wore a plaid button down that was loosely tucked in and hanging out in the back.  A pink tie hung around his fat neck.  A white cane lay next to my teacher as he sat in his desk, staring at his computer screen blankly.  His intern must be missing.

            I took my seat and dug out my notebook. 'Another day of this crap, and I might explode' I seethed inside.  It was true; I was a brainiac as well as a badass.  I wasn't too sure where I had gotten the gene, but in every class, it felt really easy and that's a reason I escaped so much. 

            After I had rummaged through my backpack looking for a pencil, Derek sauntered into the room.  He looked spiffy in his pressed uniform, courtesy of dad I figured. He sat down a few desks away and glanced at me. I flicked my eyes away, too embarrassed to admit I was drooling over the most popular guy in the school.  A few airhead girls giggled into the classroom, some texting while walking and the others gossiping about my return and then two jocks hustled into the classroom right before Mr. Lee slammed the door loudly. They took their seats and I snickered at them.

            "Good Morning class!" Mr. Lee yelled. He acted like he was deaf as well, so he had to scream his lectures at the top of his lungs.  "I hope you all-" Someone tapped on the door. I stifled a snicker as Mr. Lee waddled over to the door, felt blindly for the knob and turned it angrily.

            "Sorry Mr. Lee," his intern hustled in, breathing heavily.  Mr. Lee's intern was different from last time.  It was a young guy, probably a graduate with square glasses and a shock of red hair.  He was tall as he wore wrinkled dress slacks that were too short for him and a shirt that was a tad too long for him.  He carried a briefcase with papers peeking out.  He clutched the bag as if his life depended on it. "I was grading papers last night and I fell asleep and I just woke up 15 minutes ago and I had to get here on time and-"

            "This is unacceptable Mr. Bradley!" Mr. Lee yelled. "You have to show up on time, every day! No Exceptions!” Mr. Lee swallowed and took a deep breath. “Did you finish grading the essays?"

            "Y-Yes sir!" Mr. Bradley exclaimed. He began passing them out as Mr. Lee waddled back to the front of the classroom, his cane clicking as he moved.

            Mr. Lee cleared his throat and picked up from where he left off, "I hope you all finished reading the section on high flying and attacking demons in the sky…" I slowly began to tune the blind teacher out. Of course I didn't read the section because I already knew how to attack a demon in the sky and I had missed an entire week of classes. I sighed as I began to doodle in my notebook.  The intern named Mr. Bradley finished passing papers out, but gave nothing to me. He walked up to my desk and bent down.

            "I believe we haven't met," He extended his hand. "I'm Mr. Bradley, your student teacher." His breath smelled like a tic-tac and faint bourbon. I smirked deeply inside.  Someone was sipping from the bottle last night. No wonder he was late. He probably had a hangover and his brain was probably screaming with pain after Mr. Lee’s scolding.

            "Raven," I hissed, not taking my eyes off my drawing on the cover of my notebook. I did not take the student teacher's hand either.

            "It's very nice to meet you Raven. What animal do you change into?"         

            "Think about it," I said flatly.