"SAM WALTERS," CALLED MY FIRST- period American History teacher, Mrs. Williams, startling me from the light doze into which I'd drifted.
Well, whatever. Do they really expect us to be alert at eight-fifteen in the morning? Come on.
"Here," I called, jerking my head from the top of my desk and surreptitiously feeling the side of my mouth, just in case I'd been drooling.
But I guess I didn't do it surreptitiously enough, since Serena Robertson, seated with her long, tanned legs crossed beneath a desk a few feet away from mine, snickered and hissed, "Loser."
I threw her a dirty look and mouthed, Bite me.
To which she responded by narrowing her heavily made-up baby blue eyes at me and mouthing back smugly, You wish.
"Sam," Mrs. Williams said, with a yawn. I guess she was up pretty late last night, too. Only I'm guessing it wasn't because she'd been frantically finishing his homework for this class, like I had. "I wasn't calling roll. It's time for you to give the class your two-minute report. We're going in reverse alphabetical order, remember?"
Great. Just great.
I slid out from behind my desk and made my way to the front of the room, while the rest of the class tittered. All except Serena, I saw. That's because she had dug her compact mirror out of her bad and was gazing at her own reflection. Nicole Jacobs, seated in the row beside hers, stared at Serena admiringly and whispered, "That shade of gloss is so you."
"I know," Whitney murmured to her reflection.
I fought off a reflexive urge to gag - (because I was about to speak in public, not because of their exchange... although I guess that could have had something to do with it) and turned around to face the room. Twenty-four sleepy faces blinked back at me.
And I realized I had completely forgotten the speech I'd been up half the night writing.
"All right, Sam," Mrs. Williams said. "You've got two minutes." She looked down at her stop watch. "And..." Amazing. The second she said that, my mind went even more blank. All I could think was... how did she know? Nicole, I mean. That that shade of lip gloss was so right on Serena? I have been alive nearly seventeen years, and I still have no idea what shade of lip gloss looks good on me... or anybody else, for that matter.
I blame my dad. He's the one who gave me a boy's name to begin with, since he'd been so sure I was going to be one -- despite what the ultrasound had shown -- because I kicked my mom so much while I was in the womb. Dad insisted on naming me after his favorite poet, which is what you get when your father teaches university-level English literature. I guess my mom was still high off her epidural or something, because she totally let him, even after the ultrasound turned out to be right. So SAM ELIZABETH WALTERS is what it says on my birth certificate. Oh wait now you might be thinking - Elizabeth is a girls name. But everyone knows me as Sam now, so theirs nothing I can do about it.
"...go," Mrs. Williams said, pressing the Go button on her stopwatch.
And just like that, all the research I'd done on my assigned topic the night before came flooding back.
Phew.
As I say my report, I could see almost everyone falling asleep. I guess I couldn't really blame them. It was so early in the morning, after all.
Even Christopher, who lives in my building and is supposedly my best friend, wasn't paying attention. He was in his normal seat in the back row, and he was upright.
But his eyes were closed.
I proceed with my report and I could feel myself passing out for a second there. Oh, God. No one in first-period American History was awake now but me. Even Mrs. Williams eyes had drifted shut.
Terrific. Way to be part of the problem, Mrs. Williams, and not the solution. But I just go on until I battled on, staring directly at Mrs. Williams. Not that she noticed. She was now gently snoring.
Great. Just great. I continue with my boring topic until the oven timer dinged.
"Thank you, Sam," Mrs. WIlliams said, yawning. "That was very persuasive. "No, Mrs.Williams," I said, with a big smile. "Thank you."
I went back to my seat as Mrs. Williams continued calling names out to present their reports. All I can think about right now is Spring Break. And how I am leaving today to probably paradise, although I have no clue where were going but I feel it's gonna be great.
-
The day finally ended and I saw Christopher waiting for me in the hall, "Sam!," he called. "Chris! Are you as excited as I am?", I grinned. "SPRING BREAK!", we both said in sync. "Yup! I'm leaving today and it's gonna be amazing!", I squealed, while we walked down the halls and to the exit. And while I thought about where we were going Chris elbowed me whispering, "Look over there.", pointing at Dylan. My heart started beating faster, I felt my self go weak but I fought it. "What about it?", he knew I was trying to pretend. "Come on we know you still like him.", "No I don't... he's a douche bag!", I stated, Chris rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure," I gave him a glare and just ignored it. You don't like him anymore. Stop it, Sam. It's not worth it. GIVE UP. I could feel my mind yelling but my heart saying, "Don't let it get to you."
