In This Moment

Chapter 5: The Assignment

Ms. Welsh paced back and forth in front of the classroom as she thought intensely about what our next project was going to be about. I sat in the back corner of the classroom, as normal, and the people who always sat near me, sat in all the chairs Elliot tried to sit in. Neil sat to my right and Harper sat in front of me. Neil was my closest and really only friend. Harper was more of an annoying acquaintance. She could be so rude, but she was one of the brightest people I knew. Neil was also very intelligent. He could keep up any conversation if you were close to him. I remembered one time we had even discussed the differences of macaroni and cheese brands.

            I could feel Elliot staring at me from the other side of the room, and I tried my hardest to ignore the way my hair stood up on the back of my neck. Neil turned to talk to me about his last poetry assignment, and I could literally feel the way Elliot glared at him.

            “Who’s the new boy, Quinn? He seems to be awfully interested in you,” Harper said without looking up from her work. I looked over at Neil who shrugged his shoulders with wide eyes.

            He leaned over his desk to get closer to her and asked, “Harper, you haven’t looked up since the beginning of class. How do you even know Quinn has a secret admirer?”

            “I could feel him starring at her. He’s quite the charmer, Quinn, wanting to kill Neil and all,” she muttered.

            Neil’s eyes got so big I swore they almost became bigger than the shape of his square glasses. I gave him a small shrug and a smile. He brushed it off by rolling his eyes and looking back down at his work. I continued to work on my poem when I noticed Neil look up at Harper. He had this certain look on his face like he was fighting an inner battle with himself. He looked back down at his paper than to her again. He continued these small looks for a while until he noticed I was paying attention. I smiled at him as his cheeks turned bright red. He returned to looking at his assignment twiddling his pencil between his thumbs.

            “Alright class. Please turn in all assignments from the past month. That means your investigation paper, interview paper, and happiness poem,” Ms. Welsh said in her normal singsong voice. Ms. Welsh was the hippy teacher of the school. She wore floral headbands, put her hair into pigtail braids, wore colorful clothing, and no shoes. Everyone loved her, and she often made us laugh as she danced around the room.

            As people brought their assignments to the front of the class, Elliot came up behind me and slipped a small note into my hand. Our hands brushed slightly together and my gut wrenched with want for more. I didn’t say anything to him, or even ask why he came up when he didn’t have anything to turn in anyway.

            I returned back to my chair desk with the note pressed in the palm in my hand. Harper, as usual, was writing something down in her infamous notebook. Neil continued to stare at her while he twiddled his pencil in his hands.

            “What’s in your hand, Quinn?” Harper questioned.

            “You have something in your hand? Can I see it?” Neil asked like a child who was purposefully trying to annoy his mother.

            I turned my head towards Harper with question written all over my face, then back to Neil who simply shrugged his shoulders again.

            “Jesus, Harper, how do you know everything but you don’t look up at anything?” I asked slumping down into my chair.

            “Well let’s see. I saw him come real close behind you, and you let him, and Quinn,” She said as she finally made eye contact, “You never let someone get that close, not even Neil. You also walked away from the front without saying as much as a simple hello to Ms. Welsh, which you always do, and you also walked back to your seat with a spring to your step and faster than you already do. So you either have to pee really bad and the only way to stop the flow is to sit down, or you have something important to read, and the only thing important would be from your secret admirer who obviously slipped the note into your hand. Now, I’m assuming that you have something to read, but if I’m wrong- and we both no I’m never wrong- then please do your business elsewhere because I just got brand new shoes, and I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t turn them an odd yellow color.”

            I didn’t even know what to say, so I looked over at Neil who had his head on his hand in a complete daze.

            “I have to give it to you O’ Donald you’re good,” I said astonished.

            “I try,” Harper muttered, but I could hear the amusement in her voice.

            “Settle down class, settle down,” Ms. Welsh hummed as she pranced around her desk, “You’re next assignment is going to be long term, and you guys are going really have to dig deep into your souls for the project.” I swore her voice dropped two octaves when she said the word deep. “You will need to write about moments that have defined your life. You can pick more than one moment, but it must have happened within the past 8 years of your lives. This paper will be due by the end of the semester, and you will be expected to work on it in class and out of class. It can be as long as a novel, or as short as a poem, your choice. Good luck my loves. What do I always tell you?”

            “Stay positive, love from your heart, and write with passion,” the class said in unison.

The bell rang, and we all walked out of the class room pondering our next assignment, except me because all I could think about was the note that seemed to be glued to the inside of my palm, unread.

Oooo cliff hanger what does the not say? You guys will find out in a couple days! Love you guys!

Make good choices

Crissy G