SHIFTED.✔

22

We were studying the First World War. Mr. Hayman said we'd be going on an excursion to the War Museum outside Mareeba in a couple of weeks. He'd written some notes on the board. We had to copy them down. I wasn't particularly interested in war but Mr. Hayman made it sound interesting. We had to do some research to find out if any of our relations had fought in it. If so, that would lead us into doing some genealogy, a subject I was keen to learn about.

As I glanced up at the board to read the next line Keean Crone caught my attention. He was staring straight at me. When I stared back at him his eyes seemed to change to a shade darker. He scowled as he looked away. I felt my heart in my throat. What had I done to deserve a look like that? It hammered at me for the rest of the lesson and by the time the bell rang I felt depressed.

At lunch Katie noticed I was quieter than usual, "What's up, Chuck?" She asked trying to cheer me up.

I shrugged and tried to sound natural, "Not much just got a bit of a headache." I didn't want to tell her that in less than twenty-four hours I had fallen in love with the new guy.

The new guy she was determined to do.

She was good at reading me so she let it drop. That was another great thing about Katie.

The bell rang. I was relieved to see I had Biology and Chemistry. Katie didn't do either subject. I figured if she did, she'd be well and truly pissed off with me because of my mood by the end of the two lessons. I didn't want to fight with her. My mind shifted to Chemistry. Shit. I'd have to sit next to him. The elation I had felt that morning knowing I had Chemistry. Knowing I would sit next to him was now replaced by dread. As I dragged myself to Biology I thought of Katie and how she would deal with it. This thought made me smile a little. She'd say 'fuck him'. I could hear her voice.

'Fuck him, Charlie, just fuck him. You were in Chemistry first. It was your desk first so just tell him to fuck off.' I was still smiling at the thought when I entered the Biology classroom.

Mr. McDonald jumped on my case, "I'm glad you think it's funny, Charlotte Johnson."

My smile disappeared. I frowned instead. Mr. McDonald was the only person who ever used my real name.

"I've just finished marking the roll and signed you as absent. Where have you been? Your five minutes late."

I felt my face go red. I wasn't used to being bawled at like this in front of the class. "Sorry, Sir, I wasn't taking any notice of the time."

He scowled at me, "Buy yourself a watch girl. Go on. Sit down."

As if that wasn't bad enough when I turned around there was Keean Crone looking at me again with an amused look on his face. Katie's voice popped into my head. 'Fuck him, Charlie, fuck him.' So I glared at him. The amused look changed. His head jolted back as if I'd slapped him on the face. How I wished I could have. I hated him. He was making my life a misery.

I got to Chemistry as quickly as I could. I wanted to be there before him. When he approached the bench I pretended to be searching in my bag for something. To my relief Victoria Carter stopped him before he sat down.

"Hi, Keean."

"Hi." I heard him reply.

I looked up to see what was going on. He had his back to me and was facing her. Her hand was touching his upper arm. Jealousy surged through me.

"I've got a vacant seat beside me today if you'd like to change places."

My teeth clenched together. Katie's words were in my head again. 'Fuck you. Fuck you Keean Crone and fuck you Victoria Carter. Go and sit together. Go fuck yourselves'. The instant the words appeared I knew they weren't Katie's.

I knew they were mine.

I heard him titter, "Thanks but I'll stay where I am. Mr. Davis assured me she doesn't bite," he paused, cocked his head in my direction then added. "But you might."

I could tell he was smiling at her, flirting, because she giggled like a little girl.

"Okay," she said in her sweetest voice. "You might be right there. Wouldn't want to mark that lovely skin of yours now would I."

She stroked his arm then turned and swaggered back to her desk. He saw me roll my eyes as I thought, 'Oh please'. Why didn't she just rip his clothes off right there and then? I looked away in disgust. Keean slid onto his seat, placed the books he needed on the desk and leaned casually forward. I felt anxiety, cliff edge anxiety smother me. I was never going to pass Chemistry if I felt like this every lesson. If I didn't pass Chemistry I wouldn't get a good OP.

My life would be ruined thanks to Keean Crone.

We continued to work on the Atoms from yesterday's lesson. Mr. Davis asked for someone to explain an Atom to the class. No one put their hand up. Mr. Davis looked around the classroom disappointed.

"What? Not one of you knows the answer. This is basic stuff. You would have covered this in primary school though I want a more mature answer," he said as he surveyed the class again.

I knew the answer but didn't want to draw attention to myself.

"Surely one of you has an idea?" he sighed.

I decided to put up my hand. As I lifted it I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked sideways. Keean Crone had his hand held casually up. A surge of anger rushed through me.

Had he done that on purpose?

Had he seen the movement of my arm and thought he'd beat me to it just to piss me off.

I looked back at Mr. Davis. He was beaming, "There you go. I knew at least one person would know the answer. Two is even better," he paused and held his hand towards Keean. "Okay, Mr. Crone let's see what you've got. Thanks Charlie you can put your hand down."

Keean not only explained that an Atom was a basic unit of matter, which consisted of a central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. He went on to explain electrons and what the atomic nucleus contained and how a group of atoms could remain bound to form a molecule. When he was finished it looked like Mr. Davis was about to wet his pants. He clapped his hands together a couple of times and grinned so hard I thought his face might explode.

"So the rumours are true, Mr. Crone. You have exceeded my expectations. Well done!"

I looked in Keean's direction. He had leaned forward on his stool and was resting his forearms on the desk, his hands clasped together with his head hung. He wasn't looking at Mr. Davis. I felt he was embarrassed by all the 'who ha' Mr. Davis was making. Not to mention the fact everyone in the class had twisted in their seats and was looking at him wide mouthed.

Mr. Davis continued to talk, "Now I don't expect you all to be as knowledgeable as Mr. Crone but it would help your progress if you at least knew the elements of an Atom." Everyone else had turned back to look at Mr. Davis. I continued to stare at Keean. He twisted his head towards me and looked at me through the hair which hung in his eyes.

"What?" he hissed.

I bit my lip and immediately turned away.

Copyright © 2017 by Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.

I'm not sure how this story is going. It's an old one that I thought I'd put up so others would read it.  If you see mistakes please let me know. Ta xoxo