Flash Of Life

Ms. Osgood Part 1

My morning started just like any other morning. I lay in my bed staring at the cracked ceiling above me. I put the crack there by throwing a softball to hard while laying in bed. It was, yet again, another sleepless night. I'm so sleep deprived it's not even funny. Of course I'm not paying attention to the time, so I end up skipping breakfast, again. No wonder I'm only 100 pounds. I skip a lot of meals to avoid my mother. In a rush, I threw on my favorite jeans and Christina's shirt she left at my house the last time she slept over. It was my favorite shirt on her. Unfortunately, it's about two sizes too big in length. Christina was five foot eight and I'm only five foot three. It fits perfect in width. We were both twigs.

After throwing on clothes, I quickly brushed my teeth, grabbed my hairbrush, and ran out the door. I got in my car, a cute, little mini-cooper and sped off to school. I got there with three minutes to spare. I quickly put my brush through my hair as I walked towards the main entrance. Kelly, a good friend of mine, was waiting for me. We talked on our way to homeroom.

"Whoa! No sleep again?" She said.

"You know me. I haven't slept since October."

"You should see a doctor about that. It's not healthy."

"I would need my mom to sign the papers and she's to busy injecting heroin into herself. You know that."

"Report her."

"And why would I do that?"

"So you can finally have some justice and can walk around without bruises all over you!"

"So they're noticeable?" I thought I said that in my head, apparently not.

"What do you think?"

Kelly's kind of a smart-ass at everything. School, street slang, and her most famous one, sarcasm. But she's a good friend so I can't argue. I was in the middle of thinking about my suicide for tonight when she interrupted me...

"So what are you doing tonight?"

I was only half listening to what she said so I pretended not to hear her.

There it is, room 112, or otherwise known as living hell. I hated my homeroom teacher, Ms. Peters. Luckily, I just had her for homeroom. I only had to tolerate her for 20 minutes a day. I can handle her.

Kelly sat down next to me. That's how I met Kelly, I never knew her before this year even though we've been going to the same schools since the first grade. I never thought being in the same homeroom would get you more friends.

"Did you hear me?" She said.

"Hear you what?" I said back.

"Hear me ask if you're doing anything tonight?"

"Oh! Uh, I have plans."

"If it's to return Christina's shirt, you're a little late for that."

I turned to my right to look at Christina's empty desk. Kelly was on my left. Reasons I liked being in the middle of my two friends. I always had someone I knew to look at.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's fine." I said back.

Next thing I know Ms. Peters is calling me to her desk. I groaned and got up out of my seat, and walked up to her desk.

She says, "I just got a call from your English teacher, Ms. Osgood. She would like to see you immediately." .

"I'll go now, thanks." I reply.

Luckily, Ms. Osgood is like my favorite teacher. She's awesome and her class is interesting.

I walked into her classroom, room 203. She doesn't have a homeroom class this year, so it's just the two of us. My heart starts beating a million miles a minute. I can't help but think the worst... Her kicking me out of her class.

She doesn't notice me so I say, "Hi, Ms. Osgood. You wanted to see me?"

She looks up from her paperwork, smiles at me, gets up, and grabs a chair. She pulls it near her desk, and says, "Hi, Mary. Yes, I wanted to see you. Please, sit."

"What's this about?" I ask as I'm sitting down.

"Mary, I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news for you." She replies.

I stare at her wide-eyed, hoping she's not kicking me out of her class. This is the one class I enjoy.

Ms. Osgood stares down at her hands, which are shaking just the slightest bit.

"I know how rough your life is right now, and I know the current situation you're in with your mom. So, I made some calls and I just got a call back saying the police just arrested her at your house for her abuse towards you. Undercover agents have been following your mom for about a year now. They had enough evidence to arrest her."

"You got my mom arrested?! Why did you do that?!" I yelled at her while jumping out of my seat.

"Mary, please! Calm down, sit, and let me explain."

I sit down calmly, and patiently wait for her to start explaining. She's one of the very few teachers that I trust. She knows my mom does drugs, but I never told her that my mom abused me. I was afraid she'd tell someone. I guess my mom did that on her own by beating me to the point all my marks show. Ms. Osgood must've saw the bruises on my upper arm about a week ago. Sometimes I really wish I liked make-up so I could cover up my marks.