INSTA-Daddy

13

The school bell rang. The hallways looked like the highway road of a main city currently stuck in heavy traffic. Students of different genders, sizes, and colors skedaddled to their designated first class of the day.

Some rushed up the staircase, some rushed in all sorts of pathways down the hall. When I looked at the far left corner from where I was walking through, a  blonde heavy-sized girl unfortunately bumped into another girl. She was wearing high inched heels, complemented with a purple crop top and a really short white tennis skirt, almost exposing her buttcheeks from behind. Her hair was braided to the side like Elsa from Frozen and her name was Jennifer. Paula, her devil-friend was at her back, the latter crossing her arms over her chest as she boredly chewed some gum.

The oversized girl dropped on the floor, her books were scattered on the floor and she hurriedly picked it all up with shaking hands. Jennifer and Paula were saying something but the scene was a bit too far for me to eavesdro-- err, I mean hear.

I continued walking as the school bell rang for the second time. Liz caught up with me as I passed through the staircase going to the second floor of the building. She was with Wes.

Wes looked different today. Well, he always looked different but not in a bad way. Different in a unique way.

It seemed he had a new haircut. His bangs had been cut to a straight fringe , the rest was an undercut. More importantly...

"Wes," I gasped. "You dyed your hair--"

"Green. I know. Don't ask." Wes ended my comment on my behalf. He adjust his grip on his backpack shoulder strap as he walked with his head bobbed down avoiding those hungry gazes turning towards us.

Liz snorted teasingly. "I had the same reaction when I saw him." Liz ignored the death glare she was getting from our dear guy bestfriend.

"The box said blonde okay?!!" He exclaimed, emphasizing the 'okay'.
"My sister swapped the boxes. She pranked me for her stupid YouTube channel content," he added.

Liz and I gave out a reluctant laugh. Come to think of it, Liz' laughter was more genuine and out of insult.

"I can't believe she would sold me out for stupid YouTube." Wes continued, gesturing his foot to a kick as if there was an invisible rock to kick. I rolled my eyes to a direction where I saw a couple locking lips and exchanging saliva with their mouths. I made a gaggin-gesture,poking my tongue out while mumbling 'Yuck'.

We got to the second floor where most of the Sophomore classes are assigned and continued walking. There was a voice that echoed somewhere in the lobby.

"Nice hair Grinch,!" A series of laughter followed. It was very much obvious they were referring to Wes. Liz giggled a little, ignoring another set of Wes' murderous glare.

Wes slouched his back in shame as he adjusted his bag's shoulder strap for the second time. I patted him on the shoulder lightly, showing off my genuine smile of comfort.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it'll last," I cheered him up.

"You can always dye your hair back to black again." Liz suggested too.

Another insult exploded through our ears as we turned to the left side pathway down the halls. Followed by another and then another; mostly The Grinch puns.

"Stop stealing Christmas dude," laughed one guy who approached us.

Wes stopped walking and stomped one foot with complete rage. His hands were stiffly stretched downward and his hands were clutched.

"Please! I do not look like the Grinch!!" Wes had snapped. Just in time, too. The door for Wes' Values Education class was right beside us. Wes peered in through the doorway and we peered in as well, my head peeking above Wes and Liz peeking above my head.

We got back to normal postures as a guy from Wes' class slowly entered while glancing at us with confusion.

Liz placed a hand on top of Wes' shoulder, tentatively coughed, and firmly said, "Good luck Wes,"

He just rolled his eyes and sshoo-ed us to buzz off. I wave my hand for a farewell while Liz left him a bit of chortle. We head off to our class immediately as soon as we heard the third school bell rings which exactly screams 'hurry up!!! You're going to be late!!!'

We've managed to made it just in time. And the room was noisy, indeed, like the public market from across town. The boys were gathered in one corner probably watching porn, five girls were in the right side squealing at a couple of teen magazines they were holding, and the rest were busy on their daily conversations that I'm quite sure is just full of gossips and backstabs.

I placed my things on my desk and decided to standby Liz' seat since Mr.Wallace, our math teacher, hasn't arrived yet. We basically just talked about Wes' new hair, giggling a little from time to time.

Finally, Mr. Wallace arrived.

"Settle down kids." He greeted. "Geezus. What are you, toddlers?" He continued, brushing his hand through his smooth dark hair. He stood behind his desk, facing us with his hands on his hips.

I skeedaddled to my desk and so did the rest of us. Mr. Wallace shook his head and sighed. He turned go face the whiteboard and began scribbling some letters and numbers:
26 (a-9b) / 3b + 5

"Alright then. So let's have a little review shall we. Who wants to come here in front and answer this equation." He rotated back towards us.

I swallowed my tongue, as much as possible avoiding to bob my head down. I hate math cause I'm not good at it. But, I do know that Mr. Wallace has that tendency to call out those who he sees are not confident. This man can smell Math-fear and he likes it.

He called out Tim who was so sweating real hard. I exhaled in relief, hoping noone noticed then stuck to the board. However, for some reason, I kinda liked watching Tim solving the equation. My curiosity struck on where he got the 3b answer. It looked fascinating, in a complicated way.

Tim turned his head to the class momentarily as if waiting for someone smart enough to help him or as if yelping 'HELP' deep inside.

But there was no rescue. Mr. Wallace was stabbing us with his sharp gaze.

Lucky for Tim, the class was (for a second) disrupted. A loud screeched bombarded throughtout the entire class, followed by a group of squealing and heavy breathings filled with youthful desires.

A guy wearing black, ripped sleeve tee with a chiller-fonted Metal word imprinted on it, stood by our class doorway. He leaned his shoulder on the doorway wall, with arms crossed together on his chest.

And the girls goes wild. I mouthed in a whisper.

Mr. Wallace was kneading his forehead in frustration. He never really liked noises to start with so I can understand his headache.

"What are you doing here Mr. Huggins?" He questions with irritation.

"Oh. I was just passing by and wanted to say Hi," he then looked at me with pleasure then waved his hand.

The girls squealed for the second time which irritated Mr. Wallace even more. He opened his mouth and I was anticipating a loud yell from him but he paused. He shut his mouth instead and ended up with a soft huff.

"Cameron, please," Mr. Wallace' voice was calm but still sounded annoyed and sarcastic. "Go back to your class."

Cameron sniggered and adjusted his lean on the doorway wall. "Not until I get a little chat with Ms. Cortez,"

***