String of Fate

Chapter Fifty Two

This class was so boring that I felt like I was almost going to be falling asleep. Why did our class have to be stuck with the one teacher who managed to make every book we read boring. He droned on and on during every lesson. I'd already read the book before – Grace had thrust her copy at me and told me to read it as soon as she had finished with reading it. It was a great book, but the teacher had done a good job at sucking the life out of it. I decided that it would be a better use of my time to text Grace instead – she was in an equally boring Maths lesson.

'Are we definitely on for a film night tonight?xx' I typed out, hitting send and glanced back at the page of the book, easily finding where the teacher was droning on. I read ahead, finding that it was a lot quicker than waiting for the teacher. It probably didn't help that I was a fast reader, and a part of me hated being slowed down by his droning.

My phone vibrated in my lap and I used my thumbprint to unlock it, clicking to go straight to the message. If the teacher looked over, it would just look like I was reading the book on the table whereas I was actually looking at my phone. 'Sure! Can't wait. You coming to mine after school?xx'

I quickly typed out the reply to her 'Of course ;) your bed is comfier than mine. Meet you outside the main building for break?xx'. Then, I was about to glance back at the book.

"Anything interesting there, Stacey?" The teacher continued. That wasn't in the book. Oops. I guess I had been caught. I realised that I should have turned the page over. Now he decided to pick up the pace on the reading. I looked up, the whole class was looking at me. "Well?"

"Just junk mail. Something about PPI. I'm sorry. I didn't lose track of the book, though. I really enjoy this part." I rambled, hoping that I wouldn't get into trouble. I quickly locked my phone as well without even looking. "I mean, this is the part where Kyle catches up with his dad and finds out that he's the bad guy."

There was a little bit of upset from a couple of the students who had clearly not read the book, but it had been out for two years, so, it was their own fault. Also, with the slowness of our teacher, it wasn't like they couldn't have read ahead.

"How about you read to the end of the chapter, then. Just to make sure that you were paying attention." The teacher ordered, walking to his desk and sitting down. He was now in a really bad mood, which didn't actually take that much for this teacher. "Start from the first paragraph beginning on page 103."

I started reading aloud, moving the book so my head wasn't down. I hoped that I was doing a good job at reading the book. Hopefully, I wasn't as boring as the teacher. I got to the end of the chapter and actually wanted to continue, which was quite strange because I usually hated being the centre of attention – and it actually felt like they were all staring at me.

"Well, does anyone want to continue and read the next chapter? I think I may get a sore throat if I continue." The teacher asked, clearly not interested in continuing the story. Nobody else seemed to want to, so, I raised my hand, and the teacher raised his eyebrows as he looked at me. "Really? Very well, Stacey. Continue reading."

I did so. I read until the bell rang to mark the end of the lesson, and the beginning of the break. I gathered my stuff together and felt a presence next to me. I looked up to see Sam standing there, giving me a little smile. He was one of the popular gang – not the most popular guy in school, but friendly enough to get on with them, and the whole school. I smiled at him as I swung my backpack onto my shoulder. "Um, hello."

"Hi. You did great at reading the book to the class. You actually finally made the book interesting. It seems like you've read it before and knew what was going to happen." Sam noted, holding his copy of the book that the school had given him. It looked like he was actually planning on taking it home to read outside of class. That was rare for the students in this school but it wasn't like it was against the rules. They just had to clear it with the teachers first unless the books were coming from the school library.