Emma: Seventh Grade

Chapter 32: Troubles Found Out

The Ativan had finally kicked in halfway through math class, and Emma felt somewhat better. However, she was struggling to stay awake during class and kept nodding off. At one point, she actually fell asleep with her head on her desk, in which Lizzie prodded her awake with the sharp end of her pencil.

When math class was finally finished, Emma grabbed her backpack, parted ways with Lizzie, and sleepily wandered through the halls towards Mrs. Frazier's room for history class. Slumping down in her desk, she carelessly threw her backpack beside her and rested her chin in her hands with her eyes closed.

"Hey psycho girl, did you see that your video made it to Instagram?" Kendra's snarky voice sounded from behind her. 

Forcing her eyes open, Emma turned around in her seat to face Kendra, with her usual snotty look. Alyssa was beside her, with her face in her phone. She was tittering and giggling, and Emma immediately knew she was watching the video. She glared at the two of them, but was too exhausted to start an argument, so she laid her head down on her desk and ignored them.

Emma must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she heard was Mrs. Frazier yelling her name. Sitting up abruptly, Emma pushed her disheveled, blonde hair out of her face and looked around. Every single one of her classmates was staring at her, and Mrs. Frazier towered above her with a scowl on her dark face. "Just what do you think you're doing, sleeping in my class?" she bellowed. "You don't even have your damn book out! How the hell are you supposed to learn with your head on your desk?!"

Emma felt her face grow hot with embarrassment as the entire class tittered. "I-I'm sorry, Mrs. Frazier," she apologized softly. "It won't happen again."

"It better not happen again!" Mrs. Frazier barked. "Or I'm making you scrub down my entire classroom after school!"

Hanging her head in shame, Emma hurriedly dug her history textbook out of her backpack. She flipped through the pages to make herself look busy, but in reality, she had no idea which chapter the class was on.

"Woah, do you think I'm done with you, Emma?" Mrs. Frazier scolded, continuing to hover over Emma like a bee. "For your punishment, you're going to stand in front of the classroom and finish reading the chapter aloud to the entire class."

Emma groaned. "Are you serious?" she whined. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Yes, I'm serious!" Mrs. Frazier replied impatiently, plodding to her desk at the front of the room. "Now get your ass up here!" She plopped her heavy body down in her seat and glared at Emma. 

With her hands trembling, Emma picked up her history textbook and made her way to the front of the classroom. She fumbled through the pages in disbelief; she couldn't believe she had to do this. Turning to Mrs. Frazier, she stammered, "W-What p-page are we on?"

"That's a good question," Mrs. Frazier answered in her loud, monotonous voice. "I suppose you wouldn't know cuz you were sleeping. All right class, who wants to tell Miss Sleepyhead what page we're on?"

The class giggled with amusement, then someone in the back spoke up, "Three hundred and sixty-three."

Paging through her book, growing more embarrassed by the minute, Emma finally found the correct spot and began reading.

"Speak up!" Mrs. Frazier barked. "No one can hear ya with that mumbling!"

Taking a deep breath to ease her frustration and anxiety, Emma started her sentence over, this time louder. She was doing everything in her power to hold back the tears brimming in her anxious, blue eyes. She absolutely hated Mrs. Frazier's class. It had been her most hated class from the beginning; everything seemed to go wrong in it. She continued reading from the book, pressing her bony knees together to keep them from shaking. She could feel her heart racing as she read; she knew that everyone was thinking all sorts of nasty things about her right now. To make matters worse, Emma would have to go up to Mrs. Frazier and ask about all the assignments she had missed during her time in the hospital. That thought alone scared her to death. Mrs. Frazier had already humiliated her enough today; she didn't want to stand there being interrogated about why she missed three weeks of school. Not after everything she had been through today. It would be too much.