Make Me Perfect

Chapter 20 - Slap Some Sense

"Mr. Tenton gave me a D- on my essay." I heard someone murmur as I passed them by.

I frowned, wondering why Mr. Tenton would give anyone a D-. Suddenly anger bubbled up inside of me, and then fear. Fear of being alone in the same room as him once again.

"Peyton."

I spun around to find a small girl standing before me, her brown hair down up in its usual ponytail, her glasses sliding halfway down her nose, and her freckles scattering her rosy cheeks. I sighed, turning around to continue walking. "What do you want, Nina?"

Nina was scuttling to keep in pace with me, clutching her books to her chest. The only word I could use to describe this girl was a goodie-two-shoes. Nothing wrong with her, well, the girls and I had often made jokes about her, but all in all she was a sweet girl. She just chose to dedicate herself to the teachers instead of being a wild child.

"It's n-not what I w-want," she stumbled over her words, "A teacher sent me to bring you to him. He has a job for the two of us."

I raised an eyebrow, "For the two of us?"

Nina nodded, pushing back her glasses with her forefinger, "H-he wants us now."

I sighed, "What teacher?"

"Mr. Tenton," she said in a way like I was supposed to somehow know that.

I swallowed, trying not to yell the word no and run off like a scared little girl in a horror movie. I nodded, not saying a word as I followed the short girl down the halls. I walked into the classroom, not making eye contact with Mr. Tenton as Nina closed the door behind me.

"Girls, that was fast," he said with a sly smile.

I folded my arms over my chest and sat down in a chair, staring at the floor. Nina cleared her throat, "You said to come right away."

Mr. Tenton smiled, however not at Nina, but all the while staring right at me. He smirked, clasping his hands together as he began to pace the classroom, "I want you two girls to set up the display in front of the office for Christmas. It's almost holiday season, as you know."

Nina's smile grew, but I didn't let her speak as I jumped to my feet, "Why us?" I spat.

He narrowed his eyes on me, "Because, Ms. Lemming, Nina is always volunteering to do such things, and I thought it would be good for you to work off that suspension."

I looked away, embarassed that he had brought up such a thing in front of Nina. Of course, it wasn't so much a secret, everyone knew the reason I had missed two days of school. However for some reason I always felt like I needed to impress Nina, that I needed to come up to her level and be a good student.

Nina raised a hand, obviously wanting to change the focus from me back to the project at hand, "Mr. Tenton, when do we start?"

"Actually, considering it's lunch time, why don't you go get the supplies from the janitor's room, Nina?" he asked her with a straight face. She nodded and whisked out of the room. My face turned red, and I rushed towards the door. "Ahem," Mr. Tenton's voice echoed throughout the room.

My hand stopped on the door handle, my body now trembling. I looked back over my shoulder, "I'll go help her," I said softly.

Mr. Tenton laughed as he stepped forwards, "Come here," he said, gesturing to the desk in front of him. I sucked in a breath, slowly making my way over to where he stood. I slipped into the chair, looking down as I rubbed my sweaty hands down my pants. My teacher placed his hands on the desk in front of me and leaned down to my level, "I have something else I'd like you to help me with," he whispered, capturing my lips with his.