A Whole New World

Chapter Five

The bell rang not too long after they had all agreed, signalling that we had to make our way back to fifth period. I called Callie's command and she got up from her spot under the picnic table and started to lead the way. We usually spent some time before every semester practicing classes. She had a different command for each of my classes. It was usually just some abbreviation of the teacher's name. I listened to the sound of her paws against the soft grass as we made our way to the main building. I was really glad to have her as my guide dog. She was the best: focused, calm, confident and loyal as hell. I couldn't think of anyone better to be my eyes. She was part of the reason I wanted to go through with the surgery. She had worked with me for seven years now, one more year and she would qualify for retirement. But if I got my vision back... she could just retire early. It was a win-win for our little team.

The whole group walked together back into the building but once we got to the door, we split up. Rolo and Jude went to art and AP Calculus respectively, and Lotus, Colby and I went to AP World History.

Once we got to Ms. Finch's class we all headed straight to the back of the classroom. I always picked seats at the back of the class, especially in corners because it always meant that people would be less likely to step on Callie. Once I got settled, I pulled out the big lump of paper that was the AP World textbook from under my desk. Ms. Finch had a thing about looking prepared so she expected everyone to have their books open to the chapter we were studying even before the late bell rang. But, once I opened my book, I knew immediately that it wasn't my book.

There was no braille.

Who steals a braille book? As far as I knew I was the only visually impaired kid in this school so who else would need a braille book?

That's when I heard the snickers a few feet in front of me followed by a "Shut up Derek, he'll hear you" and a "he's blind, he won't know it's us."

I just rolled my eyes and sighed.

Obviously that caught Colby's attention, who sits right next to me.

"What's wrong Jess?" He asked, leaning in.

"James and his little gang have my textbook." I told him. I was just about to tell him not to worry about it but before I could he was already out of his seat.

"Ooh here comes his little boyfriend." I heard James say. I hated it when they said that. Yes, it's true Colby was out, but I was just his best friend. Colby would never think of me that way. I always felt like hearing stuff like that made him very uncomfortable.

I listened on as Colby talked to James. I didn't exactly hear what he said because he was being really quiet and more people had started to file into the class, carrying on conversations from the halls. All I know is that by the time Ms. Finch started smacking her hand on her desk to get people to quiet down, Colby was back and handing over my textbook to me. I flipped open to the first page and ran over the braille. Much better.

"Thanks." I whispered to him. I never knew how he did it, but Colby always had my back.

"No problem." He whispered back, brushing my arm lightly as he took a seat.

"Alright everyone. Starting today, we're going to be working on presentations of all the essential battles of World War Two. You will be working in groups of twos and your job is to inform the class of when and where the battle took place, who was involved, and what made the battle significant."

"Oh God." I heard Lotus groan and I smirked.

"Alright listen up for your names and assigned battles!"

"Let's hope we're partners." Colby whispered.

"Kendall and Brian, Battle of Berlin."

"Yeah... leave me out guys it's fine." Lotus whined. I laughed.

"Josh and Jerome, Second Battle of Kharkov."

"Colby and Savannah, Battle of Midway."

"Nooo." Colby whisper-screamed. Savannah was a nice girl, but he was definitely going to be doing most of the work on that one.

"Lotus and Jessie, Attack on Pearl Harbor."

"Yes!" Lotus said triumphantly, "Suck on that Colby. And it's one I actually know too." 

"Reel your partner in Jessie." Colby warned me.

"Hey, I couldn't even if I tried." I said, putting my hands up.

Another great thing about sitting in the back, you're less likely to get caught talking. And, we talked a lot.

"Alright." Ms. Finch said for the third time. "Now get into your pairs. You only have today and tomorrow to work on this so I suggest you get busy."

I heard the begrudged shuffling commence. Lotus simply stole Colby's seat when he moved to sit with Savannah.

"Okay." Lotus breathed out when she was settled next to me, "Two days in class is definitely not going to be enough for me. It's too distracting here for me."

"It's me isn't it? I've tried but I just can't seem to tone the sexy down." I said, putting my hand on my heart to show my sincerity.

As expected, she automatically hit me in the stomach with her pencil case. "Sorry to break the news babe, but you're so not my type. I just wanted to know if you wanted to come over to my house after school to work on it?"

I was going to respond with a joke about her inviting me to her house, but I decided I liked my internal organs better. "Yeah, sure that works."

"Okay, cool, meet me at the side doors."

I nodded and we got to work. And she was right, we didn't make much progress.