The Mafia's Butterfly (Rewriting)

[7]

Josephina

"Right class. I've given you the entire hour of my class to do some more work on your research project so I don't want any excuses as to why you can't hand in on time." Ms Kim shouts, the entire class is busy packing up and hurriedly trying to get out of the classroom because school is over and no one is trying to stay here extra hours when they don't have too. 

I pack my things away, my things being my pencil case and my notebook, and get up after most of the class has left and make my way towards Ms Kim's desk in the front of the class. I had borrowed some of her highlighters during the class for the poster I was busy on. Noah was busy on his laptop most of the class, he was doing the slideshow presentation and occasionally asked me for my opinions and for help, but otherwise we were both silently doing our part of the work. 

"Here you go, Ms Kim. Thank you for letting me use them." I whisper and hand them back to her. She smiles and says that it's not a problem and then goes back to packing her own things. 

Walking out of her classroom and into the hallway, I smile. I'm happy that she gave us a chance to work on our project because I was going to do it when I get back home but now I can go to work and go home without any stress or pressure to get some things done because I've done what I wanted to do today during class. It's helpful beyond belief so now I can relax slightly. 

"Josey!" Someone yells from down the hallway. I turn around and see Clara catching up with me and smiling slightly noticing that I stopped and waited for her. 

"Hey." I say and continue walking with her now beside me. 

"When is the project due for English? I asked my group and they just said soon." She explains and frowns slightly. 

"It's due at the end of the week I think. I'm not entirely sure but that's when Noah and I are handing in ours." I answer and watch her frown deepen even more. I can only assume that they haven't gotten very far with their project and now that Clara joined they're going to put it all on her. 

"Clara if they're making you do all the work then tell Ms Kim before the due date." I say and continue walking towards the doors of the school. I can't wait to leave this hell hole. 

"How'd you know?" She asks in shock and stops outside in front of me after we've walked out.

 "You just seem stressed. Plus I know the people in our class and doing work on their own isn't their vibe." I smile slightly feeling a bit bad for her because she obviously didn't know that and she's new here so it's going to be like that for a while. 

"I can't do all the work on my own when I just got here! What am I going to do?" She asks sadly and sits down on the pavement sighing. 

I sigh too and look at my phone to double check the time and notice that I have about half an hour before I need to be at the coffee shop for work. It's only a 10 minute walk from school so I have like 20 minutes before I need to leave. I sit down next to her after making up my mind. 

"It sucks but that's why I said tell Ms Kim." I point to my bag, where my poster for my project is, and then I point to the school building behind us. 

"It's nothing new in this school. If anything she'll be more pissed off with them than you." I look over to her and watch as she stares out in front of her and just zones out. I look in front of me too and zone out myself after a few minutes. 

Moving schools is not easy. I don't know what that feels like but I can't imagine what other things she has going on that makes this situation ten times worse.

"I'm not one to speak up for myself." She whispers after a few minutes of us sitting in silence. 

I nod my head understanding her on a different level. "Neither am I." I respond and look back at her smiling sadly. "But if it's affecting the rest of your life in a negative way then it's not worth staying silent." I say after a few seconds of silence. She stares at me and nods looking slightly stunned but confused for the most part.