When Lightning Strikes

Build-ups

J A X

Over the next two days, next to nothing was said between us. Only muffled apologies and glances to and from. The awkward silence was even more then before detention, when none of us really knew each other. But that changed on the day of the field trip. It was the day lightning struck.

It even started out rough. When I first got to room 316, the same room that we had cleaned, I saw four other faces staring back at me. Theo in the back row, next to some other kid in a white Adventure Time T-shirt who's face I didn't recognize, and a rather attractive girl with EXTREMELY puffy brown hair in a shirt that read, 'Knock Knock, Who's There? Doctor.' In front of them. Sam was across the room in a black T-shirt and a jacket, looking surprisingly normal. I stalked over to Sam, and he raised an eyebrow,

"Why are you sitting here?" He looked pointedly at me.

"Because," I sighed, "You are the only person in this classroom that I don't hate and would hunt to the ends of the know universe to kill in this room." The corner of his mouth was tugged up into a smile, "Don't get me wrong, you're still an annoying smart-ass."

"I can deal with that." I narrowed my eyes,

"You're normal. Why are you normal?" He was acting like, five times as weird two days ago.

"The new patch on World of Warcraft was released. I was... Uh... A BIT stressed. The wait time was 16 hours." My eyes went from slits to saucers in a matter of seconds. I grinned,

"Wait... You play WoW?" His shoulders slouched,

"Yeah... I know... Geeky right?" He frowned. My grin widened,

"Level 97 Hunter. DPS." His grin met mine,

"98 Warlock. DPS."

"I think you ought to meet someone. Serious WoWhead. You would get along--" I looked up as the door opened and one figure-- one that I recognized easily-- stepped through the doorway. "Speak of the devil, here he is." Mickie looked around the room, and I waved him over. He was the one I got in trouble for for protecting, and was also the one that Theo was picking on. But as he looked over at Theo, he glanced back over and nodded in acknowledgement. I guessed they had worked things out. "Hey Mickie. Meet Sam. 98 Warlock. DPS." Mickie sat down in front of Sam and turned his chair around, facing him.

"100 Paladin. Tank." He shook Sam's hand. "Cool." But that fine morning was interrupted and sorely disturbed by the next to walk in the room.

It wasn't that I disliked my math teacher. I hated her. Every too-short pencil skirt, every silk white blouse, every perfect strand of pitch-black hair tucked into a neat bun. All the guys wanted her. All the girls wanted to be her. It was some pretty jacked up stuff. She was almost too nice in class, her rosy lips always smiling and her icy blue eyes always glistening. Which was why it was so weird when she walked in with a snarl on her lips and her eyes narrowed in disappointment.
"Hello, delinquents. Now sit down and shut up." She slammed her hands down on her table like a police officer interrogating a prime suspect. "You listen and you listen good. The next couple hours of your life will be a living hell. And I'm here to make sure it is." I glanced over at Mickie as if to say, 'Oh come on. Can't she just let us bore ourselves to death in peace?' But he, and ever other guy in the room were practically drooling. I leaned back in my chair in disbelief. Freakingretards. At least the girl with the weird T-shirt actually looked startled. Scratch that, she looked terrified. Ms. Allston sat down in her chair and brought out a clipboard, setting it carefully on her desk. "Now, let's take attendance. When your name is called," she sent a group-glare all around the classroom, "Raise your hand and say here." She set her Juicy Couture glasses on the brim of her nose, "Shaylene Taylor,"

The girl with the fluffy hair-- who I could now guess was Shaylene-- raised her hand, and after a shaky breath, said,
"Here."

"Good. Sipheous Powell." Siph raised his hand,

"Here, Ms. Allston."

She rolled her eyes and went on to the next name,

"Andres Corrido Sanches" Adventure Time T-Shirt said,

"Here."

"Jaquelin Esparza."

"It's Jax. And here."

"Mickie Fletcher."

"Here."

"Theo Akers." No answer. I looked over to Theo biting his lip and staring at the math teacher. I would rather not think about where he was staring. "Akers, Tavi Akers." He was broken out of his trance,

"Yeah... Uh..." He blinked.

"DON'T MUMBLE." She slammed her hands on her desk again, filling the room with a loud clap. His eyes widened, an he managed to squeak out,

"Yes sir-- Ma'am." You could practically see little flames in her eyes as she roared,

"SPEAK UP."

"Here. I'm here." The flames in her eyes dulled and she plastered on a fake smile,

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" When he didn't answer, her face contorted in a brief snarl, only to go right back to her creepy smile as quick as a light switch. If you hadn't seen her previous behavior, you wouldn't believe it.

"No, Ma'am."

"Right then." Smile. "Let's get back to work."

After that, I decided I had a newly-found respect for Ms. Allston.

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