Just Us

Twenty-Three

Chapter twenty-three
Corey

I'm slumped on my seat, my feet bouncing with impatience as I'm waiting for class to end. Ms. Evelyn, AKA the witch, is speaking and the sound of her voice is enough to put anyone to sleep. The forever kind, the one the lands you in the grave. Ricky's constant kicks to my chair doesn't help with my state of agitation.

            "Dude, this will be the last time. I promise." He kicks a little harder, causing my chair to scrape against the ground and the witch throws us a glare, like she's already thinking up spells that'll melt our insides.

            I raise my hand in apology and she goes back to talking about our English assignment that's supposed to be submitted by the end of class. The assignment Ricky is begging to copy.

            "I said, no. You're never going to learn this way." I say low only to him but he groans out loud and Ms. Evelyn shoots daggers our way.

            "Mr. Hernandez, is there something you'd like to tell the class?" She asks out loud, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, only for it to slide back down again and rest dangerously on the tip of her nose. Her ghost-white skin's wrinkled like worn-out leather and the tired lines around her eyes make me sympathise with her for having to deal with students like Ricky, but only a little.

            She was not very nice to anyone who wasn't as pale as her. It wasn't obvious but if you were on the receiving end of her wrath, you'd get it.

            When Johnathan, Ricky, and I would miss the bell by just a second, Johnathan could waltz right in but Ricky and I would be welcomed with a detention slip. Johnathan liked to believe that it was his good looks that would get him out of detention and not his blonde hair and blue eyes but Ricky and I knew.

            Ricky straightens his back as he shakes his head. "Nope."

            And as soon as she turns away, he begins to poke my neck with a pen. "Dude," I hiss, "cut it out!" I flick the pen away from him and it hits Johnathan who's next to him and he yelps a little. It doesn't bother Ms Evelyn though.

            "I have to maintain my grade to play. Anything below a B and I'll be benched, man. I have to submit the paper to maintain that B." He pleads from behind me and with a sigh, I pull out my assignment from my bag, passing it to Ricky subtly.

            Not having Ricky play would mean possible losses for the team, which would also mean extra training because Dad doesn't take our losses well. I couldn't do any more extra training. That would be a death sentence considering the fact that my muscles were still sore from yesterday's practice.

            Ricky thanks me with a pat on the back and then I hear scribbling against paper. As Ms. Evelyn went on to talk about our paper, my phone buzzes and her eyes dart towards me. The entire class snaps their head towards my direction too.

            English was one of the only lessons where we had to surrender our phones thanks to Ms. Evelyn's deep hatred for modern technology and anything of the generations after hers.

            "Was that a phone I heard, Mr Hayes?" Her voice stern and cold.

            I hear Ricky chuckle from behind me, Johnathan joining him. A smile tugs onto the corner of my lips because laughing at the worst possible time is our thing. I bite on the inside of my cheek, stifling the laugh that wants to escape. Getting in trouble in class shouldn't be this funny.

            I take in a breath, trying to calm myself and with a sigh, I nod. I fish out my phone and Isla's name lights the screen. Any trace of laughter vanishes from my face but before I could read the message, my phone's snatched out of my grasp. "You'll get it at the end of the day."