Forget the Forgotten

Chapter Two

Light was streaming out of room 114 and loud laughter could be heard. Amelia straightened her backpack and entered.

The laughter died.

A stocky boy in a red hoodie scribbled something on the blackboard. The hair hung in his face and his stubbles shimmered dull as sandpaper.

Another boy was sitting at a table close to the door. His name was Jacob Brooks. Amelia knew him since she was little and they had few classes together. He was small and slim and wore a brown sweatshirt and jeans. His sand-colored curly hair was cut short and lay close to the head. A biology book leaned openly in front of him.

Two more people sat in the back of the classroom. The girl had blonde hair and was rather beautiful, but she did wear way too much makeup. She was wearing a stylish shirt with tight jeans. While she burst a big bubble of chewing gum, she stared curiously at Amelia, who tried to avoid her gaze.

Amelia knew the boy only by hearsay. Nicholas Robinson was a separate case. He was wearing a ripped army jacket, a football jersey and ripped jeans. His pitch-black hair was quite short and stood spiky from his head, thanks to tons of gel.

As soon as Amelia entered the room, he never let her out of his sight.

*Great!" , she thought to herself. *They're not exactly the kind of people I usually hang out with.*

She remembered all the rumors she heard about Nicholas. Fights. Smoking in class. Fireworks in the locker rooms. And many other things. Some people were also saying that he apparently stole a car once, but no one if that was actually true.

"Uh, hello" , Amelia stuttered. "Is this detention?"

"No, this is the biology class" , answered Nicholas sarcastically. "They are about to bring in the dead rats, so we can dissect them."

"I can't wait" , she said back, in the same sarcastic way.

The guy at the blackboard started to laugh. "Dead rats are great pets" , he said. "At least you don't have to walk them."

"Ugh, that's disgusting!" The girl rolled her eyes and threw a paper ball at Nicholas. He caught it and put it on the table. Then he reached into his jacket pocket and got a cheap disposable lighter. He turned it on and held the paper into the flame.

*Great, it's 10am and he's setting the school on fire!" it shot through Amelia's mind.

Within seconds the paper went up in flames.

"Yo!" , said Nicholas enthusiastically and let it fell to the ground.

"You're going to set off the sprinklers" , said Jacob warningly.

"And...?" said Nicholas and stared at Jacob.

"I can't afford any more trouble" , sighed Jacob.

"Who can?" hissed the girl back at him.

Jacob looked back to his biology book.

"Hey!" exclaimed Nicholas. "Can you finally sit down? You're making me nervous."

"Sorry...?" muttered Amelia, took her backpack and jacket off and looked for a table close to the door.

"Hello, Amelia." Jacob nodded towards her. "How are your math homework?"

"Ha ha, very funny" , Amelia replied smiling, grateful for a friendly face. "What did you do?"

"Being an excessive smart ass" , muttered the guy at the blackboard. Amelia looked at him and then noticed what he was doing. Graffiti. There stood in big letter;