Riptide

My teacher takes dress-up too seriously

I didn't expect my world to turn upside down with a few sentences. It started out a normal day.

I woke up to the jarring sound of my alarm and groggily propped myself up. I stared around my room, and my eyes fell on the clock. Oh god.

I fell out of the bed so fast that I slammed my arm on the ground and probably left a bruise there.

Rubbing my arm, I rushed to my closet, pulled on my school uniform, and rushed out still putting on my jacket.

I saw my friend Woodrow waving at me. I don't really know why we're friends, other people always tell me that I shouldn't be friends with someone like him. I feel more comfortable around him, though.

He walks with a weird limp, so he's excused from gym class (Lucky him.), but he can run plenty fast when it's enchilada day.

I rush over and ask where the bus is.

"You're late, come on, come on!" He pushes me toward my middle school, though I have to stop because he's not exactly the fastest either.

I burst in the school, panting and sweating a little. Yeah, I'm not the most athletic person. Everyone's staring at me, probably because I'm pretty new and just burst in on their work.

"Miss..." She checks her list, "Alexa," This time I cut her off. "It's Alex, thank you very much." She narrows her eyes at me. Talk about strict!

"You are late. Please take a seat and don't cause any more trouble." I stalk down to my seat, looking around for Woodrow.

My lucky day, for sure. I get a strict teacher, everyone's staring at me, and I don't know anyone.

My teacher, who irritatedly explained that her name was Mrs. Dodds(A weird name, if you ask me.), wrote something on the chalkboard in the front of the class.

The thing is, I'm dyslexic and it's hard to read English even when I'm close, let alone from my seat in the middle of the class.

My hand shoots up, but she pretends to not see me. As I wave my hand in the air, I get more and more annoyed, before finally blurting out, "Mrs. Dodds, I'm dyslexic. I can't read that."

She turns around at the mention of 'dyslexic'. She narrows her eyes even more, if that was possible, at me. I swear I hear her whisper, "Another one." As if this day could get weirder.

She turns back to me and snaps, "Just do your best. If you can't read it then move to the front."

Not like that helps magically cure my dyslexia.

I grudgingly move to the front, a sea of empty seats left abandoned by the students. It doesn't really help that much, but I get the feeling that Mrs. Dodds knows that.

I ended up not listening at all and quietly fidgeting under my desk. I try stopping, but I can't. I guess it's one of the disadvantages of having ADHD.

Oh, I didn't mention that? Well, it's true. Doctors have always diagnosed me with ADHD, and it can get really annoying.

After a long few hours walking through school and pretending that I was paying attention, school finally was done.

As I was squeezing through the horde of stampeding students, someone pulled me aside, gripping especially hard on the shoulder. I turned around, expecting Mrs. Dodds(She's practically a demon is what I've heard.).

And... I was correct. She stuck her pointy face too close for my comfort, her hawklike eyes sweeping over my face.

Then, she hissed, like really hissed, it sounded like a snake talking—Wait, what the hell?!—"Daughter of Olympus, beware."

I was about to get the heck out of there, until Woodrow showed up. He had a bad habit of showing up at the worst time. His eyes widened, and he let out a strange laugh that sounded weirdly like a goat's bleat. Today's not the best day.

Then, Mrs. Dodds transformed. She grew wings, talons, and sharp teeth, which was really interesting and terrifying at the same time. Apparently Woodrow thought so too, because he grabbed my arm and ran.

Naturally, my arm hadn't recovered and I let out a yelp of pain while scampering after him. Caressing my arm, I shot a glance behind my back. That was the wrong move, turns out.

I stopped for only a second, but that was enough for Mrs. Dodds to leap at me. At the worst time possible I noticed she looked like a hag. As her talons started to get a grip on my poor, poor arm, something hit me in the back of my head.

I turned around, effectively doing Mrs. Dodds' work for her. Lying there was a pen, and I just managed to snatch it up before Mrs. Dodds flew up in the air. A real demon teacher, for sure.

And Woodrow? He just stood there waiting for whatever to happen. "What am I supposed to use this for?!" I screamed at him.

He cupped his hands over his mouth(He's not the best screamer) and yelled back, "Uncap it!"

"Oh, so you want me to write this demon to death!" I jabbed a finger, or at least tried to, at the former Mrs. Dodds. She only cackled and flew higher. Nevertheless, I uncapped it, and a full-size sword sprung out at me.

For a few seconds, I just hung there staring at it when the demon, AKA Mrs. Dodds(ish) hissed and dug her talons further into my skin.

It was really heavy, and I tried to lift it up. The weight made me rock backwards and I accidentally stabbed my teacher in the face. I could already see myself in another detention. Then, I felt the rush of falling. I stared around me and saw a fine yellow dust falling with me.

What was Woodrow doing during this, you ask me? Well, he was⎯you guessed it⎯standing there watching me struggle. Lot of help he was. The ground slammed into my feet and I felt a searing pain in my legs. Woodrow ran over and handed me something that looked like a lemon square, only honey-colored

"What is this for?" I asked, holding the square and squinting at it. He quickly explained that it was the food of the gods, which didn't really explain anything. I snatched it from him, because food is food!

As I finished my first bite, which felt like heaven, Woodrow reached over and plucked it out of my hands, getting a plastic bag and putting it in. I lunged for it, springing up and trying to steal it. Keyword: trying.

Then, I realized that I felt fine. Nothing was hurting as much as before. "Whoa, magic!" was my standard response.

He facepalmed and started to half-lead, half-drag me out of the school. I wonder where.