Fighting the Disquiet

3

"Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving."

- Albert Einstein

I know most people hate strict teachers that don't let you talk in class or use your phone but that was completely to my advantage. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I was planning on putting my AirPods in and listening to music on my way to my next class but, apparently, Summer had other ideas. As soon as the bell rang she stood up to throw things into her bag and addressed me.

"Hey, so El, what's your next class?" She asks as if we're already friends.

"Uh, pre-calc," I say as I also put my materials away and stand up.

"With who?" Decker interrupts. 

I pull open my phone and look at my schedule before replying, "Mr. Katz."

"Oh, that's where Deck and I are heading," she smiles, "let's walk together."

I want to reply no thank you, but I don't want to be super rude so I just nod and follow them out of the classroom. They're busy talking amongst themselves and say goodbye to Scott who parts in a different direction as we exit the building. I awkwardly walk behind them until they suddenly slow their pace so I'm now forced to walk in between them. I try to remain as far away from Decker as physically possible but that's kind of hard when there are like a bajillion students on this campus also making their way to class.

"What lunch do you have?" Summer asks.

"Uh, first I think," I say focusing on not tripping over the uneven pavement as we approach the building where I guess our math class is.

Decker opens the door for us and Summer and I enter.

"That's perfect, you can sit with all of us at lunch," she says with excitement.

"Yeah," Decker adds.

Lord, why? Why? I told you I didn't need friends. And here you are making me eat lunch with people.

"Sure," I shrug.

I'm the first to enter the classroom and take the empty seat by the door and near the front of the class. Summer sits in front of me and Decker sits beside me. Again.

I try to focus on just Summer and ignoring the fact that Decker is also there. She's wearing a pair of cut off shorts with a striped top that she has partially tucked into her shorts. Her hair is long and blonde. Obviously not naturally blonde, but it's still a pretty color. She's got on a full face of makeup and looks like she could be a model with her long legs and slim frame. However, I can see that she's actually really muscular, making me think she must do some kind of sport.

"El?" She asks, drawing me out of my own world.

"Sorry, what?" I ask looking up at her blue eyes.

"Let me see the rest of your schedule so we can compare," she says, holding out her hand.

I don't feel very comfortable giving a stranger my phone and access to my camera roll, but I do it anyway and watch as she zooms in on the picture of my schedule.

"Wow, you and Decker have like all the same classes. Well, except for Painting and Spanish 3," she exclaims, "But we have that class together. Spanish I mean," she adds at the end.

I smile politely and nod, internally screaming inside. How am I supposed to avoid him when we have like every class together? I hate my life.

She hands me back my phone as the bell rings and I return it to the front pocket of my backpack. To my dismay, the teacher decides to take attendance. Why can't he just pass out an assignment like the other teacher did and use that as attendance?