CHAPTER2
Quickly but quietly, I dash down the stairs and make a left and then the second right, just like Andrea says. Two doors down is room 245.
My heart beats wildly in my chest, which is beyond absurd. I've been in real danger before, and I wasn't talking that mess with Brett earlier either. I know life and death and how utterly devastating the world can be.
Yeah, so I chose to run, but sometimes, fighting isn’t always an option.
This is just school. So what if I'm a little late? I'm the new kid. Sure, I'll get a few snickers and sneers from the other kids, but who cares? Soon enough, I'll graduate and move on with my life. No one from my past will think to look for me here, so if I like the area well enough, I can move onto college and then start my real life.
I can be free. Running to freedom, that’s my only real option.
But I can’t deny it. That Brett asshole got under my skin, and I’m still shaken up over it. He shouldn’t affect me like this. I won’t let him.
Vowing to forget that asswipe, I knock on the door and wait a few seconds before opening it.
The teacher, a young one, around Jess's age, with blond hair pulled into a loose ponytail and a simple black-and-white wraparound dress, smiles at me. "Ah, our new student is finally here. Erika? Right?"
“Yes,” I say softly, ignoring the whispers from the kids.
“Go ahead and take your seat. See me after class sometime this week, and I’ll make sure we’re on the same page. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. To solve this problem, we have to use which computation? Derek?"
A boy mutters something.
Mrs. Ice smiles but shakes her head. “Nice try, but no. We need to use an algebraic computation of limits of functions as x…”
I zone out entirely even though I planned on getting right back into the swing of classes despite having traveled across states for days until I wound up here. Between migrating and then having to forge the necessary documents to enroll here, I’ve been out of school for weeks now. I’m behind.
But there’s only one seat available.
And it’s right next to my nemesis.
What are the fucking odds?
“You found your way to class. Good job. You aren’t a complete idiot,” he says, smirking at me.
I ignore him and sit down, staring straight ahead.
But of course, he won’t just leave me be. He sits up from his previous slouch and leans over. “Damn, you’re rude. What’s the matter? Imagining you have my cock in your mouth so you can’t respond?”
A muscle in my jaw tightens, and I grip my pen, bending it. I don’t want to feed into him. Responding would only make it worse, and besides, I need to listen, to learn, to get the hell away from this hellhole.
No. I can’t judge this entire school based on one guy.
Four guys, I remind myself. Brett's the head of the Mutineers apparently, a quartet of bad boys at the school, Andrea had said. Just what I need. No doubt about it. Brett will have the others bullying me, too, before the day is over. I'm sure of it.
Mrs. Ice is going step by step to solve the problem, and I write everything down. Calculus isn't like most math, and my pre-calculus teacher last year was a tool. I learned next to nothing from him. He spent an entire quarter going overoneproblem, and the only test he gave that quarter? Had that exact same problem on it. I learned nothing.
Given that I’ve lost weeks of class time, I need to pay attention.
“Do you swallow? I bet you don’t. Or maybe you prefer to let guys cum all over those tits of yours. Are they fake?”
I wince. He’s getting louder with his whispers, and a few of the kids nearby are shifting in their seats, looking back at us.
“Might be real. Unless Daddy paid up for them?”
That’s it.
I raise my hand.