Back to school

We had breakfast in silence, neither Mom nor I wanting to talk because the anniversary of my father's passing was hanging over us like a wave.

After shoving my packed lunch into my bag and getting my bike out of the garage, I quickly said goodbye to Mom and prayed that she would remain composed for the day. Although I didn't want her to open a bottle the way she did each year, I suppose we all handled loss in different ways.

They turned me into a neurotic wreck, so I didn't mind being the only senior at Hillcrest High without a car. I learned to take rides from friends, so at least I was past my fear of being inside one, but I would never, ever get behind the wheel and drive.

I picked up my pace and made it to school in time to see that homeroom was about to end as the bell rang. Since I already had my schedule, I chose to forego my. With the extra time, I grabbed a quick coffee at the Starbucks nearby—anything to keep me awake after a string of terrifying nights.

Before I knew it, the throng of individuals heading to their first periods was carrying me toward my locker as students dispersed from classes like ants in a colony. Before I could pry open my locker, it took me a few seconds to remember the combination. I winced as a wave of melancholy surged up into my chest as I rummaged through the old notebooks I had left before the summer break. My eyes lingered over the scrawl of images that adorned the inside of my locker door.

Oh, Taylor, a yearning voice murmured in my head.

I kept blinking and grinned at the blonde beauty who had her arm around the bashful girl with golden eyes and was grinning at the camera. They were displaying their enormous sand fort as the brilliant blue sky behind them mirrored the sky's splendor. I smiled at the two flags that protruded from the sand formations before my gaze refocused on Taylor's stunning sea-green ones.

Even though she has been gone for more than a year and a half, I still consider her to be my finest, greatest, and most amazing friend. She was always the livelier and more gregarious half of our friendship. I was ready to go farther into my closest friend's recollection when I was startled backward by a loud bell. I looked at the hurrying students, who were chatting nonstop about their summer vacation and groaned. It was then that I noticed the tall, slender person leaning next to my locker, grinning smugly as she watched me.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Seraphina, happy birthday to you!"

I rolled my eyes and felt my good buddy Mark give me a bear embrace that was too tight.

"Hip hip!"

I jokingly exclaimed, "Hooray," as I struggled to breathe against his extremely firm chest.

"Hip hip!"

"Hooray."

"Hip hip!"

I groaned and twisted in an ineffective attempt to get free from Mark's grip. "Okay, that's enough, let go of me now!"

He pressed his face into my hair, making me feel even more irritated.

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p' while putting his arms around me and looking into my eyes. "Man, you look like hell. Did you have a rough night or what?"

I winced at his provocative smirk. I sighed deeply and took a brand-new notebook out of my locker before closing it behind me because we both knew that I didn't date guys, much less hook up with them for a one-night stand.

"That good?" he asked me in a whisper.

I suddenly leaped out of our close quarters and punched him in the arm, not that the soccer player was hurt by it.

I growled, "Mark!" as he pointed deliberately behind me and lifted his hands in defense.

I whirled around, wincing at the hurtling redhead as I followed the direction of his bulging, light-green eyes.

"SERAPHINA!"

As my other buddy Aria tackled me, her arms and legs encircling me like octopus tentacles, I cried out, "No, no, no, no-"

We both crashed into my locker, and I felt a searing ache in my back.

I jerked away as I ripped her arms off my neck as she yelled, "Happy birthday!" into my ear.

This outgoing girl—what was wrong with her? Her whispers were very loud even.

I rubbed my back and whimpered, "Aria! That freaking hurt!" as she padded back to stand next to Mark.

"Sorry, Sera," she said with the least amount of regret in her voice, then gave me a menacing smile.

Realizing that my pals were significantly taller than I was, a cunning idea occurred to me. Before my gaze finally returned to Aria, it wavered from Mark to Aria and back to Mark. I gazed into her warm brown eyes and a lazy sneer formed on my lips.

"Mark?" I asked, maintaining eye contact with her.

She squinted at my unexpected improvement in mood.

"Hmm?"

"Is it me or did Aria reduce during her vacation to Peru? I remember her being five foot tall but now I'm pretty sure I have pencils that can stand taller than her."

Playing along, Mark readily nodded, which caused the agitated redhead to shove him.

He cried out, "Aria!" after being shoved by the spirited girl and falling into the lockers.

It's funny how, despite being a head shorter than me, she possessed the strength to cause Mark's face to writhe in agony. He scowled, shoving his dark hair aside to keep it out of his eyes, but it fell back into his forehead a few seconds later. Her threatening stare settled on me, so I refrained from barking in laughter.

I smiled smugly and raised my hands, saying, "You can't touch me." "I'm the birthday girl, remember?"

Mark and I nodded seriously, purposefully avoiding eye contact until we ended up bursting into giggles. "Fine! But the next joke about my height and you're both gonna lose a ballsack! Got it?" "Now show me your timetable guys, I'm gonna cry if we don't have Food & Nutrition, English Literature, Calculus, Languages, and Chemistry together."

I laughed, realizing that we wouldn't have that many classes together. "Like I even do Chemistry. You expect too much missus," I said.

As they dug out freshly printed schedules, I took out the wrinkled one that I had hurriedly printed out the previous evening. I sighed with relief as I did a three-way exchange and glanced at Aria's schedule. We studied AP English Lit and Food & Nutrition and Calculus collectively, which brought comfort. Without Aria, I don't know what I would have done for English Literature. She was a walking, talking, extremely diminutive Shakespeare clone.

Mark gave me a back pat and gave a loud hoot that attracted the attention of several lost freshmen females.

"We have AP Physics, Calculus, and Food & Nut.. together Sera!"

At the mention of Physics, Aria's delicate nose furrowed, and then she smiled at Mark. She squealed high and forced her jagged bangs out of her eyes before throwing herself into his arms. Startled, he staggered backward, his cheeks reddening from the effort of maintaining their straight posture. The girl certainly struggled to control her excitement.

"That means we all have Food & Nut. and Calculus together!"

"Fortunately, we selected Food & Nut as an elective," I grumbled as I looked over my schedule once more.

They both nodded in agreement; the simplicity of that subject was well-known. The teacher gave every student in his class, including the ones who never bothered to show up, an A+ last year. The last we heard, he was going to be fired for "not meeting teaching standards." I was pocketing my schedule, lost in contemplation, noticing the groups of quarreling juniors that rushed past us, when I noticed my pals exchange a quick look.

I cautiously inquired, "What are you staring at?" as Mark and Aria turned to smile at me as though I had grown a second head.

With a huge smile on her face, Aria put her arm around mine and pulled me from my locker. "Oh, nothing!"

I grumbled, "You guys are up to something, and I know it," as Mark slouched over me and led the way to our first class together— Food & Nut.

About three minutes remained before first period's second bell, so I broke away from my friends to quickly use the restroom. They didn't even notice my abrupt exit because they were too preoccupied with speaking in low tones. I started running to make it to class in time when the bell rang right after I got out of the restroom. With a heavy breath, I forced my curls out of my eyes and unwillingly opened the door, only to have my cheeks burn from the sight of about two dozen sets of eyes.

I muttered, "Sorry I'm late," and moved to the farthest vacant workstation at the far end of the space, away from the kitchen, which occupied roughly two-thirds of the space.

"Excuse me madam, but would you care to enlighten the class as to why you are five minutes late?"

I stopped short and spun around at the new teacher's agitated tone of voice. A short, fat woman tapped her foot impatiently and gestured for me to come back to the front of the classroom. I acknowledged her. Being the biggest liar ever, I shook my head looking about for a plausible explanation as I scanned the room and saw Aria mouthing two words at me: "broke" and "car."

I yanked my terrified eyes away from Aria's and opened my mouth, licking my lips anxiously.

"I don't have a valid reason, Miss."

As the new instructor continued to scowl at me, Aria's complaint filled the classroom.

"No reason?" she yelled, fury heating her puffed cheeks. "Well then, you can join me here after school for no reason then!"

I moaned quietly to myself while discreetly nodding in response to Victoria Norman, the promiscuous queen bee of Hillcrest High, snickering. I rolled my eyes at Victoria's snide glare and then glanced back at the desk in the far corner. Not only was the desk in front empty, but our new teacher bit her tongue in frustration before I could ask any more questions.

"Good morning class and welcome to Food & Nutrition. My name is Ms. Wilson and I will be taking over this department for the foreseeable future. This semester we'll be focusing solely on your cooking skills; in particular cake baking."

As a little cheer spread around the class, I dozed off. Her voice was monotonous and boring, and I found it difficult to focus on it as it begged me to close my eyes. I rested my head on my hand and gazed at the lustrous, graphite-colored kitchen countertops across the space. My eyelids started to drop gradually, and my arms couldn't support the weight of my head. However, the classroom door opened just in time for me to collapse onto my desk. It made one hard hit into the wall.

The tardy one came into the classroom, his sluggish stroll coming to an end as his eyes scrutinized the space with efficacy. The loud argumentative nature of the class abruptly stopped, enabling a spooky quiet to permeate the air. Ms. Wilson's eyebrows darted back down after snapping up to meet her graying hairline.

The guy moved to the lone empty desk in the classroom, which was directly in front of me, and ignored the students who were staring at him.

As he collapsed into his seat, Ms. Wilson's voice cut through the dense silence, "And you are?"

I was happy to only be able to see the back of his blonde head; I had no idea how she had stayed whole beneath his piercing look. A muscle in his powerful jaw gave a start.

"Me?"

"Yes you, young man."

"Tyrone Davis," the teacher said, his shoulders stiffening and hardening with his presence and powerful, menacing voice.

"Tardiness seems like quite a trend at this school. Arrogant students such as yourself may be used to taking advantage of your previous teachers but if any of you attempt to break my rules again, I'll just put your grade down or fail you, regardless of your hard work." Ms. Wilson raised her voice.

Her gaze shifted from Tyrone's and pierced my heart. His head dipped slightly, allowing me to see his taut lip line and powerful, ticking jaw in profile.

"I assure you, I'm not taking advantage." He spoke in an emotionless tone to which everyone had been accustomed throughout the previous nine months.

"I should think not," Ms. Wilson shot back, going back to her never-ending sermon about what she expected of us the next year.

I drew in my notebook for the remainder of the hour, eagerly awaiting her announcement of this semester's project. Since this was an easy A that only needed effort and the skill to cook, which I had no trouble with, I knew that I couldn't afford to slack off in this session. I would periodically steal looks at the unkempt blond hair in front of me. A portion of Tyrone's hair was illuminated by the blazing sunlight that peaked through the closed blinds, illuminating it in striking tones of gold, straw, and platinum. Tyrone's head rested still on the table, a flawless statue that moved only the slightest rise and fall of his chest, even though his hair could have caught fire at any minute due to the intense sunlight's scorching heat. I will always be baffled as to how he fell asleep so quickly.

My eyelids finally felt heavy once more, and I leaned my head against my desk, my arms protecting me from the harsh wooden surface. In a matter of moments, I found myself fading in and out of consciousness while hazily recalling Ms. Wilson's account of how teachers were valued "back in the day."

I'm not sure how long I slept, but as my tired stupor deepened, the sound of clicking heels approaching my table could be heard more clearly. It took a violent jolt for me to snap out of it and open my eyes, but before I knew it, I was bolt upright. I was startled back into consciousness when I saw Ms. Wilson's palm resting on my desk. I pressed my palms to my face, trying to hide my blushing cheeks, but snickers sprung out from every angle. As she handed me numerous worksheets, Ms. Wilson gave me a stiff glare in return.

"I've just spent thirty minutes explaining the importance of respect towards your teachers. Do you want to return at lunch to hear it again?"

The wild hair from my high ponytail slapped my face as I gave a forceful shake of my head.

"I assumed so," Ms. Wilson boastfully remarked. "You're already coming back for an after-school detention along with Tyrone Davis so please try to stay awake young lady!"

I took a short breath when he said, his powerful voice silencing her, "Yeah, that won't be possible." I assumed he was sound asleep.

"Excuse me?" Ms. Wilson asked, looking up sharply at him in disbelief.

With a look that said he was wasting his breath talking to people like her, Tyrone lifted his head from his desk.

"I said I won't be able to make it to your detention. What are you? Deaf?"

She narrowed her steel-grey eyes at him and folded her arms over her chest, asking, "And why is that?"

"I'm visiting my sister."

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment for Ms. Wilson, and the entire class averted their gaze in shame. She must have been informed of the unwritten code by the other professors, right? Tyrone's teachers at this school have never given him homework to do or had him go to detention. They just plain failed him in every subject while secretly grinning pitifully at him.

"I'm pretty sure your sister can wait, she has all the time in the world to see you after your detention young man."

I let out a loud moan, wanting so much to jam a dirty sock down this nasty woman's throat as she encouraged Tyrone with her deadly statements. He clenched his hands tightly, his calloused knuckles a pale white, and he scowled deeply at Ms. Wilson.

"Is that so? My sister has all the time in the world?"

"Yes now hold that rude tongue from running and be quiet!"

Tyrone suddenly burst into furious laughter, the dense tension in the room bouncing off his deep voice. It made us all uncomfortable instead of relieving the anxiety in our eyes; Victoria chewed her lower lip nervously.

"You're funny! Very funny!"

After throwing on his backpack, he got up, hitting his chair hard when he tucked it into the table, scraping the back of it.

"W-What are you doing? The bell hasn't gone young man!"

Tyrone, his sea-green eyes sparkling dangerously, chuckled haughtily under his breath as he marched out towards the door.

"Me?" he asked, gesturing to his own body while chuckling.

The gleaming golden hair hid the thundering flash in his eyes.

"I'm going to leave this classroom before one of us makes a big mistake."

Then, as everyone in the classroom stared at Ms. Wilson in utter dread, he violently slammed the door behind him, causing the posters to tremble.