My first elective: Library
Taught by: Ms. Jenny (Teacher nickname: KindOne McBooks)
Rank on my Friday class list out of three: three
Other people in my class: Lisa DeFlasta, Gerald Schumer, Diana Firiani, Bianca Romero, Katie Lorenzo, Alexander Dune, Janine Pontero, Leyla Smith, Nicholas Slokstovki, Maya Hsu, Gabriella Duke, Avery Winston
First I have to stop by my locker. I share a locker with Lisa. The problem: it's right next to Ariana's and Charlotte's. I guess it's good for Lisa and Ariana's “sister bonding,” but I don't like Ariana much. In case you didn't notice. I mean, she's mean, she's not that smart, and she's, um, Ariana.
I sneak the ziplock of Halloween candy I stole from David out of my backpack, and into our locker. We have a secret candy stash. At least Ariana and Charlotte are at their friend/minion, Sasha's locker. Lisa and I both really like reading, so we have a Library. The Librarian, Ms. Jenny, is really nice. We skip to the library, practicing our British accents.
About halfway there, Lisa and I stop at the water fountains for a drink. We hear voices. Trey Sterling and his gang of baseball boys round the corner.
“Remember when Ron hit himself in the face with his bat?”I hear Trey say. Ron is a boy at my Ivy Cafe bus stop. He's really nice. Right on cue, Trey's friends (servants) mutter their remembrance.
“Oh yeah, that was hilarious, ya, poor Ron,” are some of the things I hear among the boys. And then they're gone. They didn't even notice we were there.
“How rude!”I exclaim to Lisa in a British accent. We snicker and hurry to the library.
When we get there, the thirteen other kids in our class stare back at us. We're only two minutes late, but the judgemental looks they give us make me feel like we've missed the whole class.
“Welcome, Lisa. Welcome, Kayla,” Ms. Jenny says, a kind smile on her face. “Did you remember your bookbag?” I panic. The bookbag overview is this week?! Three weeks ago, Ms. Jenny gave us each a colorful book bag filled to the brim with fun quizzes, books that she handpicked for each of us, bookmarks, a timer, a ten-dollar Barnes & Noble gift card, and even a Kindle! It's my favorite bag in the whole wide world! Today is the day we have to bring our book bags in so that Ms. Jenny can look at the activities we did and the things we used. We get to keep the Kindle. BUT, I forgot it at home. I can't believe I'm doing this.
“Um, Ms. Jenny?”
“Yes, Kayla?”
“I…I left my bookbag in my locker. May I please be excused to retrieve it?”
“Of course, Kayla. Take your time.” Lisa gives me a funny look.
I walk to the door of the library, round the corner, and run. I zig-zag through the empty corridors, zip-up one flight of stairs, and come to a stop underneath a restroom sign. This is one of the five single-stall girls' bathrooms at EMS. I practically own this one.
This is the place I come to every time I tell a lie. I've been lying my whole life (I lied about not knowing where my dad's keys were when I was three. They were in my pull-up), but I feel like since dad died, the number of lies I tell increases every day. I've only been awake for one and a half hours, and I've already told two lies.
