Chapter 2

Tanya arrived to class just in time, slipped on the last lab coat and slid onto the last remaining stool at the lab table in the back.  The Science Room was painted an amphibious green, and had odd toys and trinkets sprinkled throughout. There were animal skulls, rare rocks, magnetic orbs, and old experiments that were still in working order. Tanya smudged the oddly absorbent black lab table surface, and shifted uncomfortably on the metal stool. Robin hadn’t started class yet but was talking to one of the teacher’s pets, Sally. Robin was the Science and Math teacher for the seventh graders, and like the other six teachers in the school, all the students addressed her by her first name. In Tanya’s eyes, if Stanley was Hitler, than Robin was Josef Goebbels, Hitler’s right hand man and chief of propaganda. Robin spouted Stanley’s ideals religiously, and had a smile that reminded one of a shark examining its next meal. A shark that wore mom jeans and ladybug clips in her hair. Robin was one of the teachers that liked to probe into her students’ lives, to create a “bond” with them. Strong student-teacher relationships were a huge part of the school’s philosophy, hence the first name basis between the students and teachers.  Robin started writing on the board, something about ROYGBIV and light waves. Tanya and the rest of her table weren’t paying attention, like usual they were all doodling in their composition notebooks and passing notes. Texting during class wasn’t how they communicated with each other, for some reason most of the students preferred to pass notes instead. Tanya, convinced that she was going to become a fantastically talented writer when she grew up, was trying to write some really bad poetry in an attempt to release her anger in a healthy way. It wasn’t working. The more Wally bullied her, the more Tanya retreated into herself, and as a form of protection, she acted and looked sullen and angry. Everyone knows that it’s just a lot easier to be angry than to actually be honest about your feelings. At least, Tanya thought everyone knew that, even though looking back years later she realized that she overestimated everyone’s perceptiveness. Kathy nudged Tanya with a small slip of paper, interrupting her dilemma in finding a word that rhymes with ‘jackass’. Tanya dutifully looked down at the small piece of binder paper and added a squiggly mustache to their drawing. She passed it back and waited for Kathy to add another detail to their shared doodle of a circus man in a top hat. Tanya went back to her poetry. She was so engrossed in her artistic vision that she didn’t hear Robin ask her a question. Tanya looked up, startled to find Robin standing right next to her, looking over Tanya’s shoulder and reading her poetry.

Tanya frantically slammed her notebook shut and inquired softly. “What was the question?”

Robin unfolded her arms and placed a claw firmly on Tanya’s shoulder. Tanya made a concentrated effort not to shudder at this physical contact.

“Tanya,” Robin began in that condescending tone that parents use when scolding young children. “Leave the creativity for writing class after lunch. Right now you should be taking notes. I’m giving you a Blue Slip for your lack of participation in this class, and I hope you’ll be able to make it up to me in a review session after school.”

Tanya groaned inwardly, dreading the damned little pad of papers that was the ‘Blue Slip’. Blue Slips were like demerits, but unlike demerits, students had to make them up, or they’d reflect poorly on one’s semester evaluation. But sometimes Blue Slips were given for issues impossible to make up, like forgetting one’s binder in class, or falling asleep during a lecture. How could one make up an incident like that? The teachers didn’t seem to understand the lack of logic in this practice, and they continued to distribute Blue Slips as if their lives depended on it.  Tanya filled out the little pad of papers, made up of four sheets in total, one for Robin, one for Stanley, one for her parents, and one for her to keep as a reminder of her mistake. Tanya loathed them almost as much as Helping Tasks.  As soon as Robin turned her back on her, Tanya tossed her slip into the trash, knowing that even if she kept it she wouldn’t make it up.

Thankfully, after the period ended it was time for lunch. Tanya’s class was made up of 13 kids, 3 boys, and 10 girls. Of those 10 girls, only 5 all ate together at lunch. Kathy, Mandy, Alexa, Tanya, and Rachael grabbed their various lunches from the hooks outside and marched, one after the other, up the hill. The school used to be a house, with acres of land around it. The back of the school was a sloping hill where a path had been carved out horizontally against it. That path led to two places: the parking lot, awkwardly placed on the hill above the school, and a small picnic area that the students liked to call the Pigs Pen. This is where the seventh grade girls now ate when the eighth grade girls weren’t having their weekly “gossip sessions” with Stanley. Those were every Tuesday, and the school’s headmaster would sit with the eighth grade girls and have them tell him all the drama occurring between students in his school.

But now, the picnic table was theirs.  They gathered around the hexagon shaped table and pulled the food out of their bags. Thus began their favorite game: trading. Mandy was always the most popular, with exotic junk food from Trader Joe’s and fancy healthy sodas, Mandy could pick and choose whomever she wanted to reward. Mandy would often pick a favorite friend every couple of months or so, and that was the person who’d receive her leftovers or surplus. Alexa, who had an overly-confident attitude, bordering on arrogance, could usually weasel them out of Mandy with her own classic school snacks. Kathy had her fair share of delicious food, but was usually content to eat what was packed for her than to barter with them. Which left Rachael and Tanya, who had the least to work with. Rachael had a brother allergic to gluten, which meant that the food in her house was overly simple or weird. Once, on a playdate, Tanya had gotten a good look in her fridge, and it seemed to contain only bread, peanut butter, cheddar cheese, tortillas, and vitamin water. Tanya was put in a difficult situation with her lunches. Her mother, although she sweetly always made an effort, didn’t seem to believe or understand like other mothers did the importance of school lunches. The ritual involved. The stigma some products had, like whole grain bread. Or that creativity, while it could be received enthusiastically, (like leftover dinosaur chicken nuggets) it could also spell disaster (like chicken noodle soup packed in plastic container instead of a regular standard thermos.) This was the bane of Tanya’s existence.  But she managed nonetheless with what she had, scavenging off of Kathy and Mandy.

“So what’s the deal with Carrie?” Rachael asked.

“You mean why isn’t she here?” Tanya sadly peeled the wilted lettuce off of her sandwich and tossed it into the bushes. “She’s been in a meeting in Stanley’s office all morning. I think she’s in trouble.”

“If only.” Alexa scoffed, swapping a bag of her goldfish with Mandy’s pita chips. “I wish she’d just leave already, she’s so annoying.”

“Yeah.” Kathy wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe she’s modeled, she’s so ugly.  Her skin, eyes, and hair are all the exact same color.”

“Well maybe that’s why they’re meeting.” Tanya suggested, biting into a stale cracker.

“Maybe. I wouldn’t be surprised if she left, she hates it here.” Mandy said matter-of-factly.

Carrie was an odd girl that was in their class. While she was an honestly good-natured person, she had specific qualities that made her presence irritating. She was spoiled rotten by her parents, loaded with enough Juicy Couture jewelry and purses to set up her own store. She was vain, often going on about modeling she’d done or incredibly small extra parts she’d had on a couple movies.  And she was quite honestly a little weird looking, which didn’t help. Her hair and skin were a very similar beige color, to be sure, but her eyes were much darker. She was skinny in an unpleasant scrawny way, and her face was overtaken by a large hooked nose.

The other girls made it a game to gently push her out of their little group, with small comments or gestures. It was nothing against her personally, but every group needs one person to unify them, a common enemy. Carrie served that purpose. Tanya, much as she disliked Carrie, almost didn’t want her to leave the school. For if she did, surely there would be a gap that would need to be filled, and Tanya feared that she would be pushed to take Carrie’s place. Her place in the group was precarious already, especially with Alexa, whom the other girls deferred leadership to.

“I think Stanley taping her arm to her head was the last straw.” Rachael offered, biting into a carrot stick.

Stanley was well known for being impatient and rash while teaching. During class about a week ago, they’d all been in the Humanities Room during Stanley’s class. Stanley had been asking them questions, and whenever they’d raise their hands to answer, he’d b***h and complain that Carrie wasn’t raising her hand high enough. Finally, after she’d done it for the umpteenth time, he stalked over to the bookshelf, grabbed a roll of masking tape, and grabbed her tiny bicep. He taped her bicep to the side of her head, so her arm was raised higher. Carrie immediately burst into tears and tried to untangle the sides of the tape from her frizzy hair. Stanley had chuckled to himself and gone back to teaching.

Suddenly, the girls lifted their heads as the bell sounded throughout campus, signaling the end of lunch. They packed up their trash and raced down the path to the back patio, behind the school. The back patio wall was lined with hooks, where the students were supposed to hang their bags, instead of in lockers like most schools.  In the morning, students raced to get the top hooks instead of getting stuck with bottom ones. The people on the bottom had to cross their fingers and hope that Stanley’s dog, Suki, wouldn’t patrol the area before lunch and devour their food. Now, the patio crowded with all 40 students, pushing each other to get to their backpacks. No one wanted to be late and get a Blue Slip. Tanya took her binder out and sighed, falling into step with Mandy.

“Now we face Writing Class. Kill me now.”

Reviews

[diannesam]

You're really good at descriptions and painting a picture for the reader. Great stuff!