I tapped my pencil endlessly on my desk. I was staring at Ms. Clark, but I had no idea what she was saying. Every minute of sixth period felt like an eternity. It was a Friday afternoon and social studies would be over in fifteen minutes. But that only seemed to make it harder to pay attention.
I looked up at the clock and sighed. I was sure I was going to fall asleep if Ms. Clark kept on talking about, well . . . whatever she was talking about. Just as I closed my eyes, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I looked at Grace, who was sitting to the left of me. She pointed to Ms. Clark. Ms. Clark's arms were folded over her chest. Her fierce scowl reminded me of a dragon. So when she opened her mouth to talk, I honestly thought she might breathe out fire.
"Bella, are you going to go or not?" she asked. Her deep voice began to make my ears throb.
I just sat and stared at her, though. If she hadn't known I wasn't paying attention earlier, she surely knew now. I knew I would get yelled at later, but I asked her anyway, "Go where?"
I sat back in my chair and waited for the fire. I started counting down in my head. 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
But she didn't say anything. She didn't even move. Her eyes were now boring into my head. The whole class probably wanted to laugh at me because I must have sounded so stupid asking where she wanted me to go. But, they all held it in because they knew she was some kind of demon, too.
Grace nudged me on the arm and whispered, "You got called down to the office."
I stood up and said, "I'll go right now." And with that, I stalked out of the classroom.
In the hallway, I made sure I walked real slow. If I timed it right, I could get back to the classroom just as the bell rings. That way, I'd avoid Ms. Clark yelling at me for not paying attention and school would be over for the day.
Although, when I got to the office, I saw it had only taken me five minutes to get down there. So on the way back, I'd have to find a way to kill a few extra minutes.
"Bella Gindoff?" one secretary called. I walked over to her and stood in front of her desk. "Your aunt called a little while ago . . . She said some appointment came up for your mother . . . She won't be able to pick you up today. So you'll have to ride the bus home with, I believe she said Grace Farrell. Okay?"
My eyes buldged out of my head with confusion. But I quickly snapped back into reality. "Okay . . ." I said. I turned away and headed back into the hall.
I ran to the bathroom right across from the office. My head hurt, I felt dizzy and I could feel my face growing pale. I shoved the door open and let it slam closed. I looked at myself in the mirror. Sure enough, my eyes were huge and puffy. My face turned paler by the second. The only thought crossing my mind was, my aunt had died in a car crash two years ago.
