Riley

Chapter six: Ashes

Theo no longer had the strength to hold his head up to pay attention to the lesson of Mrs. Daniels, the literature teacher. He had the crazy idea of resting his head on his desk, his nose and forehead attached closely to the notebook paper. He did not care if the middle-aged woman saw him and scolded him.

Riley, unlike her desk mate, could keep up with her lengthy explanations. Eyes following her every movement and her right hand writing on the notepad every word that came from her thick lips.

Mrs. Daniels walked over to the blackboard and began to draw a diagram that looked like an upside-down tree. At the top and middle she wrote "How to write a horror story" and drew three arrows far apart.

"How do you keep from falling asleep?" asked Theo in a low voice at one point.

"I stay awake and listen," she answered quietly.

Theo changed position. He stretched out his arms on the bench and rested his chin on the bench. She said in a half-asleep voice, "I can't wait for it to be over."

She wanted it too, damn right she did! Riley felt she was at the end of her rope. Listening and writing at the same time took a large chunk of her energy, which, after four hours of class, she had none left. To avoid falling behind, the 11-year-old began writing as fast as she could; readability would suffer greatly.

Half an hour later, the last bell of the day rang. Mrs. Daniels said she would explain the third arrow the next day, but the buzz of her students' voices prevented her words from reaching their ears. Getting angry was useless now. She grabbed her smartphone and took a picture of the blackboard, then began to put all her things in her backpack. For her, too, the day had turned to an end.

"Mrs. Daniels?" a female voice called to her that she recognized. "Yes, Riley?"

"You dropped this," she said and handed her dirty, weather-worn blue case.

"I thought something was missing," she exclaimed in surprise as she grabbed the object. Most likely it had fallen from the desk during the general marasmus. She thanked her in a kind voice, then asked, "Do you have any doubts about today's class?"

"Um..." she hinted uncertainly as she flipped through her notepad. "I actually would have one."

Mrs. Daniels looked at her watch. It was 1:20 in the afternoon. She had to go to lunch with her colleagues and was, punctually, late.

"You will bring it to me tomorrow, I really have to run now. Study mind you," she told her mortified and hurried out.

"Of course she has to run," the little girl commented irritably and set off to join her friend downstairs.

—

"So," Theo began thoughtfully, "what do you think about... um... geography?"

Riley thought about it before giving her answer. She loved geography. Finding out the customs, the lifestyle of the inhabitants, the strengths of the economy, and the brief history of a state in the world excited her so much. Unfortunately, this subject fell into the "I hate this subject because of the teacher" group.

"Nice for goodness sake," replied Riley holding back an edge of anger, "but Mr. Johnson is making me hate it."

"Then it's a common thought," Theo said, then asked her another question. "Let's get off the subject of school shall we? What do you do in your spare time?"

I sneak around and use diapers! Ha ha ha! If I answered him like that, he would think I was crazy. Ha ha ha ha!

Riley held back a laugh at that thought, although there was nothing funny about it. Theo looked at her puzzled.