Badly Broken

Chapter 39

Kai's POV

"She hasn't moved yet," I rubbed my eyes, staring at Charlotte's location on my phone as Lucas and I walked through the school halls to our American History class.

I was completely ignoring the numerous stares, most likely because I was wearing a tee-shirt, putting some of the scars on my arms on full display. And the rest of the people looking at me? Probably curious about the marks after watching the Mad Dog finale, yet no one dared to come and ask me to my face. Instead, they all resorted to hushed whispers and strange rumors.

"Just wait a bit longer. It's not even 8:00 am. Plus, she goes to Dramth Elementary, and I looked it up, they don't start until 9 o'clock," Lucas tried to reassure me.

I sighed, "Okay," as I threw my backpack onto the floor, taking my seat next to Lucas. We were placed in the back left corner of the classroom, right next to the window. Our desks were touching, just like every pair of desks lining the four rows.

"Carter said he dropped by their house yesterday, right after he left ours, but no one answered the door and he hasn't gotten a judge to approve the warrant yet so there was nothing he could do," Lucas explained.

I set my phone face up on the table, looking at the device as if there would be a sudden change in Charlotte's location.

Students continued to file into the classroom, the last wave coming in right as the bell rang. The white lights of the classroom were blinding, surely meant to keep drowsy students awake. Our teacher, who we all call Mr. H, was collapsed on his desk at the front of the classroom. His head was face down, placed in his hands. His curly dark brown hair fell over the edges of his hands and part of his beard was visible.

He sucked in a loud breath, his head popping up from his wooden table. He glanced around the room, squinting through his crooked rectangular glasses.

"Hey, what's up, guys. I hope you all had a great weekend, I know I sure as hell did," Mr. H rubbed the back of his head, clearly in pain.

"Uhm," he yawned before he continued. "Lucas, Kai, congrats on winning the championship, I'm sure basically everyone in this room was watching either at the stadium or at home."

"Thanks," Lucas gave him a curt smile. Mr. H was a pretty cool teacher. He was chill and easy going.

"Yo, did Viktor really break the concrete?" A guy asked from the other side of the room.

"How much money did you win!?" Came another shout from someone else.

"Now now," Mr. H interrupted, "Let's not talk so loud."

The students quieted down, resorting to talking amongst themselves instead.

"Originally, I was going to give a lecture. But I'll be honest with you all, I'm hungover and not in the mood. So instead I'm just going to put on the news. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something new about the happenings of the world," he spoke monotonously. With a sigh, he stood up to raise the projector screen, then sliding the whiteboard to the side to reveal a large shelf with a medium, somewhat small TV. He pushed his chair back and placed his feet on his desk, pointing his remote at the TV and turning it on, flipping channels until he found his favorite news station.

This was a common occurrence in this class. Whenever Mr. H wasn't in the mood to teach, he'd turn off the lights and put on the news or the occasional war documentary.

The screen flashed white, now showing a caucasian woman wearing an orange dress with a purple bar below displaying the name of the news channel.

"This is Candyce McClaire and I'm bringing to you this morning's eight am breaking news!" She over-enunciated her words. "Last night we received word from a Dramth policeman that the Silveredge violent crimes unity has identified a man suspected of murder."