TRAPPED

38

Celine

Riley and I have French next. We walk together, then sit down. But neither of us are in the mood to do work, so we don't even open our books.

     The teacher notices and assigns everyone a task before walking over. "Is there a problem, girls?"

     "No." Riley says.

     "Then why aren't your books open?" She asks.

     "Because this class is so useless. I'm never going to France." Riley replies.

     "You might." The teacher counters. "And whether you go to France or not, you picked this class. So participate. Get your books open."

I sigh heavily and open my book. Riley does too, however we don't do any work that lesson. When the bell rings, we leave as fast as we can and split up in the religious education department. She's in a higher set than I am, so we're in different classes.

     I walk to the teachers desk. She's an old woman with grey hair and an impatient look on her wrinkled face.

     She reminds me of my grandmother, on my dad's side. Although I suppose both my grandmas look like her.

     "I'm new." I mumble. "Where do I sit?"

     She sighs heavily. "Go sit at the back."

     I turn around and walk to the back of the class. I sit down on an empty double desk, and I'm thankful that no one's sitting next to me when someone drops into the seat.

     I turn. A boy with black hair is sitting beside me. He has a guarded look on his face as he glances at me, showing me his deep green eyes. They narrow into a glare. "What?"

     I glare back. "What?"

     "Stop staring at me."

     "Calm down. I barely looked at you."

     "Mhm." He mumbles. He sighs and leans back in his seat, and my head begins to ache suddenly. I close my eyes and hold onto my temple, wincing from the pain. "What's wrong with you?"

     "What's wrong with you?" I respond. I grab my bag and stand. I walk over to the door, and when I glance at him I see that he's looking at me. People are still coming in, so no one really notices when I leave. Except for him. He'd probably snitch, the little weasel.

     I go into the toilets and call my dad. He answers almost immediately. "Are you okay?" He asks.

     "My head hurts. I want to come home."

     "Go to the nurse, baby. Camilo dropped some stuff off for you there earlier." He tells me. "If it doesn't get better I'll come pick you up."

     "Can't you just come get me now?" I ask.

     "Try and stay the whole day, alright?" He says. "We can go out to eat after I pick you and your brothers up, before we go to the doctors."

     I frown. "I thought that was tomorrow."

     "It got moved up." He tells me. "Message me if you still don't feel well after you go to the nurse, okay?"

     I sigh. "Okay." Then I end the call and leave the toilets. I go to the nurses office and give my name in. She tells me to wait for a few minutes because someone else is in her room. I sit down, leaning my head back on the wall. I close my eyes, holding onto my forehead.

     She calls me in after what feels like hours. "My dad said you have stuff for my headaches."

     "Oh, right." She says. She goes into the small freezer beside a counter and pulls one of my cold caps out. She passes it to me. "You can sit outside and keep it on for however long you want."