Mrs. Popular Is A Nerd?

Chapter 17: Class Without ... Jessica

I walk into class feeling worst than when I woke up. I walk over to my seat, ignoring everyone. I look up to Mrs. Barns. She's weakly smiling. She asks, "Are you Ok David? You seem like you just woke up." I answer, "I'm fine, just ... yeah."

"Are you ready with Jessica to present?" She asks. Jessica, the name brings me back. I caused her pain. "Um ... can we have until Friday? Please, she won't be back until ..." I don't even finish my sentence because I don't know when she's coming back. Hopefully she won't, maybe she moved to a new school, maybe she'll be home schooled, maybe ...

"Ok everyone, today we're continuing more presentations we didn't get to see yesterday. Ok so now is James and Ultra. Come up guys!" Mrs. Barns says excitedly. I watch as the two walk up and stand by each other, faces painted with nervousness. I pull out the papers for my project and ignore the groups who go up to present. I look at where we left off. Hope risks her life multiple times by jumping through the Bombs Breath. I grab my pencil off my desk and write The. The what? The main character has ruined someone else's life by crashing a car. I feel like I'm the main character in a story, walking through someone else's words. I'm the main character with a problem that can't be solved until something game changing happens. But what's the game changer? What's about to turn my life upside down?

I don't know. I just want to leave and lay in my bed. I don't want to eat, not move, not do work, I want to lay down and seclude myself from everything.

Suddenly everyone around me starts clapping. Did I miss something? I look up to see James and Ultra bowing. I guess they finished their presentation. Mrs. Barns calls up another group to read there essay/book summary. I return to my own essay. The, why can't I write anything? It was so easy when ... Jessica helped. She suggested and added to what I wrote, fixed my errors, and gave me ... confidence. Now that she's gone, it's ... difficult.

Bring! Bring!

Class is over? Time flies when your mind is elsewhere. I slide my papers back into the folder, put my folder in my backpack, and leave the room. I don't say bye to Luna, and we've done that ever since elementary school.