East Chapel Academy

Chapter 29- Nia

"Dammit." 

I said under my breath. The paper jammed in the printer again, I had already asked Mr. Hobbs how to fix it once and I didn't want to ask him again, fearing that I would look like a complete idiot.

I opened the compartment that held the paper and I could see the where the white sheet was stuck between the teeth of the printer. I tried my best to pull it through without getting ink on my fingers.

"Having trouble?" I turned to find Thomas standing behind me. His uniform was back to its sloppy state. Shirt wrinkled and unbuttoned at the top. With sneakers, instead of classic dress shoes or loafers. I found that I liked his spin on the East Chapel uniform, I'd noticed that some of the other students had made small personal alterations to their uniforms as well.

Lavender usually sticks with the uniform but she'll add a small pin to the lapel of her blazer. Usually with some cheeky saying. And sometimes she'd wear sneakers with it.

Stacy wore boots instead of flats with hers. Unless you consider the smudges of paint that you'll find on her sleeves, she doesn't do much else to her uniform.

Unlike Crystal and Whitney, who's uniform looked nothing like anyone else's. Their skirts were inches shorter, and the never wore the classic white button up. Choosing to wear blouses that cost more than my whole uniform put together. They both wore high heels every day.

Maybe I should change up my uniform. But I don't know what I would do.

Thomas came around to the side of the printer next to where I was standing. I had removed my hand from it. Successfully, keeping my hands clean.

"It hates me," I said looking at the dumb machine. Ugh, I've never wanted to kick something so much in my life. "Every time I try to print something it jams."

Thomas chuckled surveying the machine. "Don't worry it doesn't just hate you, it hates all of us." He pulled the sheet out, and hit the reset button on the front of the machine. The printer started up again, printing out my cheerleading reference sheet that I had been trying to print for so long.

"Thank you," I said pulling it from the tray.

"Oh, anytime," he smiled, fixing his glasses. "It's an unpredictable machine."

"Tell me about it."

"I liked your article about the art show," he said following behind me as I went back to my desk. "Stacy's portrait was beautiful, it was of her moms, right?"

"Yes, it was." I taped my reference sheet to the side of my desk, this would come in handy if I had to keep writing for the sports column. Thankfully, East Chapel had more sports than just football, so I had a lot to choose from. I'd chosen cheerleading this week, because if being thrown several feet in the air and coming back down again while keeping a smile on your face isn't a sport then I don't know what is.

He sat at his own desk, catching a marker that threatened to roll off the edge. He pulled out a small stack of papers that had been stapled to resemble a magazine out of his backpack.

"Oh my God, you finished it!" The Mall People. I recognized the inside of the comic book store, the Pac Man machine in the back. A boy, who was obviously supposed to be Thomas leaned against the old Pac Man machine and there was another character too.

"Is that...is that me?" If it wasn't then she just looked just like me. Braids. Brown skin. Amazing taste in clothes, but that's just my opinion.

"It is," said Thomas. "Do you like it?"

"It's awesome, Thomas." I flipped through the brightly colored pages. "The Mall People" were zombies and we had to fight them off and the only way to kill them was to stab them with fifty percent off sale signs. "It's great, Thomas, really."