Another Broken Smile

17- Been Too Long

"Annellie, would you mind answering the question on the board" the teacher states firmly her lips pressed into a thin line. Her stern voice drags me from my fantasy and brings me back to the cold hard reality. My eyes dart to the board where the slides on power point are playing. I read the question on the slide and my thoughts are jumbled.

I have no idea what she was lecturing about because my mind was already preoccupied with Tuesday morning mishaps. I stare blankly at my psychology teacher and her impatience slowly wears thin.

"Would you mind standing up in your place at least" she says making no effort to hide the irritation in her voice. I rise up in my seat and I can feel everyone staring at me. The question seems simple and obvious to everyone except me whose brain is churning frantically searching for an answer. I can even feel the questioning stare of Alec from behind. I try to ignore the heated stare Alec gives and read the question loudly

"An experiment that is done so that neither the people who are doing the experiment nor the people who are the subjects of the experiment know which of the groups being studied the control group is and which is the test group is called a _____________control"

"Do you know the answer or your sweet world of daydreams more interesting to your thoughts rather than my lecture?" she questions putting me on the spot.

A blush from embarrassment covers my face. I have never been called out in class like that!

"I..." I trail off trying to buy time. My thoughts whiz past several definitions and terms I had learnt. What was it called again? Oh! "It's called a blind experiment" I answer my lips turning into a smile, happy that I didn't look like a fool but my teacher doesn't seem to share my joy.

"Very well sit down Annellie" she commands and I quickly take my seat thanking the lords! She glares at me knowing too well that I wasn't concentrating but can't do anything about it.

I usually do concentrate in psychology class as the subject interests me but today was just not the day. When I walked into school Tuesday seemed like another monotonous day I had to go through. I had barely slept yesterday night, I had randomly got up at 4:00 am and turned and tossed around on the bed. Daniel seemed to occupy every fiber of my body and I had a hard time falling asleep again. Carla's boyfriend had dropped by in the morning to give Carla a ride to her school. I have often seem him before, he seems like a genuinely nice guy who likes to joke around a lot so I was surprised when he came into the house with a grim expression as I cooked breakfast. I told him I'd call Carla and went upstairs. Once Carla came down he told her he wanted to talk about something important. Carla and her boyfriend made way to her bedroom and all I could hear was Carla throwing a huge tantrum upstairs. I didn't bother to check up on her, I had enough for the day already. Turns out Carla's boyfriend had come to dump her and she wept loudly throwing everything in her room here and there. The guy pretty much ran out of the house when he saw her turn into a monster. I couldn't help but pity the guy. Only heaven knows how he put up with her for so long.

So all morning the serenity of the wintry morning was disturbed by Carla's wails. She stayed home to apparently cope with her heartbreak. So I had a rough start this morning.

When I walked into the school grounds, the usual chatter of the students filled the air and it usually never failed to perk my interest but today all I wanted was for everyone to shut up as it was nowhere helping my growing headache. I told Adeline to drop me off at the nearest Starbucks to school and head to school without me. I told her I would walk to school after buying a cup of coffee, she told me she could wait but I insisted. I really wanted some peace for now. With reluctance she agreed and headed to school but that was a great mistake.

I entered Starbucks and asked for my regular latte. I quickly finished my coffee and headed outside hoping that I am not late to school. I received a text from Alec wishing me a sweet good morning that brought a smile to my face and boom...