The Killer 17

The Day It All Changed

"And so slope-intercept form proves to be one of the most important equations that I can possibly teach you during your time within this class." The teacher squeaks the marker across the board and writes the equation;
y=mx + b. He caps the marker and holds it out towards the students before him, they all direct their attention to him and pretend as if they care.

"Would anyone like to come up to the board and graph...." He pauses, turning back to the board and writes more;
y= 3/5x - 6. "This equation?"

As usual, no one is chomping at the bit to participate, mostly because half of the class is sleeping, then there's people like me, we don't want to be humiliated.

"Oh come on, really? No one wants to volunteer? Sarah, would you, hm... Jacob? No..." The class falls silent, I cross my arms and sink back in my chair. The chair squeals and the teacher shoots me a creepy smile. "Ah, Celeste... How about you?"

By this point, every open eye was on me, daunting me to get it over with. I sigh and rise from my seat, unhappy. Those girls who I can tell don't like me begin to whisper as I slowly make my way up to the board, they keep their flawless eyes locked on every movement I make. I don't like being watched like most normal people...

The teacher practically shoves the marker in my face, I am internally screaming. I take the marker, annoyed. He steps to the side as I graph it, plotting the y-intercept at -6, going up the y-axis by 3 units and the sliding over on the x by 5 units. I sketch out the line as the teacher watches, furrowing his brows at my decisions. Oh no...I've done it wrong... I messed up didn't I? They think I'm stupid now... Oh god...

"You are allowed to use a straightedge..."

"O-oh of course, thank you..." I timidly grip the ruler and begin erasing the crooked line, replacing it with a new and improved straight line, I am proud of my line, no one else will applaud it, but I think it deserves an award.

I click the lid back on the marker and hand it back to Mr. Sanders. Yes, he has a name, I just never use it.

I head back to my seat right as the bell rings, class is finally over. "Alright class, no homework for tonight, great work today, I'll see you all tomorrow." The teacher says, he always says something like that as if any of us are actually listening.

6-10-22 and click, I'm in, it's so satisfying getting to act like some kind of secret agent every time I crack the code on my locker. "Hey Celeste," a voice calls behind the metal door startling me, I know who it is immediately.

"What do you want Cole?"

"Oh damn, what are you mad about? What happened? Tell me..." He pries doing some weird dance moves because that's just what Cole does.

"It's nothing, it's just those same girls in 6th hour, the ones that always laugh at me-"

"Ughhhhh," he interrupts. "You told me about them, why can't you just ignore them? Who cares what they think?"

"You know what? It doesn't matter, just forget about it."

"Fiiiiiiine...." He whines. "Are you going to homecoming?"

"No, why would I want to go to that?" I laugh, I've never been the type for formal events.

"I don't know, I was just asking. You sure you don't want to go? I could hook you up." He winks.