The Chase

“Wake up,” someone murmured in my ear. “The teacher is coming and if he sees you—”

A book slammed down on my desk so hard, I almost toppled backwards over my chair in surprise.  

 I groggily rubbed my eyes before I looked up to see my math teacher glaring down at me. Gabriel gave me a sheepish smile from behind him as he mouthed, “I tried to warn you.”

“This is the third time this week you fall asleep in my class! If it happens one more time I’m sending you straight to the Principal’s office! Am I understood?” Mr. Garcia glared down at me. I cowered in my seat and glared at Gabi. He ignored me. I’m going to kill him.

Jose turned around from the front to smirk at me. After the first few days, Jose went back to sitting in the front. What set this decision was his math test grade. Anthony came only to one math class this week, the day we had the test. I did great on it considering the class’s overall grade and that’s the only reason Mr. Garcia is tolerating me more than others.

“So?” Mr. Garcia asked.

“Oh, uh, yeah, totally . . . I mean OF COURSE!” I mumbled. I sneaked a look at Gabi from the corner of my eye and saw him trying to muffle a laugh. I smiled slightly. Mr. Garcia stalked off to the front of the class. The bell rang.

As Gabi and I packed up, Jose walked over to me and started to lecture me about sleeping in class. He couldn’t hold back his smile and ended up laughing during his sermon. I just shook my head and walked out with Gabi. Jose kept on talking as he caught up to us and I just looked at Gabi. He told us he was going to go ahead to English and see us on break.

Gabi was trying to hold back smile. I bumped him with my hip and I got a raised eyebrow in response.

“Can we ditch English? Please?” I begged Gabi with my eyes pleadingly.

He shook his head.

“Please! I’ve been good this whole week! I’ve even been doing my homework! Come on, it’s Friday! Be a little benevolent!”

“Benevolent? When did you learn a big word like that?” Gabi asked incredulous.

“See I told you I’ve been good this week!” I grinned and pleaded with my eyes again.

“Learning a new vocabulary word doesn’t mean anything Grace,” He responded casually.

 “What?!” I asked shocked. “Doesn’t mean anything! I put my heart and soul into learning that word and all I get is ‘doesn’t mean anything’!”

He made a move to cover my mouth to muffle my temper but I moved out his grasp and continued on. “What do I have to do to impress you? I enroll into Art class and actually try to draw . . . AND I CAN’T DRAW! And then I do my stupid homework instead of eating, or sleeping, or . . . EATING! All for you . . . you!”

“Alright, alright! Just stop shouting in the halls!” Gabi murmured.

“Huh? OH YOU MEAN LIKE THIS?” I shouted at the top of my lungs. Gabi simply turned around and started to walk towards his English class. The hallways were nearly empty now and the bell would ring any minute. I ran after him and grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back. It was a fight of Tug-a-War and I was clearly losing.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I said laughing still pulling on his arm. At one point, the hallways suddenly became very empty and the late bell rang. Gabi froze and then sighed. I grinned mischievously as he turned around to look at me. “Can I have a piggy back ride?” I asked innocently.

He grunted as if to say, “In your dreams.” I pouted and reached to put my arms around his neck but he grabbed my arms before I could and set them down. I rolled my eyes at him and started to walk away and headed towards my locker. I grabbed my backpack, swung it over my shoulder, and headed towards the school gates. I didn’t know what they thought about ditching in this country but I was about to find out.

I casually made my way past the front desk and when no one called my name to order me to class, I left. I didn’t notice Gabi on my heels until I turned around to check the school one more time.

“Decided to skip?” I asked him.

“Nope, just coming to drag you back,” He replied easily.

“Hell no! I’m not going back once I’ve come out! Are you crazy?” I asked exasperated.

“Maybe,” He smiled as he walked beside me.

Our hands were so close to touching and I suddenly had the urge to grab it and feel his skin smooth against mine. During my daydream, our hands touched and I pulled away so fast he turned to give me a weird look.