Secrets of the Deep [Wattpad Featured Story]

Chapter Seven

ONE WEEK LATER

I slid into my seat just as the bell rang. Señora Ramirez, my Spanish teacher, looked at me and tsked. "That was another close call, Rayne," she warned. Her lilting accent carried across the room, and a few students turned their heads to glance at me. Feeling my cheeks redden from the unwanted attention, I nodded and tried my best to look apologetic. In reality, I could care less if I arrived late to class. Spanish was my least favorite subject, mainly because it was my worst. Learning a foreign language did not come easy to me.

"Take out su tarea and pass it forward, por favor," Señora Ramirez instructed the class. As soon as everyone had passed up his or her homework, she handed out a worksheet for us to do while she corrected.

I twirled my pencil around with my fingers as I stared at the paper in front of me. I had a vague idea what some of the words meant, but for others I had no clue. I groaned and sunk lower in my seat.

Time passed slowly. I had only filled in ten of the twenty questions on the worksheet by the time Señora Ramirez stood up to command the class' attention.

A feeling of dread settled in my stomach. I reread question 11 multiple times, but I couldn't think of the answer for the life of me. Verb conjugations swirled around in my head.

I glanced up and swept my gaze anxiously around the room. Almost every student was finished, their papers lying face-down on their desks. Only a few continued to scribble frantically in order to finish before time was up. I knew I needed to do the same. My pencil hovered over the remaining questions, ready to circle at random, when Señora Ramirez suddenly announced, "Time's up!"

A few students grumbled while others yawned and mechanically passed their papers forward. I inwardly cringed as I handed my worksheet to the person in front of me. Señora Ramirez is going to kill me. I only answered ten questions—ten stupid questions! Why can't I remember this stuff? I had tried my hand at studying, but since I had the attention span of a lightning bolt, it was impossible for me to focus for more than a few minutes. And Spanish was like trying to study an error code on a computer—it was just a jumble of characters that made absolutely no sense.

By the time class was finally over, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked over to Sage's desk. "Hey," I sighed.

"Hi." She cocked her head and regarded me carefully. "Had some trouble with that worksheet?"

"Yeah. I'm clueless when it comes to speaking another language."

"Ugh, I know how you feel. Sometimes—"

"Rayne," Señora Ramirez called, beckoning me over to her desk.

I sighed. "Gotta go. See you later."

Sage gave me a reassuring smile before heading off to her next class, and I warily stepped up to my teacher's desk.

She held up the worksheet that I had struggled with earlier. "Rayne, I don't understand. You had veinte minutos to complete this paper, and yet only the first ten questions are answered."

"I'm sorry, Señora Ramirez...I just need to study my vocab some more."

"No! Vocabulario is not the problem. You need to focus in class and pay attention. Less talking, y más escuchando. ¿Comprendo?"