92 Days Of Summer

Chapter 23--Oh, What a Beautiful Day

Grace's POV

The rain drizzled down the glass pane windows of the classroom. Mrs. Gaudily, the English teacher, droned on and on about the importance of the language and shit in Shakespeare's plays. Even the smart kids stopped listening after twenty minutes. We've heard similar lectures to this before in the semester. She's been talking about the same topic for the past three days since we got back from winter break. At first, it was interesting, fascinating even. I was so mesmerized by the elegance of it all. How deep and broad every play was. It was like a different world; once you entered, you wouldn't want to leave.

Though, Mrs. Gaudily made me want to leave. She bored the crap out of me and every student that had year 10 English with her monotone voice. She lacked excitement and elation that took out all the adventure of the lesson. Even Quinn and his friend Connor skipped more than usual just so they wouldn't have to listen to her. Quinn was already close to failing and this was his grade. I was a year ahead of him, I didn't pay any more attention than he did, but I showed up almost every day. So of course, my grade was higher.

Quinn sat a little far away from me; two rows down and one desk ahead. He never saw me, so it was easy to stare at the back of his head. When he didn't show up, I'd stare at his seat and pretend he was there, like he'd glance back at me and catch me gawking at him. Then, turn away blushing just to catch my eye again to wink slyly. The problem was, he hadn't shown up for the whole week. While Mrs. Gaudily drawled on, I dreamed of running my hands through his thick black hair...Feeling his piercings against all parts of my skin...His lips on my lips...The cold of the lip rings making me shiver...Feeling his smooth tattooed skin as I lay next to him at night, him embracing me from the cold of his basement after we--

"Grace!" I jumped at the sound of my name being called. Mrs. Gaudily is staring at me with half-closed eyes, as if she couldn't care less and she was only calling me because the principal was doing a daily stroll through all the classrooms. He wasn't though.

"Y-yes Mrs. Gaudily?" I asked shakily, still stunned.

"Were you paying attention, Ms. Hood? I asked you a question."

"What was the question?"

"So you weren't paying attention then," Mrs. Gaudily remarked. She said it as a statement but it sounded like a question.

I answered bluntly, "No, not really." A few people chuckled around me.

The old lady rolled her eyes upward so I could only see the whites. Her mouth hung open in an upside down U.

"Of course not," she creaked. "You adolescent children do not listen to anything I say."

"Doesn't adolescent mean childish?" a voice perked up. Again, it received many laughs from the students. Mrs. Gaudily just stared at him. Her cheeks drooped, making her look like she was about to pass out right there.

"He was paying attention, wasn't he?" a girl next to me remarked. This caused everyone to laugh while our teacher stood up in front of the board looking defeated.

At this point, she gave up and went back to her desk. The rest of class was spent listening to my classmates conversation as I pretended to be doodling in my notebook. At some point, Mrs. Gaudily asked if anyone had seen Quinn, Connor, or Chloe. It was then I noticed she hadn't even shown up. Funny, I noticed her friend's absence but not my own sister's.

I get a queasy feeling in my stomach thinking of her with Quinn. Even though they might be with Connor, they're usually alone at home. I would watch on the sidelines of them making out in the hallways. Thankfully, it seems they've lost the "with benefits" from their title as best friends. Surprisingly though, it seems they also lost the title as "best friends" in general. But when I attempt to ask Quinn about it, he's discreet about it or he makes a joke about Chloe being a whore. You'd think hearing someone say something like that about my sister would bother me but it didn't.