IMMORAL

1

"Think about it like this," Tyson began to tell her, smiling widely, "You behave in that class and it's an easy A."

"An easy A that is worth no credits toward college," She reminded him and Tyson scoffed.

"Since when did you care about college?" He asked her, looking puzzled.

"I've always cared about college," She complained, looking almost offended, "I just never talked about it."

Tyson opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off when the bell rang. They shared an annoyed look, knowing they'd have to finish their conversation later. "See you third period in history?" He asked her curiously and Brielle smiled, nodding her head.

With that, she walked off and in the direction of the behavioral class, trying to fight the urge to just skip it.

As she walked into the class, everyone's head turned. They didn't seem to care that she was there, though. It was somewhat expected. Though some of them smiled in amusement, recalling a time not too long ago Brielle seemed to act as though she was better than them, yet here she was.

"Do you mind?" Brielle suddenly spoke up, noticing two girls staring at her.

They rolled their eyes at her and immediately looked away, causing Brielle to smile in satisfaction before she sat at an empty table.

It was the only high school class she knew of besides art class where there were tables for the students instead of individual desks.

She knew some students were still not there, which meant she'd be forced to share the table. It was the last thing she wanted. She wanted to stay clear of everyone that year, in all honesty. She wanted her junior year to be calm and to be without any drama.

But it was high school. There was no chance that was going to happen, no matter how much she hoped for the opposite.

It wasn't long before the teacher, Mrs. Powell, entered, and when she did, class began. The class was mediocre and many students made snarky remarks after whatever she said, which led to Mrs. Powell surprisingly making a retort that made everyone laugh.

She ended up finishing the intro to the class by assigning a project that had to do with problem-solving and getting to know their peers. The first part of the project was to interview another student in the class. The second part was to work with that said student to solve the problems assigned to them. The problems were real-life ones, problems like peer pressure, drug abuse, and how to get out of toxic and abusive relationships. They had to work with their partner to list steps on how to resolve the issues in their "lives".

As she sat in her seat, Brielle sighed and leaned back. She watched as the students around her rushed to partner with each other while she was left on her own. She hoped it would stay that way. Perhaps Mrs. Powell would allow her to work alone. She did work better that way. She didn't really get along with her peers. Not anymore, at least.

"Mrs. Powell?" Brielle spoke up, raising her hand, "Can I just work alone? There are no more people to partner up with and I work better alone, anyway."

"Ms. Westbrook, this assignment is not to be done alone. It's about teamwork and learning to work with people you might not get along with," Mrs. Powell informed her in a calm tone, "In life, there are many situations where you'll have to work with people you don't particularly like. It'll be good practice to start experiencing it now."

"But there isn't anyone to work with, anyway so—" Brielle began to argue, only to have her eyes widen at the sight of a familiar person entering the class.

The sight of him made Brielle feel a pang in her chest. It was as though she was seeing a ghost. He looked different. He changed a lot since she last saw him, which was around Christmas last year when she was forced to leave school.