Smarter Than You Think

Chapter 2

I wake up in possibly the most unpleasant way possible. The blaring sounds of a fire alarm pounds in my eardrums. All the other girls are shooting up like I did. I put on shoes and a robe to go to our designated spot outside. My friends and I decide to go find the guys. Once we find them we stand next to each other in line.
"So Miss Bedhead had to get up early." Matt says.
"I'm not sure if I've clarified this before, but just to make sure I have, I will kill you if you talk to me before seven thirty, preferably eight in the morning." I say.
They all laugh.
"Can't help you there. Not my fault Ms. Rose wanted to make you mad by calling a fire drill." Cole says.
"On the bright side Gannon gets to sleep in our dorm." Matt says.
"Well that's just wonderful isn't it." I say sarcastically.
"Be nice, Stevie." Anush says nudging me.
"I'm sorry what I meant was I won't care about anything you said until I get dressed and ready and got to breakfast." I respond to her.
"So I take it you don't like waking up?" Gannon asks.
"I proud myself in my sleeping habits. That's something you'll learn real fast." I tell him.
"I can tell." he says.
"So Gannon, how was your first day?" Kayla asks him.
"Absolute crap." Joshua says.
"Sorry, he likes to do that. I was asking HIM." Kayla says.
"I mean the teachers could be better, but you know whatever. Not much we can do about that. It's alright." Gannon says.
"Pretty much sums up life here." I say.
"Stevie, I keep meaning to ask you why are you so pale?" Matt says grinning.
Everyone laughs.
"Matt, I keep meaning to ask you why are you so skinny?" I ask him.
"Ladies, ladies, let's not get hissy." Joshua says.
I laugh.
"Alright let's just admit that Stevie is overly pale and underweight, Matt is skinnier than most guys our age." Alexandra says.
"Why do I get underweight and overly pale?" I ask.
They laugh at me.
"Because we like to tell the truth." Joshua says.
"You're mean." I tell them.
Their laughter is interrupted by a loud whistle. Ms. Rose has a megaphone. She paces back and forth.
"All right everybody, listen up!" she shouts. "The drill is over. There's always room for improvement especially for you. Do better next time, blah, blah, blah. You can go back to your dorms and get ready." she says.
I roll my eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, Miss Crossfire!" she yells at me.
My friends laugh at me for the millionth time this morning. We go to our dorms and get ready. We head to breakfast.
Page Break
I go through my main routine, teachers yelling at kids for various things, practically sleeping though boring classes. In the evening I decide to hang out with Gannon instead of staying in my dorm. We go to the kitchen an sneak some food out, then go outside to sit and eat.
"So your friends are pretty cool." he says.
"Thanks." I say.
"So I was thinking maybe you'd want to, um, do this again tomorrow night?" he asks.
I notice he's blushing slightly. I realize he's asking me on a date type of thing. If Alexandra could hear this right now. I smile at him.
"I'd love to." I say.
He relaxes.
"So do you ever have days without class?" he asks.
"Yeah, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we have class. On Thursdays we go on "field trips" where they take us on a bus to weird places. They just teach us about random stuff then. I think it's just to keep us from getting too restless. Then on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays we don't have to do anything." I explain.
"What do you mean by keeping us from getting too restless?" he asks.
"Think about it. They keep us locked up here, in who knows where. We have hardly any freedom at all. The teachers suck. You'll get restless if you never leave. They think it'll contain the restless feeling inside if they take us on weekly little field trips. That's not entirely true. Some people including me don't like being kept in here. I want to leave and make myself useful. I refuse to be controlled by some stupid group of people, who think they're better than I am. I don't want to be trapped in a cage like some kind of animal." I tell him.
"You really are amazing aren't you?" he says.
"What?" I ask.
"Oh, it's nothing." he says quickly.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
He sighs. "Your friends talked to me. They told me you were cool stuff like that. I'd just kind of pushed it to back of my mind until now." he says.
I put my head in my hands.
"Oh my god." I mutter.
"It's okay. You can trust me. They're just being silly. Whatever happens, happens." he says.
I take a deep breath and recover.
"What you just said though. I would've never expected that to come from you. I can see you becoming restless. There's something different about you, and I can't quite put my finger on it." he says.
"Thanks I guess." I say.
He laughs.
"What?" I ask.
"You have so much personality. You can't predict what'll come from you. If you'll get something sarcastic or nice. It's refreshing." he says. "Oh yeah I meant to tell you. You're not overly pale or underweight. You're healthy, not underweight. You're fair skinned, not overly pale. And you look pretty strong, long, silky, dark brown hair, dark blue eyes, fairly tall for your age and gender. Pretty." he says.
I blush and am about to say something but he just smiles at me once more and leaves. I sit there for a while and grin to myself like an absolute idiot.
Page Break
I head back to my dorm while debating whether or not to tell Alexandra about what just happened. I decide against it. Even if she'd be dying to know it's something personal. That doesn't stop her from asking questions.
"Where were you?!" she asks.
"Nowhere." I say.
"We're you with him?" she asks excitedly.
"Nope." I say.
I may be a lot of things, but I'm good at lying.
"Whatever. I'll find out soon enough. I'm waking you up earlier so we can set up the bucket of water for Mr. Hine." she says.
"Okay." I tell her.
I get read for bed, and lay there for a while replaying that night in my mind over and over again.
Page Break
Alexandra shakes me awake the next morning. We get dressed quietly before anyone else. We head to the janitors closet and pick the lock to get a bucket. Then we go outside and fill it with water from the fountain. We go to Mr. Hine's classroom and fix the door with the bucket of water. By then it's time for breakfast so we go eat.
"So how often do you do this stuff?" Gannon asks me.
"Several times a week. It satisfies my impulses to punch the teachers in the face." I tell him.
He laughs. "And you never get in trouble?" he says.
I shake my head. "They can't prove it was me." I say.
"Wow. So do you get each teacher once a week?" he says intrigued by my antics.
"Pretty much. Every week a different teacher who's irritated me especially gets something twice. They know that, they just can't predict who it'll be every week." I explain.
We finish eating and go to math. The class waits outside the door as usual. Mr. Hine walks up and skims everyone, then gives me a worried glance. He opens the door and the bucket of water topples onto his head. His entire body is soaked. He closes his eyes and wipes the water away firm his face. He opens his eyes slowly and looks at me.
"Steven." he says.
"Yes?" I say a sweet smile on my face.
"What is this?" he asks trying to remain calm.
"That was a bucket of water. Now it's an empty bucket." I say.
"What was it doing on the top of my door?" he says.
"Mr. Hine, are you accusing me of something?" I say pretending to be shocked.
I hear a few snickers.
"Why did you do this?" he says.
"I didn't do anything. I've been a good little girl! I come when I call and I stay when I'm told." I say.
"Yes you did do this." he says.
"You see the thing is, you can't prove anything." I say.
He shouts in frustration. "Stop doing these things!" he yells at me.
"Stop treating me like an animal." I say calmly.
"So do you admit it?" he asks eagerly.
"I have nothing to admit to." I say.
"Class, go in. I'm going to call Ms. Rose to watch you all while I go change into some dry clothes." he says. "And Miss Crossfire will stay behind to have a little chat with Ms. Rose." he adds sneering at me.
I roll my eyes.
"Do this happen every time?" Gannon whispers to me.
"Not usually. He's just super hissy about it since I already did something to him this week. I've been getting on his nerves especially lately, but he's been on my nerves even more." I say quietly.
We walk in and sit down at our desks. Mr. Hine furiously dials sown numbers in his telephone and whispers quickly into the speaker on it. Within ten minutes Ms. Rose is here and Mr. Hine is gone to change clothes.
"Miss Crossfire please come speak with me for a moment." Ms. Rose says in her pointed voice.
I walk up to the Mr. Hine's desk in the front of the room.
"Can I help you?" I ask her.
"You know what you did." she says.
"What do you mean?" I ask inconspicuously.
I've learned how to not let slip ups happen when defending yourself.
"Why did you set a bucket of water on top of Mr. Hine's door?" she asks.
"I did no such thing. I witnessed a bucket of water fall on top of his head this morning. That's all." I say.
"Go sit down, Miss Crossfire." she says sighing.
I walk back to my seat.
Gannon leans over.
"No detention or anything?" he asks.
"Nope. I get away every time." I say.
"Normally I'd think you were just stupid for doing this stuff, but here I think the people definitely deserve it." he says.
I smile. "Thanks I guess." I say.
He laughs quietly.
A few minutes later Mr. Hine walks in wearing dry clothes this time. He walks up to Ms. Rose. I hear what they say to each other.
"Did she admit it?" he asks.
She shakes her head. "Got away again." she says.
"I hate that girl. There's something off about her. If only we could use the cameras as evidence." he says.
"You know they can find out about those. Everything would fall apart." she says.
"I know, I know. I think we're done here." he says dismissing her.
What do they mean by cameras and things falling apart? Strange.
She leaves and Mr. Hine sits down at his desk. I don't expect him to call me up, but that's exactly what happens next.
"Stevie! Come Here!" he says much louder than necessary.
I cringe at Steven. I don't like being called by that name or being called at all by these ignorant people as a matter of fact. I walk up to him.
"There's something off about you, girl." he growls at me.
"What?" I ask.
"I don't like you." he says.
"Shocker." I say sarcastically.
"I'm gonna find out what it is." he says.
"Whatever that means." I say.
"Sit down." he says.
"Yes master." I say smirking at how odd he sounds.
I sit down and Mr. Hine tells us to read our textbooks. I don't read mine though. I think about how he said there was something off about me. The strange conversation he had with Ms. Rose. I have no idea what it could all mean.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Again, I'm really sorry if there are any typos and I removed some supporting characters after I started writing and I'm not sure if I got rid of all of those parts, but I think I did. Anyways, if you like please vote, follow, and give me some feedback if you want in the comments. Thanks again!