Secret || Abby Littman

Chapter 1 : Season 1

I stand trying not to laugh as Ellen yells at Marcus for getting us high. After realising she's not gonna get through to him, she turns to me. "Joe will be here to get you in ten minutes? You will sit out here and not move at all until he gets here, okay?" I smile sweetly. "But isn't it child endangerment to leave me out here by myself Ellen?"

Ellen looks at me with her eyes twitching and before I can even put another word in let's out the loudest scream ever. I look at her in shock. Didn't see that coming. Her eyes drift across the street and I follow her eyes which are greeted by the sight of the hottest woman ever who's standing there unpacking things from her car. She gives us a wave and I smile sweetly as I wave back at her. I like her.

She goes inside and a few minutes later Joe pulls up looking very annoyed at me. "Hi, Joe." I smile sweetly at him but he keeps glaring at me. "Don't 'hi Joe' me Cassandra. You're very much grounded. Get in the car." I fake pout.

"Aww Joe, I thought you loved me." I wave bye to Ellen who's standing at the window and go into the car. Joe lectures me the whole way home about how irresponsible I am for smoking a joint on the street. Then he says something that presses my button.

"What would your mum feel like if she knew this is what you were doing?" I glare at him. "I don't know Joe. Both she and my dad are dead so I can't really tell what they're thinking from heaven, can you?" That silences him up and the rest of the car ride is spent in absolute silence.

The next morning I walk into AP English, talking to Max, Marcus' twin sister. She's a nice girl and even though she hates her brother, she doesn't hate me. People are always telling us to get together cause we're both lesbians but she's not my type.

My type is more her best friend Abby Littman who I've been in love with since freshman year. I sit in my seat beside Max as she talks to Hunter Chen. Hunter is really popular but I don't really get it. I don't hate him or anything. I just don't necessarily like him either.

Our teacher tells us to be quiet and proceeds to introduce the new girl to us. I'm pretty sure he gets her name wrong because she corrects him but he doesn't listen anyway. I hate him.

He looks back at all of us. "I know it's our first day back from summer vacation, but I thought it was an excellent opportunity for a pop quiz." I almost groan aloud. "Those of you who didn't do the summer reading of The Crucible are in for a world of pain." I'm glad I did it.

He looks back at the new girl. "Uh, don't worry, Virginia, I don't expect you to have read it." She smiles sweetly before putting her hand up. "Yes?" She looks at her paper. "There are 16 books on this syllabus." He nods. "Yes. Like I said you can always drop down..." She interrupts him. "Fourteen of them are written by men, fifteen were written by white people, and I'll guess the one Black author will crop up for Black History Month. Am I right?"

I put my hand on my mouth to hold in my laughter as the teacher's eyes widen. "Excuse me?" She looks him dead in the eye. "I'm very serious about my education, Mr Gitten." That's his name! "I'm worried I might internalise an ideology that the main viewpoint, the viewpoint worth studying in class, the viewpoint of the greats, is only that of the white male, thus eradicating my voice as immaterial. And finally, I'm worried I won't be stimulated intellectually."

I can't even stop myself from snickering and Mr Gitten glares at me. She's not even done. "Also I have read The Crucible, and I'm confident I can take the quiz today." He glares at her. "Are you through, Virginia?" She smiles. "No. Please call me Ginny." I almost start clapping as Mr Git goes on a "I don't know how things were done at your last school" rant. I turn to Ginny and she's just sitting there calmly.

Then Max puts her hand up and I know this guy is officially done with. "Yes, Maxine?" She smiles. "Hi. I'm, like, also super concerned about my subconscious digestion of the superiority of the white male perspective. Also, I have period cramps, so can I go to the nurse?"