Janice Lance Book 1: Monday Blues (Revised Edition)

Chapter 2

My mom's voice was still echoing in my ears as I rushed to class. Stopping for a second at the door, I inhaled deeply and opened it.

As I focused my eyes on my sneakers, I could feel the class staring at me. I nervously handed Mr. Watson my late pass and speed-walked to my seat beside Andrew.

Mr. Watson loomed over me and spoke loudly enough for the whole class to hear.

"I appreciate you arriving on time Ms. Lance. Be sure to make a habit of it,"he said sternly.

Everyone started laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. I felt my stomach drop and had to even out my breathing. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and glared at my desk instead.

Mr. Watson strutted back to his desk, satisfied with his kill. He began to type on his laptop.

Everyone was quietly talking to each other while Mr. Watson was on his laptop.

I stared at my sneakers again. I could just feel Andrew staring at me. I had a gut feeling it was him. I hoped he wouldn't say anything to me.

"Hey, Janice."

Oh well.

Mr. Watson suddenly stood up from his desk, and everyone went silent. Andrew turned towards the board and acted like he hadn't done a thing.

Mr Watson scribbled something on the board and everyone began to write.

I looked towards the board and jotted down the notes.

"Protons are positively charged, electrons are negatively charged, and neutrons have no charge."

While I was writing I could hear a whisper.

"Janice."

Ignore it.

"Janice."

He'll give up.

"Jani-"

I whisper-shouted, "What?"

He gave me that stupid smirk and muttered, "What time do you want me to pick you up?"

I rolled my eyes at him and mumbled, "Five years."

He could hardly hold in his laughter, and I made the mistake of looking at him.

God, that stupid laugh. Stupid smile. Stupid hair. Everything about him was annoying and stupid.

That's what I wanted to think at least. I knew I couldn't though. He wasn't an idiot. And he wasn't even all that annoying. I just couldn't stand to look at him without staring at him all day.

I went back to finishing everything on the board, and I looked up to see Mr. Watson leaving the classroom.

Andrew must've noticed too because he started bothering me again.

"What do you want, Andrew?

He smirked, "You."

I rolled my eyes and hid my smile.

"You can't do better than that?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Guess not."

I let out a soft chuckle and I could've sworn I saw his eyes light up.

He turned to talk with his friends. I finished my notes from the board. I looked around to see him...I wished I hadn't.

He wasn't talking, but he was laughing along with them. Not as loud as they were though, and his smile didn't match his eyes. They didn't shine like they did before.

I think he saw me looking at him, because he stopped laughing for a second, and stared right at me. Then he softly smiled. It made me feel pretty...really good.

Mr. Watson came back in and started going on about how he could hear us, "Alllllll the way down the hall." And that we had no reason to be as loud as we were. After he tore into a couple of people, he started in on Andrew too.

"Now Mr. Lawrence, I suggest you shut your mouth and do your work before you get detention!"

Andrew looked confused and tried to talk. "But Mr. Watson I already-"

He didn't bother to listen to him though. "I don't want to hear it! Zip. Your. Lips. Understand?"

Andrew tried to hold back his anger, especially as everyone else started laughing. He clenched his jaw and mumbled a frustrated, "Yes, Sir."

That's when everyone lost it. Except for me and one of Andrew's other friends, Darren Jones. He wasn't even looking up from his paper, except to glare at a few people who were laughing. I didn't see what was so funny about it since they knew Mr. Watson would gladly insult them too. But whatever.

Mr. Watson went back to droning on and on about atoms, the nucleus, and a bunch of other stuff. I was only half-paying attention and spent more time looking at Andrew than anything. He wasn't writing anything, and when I looked at his paper I saw that he had already copied everything on the board.

He didn't look mad anymore, just sad. Not like he was gonna cry or anything. But his eyes looked sad.

Maybe sad was the wrong word. I looked at his face again. He was looking straight at the board with a dull look in his eyes and had his arms folded slightly below his chest. Maybe he was a little angry, but he looked more tired than anything.

While I was looking at him, I suddenly heard a deep and booming voice.

"Well? Who knows?" Mr. Watson said, looking around the room.

Wait, what?

Mr Watson looked around the room and raised his voice. "Well? Certainly, someone knows where these sub-particles go, am I right?"

He looked at Andrew and spoke with disinterest. "Care to take a chance at it Mr. Lawrence?"

Apparently, he did.

"The protons and neutrons are at the center of the nucleus while the electrons orbit around the nucleus."

I bet Mr. Watson wasn't expecting that.

He stood still for a minute and seemed to nod his head in approval.

I was glad that I wasn't embarrassed for the second time this morning. Mr. Watson stepped back out and I turned to my left. I wanted to say something to Andrew, I just didn't know what. So I held my breath and turned to my paper, ignoring the guilt I felt.

I stuffed my backpack and rushed out of class, not speaking to him. I got a glance at him though. Darren was saying something to him, and his other friends were talking with him too. Maybe they were apologizing, I don't know. I went in the opposite direction and worked my way through the crowd to Math class.