𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑶𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒂 | j.o

chapter 7

With boredom, I tapped my fingers on the wooden surface of the teachers' lounge desk. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the wall clock.

I must say, this place wasn't bad.

The walls were white, there was a huge desk with a dozen chairs around it, a cabinet with several lockers labeled with the surnames of the professors, and in one corner of the room, there stood a lonely coffee machine. I wrinkled my nose in disgust when my eyes caught sight of the color scheme of the curtains, a sad plant as decoration on the shelf near the clock.

Meanwhile, I had retrieved my backpack thanks to Enid, as I had forgotten it in the cafeteria. The blonde had asked me what to do, but I simply took the object from her hands and left, leaving her with a surprised look on her face.

"Here I am, sorry for being late," I lifted my head and looked at Jenna.
Miss Ortega looked exhausted, and her breathing was heavy from running to make it on time.

"Don't worry, you're on time," I smiled, and she leaned against the wooden door, catching her breath.

In reality, she was five minutes late, but I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it.

"How was it?" I asked. Jenna sighed, raising her hands to convey the gravity of the situation.

"A disaster. I had to remove at least a couple of students from the class who were flirting with me," she rolled her eyes with irritation, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I remember... you didn't have much luck, did you?" I asked rhetorically. Jenna looked at me unfriendlily.

I raised my hands in surrender.

"Before we leave... can you do me a favor?" Jenna leaned on the doorframe, looking at me with a clear intention of making me understand that I needed to move.

"Leave?'" I looked at her curiously.

"Never mind. See those lockers? Go to mine and take the stack of papers. They're in a yellow folder," Jenna pointed me in the direction to go, ignoring my question. I walked towards the lockers, reading the surnames before finding "J.Ortega."

"Um... how do I open it?" I looked at the padlock, biting my lip nervously.

"Oh, how silly of me..." she laughed and started rummaging in her backpack. The tip of her tongue was slightly sticking out, as if she was focused on finding something in her bag. She smiled triumphantly when she pulled out a set of keys.

She raised them and proudly showed them to me.

"Here you go." Jenna threw the keyring to me from the other side of the room, and I almost dropped it. I turned my back to Miss Ortega, starting to organize the keys in my hands. There were at least five of them, and one of them was definitely the key to her car.

"The one with the tape," Jenna tiptoed, trying to figure out why it was taking me so long.

I inserted the key with the tape into the lock and smiled when I heard the sound of the locker opening. I opened it and saw a stack of folders. I blinked in surprise and realized that one of these folders seemed to be from our class.

In fact, the yellow folder was our test papers.

I guess she had just put them in her locker because she had them in her backpack a few hours ago. Without thinking too much, I grabbed the stack of papers. I closed the locker and put the keys in my pocket.

I turned around and saw Jenna, who had not only her backpack but also mine on her shoulder.

"Well, now follow me," Jenna gave me a playful smile and took my wrist, dragging me behind her. With flushed cheeks, I tried not to think about the fact that Jenna was holding my hand, focusing instead on not dropping the folder.

We took a few steps before reaching an empty classroom. Sandy, the janitor, looked at us with consternation because he had just finished cleaning. "Don't worry, we won't touch anything," Jenna assured him, giving him a friendly smile.

We entered the room.

Jenna let go of my wrist and sat on the teacher's desk, picking up a forgotten pen between her fingers.

"Can you help me? In the meantime, we can discuss what we're going to do" Jenna reached out her hand, asking me to hand over the yellow folder. A strange sensation buzzed in my veins, excited by the request.

Correcting my classmates' exams? A dream come true.

I nodded several times and sat down next to Jenna, accepting the stack of papers she had given me. Along with them was a pen.

"So... when could you stop by in the afternoon?" Jenna focused her attention on the test in her hands, absentmindedly biting the pen. She raised an eyebrow as she began scribbling some calculations with the red pen.

"On Tuesday?" I looked at the exam in horror. Shaking my head, I started writing the corrections on the side. "And on Friday, I think," I finished the sentence, lifting the corner of my lips sadly.

"I don't have to put the grades, right?" I asked, looking at the paper.

Jenna stopped writing, leaning in my direction to see what I had done. Her hand rested on my knee, putting weight on my leg. She analyzed the test with her gaze and then shook her head. She gave my leg a comforting squeeze before breaking the contact.

My heart raced.

"No, don't worry, I'll take care of the grades" she gave me a shy smile before starting to correct another test.

"Oh my goodness," I exclaimed, placing the test I had taken in my hands on top of the others.

"Her name is Sinclair... the blonde next to you? Your friend?" she asked absentmindedly. Suddenly, I nodded, feeling anxiety grow. She gave me a shy smile.

"For now, it's the only passing grade I've given," she smiled at the great news.

Amidst the chatter and the murmurs of disapproval from some truly unpleasant exams, Jenna and I finished correcting. I looked at the clock and realized that almost an hour had passed.

"Well... that was fun," she exclaimed playfully, rubbing my eyes from tiredness.

"Now I should go, it's getting late," she yawned, and she smiled, nodding timidly.

"Thank you... see you on Friday then? I don't think you need to stop by tomorrow since you're already late today," she stepped down from the desk and took the corrected papers.

I left the keys on the desk.

"Then see you on Friday... no, on Wednesday for the lesson," I smiled, and she winked at me. I picked up my backpack from the floor and started walking towards the school exit.

When I stepped out of the school, I looked up and saw an unfriendly cloud over our city. I started walking since it would be a long walk before I reached home. I tightened the strap of my backpack and sighed from exhaustion.

I wanted to go home and sleep until tomorrow.

A single drop of water fell on the tip of my nose, then another landed on my lips before the rain increased. I didn't even have an umbrella, and the rain was soaking me. I started walking faster, trying to avoid catching a cold from the excessive rain.

A lightning bolt tore through the sky.

I closed my eyes at the loud noise and shivered at the sensation of wet clothes.

The sound of a horn made me look towards the street.

I squinted my eyes and looked with surprise at the person honking insistently. The passenger window rolled down, and I could see Jenna Ortega sitting on the driver's side.

Miss Ortega, holding the steering wheel with one hand, looked at me with a smile. She leaned over and opened the door.

"How about I give you a ride?" she offered.

I smiled and started seriously considering whether Jenna was an angel.