Bringing him back

Catching Up

"You're really behind, Autumn." Autumn's Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Hansen was telling her, "We ended the last chapter so you've got a test to make up. New notes, two worksheets..." Mrs. Hansen named off as she was thumbing through all of the work Autumn missed.

"Do you have a study hall? You can make up your test then but you're going to have a lot of homework. You really can't miss four days of school." Mrs. Hansen said. Autumn sighed as she took the new note packet and the two worksheets. It wasn't her fault she was sick for the past week...

Autumn sits down at her seat and is tempted to lay her head on the cool, inviting table and just dream the homework away. However, Mrs. Hansen certainly wouldn't allow it. Autumn looks down at new worksheets, all the formulas and concepts are completely foreign to her. Just staring at them give her a headache. Autumn lets out an inaudible groan.

The bell rings for class to begin and James walks in hurriedly before the bell can finish. He quickly walks to his seat under the glare of Mrs. Hansen and many of the girls stare dreamily at him and the more popular girls say hello as James passes by them. James nods his head curtly at them and takes his seat next to Autumn; she turns her body away from him; she was still hurt by his sudden change from the old James back to the cold one last Friday.

"Alright class, quiet! We've got a lot to learn today; if we get done early you'll have time to start on your homework." Mrs. Hansen barks as she begins to start up her computer. Once Mrs. Hansen hooks it to the projecter the class finally is completely quiet. Autumn watches the powerpoint that Mrs. Hansen put together with glassy eyes. She still had a faint headache and she really didn't understand any of what Mrs. Hansen was trying to teach them. Autumn looks at the powerpoint and then back down to the worksheets that Mrs. Hansen gave her to see if the worksheets would explain anything. Autumn started running her eyes down the problems when she heard an annoying "Psssst!" behind her. Both Autumn and James turn around. It was Sarah, a cheerleader. Sarah was looking at James and twirling her blonde hair on her finger.

"So James," Sarah begins to talk, leaning closer to him, no doubt trying to reveal her cleavage, "You kinda look like, really cute today." Sarah then takes her hand and runs it through James' thick, dark brown hair. Right in the middle of class. Autumn turns to face the front of the class rolling her eyes, disgusted. Some girls really lacked subtly these days. Autumn began to squint at the powerpoint, trying to see if she could make out anything that was going on. However, Mrs. Hansen wasn't even teaching anymore. Autumn shifts her eyes to Mrs. Hansen to find out why.

"Sarah!" Mrs. Hansen cries in a strangled voice. Everyone turns to stare at Sarah, who was leaning so far over her table that if you pulled down her low-cut shirt half an inch her breasts would be completely showing. Sarah's hands were still locked in James' hair. With the whole class staring at her, Sarah retreats back to sitting in a normal position, adjusts her shirt slightly and faces the front of the class like nothing happened. Two bright red patches appeared on James' cheeks.

"I shouldn't even have to explain how wrong that was. And you should be paying attention, considering you're last test! You don't want to fail again." Mrs. Hansen scolds. Once Mrs. Hansen turns away Autumn hears Sarah call Mrs. Hansen a derogatory term from behind her back. Autumn rolls her eyes at Sarah as she continues to hopelessly try to find out what Mrs. Hansen was explaining.

With out much success, Autumn leaves Chemistry with now three worksheets, a new note packet and absolutely no knowledge of how to do any of it. Suddenly an idea forms in her mind that would be good for both getting James and learning all of this Chemistry stuff. But she'd have to sink to girls like Sarah's level...

"Hey Marie? I'll meet up with you in art, okay?" Autumn says and Marie nods. Autumn turns back around to back track and heads off back towards the Chemistry room. She finds James a few feet out the door. Autumn runs up to him and grabs onto his arm, he turns around to look at her.

"Hey James." Autumn says, trying to make her voice sultry as she runs her fingers through her hair.

"Uh...Hi."

"So I was maybe wondering," Autumn begins to say, keeping up the flirtatious voice and letting go of James' arm, "Maybe sometime after school you could come and help me with my Chemistry homework? My parents won't get home until about six so you won't have to meet them or anything. Please?" Autumn asks, looking up into his forest green eyes that were flecked with gold.

"Uh, Autumn, listen...Remember what I told you Friday?" James asks and Autumn's heart begins to sink.

"Am I not good enough for you or something?" Autumn snaps at him with tearful eyes.

"Well...There's kinda another girl in the picture now...Megan? Do you know her?" James asks. Yes, Autumn knew Megan and she hated her. Actually, Autumn used to respect her except now she had stolen James from her. Megan was pretty much what every girl wanted to be. She had golden hair that curled at the ends, blue eyes, an amazing wardrobe, a great singer, rich, and to make matters worse, she was nice. How can you hate someone who was so perfect and so nice? You couldn't without seeming completely jealous, which is exactly what Autumn was.

"She's a slut." Autumn mumbles, knowing it was a complete lie.

"She seemed nice to me." James counters.

"Just leave me alone. Go away." Autumn tells him in a flat, defeated voice. James shrugs and goes to his fifth period class. Autumn stands there, feeling empty inside for a minute until the warning bell rings. Autumn presses her eyes together to try and make any tears go away before she quickly walks to art.