Bad Girl

Chapter 1

Picture of Raven 

"Miss Jackson, will you kindly tell me why you're 20 minutes late to class... again?"

Mr. Carter was sitting on his chair facing the door, frowning at me from the top of his owlish spectacles. The entire class was staring at me, some with their mouths slightly gaped, keen to know what my reply would be.

"None of your business." I said and rolled my eyes, strolling to the back of the class where my usual seat was.

"I will not tolerate such behaviour in my class, do you hear me young lady?" he glowered at me.

"Heard you loud and clear old man. But do I look as if I give a fuck?" I retorted. Some kids snickered, others giving me amused looks.

"Mind your language!" he said pathetically.

"Mind your language!" I mimicked him.

"That's it! Get out of my class, and you have detention afterschool!"

**********

During lunch break, Crystal found me eating an apple under the old oak tree behind the gym.

"Hey bitch." I greeted her, patting the grass next to me. She grinned and sat down, taking a sandwich out of her brown paper bag.

"Heard that you pissed Mr. Carter again. Is this your 100th detention or something?" She laughed.

"102nd." I corrected her, smirking.

"And you never even turn up for it!" She managed to utter through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Is that a cheese sandwich?" I asked, eyeing it like a hawk. Nodding, Crystal fished out another sandwich and gave it to me.

"Thanks babe." I said, grinning widely, taking a huge bite out of it.

"What are best friends for?" she said simply, earning a side hug and a half eaten apple.

Wiping my mouth of any remaining bread crumbs, I got up and brushed my jeans free of dirt and grass. "Hurry up Crystal, I don't wanna get late for class." I whined, pulling her up.

"When did you ever care about being on time?" she asked, throwing her crumpled paper bag into a recycling bin and adjusting her bag.

"It's Art! You know I love Art. It's the only time that I don't fall asleep. And Miss. Shantel is awesome!" I grinned.

"Agreed." Crystal chuckled.

Walking into class, I grabbed an easel and set it up. Rummaging through the hundreds of canvases, I finally found the project I've being working on. The School Art Exhibition was in two months, and I still got a lot of work to do. I glanced around the room, eyes drifting over the ten or twelve students busy with their work. Crystal and a couple of guys were making sculptures, two more guys were spray painting murals on to fake walls, four more were painting on canvases with me and two girls were actually designing runway clothes for the Exhibition.

"Good afternoon sweeties! It's lovely to see all my budding artists and designers working so hard! The Exhibition's in eight weeks, so it's good to see you busy as bees!" Miss. Shantel chirped, walking in with two large parcels in her hands.

"Since it's the last period for the day, and you all look dog-tired, I decided you could do with a sugar rush to keep you going for the next 45 minutes..." she paused. "So I got you donuts!" She sang, then quickly whispered, "Just don't tell anyone."

"I told you she's awesome." I said, giving Crystal a high-five.