Sukeban (Discontinued)

Chapter 16: Old Faces

Are you okay?

Tomomi held her phone under the desk, her eyes reading the text message she had gotten from Mami while her free hand twirled a pencil in circles on the top of her desk. It wasn’t like Tomomi to answer her phone in the middle of class but then again, it wasn’t like Tomomi to get a message in the middle of the class. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she had to look at who was messaging her at a time like this.

She had told herself that she’d just take a peek and then put her phone back. She wasn’t supposed to be using it in class; she wasn’t even supposed to have it on in class. She had just forgotten to turn it off before the day had begun. But when Tomomi had saw that it was Mami who had messaged her, she felt an overwhelming urge to respond.  She certainly didn’t want to just ignore Mami after everything she had found out recently.

I told you I’m fine, why do you keep asking?

Tomomi quickly typed the message and locked her phone. She dropped her phone down onto her lap, leaning over on her desk to keep it concealed from the teacher or any of the students. Her eyes scanned the classroom, most of the students looking up at the front of the classroom where the teacher worked busily to explain something Tomomi didn’t understand at all. She would definitely need to borrow Mao’s notes later.

The brunette jumped a bit when she felt the phone vibrate on her lap. She huffed out an air of breath, sitting back in her chair and unlocking her phone.

Because you’re acting weird… Weirder than normal.

Tomomi glared at the message before shaking her head. There were times when Tomomi just didn’t know how to feel about Mami’s messages. It was hard to tell if her concern was genuine or not; she had an awfully odd way of showing that she cared about someone.

Very funny. But I really am fine.

Tomomi made her reply, relocking her phone again and laying it back in the spot she was hiding it in. Even if Mami was kind of mocking her, the words still made Tomomi feel an odd sense of happiness. She really did think that Mami was being genuine with her concern this time.

“Miss Ogawa.”

Tomomi jumped in her seat from the sudden voice that had called her name. Her head shot up to look at the teacher who was now looking right at her, a disapproving look on his face. Oh no. She was sure she’d been caught now, the last thing she needed was for her parents to get called again.

“Stand up,” the teacher ordered her. Tomomi nodding, doing just as the teacher had ordered. She didn’t need to be giving him any more reasons to be angry with her. “Answer this problem for us please,” he asked her, pointing to the equation written on the chalkboard behind him.

Tomomi looked at the board, her eyes widening when she saw the math problem laid out in front of her. How was she expected to solve that? All of the numbers and the letters, she didn’t even know where to begin with how to solve a problem like that one. That math problem made Tomomi feel like she was looking at a foreign language. She would just have to admit that she didn’t know what the answer was or how to even solve it. There was no point in trying to solve it when she didn’t even know where to begin with it.

“I-I-I don’t know, sensei,” Tomomi stuttered out. She could feel her cheeks heating up as she heard the whispers and murmurs around her. Tomomi usually always knew how to solve any problem or answer any question; it was rare for her to not be able to.

“Were you even paying any attention?” the teacher said with a sigh. Tomomi knew her blush was only deepening as the exchange between her and the teacher continued. She knew why he had called on her; she knew it was because he had caught her not paying attention. A lot of the teachers in the school did things similar as this in order to punish the students for not paying attention in class.