Don't Let Go

04: Rollin' Stone

"Good morning class, hope you had fun reading the first half of Hamlet!" Ms. Katie says, picking up her copy of the book. "Let's start by reading some aloud. Do I have any volunteers?"

Miss Katie is one of the youngest teachers here and this is her first year teaching high school after graduating college so she had a lot of fanciful ideas about teaching. She's also one of our only white teachers besides a few of the older teachers. She made the mistake of trying to be friendly with her students and so now most the kids in our class liked to play little jokes on her, though I don't think she noticed that their questions and thoughts weren't sincere.

While the other kids in the class argued over who would read which character—all in the hope of wasting more time so we didn't have to actually learn anything—I turned to Tina.

"You're hanging out with us after school right?" I whisper and she nods, her hazel eyes darting to the teacher.

"Psst," Kimberly says leaning over onto my desk. She sits to the left of me, Tina to the right. "Can we talk some more about Dean because you never finished telling us what exactly happened"

"Ok class, settle down." Ms. Katie says, shushing the class. "Let's begin with the first act."

I open my book and half listen as the kids in the class slowly read their parts. Ugh I hate when people volunteer to read and then butcher 90% of the words they have to read. Though, knowing these kids they're probably doing it on purpose.

It takes what feels like 20 minutes to get through just a few pages and I'm just about to doze off when I feel a paper hit my face. I jerk up and notice a folded note. I glance at Kimberly who is of course gesturing to the note with a grin and I sigh.

K: Don't think you're getting away so easily. You either tell us now or I'll make you tell the story a million times after school.

C: Ugh fine. Calm your horses. Nothing happened other than him acting like a cocky little shit and insisting that I be his tour guide. As if this place was a five star hotel rather than a mold infested building that has more dust than books.

I pass the note to Tina who nervously takes the note, hiding her face behind her wavy brown hair. We pass notes for the next ten minutes, and somehow venture from Dean, to food, how annoying the teacher's voice is and even menstrual cycles.

T: Uh, guys does anyone have an extra pad I can use? And some tylenol? My period is killing me and I'm afraid to even look at the damage it may have cost my underwear

C: LOL Tina! I will let you have ten pads if you don't talk about the bloody river flowing in between your legs right now.

"This play talks a lot on death and loss and how those two things greatly effected Hamlet throughout the course of the play" Ms. Katie says as I pass the note to Kimberly quickly. "Now I'd like to do a little exercise, if you're willing. I'd like for you guys to spend the next ten minutes writing a short paragraph about how death or loss has affected you. And then afterwards, we'll have some volunteers read them aloud."

I roll my eyes. She's always trying to get students to write about our tragic past like we're the damn Freedom Writers or something. But whatever, if it'll make time go by I don't really care. I pretend to be writing in my notebook, keeping my head down until she says the time is up and starts asking for volunteers.

Kimberly passes me the note and I quickly pass it to Tina but I cringe when I hear Ms. Katie's intake of breath, my eyes connecting with hers.

"Are you ladies passing notes back there?" She asks, sounding and looking hurt. "You know the rules, either give me the note or read it aloud to the class."

Fuck. I look from Kimberly who looks annoyed to Tina who looks ready to pass out in fear. I can't let Ms. Katie read the note because then she'll read the shit we said about her and I can't read it aloud because then the entire class will know about Tina's period and I'm pretty sure she would die of mortification if they did. I need to destroy the note but I need time for her to get distracted.

"Ms. Katie I'd like to read my paragraph about loss and death please" Kimberly says standing up. I notice her paper is blank, besides her heading at the top. She gives the teacher a bright smile and she takes the bait, turning her attention to her.

"That's wonderful Kimberly" Ms. Katie says giving her an encouraging smile. "Start whenever you're ready."

Kimberly nods and a look of somberness comes over her face. "It was the third of September, it's a day I'll always remember....cause that was the day that my daddy died."

I snicker, slowly ripping the note into pieces so the teacher doesn't hear the sound. Oh Kimberly, she was going to get us into so much trouble.

"I never got the chance to see him. I never heard nothing but bad things about him" she continues and I see a few of the other kids in class grinning. I'm guessing more than a few people grew up listening to The Temptations. "So I said, Momma I'm depending on you to tell me the truth. Momma just hung her head and said..."

"Sing it girl" a kid named Joshua yells raising his hands in the air like we were at church or something and a few kids start laughing. But I can tell from Kimberly's face that she's really going to do it. Oh boy.

"Papa was a rolling stone. Wherever he laid his hat was his home," Kimberly sings, her voice echoing in the quiet room. Her voice is strong and steady and very pretty since she used to be in her church choir when she was a kid. A few kids start clapping to the beat and I start laughing as Kimberly grins, looking completely in her element. "And when he died, all he left us was alone."

Kids start clapping a few standing up and stomping their feet to the beat, singing along and the teacher looks beyond shocked. I almost feel bad that Kimberly played that joke on her but it gives me the time I need to effectively get rid of the note.

"That's enough!" Ms. Katie says slamming her hand on her desk. She looks really mad and I'm guessing embarrassed and she narrows her eyes on Kimberly before trailing to me and Tina. "Carmen, Kimberly and Tina you all have detention for the rest of the week for this stint. Death is not to be joked about and if I see you passing notes again I will change your seats so that you're not sitting next to each other anymore!"

The class shouts, "Oooooh" collectively and I roll my eyes, sending Tina an encouraging smile. The sound of the bell goes off and everyone rushes out of the class, some still singing the song loudly as they walk out of class.

"Thanks for the concert worthy performance," I joke as we walk out of class. "Now we'll be spending our extra time hanging around school instead of eating some greasy fast food."

Kimberly grins, looping her arms with ours. "You'll thank me later."

"Uh, why would we do that?" Tina asks, looking confused.

"Because I know for a fact that Dean will be in detention every day this week as well." Kimberly says and I groan. "We don't want your bad boy thinking you don't like him, do we?"

"I hate you," I tell Kimberly and she smacks my ass, making me jump.

"And I love you, you little stubborn fool." Kimberly says. "But I'll love you more once you stop being so grumpy all the time and finally get laid."

Gee thanks. 

A/N: LOL that Kimberly sure is determined to get her friend laid. Well either that or she's just really nosy and wants the scoop on the new guy 😂. So what did you guys think? If you don't know the song that Kimberly was singing it's called "Papa was a Rolling Stone" by The Temptations and the song is at the top of the page. For some reason that song kept playing in my head while I was writing so I just felt the need to incorporate it somehow into the chapter. 

Please vote and comment!