Amaranthine (Editing)

Chapter 5 - History Lesson

        "That's insane, and can't be legal."    

        "No it's all right, he's a good coach. Don't worry."  

        "Good afternoon class. I apologize for my tardiness, got a little caught up." Mrs. Neil's voice put a halt on our conversation. I looked up to see her carting behind a trolley of books.   

        Mrs. Neil is what you would expect a history teacher to look like—gray hair, glasses that sat halfway down her narrow nose, and grey skirts with grey blazers and brown nylons. She was also very pretty for her age, she had very elegant facial features—some color in her wardrobe along with a box of hair dye would do wonders.   

        She rolled the trolley over to her desk then stood up in front of the black board. "Today we will begin researching the French Revolution" she then wrote French Revolution on the board. And I mimicked her by writing the title in my notebook. One thing I was notorious for doing, was taking notes.   

        "Who can tell me when the French Revolution began?" she asked.   

        I raised my hand before I even looked up at her. "Yes, Rileigh."   

        "It began in seventeen-eighty—" My words were instantly cut off in my throat because when I brought my head up to look at her she wasn't the only one at the front of the room. There was Liam, bright smile plastered across his face, sitting in her chair with his feet propped up on the desk. I took a brief moment to regain my composure then stammered, "Um, Seventeen, seventeen-eighty-nine." My eyes never leaving Liam's. His look of amusement grew with each passing moment.   

        "Very good Rileigh." She responded as she wrote it on the board.  

        "Wrong." Liam's charming voiced sang.   

        "What do you mean wrong?" I asked on impulse.   

        Mrs. Neil turned around, "I'm sorry Rileigh?" she asked, clearly confused at my outburst. Liam began to laugh.   

        "I...um. Nothing sorry I thought..." I shook my head, obviously there was no way to fix this. "Never mind." I heard a few snickers in the room, and felt my cheeks turn red. I glared at Liam who was still laughing.   

        "Okay, continuing, how long did it last?"   

        "It actually started in Seventeen-eighty-six but it took a couple years for anything to really cause any commotion." Liam started explaining, over Mrs. Neil's own explanation of the Revolution. "It's really quite interesting, how facts get changed over the years. Take Marie Antoinette for instance, it is said she was charged with Treason and Incest with her son. What it doesn't say is she was wrongfully accused. But they figured it easy to find her guilty because just over half the nation thought her husband was guilty of Treason, so why not throw in a nice dose of incest?"   

        "And how do you know this?" I asked, and instantly brought my hand to my mouth, mentally kicking myself for yet another outburst.  

        "Well Rileigh, I've studied it for over twenty five years, I majored in World History at Harvard. Plus, it's in your text book."   

        Crap. Crap. Crap! I had no idea what she was just explaining to the class, but I do know I looked like a complete nut ball. And how could I explain? 'Sorry Mrs. Neil but there's a couple hundred year old ghost, no sorry—corporally challenged—man sitting at your desk rambling on about how wrong our books are and only I can see him'. Yeah right that would go over well.