Debbie's Vengeance

Chapter 2

The alarm rang at seven am.

Shoot! I've to get ready for school. Her dad would knock her door in fifteen minutes drop her off and she knew how much he hated waiting, Lizzie thought. Her eyes half-open, she couldn't stifle the yawn that escaped from the mouth.

School started in forty-five minutes, and twenty minutes she would be able to meet her bestie Debbie. Along the way, Lizzie admired the rows of green trees and the gardenia flowers.

En route to school, Lizzie loved to look at the flowers along the road. She thought they were the loveliest things on the planet. She never tired of watching them every day. The flowers rose from the earth in staggering sizes and different colours, some were so large and some small. It was a breath-taking scene. Pink flowers dotted the occasional house or pavement. It was her favourite colour. No, scratch that—it was Debbie's favourite colour.  That's why she liked it so much. 

On reaching school, Lizzie stopped at the elm tree by the school gate, where Debbie would be waiting for her. Where is she--she should have been here by now. It's seven forty-five am. Lizzie thought. A quick look across the grounds yielded no results. Wonder what has made her late today? Reowned for her punctuality, Debbie's usually the second one to arrive.

A tight hug from behind startled her. Lizzie turned to find Debbie's arms around her. 

"Surprise!" said Debbie. 

"Oh, You-- You almost gave me a heart attack. Where were you? What took you so long, Debbie?"

"It was my homework. Was busy completing it past midnight. Didn't want to get marked by Miss Sullivan again. Couldn't wake up in the morning." Debbie filled her on the events of last night.

"I don't think Miss Sullivan would mark you, Debbie. You are her favourite student."

"Nah... Sarah is. I just get by with my assignments," Debbie laughed. "Now, before someone interrupts us--we should go. We are already late for class, Lizzie!"

"Yup, right behind you, sis."

Arriving in the building, Lizzie and Debbie put their books safely in the lockers and joined the crowd entering their class.

It was early morning, and the air smelled of chicken and freshly made whole grain roll. Lizzie's stomach grumbled of its own accord, making her remember the hasty breakfast she had in the morning.

Leaving Lizzie behind, Debbie rushed to the class.

Lizzie sauntered toward her class on the second floor of the left wing of Brooklyn High. She was drinking water from her water bottle and walking at the same time. Sunlight flashed  in her eyes, blinding her for a moment. She slipped and crashed into Yolanda coming from behind her.

"S-So-Sorry! I didn't see you coming, Yolanda. I honestly didn't mean to bump into you." Lizzie stammered. "It won't happen next time."

"Hey...watch where you are going, Miss Goody Two Left Shoes." Yolanda scoffed. "Maybe you should get your eyes checked." She smirked - just a small pouting of the lips; a narrowing of the eyes and a tilting of the head. The fact it was so subtle, made it all the more infuriating for Lizzie who caught a glimpse of it after the mistake.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want a next time to happen, Girl!"

"You need to change your dress. It's wet."

Lizzie looked down on her dress. "No, it isn't." 

"Now it is. LOOK." Yolanda splashed cold water on Lizzie's baby pink dress.

"Yo-You ruined my dress. Now what am I going to do? I'm already late for class." Lizzie couldn't control the tremor in her voice. 

"Toodles, see you later in class." Yolanda arrogantly said.

Sitting on the seat with Debbie by her side, a visibly wet and shivering Lizzie glanced over her shoulder to make sure Yolanda wasn't in their class. Sighing with relief, she looked forward to Miss Sullivan's history class.

Lizzie loved history. If her Papa allowed her, she wanted to be a historian one day, she thought.  Her parents' had their hands full with the financial problems at home. 

Her thoughts come to a halt. With the professor's arrival. Miss Sullivan was followed by Yolanda. 

"Good morning Miss." The class greets in chorus.

"Good morning class. Hope all of you have done your assignment. I'm waiting to read all of them."
  
"I'll call out the names by random and that student will come and read their assignment aloud." 

"Ned, I'd like to see your assignment. Please." 

"Oooh... Ned." There were whispers and hushed tones all around the class. "He's gonna ace it. Let's see what he has to say about Jane Austen.

Ned was the star basket-ball player and captain of the rugby team. He was an all-rounder and the girls' heartthrob.

Debbie muttered to Lizzie. "Wanna bet five dollars that Ned has written about Willoughby of Sense and Sensibility?" 

"No. You know I always lose bets."

As expected, Ned worked wonders with his deep bass baritone, and accented pronunciations. He made Willoughby come to life and showed the finesse of Jane Austen's legacy and its relevance in today's politics."

"Thank you, Ned. Now, I'd like to call upon Yolanda. Please come and say your piece."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Yolanda chose Caroline—Bingley's younger sister, who was shallow and haughty. The assignment was dull and failed to garner interest.

Miss Sullivan was disappointed and let Yolanda know infront of the whole class.

"I didn't expect such a boring submission, Yolanda. At least not from you. The words are bland, there's no intensity, making the whole article fall flat on its face." 

Taking advantage of the situation, the class tittered and sneered at her scolding. A few girls pointed fingers and compared Caroline Bingley to Yolanda. 

Contrary to her expectations about acing the assignment, Yolanda made a fist and ran her fingers through the hair.

Serves her right, thought Lizzie.

"May we please have Elizabeth's assignment here?" 

"Coming up, Ma'am." Lizzie searched her bag for the assignment and shuffled through her books. Emptying the contents of the bag on her desk, she realised she had kept the assignment on her breakfast table and in a rush to get to the car, had forgotten to put it in her bag.

Muttering to herself, Lizzie was on the verge of tears. "Damn... What do I do now? Miss Sullivan will kill me. I'll get a low grade and fail this semester."

Miss Sullivan reminded her on checking her watch. "Five minutes already gone, Elizabeth. We do not have all day.  I'd like to see your submission."

"Here...take mine, Lizzie!" Debbie handed her assignment into her best friend's hand.

"What, no. I can't. What are you going to do when it's your turn, Debbie?

"This is not the time to think, Lizzie. Just go. When the time comes, I'll think of something. Now go!" Debbie pushed Lizzie towards the professor's table. 

Lizzie dug her feet into the floor and practically dragged herself to the table.

"Here's the assignment. Sorry for the delay. It got misplaced between the book pages."

There is a strange stillness in the air, as if everyone suddenly forgot to breathe. Looked like they were waiting for an educational catastrophe to happen. Lizzie felt horrible as she submitted her assignment, but judging by the expression on Miss Sullivan's face, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Miss Sullivan's smile conveyed what her words couldn't express.

"Class, I've checked and covered almost half the class in the assignments. And I admit the results surprised me. Even the ones I didn't expect to--wrote well. The rest fared okay. For today's class, I'd like to mention Ned's and Elizabeth's assignment. They did a grand job on it. I honestly didn't think Elizabeth had it in her to write so well. But I must say—I'm impressed. Well done, both of you."

"Give them a big hand, everyone."

A visibly shocked Lizzie couldn't stop smiling. 

"Err... I'd like to say something., Ma'am." Lizzie struggled to keep a straight face. "This wasn't my assignment, it was Debbie's. She gave it to me when she learned that I forgot to keep the assignment in my bag. I'm truly sorry about it, Miss Sullivan."

"Thank you for being honest with me, Elizabeth. I really appreciate your honesty. As a mark of appreciation, I won't punish you this time. Be careful."

"Thank you so much, Ma'am!"


En route to the gate, Yolanda with her friends form a circle around Lizzie and Debbie. 

"Well, well... the class favourite or should we say Miss Sullivan's new pet. Lizzie sent us all in a tizzy. I bet your stomach must be in knots with all the praise."

"What did Miss Sullivan say-- Didn't have it in you? Lol. This is going to be the newest joke of the Brooklyn High." Yolanda glared at Lizzie, unblinking. Her single-sided smile, a curled lip conveyed more vile than she ever could.

"Don't listen to her words. She's like a rattlesnake who spits poison at the slightest provocation.
You are more than what she says, Lizzie. Do not respond."

Debbie tugs her away to their car where her father is waiting for them. "C'mon, Dad's getting anxious."

"Did you just call me a rattlesnake, Debbie? Why you little bitch!" Yolanda snapped as she followed Lizzie to the car. Her tight upper-lip smile surpressed a lot of emotions. 

"Elizabeth Burton— I swear you'll pay for this. You and your friend, Debbie. I'll make sure you do!" Red with anger, biting her lips, eyes turning into snake like thin slits, Yolanda raised her fist, an evil grin on her face. "Just wait and watch."