The next morning, it was sunny and calm. A cool breeze was blowing and trees seemed to be dancing with joy. Birds were chirping and everyone seemed jolly.
Seriously? You believed me?
As a matter of fact, the next morning was as crappy as it can get.
In ever.
First of all, I woke up ,as usual, tired off my ass. I looked out to see that it was raining cats and dogs. Sam gave me another speech at breakfast at how "I should act my age". Thankfully, he didn't know that I had returned home at three in the morning. The good Lord knows what I would have been subjected to then. We were late in leaving for Lameville as Sam got a conference call from one of his clients in the study. Walking just the ten metres from the Limo to the school entrance, a fricking bird pooped on my shoulder. I didn't have a spare sweatshirt so I had to borrow one from Mr Please. It had "Mamma's Boy" written in bold letters at the back. And worse, I didn't have a single minute to spare the entire morning. Mr Please seemed to be dragging me from one room to the other. All my plans of skating over the horrible parts of High school seemed to be crashing.
"Where the fuck is your minion when you need him?", I grumbled. I hadn't seen Ned all morning and by the looks of it, I already had tonnes of work.
The bell rang, loud and piercing. I winced and glared at it as all around me people started moving out of their places. "Come on", cajoled Mr Please, "It's Advanced Biology for you now".
"I won't go!", I frowned and folded my hands across my chest.
I have had enough of this shit. Nothing will make me move out of my chair now, I decided. Mr Please sighed. "It's only a matter of a few minutes, Alexis. And then, we have lunch!".
I glared at him, "You said that to bring me to this class too!".
"Well, it worked that time", he muttered in a low voice. The classroom was empty by now. Even the subject teacher had abandoned her desk.
Mr Please ran a hand through his black hair. His spectacles kept crookedly on his small nose. Poor guy. I was frustrating him to no end. But then, I myself was frustrated.
"I know what we do. We bunk and get some chocolates from the cafetaria", I grinned at him.
"No. You go to Bio and I will go to my Spanish class", he retorted. "For which I am already late", he muttered.
My eyes were wide, "You won't come with me? Then, who will wake me up towards the end?"
He rolled his eyes, "You have Ned with you in this class"
"Ned? Really?", I tried to keep any inkling of interest out of my voice. I don't think I succeeded.
Mr Please narrowed his eyes at me, "Yes, Ned. Can we go now?"
I grunted and slipped out of my chair, "I guess it won't harm us to attend another class"
Mr Please snorted and I grinned sheepishly at him. And together, we both lugged our heavy bags and walked out into the empty corridor.
"Take your scalpel and delicately cut a line through the specimen's abdomen fur. After that, I expect you all know what to do. Good luck."
All around me there was a buzz of conversation and the screech of chairs. I could see the couple next to me pulling on gloves and pull the rat towards them.
Yes. A rat. Which is dead.
And we were actually supposed to murder the poor rat.
I turned to my partner as I tried to suppress the ebbing panic in me. He completely ignored me as he pulled on his own pair of gloves.
He was wearing a Green Day shirt under his lab coat. His eyebrows were scrunched up he stared at the poor rat with concentration. His brown hair was in spikes today and I couldn't help but secretly deduce that it made him look better than Jake.
But just a little bit.
I cleared my throat as I realised that I was staring. Again.
"So", I said, "I guess you know what to do".
"And I guess you don't know what to do", quipped Ned.
I frowned, "I am new here". He laughed and picked up a small mini-knife kinda thing from a tray nearby. "Nice excuse".
I huffed, "Well, you tell what to do, Mr Know-It-All". He nodded. "For starters, why don't you wear your gloves?", he looked up at me and smirked. Frowning, I pulled on my gloves as I watched him start working on the rat. He delicately pushed the mini-knife into its abdomen and cut slowly till its neck.
I suddenly felt sick. I grabbed the stone counter and firmly shut my eyes. Take a deep breathe, Alexis, I thought, you've seen worse than this. But there was still a churning feeling in my stomach.
"Alexis, are you okay?", said Ned. I opened my eyes to find him staring at me with concern, his eyebrows still scrunched up in that cute way. I cleared my throat and looked down. "Yeah. Just not comfortable with murdering rats", I muttered.
"Dissecting", he corrected me, "Why don't you...".
"Aah, Mr Baxtor, doing all the work, are we?", said a voice behind us.
We turned and found the Biology Teacher standing right behind us. He looked like a frog, with his bulging eyes and his stomach being a continent in itself. There was even a slight greenish tinge to his skin complexion. His shoes immediately caught my eye. They were huge and a shining black in colour. It looked as if he had spent the last two hours polishing his shoes. I looked up and found him staring at us sternly, as if waiting for a reply.
"No, Mr Ross. We were planning to do the assignment one after the other", Ned gave a winning smile.
"Hmph", he grunted, "No matter. Let's see Miss Gomez do the experiment."
All eyes turned to me before I could realise what he said.
"Me?", I couldn't hide the disbelief in my voice.
"Yes, Miss Gomez. Since you have enrolled yourself in this class, we would expect you to do some work." His voice was curt and reprimanding. I was about to give him back a snarky comment but I remembered my parole. I was trapped. From all sides. Fuck this karma.
"Alright. Ned, pass me the mini-knife", I huffed. "A scalpel, Miss Gomez. That is called a scalpel", Mr Frog corrected me. I shrugged at him and took the scalpel from Ned.
Ned had to push the tray containing the poor rat towards me cause I wasn't willing to touch it and he sensed that. I stood, poised with the scalpel held in my hand like a knife, with no clue whatsoever on what the hell I was doing. Ned looked desperate too. He probably thought that I was going to stab Mr Frog with the scalpel.
No, not yet.
Mr Frog sighed behind me. "Move the small intestine gently and search for the specimen's kidney", he croaked. I mean, said.
I took a deep breathe. The churning feeling had returned to my stomach. Now, it felt as if an entire rat race was taking place in my stomach. My eyes automatically turned to the poor bloke who lay stretched in front of me. Nausea swept through me in waves. My head started spinning and I firmly shut my eyes. Still, I could see the rat dancing the tango in my mind with its guts spilling out of the cut that Ned had made.
"Alex, are you..." I heard Ned speak. But he couldn't finish.
The nausea and repulsion overcame me in one swift moment. I whirled away just in time to spew my morning breakfast of waffles with orange juice all over the floor. Ned rushed to my side and handed me a small towel. Unfortunately, as I wiped my teary eyes, I realised I hadn't barfed on what looked like the floor.
They were shiny, black shoes. Well, once upon a time, they were. They were now covered with well... my breakfast.
Mr Frog now looked more green than ever.
As I said, this morning couldn't get any worse.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LIked it? Well, then you must comment!
Thank you for the numerous votes and comments. I swear you guys rock! Well, maybe not more than Alexis, but you still do ;)
See ya the next time :) Peace!