When Amerie and I get to room 5D I see Miss Obah, the English teacher greeting everyone as they walk in. Woodsy is there with her and her dog.
"Welcome, welcome."
Amerie and I sit down at a table with the new kid.
"Map Bitch!" Spider shouts. "Map Bitch."
I flip him off with a smile as Amerie ignores him.
The new kid is staring at Amerie. Apparently, she doesn't like it.
"What, cunt?"
"Nice to meet you too," the guy tells her.
"Come on, Douglas..." Woodsy says.
"Oi, eshay bah!" Ant shouts.
Ca$h flips him off.
"How was stereo, brah?" Spider asks.
"So, cemetery tomorrow?" I hear Dusty say. "It's gonna be a rager."
"Oi, uh, what's the cemetery?" Darren asks.
"None ya biz, bong water," Spider tells them.
"Okay. Settle down. Thank you," Woodsy says.
"Hi, everyone. I'm Miss Josephine Obah, but you can call me JoJo. Kind of like, 'Yo-yo,' but J." Miss Obah chuckles before clearing her throat. "I'm an English teacher, so I know some of you. But I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here. Well, your names were on the map in the stairwell. The one that's out of bounds."
"Um, what map?" the new kid asks.
Miss Obah laughs. "Okay, very funny. Look, peeps, we're not dumb. We know a lot of you are sexually active, but we're concerned this map demonstrates a real lack of respect for one another when it comes to sexual relationships. So we want to address it head-on. This is a special class that aims to give you clear and accessible information about sex and intimacy..."
"A sexual literacy tutorial," Woodsy says.
"SLT. So, we're sluts?" Darren remarks.
Everyone starts to laugh and clap.
"Sluts! Sluts! Sluts!" Spider stands up and starts to thrust his hips.
"That's enough. Come on, everyone," Miss Obah says. "This class will go back to the basics on sex and..."
Woodsy cuts her off, "Because clearly, you all have a lot to learn in that department."
"It'll happen twice a week, in your own time," Miss Obah tells us.
I groan as everyone starts to protest.
"Until... No, until we judge that you started to respect each other and yourselves. You have to attend every class, or it'll go on your permanent record," Miss Obah warns.
"Wait, we have permanent records?" Ant asks.
"This is sex jail!" Missy shouts.
"Thanks a lot, Map Bitch," Ant says as he throws something at Amerie.
"Oi!" Woodsy shouts.
The new kid raises his hand. "Sorry. Um, it's actually my first day. I don't think I'm supposed to be in here."
"Legend! Made it to the map before you even started!" Spider says.
"All right, everybody up!" Woodsy shouts. We all groan. "Up. Up. Up." We finally get up. "Okay, now clear these tables to the side, please. And lift them, don't scrape them along the floor." Harper pushes the table causing it to scrap on the floor. "Thank you. Now, I want you all to start walking around the room. Come on. Walking." Reluctantly everyone does as she asks. "Good, you know how to walk. Now, I want you to choose three other people to start shaking hands with. Shaking, shake... Good, you know how to shake. Shaking. And... stop." Everyone stands around looking at one another. "Spencer, you have genital crabs."
Everyone laughs.
"Checks out," Darren taunts.
"Not in real life, thank you, Darren, for the purposes of this game," Woodsy says. "Put your hand up, Spencer." He doesn't move. "Hand up, Spencer." Spider reluctantly holds up his hand. "Now. Hands up, who shook hands with Spencer."
I hold my hand up. Everyone is pissed at Amerie thinking she's the only one who made the map. Everyone else thinks I'm a traitor for siding with her but they haven't stopped talking to me. At least not yet.
"And who shook hands with them?" Woodsy asks. More people raise their hands. "And who shook hands with them? And them? You all have genital warts."
"I thought it was crabs?" the new kid says.
"Right. Crabs. Thank you, um..." Woodsy starts.
"Malakai," he tells her.
"Malakai. Thank you. You all have genital crabs," Woodsy says. "Except for you, Amerie. Well done. Now. What does this highlight the need for?"
"Stay away from Spider, he's chat," Ca$h says.
Spider laughs bitterly. "Fuck off, guys!"
"No! Condoms," Woodsy says.
The bell rings. I start to pack up my bag with Amerie. Dusty steps in Amerie's way as we're leaving.
"Hey, um, did we hook up?" Dusty asks.
"No," Amerie tells him.
"Yeah, I didn't think so, but it says here..." Dusty says as he shows Amerie a picture of the map on his phone.
"It isn't anything, Dusty," Amerie insists.
"There's like a... It's like a gold line between our names?" Dusty says.
"Gold line means destined," Spider says.
I give him a look.
"Yeah, like destined to be," Spider continues, "She wants you, Dusty."
Amerie rushes past Dusty and Spider out of the room. I follow after her.
"Simp!" Spider shouts.
"Amerie!" I call after her.
I lose Amerie in the crowded hallway. I feel someone grab my arm. When I realize it's Spider, I pull my hand away from him.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
Spider looks around before pulling me into an empty classroom.
"What are you gonna do murder me?" I ask.
Spider laughs. "I had a few other ideas."
Spider goes to pull me towards him but I back away.
"No," I tell him. "Not after what you just said to Amerie."
"Map Bitch?" Spider asks. "Why are you still talking to her? You were on that wall too."
I scoff. "For the one time I kind of hooked up with Ant in year 9."
"She still put it up there," Spider argues.
"And she's still my friend," I assure him. "That's not gonna change because of a stupid hook up map. I don't even get why people are angry. It's true."
"We're all a bunch of sluts," Spider says.
"Speak for yourself," I tell him.
"Well, I am the only one who knows about another of your hook ups that should be on that map," Spider reminds me.
I grab him by the front of his shirt. "If you tell anyone I will break your leg."
Spider laughs. "I'm sure you would try."
I roll my eyes. "Alright, Spider, I've had enough. I have to find Amerie."
"Come on, Rhiannon," Spider says.
I ignore him as I walk out of the room.
I finally find Amerie in the bathroom. I knock on the stall door.
"Amerie."
"Leave me alone," Amerie tells me.
"No," I tell her. "I'm not letting my best friend eat lunch alone in the bathroom."
I see Quinni pop her head over the top of her stall. "Ah, the toilet lunch. I feel you."
"I could've been taking a shit!" Amerie shouts.
"Well, eating and pooing messes with your digestive tract," Quinni tells her. "But I'm glad we've had this chance to talk."
"Yeah, um, maybe not," Amerie tells her.
"I know how you feel," Quinni insists.
"I seriously doubt it," Amerie states.
"No. Listen, I do, because when I was in Grade 6, I found a giant gumnut. I was like, 'Giant gumnut!' Was so excited, showed everybody because it was the best gumnut I'd ever seen. Turns out it wasn't. It was a piece of solidified dog shit. I got called Giant Gumnut for the rest of the year," Quinni tells her. "So, I'm guessing that's how you feel now."
"Sorry, but can you leave me alone?" Amerie asks.
"Is this your 13th reason?" Quinni questions.
"What?" Amerie says.
"Like, are you going to unalive yourself?" Quinni asks.
"No," Amerie tells her.
Quinni sighs. "Okay."
"What do you want?" Amerie asks.
"I just need someone to look at my vagina," Quinni tells her.
"Oh. No."
The stall door opens, and Amerie grabs my hand dragging me along behind her and out of the bathroom.
Amerie decided to ditch the rest of the day. I don't really blame her, everyone has been mean to her all day. A person can only take so much.
When I get to my car Dusty is there waiting.
"What is it, Dusty?" I ask.
"Well, I just thought... since you drove me to school that maybe you could give me a ride home," Dusty says.
"I have to pick up Mason," I tell him.
"Well, I'll go with," Dusty offers.
I sigh. "Fine."
"Come on boys," Dusty says.
Spider and Ant both hop in my car with Dusty.
"What are you..." I start. "I didn't say yes to Ant and Spider."
Both Spider and Ant pout their lips.
"Not working," I tell them.
"But we're already in the car," Spider insists.
"You wouldn't kick us out now," Ant says.
I groan as I get in the car.
"Plus Mason loves us," Dusty insists.
"At least he'll be happy to see us," Spider says.
I get a text from Amerie. Apparently, she has something to tell me. I find her sitting on a jetty crying. I'm surprised it took her this long. Suddenly she starts to cough.
"Did you just inhale a fly?" I ask.
Amerie turns to face me. "I'm having a shit day."
I sit down next to her. "I know. What happened after school?"
"I went by Harper's," Amerie tells me. "She wasn't there. Her dad said he didn't know where she was."
"That's weird," I state. "I'm sure she's with Sasha or Missy."
"What if she's not?" Amerie asks. "What if she's in trouble?"
"I don't know, Amerie," I confess. "Obviously she's going through something."
"But why won't she tell us?" Amerie asks.
"I wish I knew," I tell her.
Apparently, the world has it out for Amerie. She tells me to meet her at Harry's. I can't imagine what's happened since I saw her last night.
When I get there, she's sitting in a booth. I can see she's cut her own fringe.
I force a smile. "You cut your own fringe?"
Amerie puts her head on the table. "I look ridiculous."
"No," I lie. "No, they look good." Amerie makes a face. "They look alright." Amerie still doesn't say anything. "Okay they're horrible. Why would you do that?"
"I asked my mum to homeschool me," Amerie tells me.
I laugh. "Sorry not funny but I know your mum. She won't go for that."
"No, she won't," Amerie tells me.
Darren of all people walks out from behind the counter. They sit down next to me in the booth.
"'Sup, Dora?" They take a chip from Amerie's basket. "Do you want me to fix that for you?"
"Please," Amerie whispers.