Maggie couldn't sit still in class. The atmosphere was oppressive, her chair was too hard, and she remembered every detail of this lesson from when she'd done it the previous year. Why didn't this teacher get the memo that the lesson plans for junior and senior chemistry had been swapped? (For that matter, why did the School Board have to go and swap them, anyway? None of the decisions these so-called "professionals" made ever seemed to make any sense.) She stared at the wall and chewed on her thumbnail as she absently doodled on the back of the worksheet she'd already completed -- ahead of the teacher, of course.
The sudden vibration in her pocket tore her attention away from the blank white tiles and to the very important message her friend Ana had just sent her.
hey drool face watcha drawin?
Confused, Maggie looked around until she saw her friend mischievously grinning at her through the classroom window. She suppressed a giggle and discreetly texted back
nm wat r u doing out of class?
By that time, her chemistry teacher, Mr. Barton, had already noticed the strange student standing outside his door.
"Can I help you, miss?" he asked, slightly annoyed at the interruption.
Ana opened the door and put her head in the classroom to reply, "I was just sent here by Mrs. Daveston to ask you if I might borrow Maggie for a while. We've got a project to do in the library."
"Oh?" he said. "And what sort of project would that be?"
"It's top secret, sir," the girl responded with a little giggle. "Very hush-hush."
"Oh, I see." The teacher nodded in a way that seemed to say I'll pretend to know what you're talking about just to look cool, even though I have no idea, and Maggie was excused from class.
Just as she was almost out the door, she suddenly remembered she hadn't turned in the lesson's worksheet, and she hurriedly turned around to do so.
"You finished it already?" the teacher asked in surprise. Maggie blushed. "And what's this you've drawn on the back?"
Maggie had forgotten all about her silly doodle and was even more embarrassed when Mr. Barton turned the paper around to look. It was a drawing of Starboy.
The teacher looked at her half-sternly and commented "This is very good, and I'm glad you finished your work first, but in the future, please pay attention in class."
"Yes sir," she said. "Sorry, sir." Flustered, she hurried out of the classroom to join her friend. When they'd gotten to the end of the hall, Maggie stopped and asked "So what is this project we're supposed to be doing in the library?"
Ana grinned and snorted. "That was just to get you out of class, silly."