"So as I told you to study the characters of Nora and Torvald," Mrs. Randall says, eyeing each one of us. "So, who'll go first?"
I've been checking my watch every now and then. It's like torture, waiting for the effect to take place. It has been, like five minutes already since Callaghan drank water from that bottle. Although I put more than what should be the dose for any normal person, Stephanie assured me that there would be no side-effects. I hope she doesn't die, though.
Suddenly we hear a loud noise of things falling clattering on the floor. I turn and see Callaghan, bending down to pick up her stuff that she spilled before.
She looks up and grins toothily. "S'up, people!" She shouts loudly.
Some students at the back start laughing. I smile.
The show's begun.
"Is there a problem, Michelle?" Mrs. Randall asks her.
"I don't know." Callaghan shakes her head and laughs. "You give us so much homework, we don't have time to think of our problems."
The class starts cheering her as I lean back and flex my fingers. This is going to be one heck of a memorable class.
"What do you mean, Michelle?" Mrs. Randall says, looking at her in shock and disbelief. She never expected to hear such words from her favourite student.
"No, no." She waves her hand dismissively and flops down on her seat. "I meant nothing."
Mrs Randall narrows her eyes at her, crossing her hands over her chest. "Okay, fine. Why don't you give a character sketch on Nora and Torvald?"
"Sure, girl!" Callaghan squeals and jumps out of her seat. She then straight goes towards the platform where Miss Randall was standing and turns around, facing us. "Hey babes! How ya doin'?"
The whole class cheers for her again, this time more loudly. "Oh, it's so hot, isn't it?" She says and peels off her cardigan and throws it at a bespectacled nerd at the front. "Much better now."
I look around and see some students recording a video of her and going live live on Instagram. I smile. The best day ever.
Mrs Randall's face is purple by this time. "Michelle, go back to your seat now."
"Dear dear," Callaghan says and slings an arm around Mrs Randall's shoulder. "Honey, why're you so tense? Chill, baby. Let's go get some drinks tonight."
Mrs Randall angrily throws off Callaghan's arm and shouts, "This is extremely inappropriate of you, Michelle! Go back to your seat!"
Callaghan turns from her to us and places her hand on her hips. "My friend here is very tense today. Could any of you tell me the reason?"
"Maybe her husband left her?" Nathan shouts from the back. I chuckle.
"Maybe she's on her periods?" Isaac hollers.
"No no no," Callaghan shakes her head and shakes her finger at us. "I know the real reason." She drops her voice to a whisper and says, "Do you wanna know why?"
"Yes!" The whole class shouts.
"Because she's sexually frustrated! The reason being her husband's impotence!"
I burst out laughing, alongwith the whole class. This girl is actually funny, if she cuts her crap.
"Michelle Callaghan! To the Principal's Office! Now!" Mrs Randall bellows, her nostrils flaring in rage.
"Aw, did I make you upset?" Callaghan pouts, squeezing Randall's flushed cheeks. "Don't worry, darling. I have some friends here who can probably help you."
She then spins on her heels and shouts in a sing-song way. "Guys, can you tell me how we can help Mrs Sexually-Frustrated Randall?"
"By hiring strippers!" The back-benchers yell. Nathan motions to me if I and the girls were a part of this. I shake my head and laugh as Mrs Randall yanks Callaghan out of the class.
Poor baby Callaghan. Rest in peace.
*
It's break now and I'm walking with Stephanie and Lana towards the library. The two have been going over the same video of Callaghan again and again since break started.
"Hey, c'mon." I huff, making a grab for Stephanie's phone but she moves away too quickly. "You've watched it for, like a thousand times now. How many more times are you gonna watch it?"
"I don't know," Stephanie laughs out loud. "I thought her to be a nerdy and a boring virgin who cannot tolerate non-veg jokes—"
"But she's like the coolest girl I ever met?" Lana cuts in, giggling at Callaghan again. I glare at her. Stephanie notices the look on my face and quickly adds, "After you, obviously. Isn't it, Lana?"
Lana waves her hand dismissively and continues to watch the video. Stephanie looks at me as we near the library building.
"So you're sure Brandon would help you in this?" She asks, slipping the phone in her jeans pocket.
I shrug, curling up my lips. "Well, he seemed genuine when he made that promise."
"Well, all guys seem genuine when they make promises," Stephanie snorted.
I nod and step inside the library. My eyes scan the entire length of the library for Brandon. He isn't there.
Wow. He ditched me.
I should've seen this coming. I'm a total idiot.
"We don't have all day, daydreamer." I hear a familiar voice and turn around to see Brandon, Brenna — maybe, I don't remember— and a thin, lanky guy walking towards me. "We've to get this started."
They walk past me and I hurriedly follow them.
"So, what languages are you gonna use?" I ask them as Brenna-or-whatever brings out an HP laptop from her bag. "I assume Python?"
The three stare at me blankly. "How does she know about it?" Brenna-or-whatever whispered to Brandon.
"I'm sure she meant it as a snake." Thin-Guy assures her.
I roll my eyes and mutter, "Yeah whatever, let's just get started."
I'm a pro at Java, nerdo. It's Python I'm uncomfortable with. What do you guys even think of me? Or blonde girls?
"First, we need the exact times when the things happened," Brandon says, taking out a small notepad from his pocket. "And when I say exact, I mean exact."
I deadpan at him. "How can you expect me to remember such things?"
"That's your headache. If you need to find out who the culprit is, that's the most basic thing you need to do. There are thousands of hackers hacking Instagram accounts every millisecond. If we need to trace the culprit, it'll take forever, unless we know the timings."
"I was tensed that time!" I yell, standing up, earning many angry glares from the readers here. I don't worry about the librarian because she usually sleeps through a cyclone and doesn't give a shit about students.
"Y'all just mind your own business, okay?" I shout at them. "And don't try to act so sophisticated! I bet half of you are hiding porn novels under those Jane Austen covers and jerking off under the tables."
That shuts them up.
"Um, Jennifer?" Brenna-or whatever snaps at me in a low voice. "Please lower your volume. We're in a library and we need to maintain some ethics here. And don't worry, you can Google ethics on your phone, that won't make it at all awkward."
My, these nerds are sharp. I glare at her but keep quiet.
"If you need the timings then I can call Alz and ask her if she remembers them." I tell Brandon. He nods and I take out my phone. I'm about to dial her number when I hear a more sober version of the voice that caused all the ruckus this morning.
"Brandon." Callaghan calls out, standing a few benches away.
This is going to be fun.
"Excuse me," Brandon mutters and gets out of his seat, walking towards her.
"You haven't answered any of my calls or messages," I hear Callaghan say, her voice cracking.
"After what you did to Mrs Randall?" Brandon asks her in a shocked tone. "That is unforgivable."
"I swear I don't know how that happened! Maybe it's all the sugar from those donuts that I had for breakfast today."
Who eats donuts for breakfast? She is damn stupid.
A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.
Brandon sighs and shakes his head. "First, you smoke— not a problem at all, because you don't smoke at school. But it's your life, it's your choice, I cannot interfere. Although, I really don't know why you lied to me about it."
"Brandon, I didn't—"
"Please, Michelle, don't do this. Admit that you smoke! I won't kill you. Second, you insulted Mrs Randall in front of the whole class, made vulgar jokes about her and hurt her. Still, you don't want to admit that what you did was wrong. Instead, you blame it on the stupid donuts."
"I just got a whole month of detention," she says, grumbling. "Don't do this, please."
For a while, I hear no words. I turn around more to see what they're doing.
Ooh, Brandon has his hand in his hair. Not a good sign. Callaghan is biting her tongue— probably wishing the words hadn't come out of her mouth.
"Y-you think this is all nonsense, right?" Brandon mutters. "You actually don't care how I feel about this whole situation, do you?"
Callaghan starts stammering. "N-no! I didn't mean that!"
"You know what?" Brandon sighs again, tiredly. "Just go. I'm really not in the mood for all this and besides, I've got some important work to do right now."
"Please, just try to understand." She sniffles, twisting her mouth into an elegant pout. "I didn't—"
"We'll talk about it later." Brandon says and nods curtly at her before returning to her desk. Callaghan walks out of the library, probably not noticing me.
The second fire has been lit.
Isn't this going out of hand now? The cigarette one was enough. Now you are practically breaking their relationship.
I'll avenge every drop of tear, blood and sweat that I shed because of her. I'm not going to let her get away so easily.