FANGS AND ROSES

"Miss James." My Bio cluster/Genetics professor, Mrs. Brown said calmly in surprise. I looked at her with apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry, professor." I said, clutching the strap of my bag on my shoulder nervously as I became aware of several eyes on me.

She gave me a look through her thick red rimmed glasses, pushing them further up her nose. "Do you realise that you are almost twenty five minutes late to the class?"

"I know, but someone-"

"I don't want excuses. You must not be late to class. Either be on time or don't come at all."

I dropped my gaze from her to the floor. Mrs. Brown was a bit hot headed lady. She was kind and good but she can be scary if she wants. And no one dared to be late to her class. But I was. It just so happened that a girl accidentally spilled her drink all over me before class and I had gone to clean up. And I didn't even hear the bell signaling that Mrs. Brown's class had started.

"If you were a mere five minutes late, it would have been okay, Ms. James but do you realise that you are twenty five minutes late? Twenty five is a lot."

"I-I'm sorry," I stammered, a result of being the center of attention of many people.

"Well I'm sorry too for I'll have to take one point from your academic performance."

"No!" I burst out. "I mean, Mrs. Brown please no, don't do this. It won't happen again. Please."

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't, Ms. James. Do you realise how worse you performed in the last test?" She asked.

I remained silent. I had done pretty bad in the last test. The concepts weren't easy and I rarely had time to study because of my hectic schedule.

"Do you even remember what is Centimorgan, Aneuploidy, Monosomy and Trisomy? I'm pretty sure you learned it in your AP Biology class in your high school."

I looked at her with a sheepish smile plastered on my face. "Uh, Centimorgan is a...genetic disorder in which a person has four-no, um three copies of a chromosome instead of two," I said unsurely, looking at her hopefully.

"That is Trisomy. Not Centimorgan."

"Oh, um...sorry." I said quickly. Her stare intimidated me and I looked down again at the suddenly interesting patterns on the tiles, hoping she would disappear into thin air.

"You don't know what that is? Two points will be taken away." She said calmly. "Get out of my class."

I looked down at my feet. They were outside the class. "Uh...I am out."

She was glaring at me now and I just stared at her.

"Get out of here." She almost raised her voice. I sighed quietly.

I pulled at the strap of the bag on my shoulder. I looked down at my watch, it is almost one in the afternoon. What was I going to do now?

As if on cue, my stomach growled. I guess I would eat something. As I was too busy cleaning myself up earlier, I hadn't notice that lunch break was over and I needed to get to Mrs. Brown's class. In haste, I decided to skip lunch.

I made my way to the café nearest to my college and bought a sandwich. The café was fancy but whenever I needed to eat I usually just stuck to a small sandwich because all the other dishes on the menu, which looked quite delicious were way too expensive for my liking and I was already struggling to save money and pay off my bills and rent.

As I took a bite of my sandwich, I began typing a message to Olivia out of boredom.

Hey, are

I set my phone on the table and looked around. The café was almost empty other than a few hungry boys who bunked class. I focussed on my sandwich.

My phone vibrated on the table and I looked at the text Olivia sent me.

Yup.

Oh. I thought you might've skipped. Sorry, I

I'm

How

Like

And

Oh you

Yeah.

What

I

Mrs. Brown?

How'd you know?

She's the only one who takes off points for something like this.

I

She didn't reply back for a long time so I assumed that she got caught.

The professor was not there yet when I entered the class. I walked up to my seat which was at a far corner, away from the lecturer's sight.

There were a lot of students in the class. They were all chatting with their friends. I looked away from their happy faces and took out my book. I was not exactly smart but I got fairly good marks in all the subjects except for Bio cluster/Genetics.

I opened my book and stared at the pages. I was not reading but I didn't want to look at the people around me who were with their friends.

I didn't have any friends except for Olivia, or family. Except for my uncle and aunt, but I didn't live with them.

I had a best friend, Olivia who worked at a café with me. She was like family to me. And then there was Mrs. Odin. She was a kind lady who owned the café I worked at. She treated me like her own daughter and I really loved her. She lost her daughter in a car accident a few years ago. It was something horrible that she recounted to me when I started working at her café a little less than a year ago. She was understanding and I was sure she wouldn't be mad at me for being late today. I considered Olivia and Mrs. Odin my family.

Soon enough the professor entered the class. I paid attention to what she was teaching and took notes.

I watched as she scolded a guy in the class. He talked rudely to her. I hated my classmates. They were all filthy rich unlike me. But that's not why I hated them. It was the way they talked to the others, the way they behaved that angered me. Most of the people didn't talk with me because my status was not as high as their and I was not rich. But it's not like I was poor and starving. Mrs. Odin paid me well. Some of the people were nice enough to be my friends but I could see that they behaved friendly with me because they pitied me. And I didn't want their sympathy, I wanted real friends. I wasn't good at reading people so I couldn't be sure. Maybe my inferiority complex was to be blamed.

The teacher resumed her teaching and after an hour, the class was over.

I made my way out of the class and that was when someone shoved me away from their path. The books in my hand fell down and I turned around to glare at the person who pushed me.