"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
youinclass?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
won'tdisturbI'm
bored :/ Thisprofessoristeachingussomethingtotallyalientome. Whatare thesesymbols?How
amIsupposedtoknow? Won'tyougetcaughtthough?Like
Icare. I'dbehappyifIgetcaughtactually. I'llbeabletoescapetheclass.And
haveyourpointstakenofflikeme?Oh you
gotintrouble?Yeah.
What
didyoudo?I
wastwentyfiveminuteslatetoclass. Someoneaccidentallyspilttheirdrinkonme.Mrs. Brown?
How'd you know?
She's the only one who takes off points for something like this.
I
know. Oh, andI want the bookyou borrowed from me last time.She didn't reply back for a long time so I assumed that she got caught.
I shoved my phone in my jeans pockets. As I finished my sandwich the bell rang. I walked to my next class.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.
"I said you deserved what you got. Your parents are dead, you work at a café. I bet my purse costs more than your last paycheck. So keep a distance from me, you little bitch."I didn't understand what her problem was. She never acted this way with others, even the people who were close to my level in terms of wealth. She was always sweet to everyone else but me. It was like she intentionally wanted to rile me up.That was enough to crush my self control. My hands balled up into a fist and before I knew, my hand was deposited on her artificially pink and soft cheek. She stumbled back and her minions caught her."Don't you dare say anything about my life. You are no one to comment on it." I snapped at her as I saw her struggle to get up without flashing anything. I dashed out of t
I reached home at around nine thirty at night. It was not exactly home to me. I lived in a small two room rented apartment which was enough for me. The owner was a grumpy widowed douche who was too impatient with the rent.I inserted the key in the hole and opened the door. I flicked the lights on and closed the door behind me. I was tired. I didn't know why but I was damn tired.I already had my dinner at a restaurant and I was full. And so I just needed a warm bath now.Summer break was right around the corner and I was very excited. Tomorrow would be the last day of college until after the break which was for about three weeks. Many of my classmates were to going to go home to meet their family. And some of them were going on family trips to different countries. Thank God, it would be a nice break from seeing the arrogant faces of my classmates everyday.I went into the bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth. After putting on my comfortable pajam
As I entered my last class of the day History, I saw Ashley glaring at me. She leaned over Ryder, her boyfriend or more like bed buddy and whispered something in his ear. She glared at me again and I saw Ryder doing the same. If looks could kill, I would have already met my parents.I ignored them and walked to my seat. The class started and I paid attention to the teacher, as usual and took down important notes.Soon enough, the day was over. I heard the plans of the other students. Some were going to holiday abroad. Some in Hawaii, others in India, Bhutan, Africa, Switzerland, London and other countries. In other words, places I had never seen or been to and places that I would probably never see or go to. I envied them for that.Almost my whole class was going to party today at a frat house. I wasn't invited.I would be at work as usual and then at my home.I didn't stay in the campus for long and soon enough I was walking through the familiar s
"You sure she lives here?" Olivia asked, looking around us to see if anyone was there. We were outside Ashley's house. It was 11:39. We had half of our faces covered under a black scarf. We could easily pass for burglars. I just hoped we didn't get caught."Positive," I whispered to her. She nodded and stepped forward."Hey, what are you doing?" I asked as I pulled her back."Going in, of course. How are we supposed to get your revenge without going in?" She asked in a 'duh' tone."We can't go in through the gates. What if we get noticed?""Well there is no other way inside other than the gates.""Follow me," I said.I circled around the house searching for an easy entry. But I found none. The whole house was surrounded by high walls. They were not so high so maybe we could climb up."We'll have to climb up," I stated and turned to find Olivia staring at me in horror."Maybe I didn't tell you this but I'm afraid of heigh
My eyes opened to reveal the familiar surroundings of my room. But there was too much light here. I quickly shut my eyes again, the amount of light unbearable. I blinked a few times and my eyes adjusted to the light.I tried to remember what happened and the previous day burst into awareness. It was Saturday.I rolled over, eager to feel my soft bed on my back, but I was greeted by nothing but air."Aah!" I screamed as I fell down from the bed on my back. I quickly got up.My back hurt. My eyes drifted to the clock on my bedside table and my eyes widened in shock. It was nine in the morning.What happened to my 5 am wake up policy?I had to be at the café before ten!I quickly grabbed some clothes and a towel and went into the washroom. I quickly brushed my teeth, getting rid of my morning breath. I showered quickly and made myself some toast and omelette.After breakfast, I picked up my bag and locked my apartment. I wa
Liv had a car which her parents had gifted to her when she was sixteen and since then she had been using it. It has being over five years now and the car had visible signs of being old. But it was still a nice little black car."When are we going to reach?" I asked. It had been over half an hour and we were still driving through the New York roads to reach to her friend, Wilma's place."Are you so excited that you can't wait to reach there?""You wish."She rolled her eyes. "We're almost there." Liv replied, excitement evident in her tone. What a party animal.She pulled up in front of a large mansion with high walls surrounding it and a black intricately designed gate which had two men in black on either side of it.Liv unbuckled her seatbelt and glanced at me. I still had my seat belt on."Why aren't you getting out?" She asked while smoothing out the corners of her dress which perfectly fit her. Her dress on me was a bit big but st
"Do you need anything, miss?" I heard a voice behind me and turned towards the source. I saw a young man dressed as a waiter looking at me. He was probably the one who asked me."A glass of water would be fine," I told him. He raised his eyebrows at this probably wondering why I wasn't having a drink at this party like the other people."Are you okay?" He asked as he filled a glass with water."Yeah. What time is it?" I asked.He looked at his wrist watch for a second and looked back up at me. "It's almost ten," He said and extended his hand towards me, holding the glass of water. I took it from him."Do you know where Wilma could be?" I asked him, not sure whether he knew or not."She must be somewhere here. It's her birthday and cake cutting is yet to take place in a few minutes so she must be somewhere around here. Is she your friend?""No. She's my friend's friend. She's Olivia's friend, I mean.""Oh," He said shrugging. "I
I went to the bathroom but there was no one.I was about to leave when I heard some abnormal noises and I knew it was Olivia."Olivia?"I heard a low groan from inside. I knocked on the door again."Olivia? You there?"Nobody replied, instead I heard the toilet being flushed and the door cracked open. I immediately stepped back. Olivia tumbled out of the toilet.I caught her before she could face plant herself on the floor."Jelly!" She shouted in my ear and I cringed at her loud voice."Don't shout. And my name is Julie, not Jelly."I put her one arm around my neck and helped her out of the toilet."Where were you, July? I missed you a lot!" She said, clearly ignoring what I said to not shout. Her mouth reeked of alcohol and I stopped breathing for a while. "You know I played this dare and truth with Wimla. And I got this naughty dare to kiss a guy. And I enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyed it! Wimla was..."Before she cou