Amaka R

Aisha

“Watch where you’re going, bitch!” I heard the words a second before I was shoved to the floor.

Looking up, I saw the school’s resident blonde bimbo standing over me with her minions behind her, all of them laughing. Without saying anything, I picked up my books and walked toward my locker.

Some people might say I was weak for not standing up to them, but the truth was, I couldn’t do anything even if I wanted to. Her daddy was the mayor of our little town, which meant Amy got to do whatever she wanted and somehow always got away with it.

When I reached my locker, I found my best friend already waiting for me. It was a relief to see a friendly face after dealing with that demon child.

I hugged Amber. “Hey, girl.”

“Don’t ‘hey, girl’ me. I don’t know why you let them do this to you.” Amber said for the millionth time.

Here we go again. It was always the same argument with us. Amber wanted me to stand up to Amy and her little group, while I wanted nothing to do with them.

Honestly, I didn’t know why I didn’t defend myself. I just wasn’t interested in lowering myself to their level. Yeah, maybe I should stand up for myself, but what good would that do when I knew anything I did to Amy would somehow come back on my family?

I ignored Amber’s question, opened my locker, and grabbed my history book for my next class.

Taking her by the arm, I dragged her along with me before we could have the same argument for the hundredth time. I didn’t want to be late and end up seeing the stinky principal. We walked into the classroom just as the final bell rang. Relieved, I dropped into my seat next to Amber and waited for Mrs. Anderson to come in.

Except she didn’t. The fact that she wasn’t standing by the door waiting for us was already shocking. Twenty minutes passed, and she still hadn’t shown up.

That was nothing like Mrs. Anderson.

That woman would send you to detention if the bell rang while you were still standing outside her classroom. That was how strict she was.

So her not being here? Yeah, that was a red flag.

I looked at Amber and whispered, “You think she’s coming?”

“Nah, she would’ve been here already.” Amber looked around the classroom. “I wonder what happened to her, though.”

As soon as she said that, the principal walked in. The expression on his face immediately made me sit straighter. He looked both sad and angry, almost like he couldn’t decide which emotion he wanted to settle on.

Everyone quieted down and faced him.

He cleared his throat. “Good morning, everyone. I know you’re all waiting for Mrs. Anderson, but, um,” He paused. “I’m sorry to inform you that she won’t be coming to class today.”

“What happened to her?” one of the students asked.

“At this moment, we don’t know. She has been missing since last night, and the police are looking for her,” he quickly explained.

A collective gasp filled the classroom.

Damn, what the hell happened?

Since my family moved here, this was the first time I’d heard about someone going missing. It wasn’t like our little town didn’t have its share of crime, but nothing this major had ever happened.

And then a thought entered my mind. Did they find me? Or was I overthinking?

By the time I pulled myself out of my thoughts, everyone was getting up and following the principal out of the classroom.

“What happened?” I asked Amber.

“You zoned out again, didn’t you?” she asked.

I gave her a sheepish smile.

“He wants us to go to the auditorium and wait until our next class,” she said.

I guess that made sense. They couldn’t exactly leave a bunch of teenagers alone in a classroom without a teacher.

Who knew what we would do? I suddenly felt someone tugging on my arm. I looked down and saw Amber pulling me. “What?”

“Let’s go to the cafeteria. We have lunch next anyway.” She started wiggling her eyebrows at me.

Oh, hell. That look meant trouble.

I already knew exactly what she wanted. “For what? So you can go have another staring contest with Carter?”

“Hey! He has nice eyes,” she said dreamily. “They’re so green. When I stare into them, I get lost in those forest-green eyes.”

She pushed my shoulder. “If you paid more attention to him, you would’ve noticed how beautiful he is.”

I doubted that.

Oh my God, this girl sounded like she was making a commercial for him. You would think she’d ask the guy out already, but no. Whenever Carter was around, she suddenly became shy for absolutely no reason.

Rolling my eyes, I followed her to the cafeteria.

I grabbed two slices of pizza and an orange juice while Amber got yogurt and a small salad.

Right before we sat down, the man of the hour walked toward us. And honestly, now that I was actually taking the time to look at him, I didn’t think he was as cute as Amber made him out to be. I mean, yeah, he had the whole surfer-boy thing going for him with blond hair, sparkling green eyes, and a smile some girls would probably call killer.

It did absolutely nothing for me.

“Hey, ladies.” Carter approached us with a smirk. “I heard about Mrs. Anderson. What do you think happened to her?”

“I think she got tired of this small town and left without telling anyone,” Amber said, batting her eyelashes at him.

Could she be any more obvious?

“Really? Without telling her family?” Carter shook his head. “Nah, I think something happened. What do you think, Aisha?”

I looked between them. “Well, I don’t know, but knowing Mrs. Anderson, we all know she wouldn’t leave without saying anything to anyone.”

The woman was the poster child for punctuality. There was no way I could see her simply leaving town without telling anyone. Something happened to her, and the more I thought about it, the more a shiver ran down my spine.

I had come to love this little town. I didn’t want to think about something horrible happening to anyone here. After finishing lunch, we threw away our trays and headed toward our next classes. I said goodbye to Amber in the hallway before walking into mine.

I couldn't focus now.

I took a seat in the back of the classroom and prayed to God that time would move faster so I could go home and end this horrible day. God definitely did not hear my prayer; it felt like I had been sitting in class for an eternity.

To make matters worse, one of Amy’s bimbos was in the same class, and she kept doing some weird thing with her eyes toward our quarterback. If I weren’t trying to stay clear of them, I would’ve asked if something was wrong with her eyes.

Instead, I kept mine focused on the front of the classroom and tried to understand what Mr. Milton was teaching. Science was definitely not my best friend. It was actually one of the subjects I struggled with the most.

Thank God the bell rang just as Mr. Milton was about to tell us about tomorrow’s homework.

Nobody waited around; every single one of us rushed out of the classroom.

I was almost at my locker when I heard him yell behind us, “You’ll still get the homework tomorrow! No worries!”

Groaning, I opened my locker and shoved my books inside.

A few seconds later, Amber came running toward me, tired and out of breath.

I looked behind her; nobody was chasing her. So what the hell was she running for?

I swung my bag over my shoulder and waited for her to catch her breath.

I could think of one thing that might make Amber run like that, but surely it wasn’t that. “Is your favorite shop having a sale or something?” That would definitely make her run.

Amber shook her head. “No, girl. I heard some news,” she managed between breaths.

We started walking outside now that school was over, and I waited for her to gather herself.

When she finally did, I wished she had never said anything because the words that came out of her mouth shocked me to my core.

“They found Mrs. Anderson’s body.”