FicWad

Short Story


RING!!!

Everybody rushed in as they heard the first bell ring. Not wanting to get in the bad sides of their teachers early in the morning, the students of East High quickly rushed to their respective classrooms. Not only were there slamming of locker doors but also slamming of poor unfortunate students to the side by the self-proclaimed gods of the school. A mixture of jocks, emo-bullies and plastic-populars. These three never mingled but they knew how to cooperate with each other when it came to their favorite subject: taunting. Many kids have been victims of these people and the current one was seated on the far end of the row in Ms Darbus' classroom. Gabriela Montez was sitting by the window looking out.

"Wondering how you could get that body transplant?"

A sneer brought her back down to reality and she whipped her head in the direction of the one who said it. "Bugger off Lichtenberg."

"Oooh...watcha gonna do Montez?"

Gabriela smirked as she whipped out her phone and pressed a button. Just as she did that, a ring was heard in the classroom and a loud shriek followed.

"Mr Lichtenberg! How many times have I told you to NEVER use cell phones when in my class?" Ms Darbus breathed down on Josh Lichtenberg while snatching his phone away and throwing it in her bucket.

Josh's eyes widened.

"Answer me boy!" Ms Darbus glowered at him.

"Um, about a dozen or so times ma'am," his reply came in a little voice.

The class snickered to his response and he turned around to glare at them. They immediately shut up but some shoulders were still noticeably shaking with laughter. As Ms Darbus turned her back to the group, Josh turned his glare to Gabriela who smugly smiled at him. He huffed and put his attention to what Ms Darbus was droning on about...or at least he tried to.

Over by Gabriela, she felt her phone vibrate and she discreetly opened it under a pile of books. A tiny smile grazed her face as she saw the sender's name.


Sender: Troy
8:11 A.M.

Lichtenberg's face was priceless! You go Gabi! You rock! Don't mind the jerk...you're a lovely girl. Nice Chucks btw.


She looked over her shoulder and grinned at Troy. He grinned back shoving his phone back to his pocket.

"And who is considered to be the father of short stories Ms Montez?"

Gabriela's head snapped back to the front. She found Ms Darbus giving her an intense stare.

"Edgar Allan Poe," came Gabriela's reply as she held the teacher's gaze.

Ms Darbus gave a small smile and turned to the rest of the class. Immediately after that, Gabriela heard some whisperings behind her. She shook her head at these as she already knew what they were all about. Everyone seemed to be making a huge deal of the basic fact that she had an IQ of over 120. They all classified her as a nerd and geek but then she was never affected by their criticisms.

She knew she was smart and she never let her guard down. That and the way she carries herself. The way she dresses, people assumed she was a complete tomboy.

Yes, she was a tomboy but only in some ways. She just so happened to have a lot of boyish flair. People around her easily misjudged her for it. She was used to it all and it didn't bother her. It used to but she easily got over it. Now, she even manages to turn the fun around.

She doesn't get the students around her. Gabriela managed to reply to all the taunts. She managed to silence the guys who teased her with just single simple sentences. Why did they still bother to mock her when they knew how it would turn up - which would be them silenced or get told off?

"Okay," Ms Darbus loudly said which caused Gabriela to snap out of her thoughts. "Now that I have all of your attention, I would now like to announce your project. Since we are discussing the whole short story thing, I have decided that your project will be to make a short story. It would have a minimum of ten pages. You can have it computerized or hand written provided that your handwriting is neat and actually readable. Did you all get it? Any questions?"

"Yeah, Ms Darbus?" a jock beside Josh held up his hand. "Do we really have to do this?"

Ms Darbus strode on to his desk and gave him a fixed stare. "Yes Mr Ellsworth, you have to do this for it counts for half of your grade. Any more questions?"

A timid hand appeared from the back of the room. "Yes, Ms Neilson?"

"Um Ms Darbus, is this an individual project?"

"It is an individual project however...do you want it to be done by pairs?" Ms Darbus now addressed the whole class.

Almost as if on cue, the whole class yelled out. "Pairs!"

Ms Darbus held up her hands. "Okay, okay. Since you are all so united in that stand, I guess I could make it by pairs. Just...find your own partner."

Gabriela's eyes scanned the room and rested on Troy - her only friend in class. Well, not exactly her only friend but the only one who saw her for her. He knew a lot about her that everyone wouldn't think he even had inkling about.

She noticed that his eyes were also rested on her. He looked at her with a question in his eyes and she nodded. Troy's face immediately split into a grin and he clamored to get to the seat next to her.

Along the way, a cheerleader stopped him grabbing his hand. He removed his hand from her grip and politely declined on her offer. Gabriela chuckled at the scene before her.

"And just what are you laughing at Montez?" Troy asked once he reached her side.

Gabriela hid her mouth behind her hands and innocently replied, "Nothing."

"Right. Nothing. I don't get what pleasure you have in seeing me being harassed by shameless cheerleaders."

"You'll never get it Alex."

"Shut up Anne."

"Hey!" Gabriela screeched. "What's up with the second name?"

"You started it," Troy answered rolling his eyes.

Gabriela gave a little laugh. "Good point."

Before Troy could say something else, Ms Darbus' voice rang through the whole room. "I trust by now you have picked out your partners. If you haven't, well too bad, you would have to work alone. Moving on, this project of yours will be due two weeks from now. I changed my mind from earlier; I want your paper to have a minimum of fifteen pages. Okay? Everybody got it? Good. For now start on the preliminary steps for your project."

Chairs shuffled around as the pairs got closer to each other. The cheerleaders present in the room cast their angry eyes on Gabriela. They did not understand why the hot and gorgeous captain of the basketball team would turn down a cheerleader and go for the plain resident tomboy. They have been so intent in whispering and glaring at Gabriela that they didn't notice Ms Darbus coming up beside them.

"Girls, do you know what pairs mean?"

A cheerleader who had her hair in pigtails snottily replied. "Of course, everyone does."

"Then explain to me why there are five of you clumped together."

The whole class broke into laughter. It was hard not to as Ms Darbus gave out the comment in a loud voice and sarcasm was perfectly laced in it. The cheerleaders grew red as they parted to two's. One was left alone and desperately looked around for someone who wasn't paired up yet. She saw that everyone had someone beside him.

"Tsk tsk, looks like you will have to work alone Ms Daniels," Ms Darbus remarked.

The cheerleader huffed and plopped down in a seat crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, don't just pout there Ms Daniels. Get a pen and paper and start on your project."

She mumbled curses but did as Ms Darbus told her. Instead of thinking of something for her project though, the cheerleader succumbed to writing cheers and sketching designs for the squad in her notebook.

The whole room was noisy as the pairs argued over what could be good themes of their story. Ms Darbus watched them like a hawk but had a small smile playing on her lips. She was delighted to see that her students, whom most she could sense were lazy, were actually up and about being busy about their project. Of course, it isn't much considering it was just the beginning and they could only be interested in it now and forget all about it until the due date. But still, the smile on her face did not falter and she hoped that it will continue the whole day and with all of her other classes.

Not five minutes later, the bell rang. At this, everyone stood up ready to get out of the classroom, away from the presence of the drama teacher.

"What do you have next?" Troy asked Gabriela who was stuffing her notebook in her bag.

"Free period. Why?"

"I just want to show you something."

Gabriela's eyebrows furrowed. "But I thought you had basketball practice?"

Troy groaned and slapped a hand across his forehead. "You're right." But then, a glint in his eye appeared. "But then again, dad loves you."