You're Undead

Chapter 2

Mrs. Walsh, a Spanish teacher, was not happy with my slight lateness, but she did not say anything. At the beginning she discussed with us the plan of lessons that we were supposed to work on, and then she asked us about the words we should know from last year. Only a few could answer her. Although I have had contact with this language since my childhood - half of Adam's family still spoke Spanish - I didn't learn it much. I thought that I do not have head for languages. 

When the break finally came, I picked up my bag and ran out of the room, heading for the lockers. Lexi was already standing by hers, which was right next to mine. She smiled at the phone and wrote something on it every now and then.

"Are you cheating on me?" I asked offended, opening the lock. The girl just raised her finger, making me wait.

I hung my jacket on the hook, noticing an old photo attached to the inside of the door. It showed me and Lexi when we were less than six years old. At that time, my friend had a plumper face, short hair - she promised that she would never humiliate herself again - and had just lost her front tooth. Her crescent-shaped mark was not so visible then. She cuddled to a smaller version of me, as if she was afraid that I might have escaped her. 

Little Anna, who would prefer to be called Annabelle, was red after playing. Brown curls barely clung to her hair, and large amber eyes stared at the lens. The remains of strawberry jam dried up in the corner of her small mouth.

"I would never betray you, my love" said Lexi suddenly, taking her eyes off the cell phone. "But someone can give me something you don't have."

We burst out laughing, drawing the attention of nearby students. Alexis had something from a s**t, but I loved her for that.

"What is this Romeo called?"

"Jared. And it's no Romeo. I'm not going to die for him."

"Amen."

She met Jared a month ago when he commented on her photo. They've been talking since then, and Lexi had a crush on him.

The annoying bell interrupted our conversation and we had to go to class. Fortunately, we had it together. And unfortunately, it was math. Lexi understood it enough to sign up for an extra hour. With additional English, statistics and history. And she went to dance classes on some evenings. I had no idea how she had so much energy and desire.

When math was over, Lexi stayed in the classroom for another lesson, and I could finally leave. I took out the apple that was supposed to be my breakfast. On the way to the next class, someone slapped my back hard that I almost choked on a piece of fruit.

"Damn it, Adam." I hit him just as hard. "You could have killed me."

The boy just snickered, adjusting his blonde fringe. I told him so much that he would shorten it, but he never listened. He obviously liked the à la emo style waiting for the MCR to return. He was still holding their shirts, though he wasn't wearing them anymore.

"If it were so easy to kill you, I'd do it years ago" he said, massaging his aching shoulder. "Remember when I accidentally pushed you off the tree."

"It's good that it ended on a broken bone." I laughed at that memory. I was eleven back then, and Adam was ten. We loved climbing on trees. We argued about something stupid and it was the boy who left unscathed. "And as I remember correctly, it wasn't accidental."

The blond man frowned at this comment. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned on the beige wall.

"It is important that nothing more serious has happened. You will have something to tell your grandchildren."

I nudged Adam again, smiling happily. I finished eating the apple at the same time the first bell rang. And then once again I saw the dark-eyed. Something heavy settled on my stomach. I had to remember how to breathe. 

"Anna? Are you going?" Adam's voice brought me back to earth.

I grabbed the necklace from my parents and then entered the room, sitting down just where there was free space. Right next to Chris. I smiled at him, not letting him know that something was wrong. He returned the gesture. The lesson began and I couldn't focus. I grabbed the pendant again. Did not help. It always helped me concentrate, but at that moment it was useless. English literature seemed so boring to me. I did not understand the language in these books.

"And now we divide into two-person groups "said the teacher. I didn't remember her name yet. Then, with a wave of her hand, she indicated who was to work with whom. Unfortunately, she assigned Adam to a girl whom I had never talked to. "You can be together." She paired me and Chris.

Damn it.

The teacher handed out to everyone a piece of paper on which were given the novels on one side and the authors on the other. The first exercise instructed to assign the author to the appropriate book title. In the next task we were to summarize two selected ones. From the long list I read only Wuthering Heights, Tessa d'Urbervilles and a bit of Brave New World.  I was hoping Chris knew more than I did. I combined names from one column with names on the other, at least as much as I could.

"Any ideas?" I whispered to Chris. The boy stared at the card as if trying to remember something. He gave up because he leaned on the back of the chair, trying to look into the work of others. "So I understand we're screwed?"

"We'll make it," he answered confidently. After a while, he combined more names and titles.

While he was writing, I tried to think of something for the second exercise. After a while he took the paper from which I wrote. He ran his eyes over the text, laughing under his breath. I glared at him.

"Some rich guy adopts Heathcliff " He read aloud so that only I could hear. "His daughter Catherine fall in love with Heathcliff. The rich guy dies. Catherine marries to another rich guest. Heathcliffe marries the rich husband's sister."

"And? Am I wrong?"

"I'm not saying that. But this is probably not enough for her." He nodded at the teacher who was in the classroom, looking at the students' work. "You're lucky I recently read Wuthering Heights. I will fill the gaps."

When he smiled, I noticed how straight and white his teeth were. Only the bottom two were slightly chipped. The pressure in my stomach that had been bothering me since the start of the class was gone. However, the disturbing feeling remained. And everything told me that Chris was the cause of it. Despite this, I enjoyed talking to him. And he was quite handsome. How could I ignore him?

"No phones!"  The teacher shouted, pointing her finger at the sign by the door. "It is f*******n to use mobile phones during classes."