Rising Storm

CHAPTER 1 - Surprise!

"Wake up, lazy bones! You're late for school!" A voice shouted outside the door.

I was already awake and was sitting on my bed so I replied back, "I'm already up. And you can come in, the door is unlocked."

The door opened and in stepped a lean boy. He was my brother, Matt, elder by two years. He was a carbon copy of our mother, who unfortunately passed away in a riding accident. He had her dark brown hair and gray eyes whereas I looked completely different. "Aren't you going to school?" Matt inquired eyeing my which was uniform on the desk.

"No. I really don't want to." I muttered looking down at my hands.

"Why ever not?"

I looked up at him and said, "Because I'll have to face Esther again. You know she makes school life a living hell for me. And anyways, I would rather sit here and read a book or something. Books are so much interesting than school."

"But you hate books, don't you?" Someone interrupted. We turned to see our father standing in the doorway, arms folded, eyeing me grimly.

"Dad, please don't make me go." I whispered softly so that only Matt could hear. Dad walked in and crouched down to my eye level. "I promise you that if you go now, you can come back and ride on your pony."

"You mean it?" I whispered. My father just smiled and nodded.

"Thanks Dad. It means a lot to me." I hugged him and quickly ran to the bathroom to get dressed.

* * *

"Hey Gloria, sleep well at night?" A mocking voice called out to greet me the moment I stepped in to the school. I turned and saw Esther and her friends standing side by side, sneering at me.

"What's your problem?" I retorted back and continued to make my way to the lockers.

"Well, you better have a good sleep because today is gonna be your worst day here." Esther snapped as I passed her.

I didn't dare to look at her and reached my locker. There was paper taped on to the door which had a sad face drawn in red ink. Below it said, "You DIE today."

"Creeps." I muttered and ripped it away. I got my books and made my way to the first class I had, Ecology. The minute I stepped in, everyone turned to look at me. For a second I froze, my eyes darting side to side expecting a fart pillow or confetti thrown at me. But no, nothing happened. I sat down on my desk which was in the second row and placed my books in the right corner, like I always did. After a couple of minutes, Esther and one of her friends walked in and made their way to the last row. Basically, there were four rows in the class room. The first one was where all the brainy pants sat, second was for standard students like me, third was for average students who were okay at studies and the last row, well, you know.

Suddenly, the door opened and a man stepped in carrying a briefcase and a weird looking plant which had bright yellow blossoms. He seemed to be in his late forties and was extremely clumsy. He put his briefcase on the table and the plant too, dropping some of the compost on the table. If Miss Rose had been present, she would have fainted right there and then to see her beloved hand painted table ruined.

"Good morning, students!" He announced in a chirpy and jolly tone. "I'm your new teacher, well actually a cover teacher, for Miss Rose. Right." He looked at us and continued, "My name is Professor Aele Pecker Wood." He gazed at us and said, "But you lot can call me Mr Wood."

None of us made a sound and just stared at the creature before us. Then a haughty voice asked, "Can I call you Woody Woodpecker?"

Everyone turned to see Esther standing. She was chewing gum lazily making these disgusting sounds as she chomped her gum.

I turned back to look at Mr Wood and saw him turn shades. Red then purple then again red. "Throw your gum in the bin and sit down, young lady." His said sternly.

"But sir, all I did was..." Esther began.

"Silence! I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my class. If you do not behave, I'll make sure you spend the next hour in Mr Fugue's office!" He thundered startling everyone.

Esther did as she was told and sat down with a thump on her desk. I settled comfortably in my chair and smiled to myself.