This post is part of Rania Seid’s short story series, Abnormal. When more chapters are published, they will be linked here. Part One / Part Two

“Martha?” said a boy with medium brown skin and curly dyed blonde hair. It was Zach. Zach was my first crush ever since the incident in 4th grade. If you’re wondering what “The Incident” was, it was the time Zach fell on top of me during soccer in P.E. The whole class went bonkers. I was only in fourth grade but my mind already set up Zach and I’s future. 

“O-oh! Hey, Zach,” I stammered, slightly blushing. “What are you doing out in the hallway?” I checked the time on my phone. “We’re already late for class!”

Zach smiled. His dimples came out whenever he smiled. “I was actually waiting for you and Bruno, but I can’t seem to find him anywhere.” 

I sighed. “Yeah, well, I think he’s skipping for the first time in his life. It’s so unlike him. He’s been acting pretty weird today.” I smirked. “Why do you always try being friends with Bruno even though he’s always cold to you?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just wanna be a good guy. Besides, I don’t think he HATES me. Maybe there’s a misunderstanding between us.” said Zach, shrugging his shoulders. 

“Saying you and him get along is like saying Queen Elizabeth will die,” I laughed. Ever since we were little, we’ve had this on-going joke that Queen Elizabeth is immortal. The internet seems to agree with us.

“Very funny,” said Zach, rolling his eyes sarcastically. “Ok, well, I think we should head to first period because Mr. Song will literally kill us!”  Zach traced the front of his neck with his finger, mimicking what Mr. Song would probably do to us. We laughed at his joke as we headed straight down the hallway to Mr. Songs class. 

After Zach’s long “Number 2” break in the bathroom, we finally made it to the first period and boy, did Mr. Song have a treat for us.

“Well, well, well. Look who it is! The two troublemakers,” yelled Mr. Song. Mr. Song is that white teacher who thinks he’s hispanic because he took an ancestry test and his results came back as 90% European (I won’t list the countries because there were a variety) and 0.6% Mexican. When he found out, he came straight to me after class because my family is Mexican and ranted about how he absolutely loved our culture and was so happy to be a Mexican biologically and by heart. He did the exact same thing to all the POC students: Talk about fetishizing races. 

“Mr. Song, we didn’t mean to-,” Zach started but that stubborn Mr. Song interrupted him.

“Ah, ah, ah! No excuses for students who come in without a pass. You two will both see me after school today for a talk. Now, kindly seat yourself down.” Zach and I trudged on to our seats and sat next to each other. “I don’t think I was specific before. Kindly seat yourself APART from each other!” barked Mr. Song. Zach and I glanced at each other, then he got up and switched seats with a boy named Callum. 

“Hey, Martha,” Callum whispered, as he replaced Zach and sat beside me. Callum was a white dude with ginger hair. He was that quiet kid who always had his hoodie up in elementary school. Now he’s the teacher-pet/gentlemen. Puberty hit him hard. 

“Hey,” I responded, half-heartedly. 

Callum raised an eyebrow. “You good?”

 “Yeah, I’m good. I guess I’m just tired,” I lied, plastering on a fake smile. I couldn’t stop thinking about Bruno. Where was he? 

Just then, Callum slid from his seat and stood on top of the chair. “Don’t be sad, Mon Cher! Prince Callum the lll is here to save the day!” He then took out a random ring pop from his right pocket and kneeled. “Will you marry me?” The whole class burst into laughter including me. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Zach glaring at Callum. That’s weird, I thought. 

I shook those thoughts out of my head and looked back at Callum. “Yes, I will marry you!” I spoke in a dreamy voice, trying my best to imitate Juliet from that Shakespeare play. 

“We shall get married tomorrow night! But for now, Prince Callum the lll needs a bathroom break,” Callum spoke as he bowed to me, and quickly excused himself from the classroom. Everyone applauded as he exited the classroom. 

“Excuse me, Mr. Song,” said Zach. Everyone in class turned to look. “May I use the bathroom, as well?”

“Yes, yes, whatever. Just don’t take twenty minutes like you did last time!” Mr. Song said as he shooed Zach off. Zach thanked Mr. Song and ran off to the bathroom. “Get back to work everyone! Just because we happen to have two love birds in our class, doesn’t mean you get to have uncompleted work!”

Everyone in class groaned and went back to doing stupid Geometry. A few minutes pass and Callum walks back into the classroom. Oddly, his thumbs were tucked into his pockets. This doesn’t sound odd, but Zach’s the only person I know who does this. Callum never even touches his pockets. 

He seats himself next to me and I look at him weirdly. “What?”

“It’s nothing. Just that you have YOUR THUMBS IN YOUR POCKETS,” I said.

Callum looks down at his side and hastily take’s his hand out of his pocket. “Oh, this? I-I always do this.”

I raised an eyebrow and continued working on my geometry. After about thirty minutes of silence and math, the bell rang and everyone packed up. A sudden thought came to my head. Where was Zach? He never came back after leaving the class to use the bathroom. This was weird. 

I shoved my backpack onto my back and speed-walked out the door. The boy’s bathroom was right around the corner so I decided to go there. As I arrived in front of the boy’s bathroom, a short brunette dude was about to go inside so I tapped his shoulder. 

“Yeah?” he said, looking as perplexed as ever.

“Can you check if there’s anyone in the bathroom?” I asked. 

The brunette guy nodded his head and came back out after about thirty seconds. “No ones in there,” he said, shaking his head. I thanked him, trying to hide how confused I was and ran on to the next bathroom. After going around the whole entire school, Zach was nowhere to be found. I was freaking out now and everyone could see it.

I opened the door to my 3rd period class and leisurely walked to my seat, looking down. The teacher stopped me before I could sit down.

“Are you okay, baby?” said Mrs. Valencia. She was my favorite teacher and what’s even better is that she taught my favorite subject as well: History. If you don’t like history, don’t talk to me.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I said half-heartedly, trying to look as joyful as possible. 

Mrs. Valencia patted my head. “If you need anything, come talk to me, ok?” I smiled and finally sat down. The day dragged on for hours and hours. It was as if time stood still.

  Finally, after staring at the clock for so long, the last bell of the day rang and everyone hurriedly left the class. Lacking energy, I decided to take a snack break while riding back home on my bike. I left my bike on the porch of our house and took my keys from my pocket. I trudged inside. “Hey mo-.”

Mom was sobbing on her favorite chair, Benishki. “What’s wrong, mom?” She never cries except if….

This post is part two of five of Rania Seid’s fiction series, Abnormal. When more chapters are published, they will be linked here. Part One