Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Stupid Homework!

Lucy and I were running like crazy when we finally reached the school. While running, we decided to talk about classes to get our minds off the fact that we were about 25 minutes late.
“Man! We are SO late! And my first class just had to be math with Ms. Kelly! She’ll probably give me extra homework!” I complained.
“She’s not all bad.” Lucy defended.
“Are we talking about the same person? How the heck is she not all bad!?! She gives extra homework if you sharpen your pencil!” I yelled. This was actually true. One time, I sharpened my pencil when it broke, and she gave me five more pages of homework! No joke or exaggeration there!
“She’s not Veronica. She hates her!” Lucy reasoned.
“Good point! That actually makes me like her more. That’s the best thing you ever said.” And that was true, also. Veronica is, well, saying that she’s ‘kind of a jerk’ is scratching the surface of the surface of the surface of the... you get the idea.
“We’re here and we’re thirty minutes late.” Lucy realized.
“It’s better than not coming at all! Come on!” I rushed her into the school quietly to make sure the hall monitor didn’t see us.
“See ya later, Susie! Good luck in math!” She whispered as she walked to 8th grade English.
“See ya!” I called in my loudest whisper so she’d hear me. Truth is, I have the loudest whisper in the whole school. Seriously! We had a loudest whisper contest, and a girl with hearing aids in the third row heard me. That’s two and a half feet away! Anyways, I got to the class door and took a deep breath. ‘Here comes the seven hours of torture.’ As I walked into the class, everyone turned and looked at me. I wished I was back at home eating my breakfast.
“Well look who decided to join us! I hope you can tell the class why you’re five minutes late to class?” Ms. Kelly said with that evil smile of hers. ‘Five minutes? What happened to the other thirty minutes? Oh, yeah! I turned the clock back by thirty minutes last week as a prank! I can’t believe she still hasn’t realized yet! Wow, she’s slow! Almost as slow as me!’
“Lucy and I had to take her younger sister to school. Laura, Lucy’s little sister, is kind of slow at getting ready like me. Lucy and I had to run to get here!” I explained. Sometimes, the half-truth is better than the whole truth.
“Well, I hope Laura won’t stop you from finishing your five extra pages of homework after school. Now why don’t you take a seat so I can introduce someone to you kids.” As I sat down, I heard the boys snickering. Yeah, I have three categories in my class: The Boys, The Populars, and The Loners. I’m one of the two kids in The Loners group. The other is Tracy, who only comes to school once a month because of a disease that I can’t pronounce. I feel sorry for her. I keep wishing to be friends, but she never talks to anyone so no one knows anything about her. It makes me wanna cry when I see her all alone. I think she’s coming next week.
“Alright, now if everyone's ready, I’d like to introduce our new transfer student!” Ms. Kelly announced, interrupting my thoughts.
“You can come in!” Ms. Kelly called.
“Do you think it’s a girl?” I heard a boy whisper to the boy behind me.
“I hope so! Especially one better than Susie!” The other boy whispered back.
“Oh, will you two knock it off! Especially you, Brian! Just because you have a crush on a certain girl I hate, doesn’t mean you you have to hate my guts!” I whispered in a voice as quiet as I could make it with them being able to hear me without turning my head. Brian, the boy who sits behind me, has a crush on Veronica and sorta hates me with the passion. Just then, a girl with long black hair in a pony tail walked in.
“Everyone! I’d like you to meet Julie Yamato!” Ms. Kelly announced.
“Um, it’s pronounced--” She started to correct.
“Yeah, I don’t care. Say hi to everybody!” Ms. Kelly cut off. Yeah, I hate my math teacher. It’s hard not to.
“Okay. Hi! My name’s Julie! Nice to meet you!” Julie said sweetly. I raised my hand impatiently.
“You can ask questions later! Now who will you sit next to. How about...” As Ms. Kelly looked around the room, I pointed to a seat right next to me frantically.
“How about with her?” Julie said as she pointed at the seat I was pointing at. I got a hopeful look on my face.
“Oh, no! You don’t want that! She’s an idiot.” Ms. Kelly said horrified at Julie’s choice.
“Thanks for telling her I have an A in the class, Ms. Kelly!” I yelled.
“Thanks for adding 5 more pages of extra homework to your work load, Sara.” She had her evil smile on her face again. Yep! Definitely hate her.The whole class laughed as I sat back down.
“I don’t mind sitting next to her, if that’s okay. I don’t want to keep the class waiting!” Julie rushed.
“Alright. Just don’t come crying when you wanna change seats!” Ms. Kelly warned. The whole class laughed so hard a few kids fell out of their seats. Yeah, I hate my class, too. The only two kids I like at this school are Lucy and Tracy. Maybe Julie might become one of my friends if she doesn’t get poisoned by Veronica first.
After math, I had science, P.E., and History. And then came lunch. I had my usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich, juice box, bag of pretzels, and a cookie. Lucy had her usual awesome lunch that she makes at about six in the morning. She makes Laura’s lunch, too. She had some left over turkey and mash potatoes & gravy from her dinner last night. She also had fruit salad, carrots, and a water bottle. I asked for a bit of turkey, and of course, she gave me some. But while I was chewing, I saw Veronica leading Julie over to her little hang out. I knew what that meant, so I swallowed and tapped Lucy on the shoulder.
“What is it?” Lucy asked as I gestured over to the ‘Snake’s Den’, as we called it.
“Is she with that new student you were talking about?” Lucy remembered.
“Yep! Watch my lunch, I’ll be right back.” I called as I rushed off.
“Hey! Susie! Wait up!” Lucy called back as she cleaned up our lunches, and ran after me. The ‘Snake’s Den’ was a little ally way, out of the teachers’ sight past the water fountain. Whenever I spied on Veronica, Lucy would pretend to drink from the water fountain while I listened in on the conversation. When their meeting was over, I’d nudge Lucy and we’d run to a little place to talk about what we heard. You may call it eavesdropping, but I call it ace detective work.
“You may think you’re all that, just because you’re the new girl. But around here, I’m known as the queen of the 7th grade. So, there are some rules you need to follow. Okay. Rule number one is to never call me Veronica unless you are in my inner circle. Non-inner circlers must call me Queen Veronica or-” Veronica stated, only to be cut off by yours truly.
“Veronica the Viper. You know, even in your little snake’s den, you should still pick on someone your own size.” I cut off as I stood like the mongoose that beat the snake, also known as Veronica the Viper.
“Ah! You just reminded me of rule number two. Hate Susie beyond all reason. Oh, and by the way, we’re the same height. As her last states. She shoots, she misses.” Veronica stated in her cruel, evil tone.
“Look who’s stupid now! The saying goes ‘She shoots, she scores’!” I corrected.
“Ha! Not in your case.” Veronica laughed coldly.
“Ooh! Burn!” Stacy, one of Veronica’s best friends, pointed out.
“Stacy! Can’t you just be quiet?!” April, Veronica’s other best friend, yelled.
“You know what? I’m not even gonna deal with you. You want to why?” Veronica asked evilly.
“No. Not really.” I answered plainly.
“Because, unlike you, I have a life. Now. If you’ll excuse me.” Veronica cruelly answered her own question, despite my response.
“And she tells me anyway!” I presented.
“Don’t you think that was a bit harsh, even for her?” Lucy questioned.
“Lucy. It’s Veronica. She’s the queen of being harsh.” I shrugged.
       "Whatever. Come on, girls. See you later Julie." Veronica snickered.
       "Hi! You okay? Don't worry about those three. Veronica says she's all that, but she's not." I reassured.
       "I... Uh... Gotta go. Bye!" Julie rushed.
       "Alright! Glad that's over with!" I cheered, changing the subject.
       "Just be glad none of the teachers saw." Lucy reminded.
       "Well, let's get out of here. Anyways, we going to J.J.'s after school?" I snuk out of the 'Snake's Den'.
        "You know it!" Lucy followed. After she answered, the bell rang and it was time for two more hours of torture. But, even I can't believe what happened after school.