Chapter 5
Tick. Tok. Tick. Tok.
Nearly all the students had to have left the building by now. Even some of the faculty could be heard moving through the hallway towards the parking lot. But where was their teacher? Micheal leaned back in his chair, so far that his head felt like it was just hanging off the back. He stared up at the clock. His eyes followed the ticking hand, counting down the time left until he could leave.
Dr. Reed had not arrived. But he wouldn’t wait here all night. It had already been forty minutes since the final bell rang. If he didn’t show up after the one-hour mark, he was just going to leave. Surely the others wouldn’t oppose that, would they?
He rolled his head to the side. His classmates had their own methods of staging off the boredom as they waited in silence. LaNiya had buried her face in her arms on her desk; he thought she may have been sleeping. She’d calmed down since their trip to the principal’s office. Zuriya had her nose stuck in a book. She seemed too calm. If anything, he had expected her to react similarly to how LaNiya had. That she’d be bawling her eyes out. David, on the other hand, was glaring at him.
Micheal knew he must still blame him for getting them all into trouble. But he didn’t feel like starting another argument. He lifted his head back up, noticing that the smartboard hadn’t been cleaned from earlier. It still showed the quotes from Dr. Reed’s lesson that morning.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (15:13)
Sacrifice builds lasting friendships, huh? Just look at the good that did for them. He bet that those three didn’t feel so strongly about protecting him now, and surely never again. They didn’t really know him. He barely knew anything about them. How can you trust someone you didn’t know?
He rolled his head again from boredom. He saw David still glaring. But this time, he responded.
“If you have something you need to say, then just say it.”
Immediately, Zuriya tore her head from her book.
“Micheal, please don’t start anything else.” She said.
“He’s the one staring daggers at me.” He said, nodding towards David. “Why don’t you tell him to quit it?”
“I’m not the one trying to start a fight, again.” David said.
“You know what? Why don’t we all just keep sitting here, quietly, until Dr. Reed gets here?” Zuriya raised her voice, as though trying to cut through them.
“For how much longer?” Micheal asked.
“Whenever he arrives.” She answered, returning to her book.
Micheal rolled his head back towards the clock. There were five minutes left until four o’clock. There was no way he was waiting here a full hour after school ended. He gathered his things, shoving them into his backpack.
“Where are you going?” Zuriya asked.
“Home.” He answered, as he zipped up his backpack.
“B-but, you can’t leave yet. A teacher hasn’t dismissed us.”
“It’s been nearly an hour. Strong chance, he’s not coming.”
“Well, maybe he’s just running late.”
“Then he should’ve let us know earlier. Better luck tomorrow.” Micheal stood up from his desk and began walking towards the classroom door. But as he neared, David sprung from his chair. He sprinted from his desk to the door. He spread his arms wide, blocking his path.
“Move.” Micheal demanded.
“I’m not letting you leave this classroom.” David said.
“I’m going home.”
“No, you’re not. I’m not letting you get us into even more trouble.”
David looked too strong to overpower. Rushing him wouldn’t be wise. Micheal tried to step forward. He hoped David would just get out of the way. Nothing. He took a few more steps forward, closing the distance between them. Still nothing. He was now staring directly up at his face. He furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes. As an athlete, David was too tough to just push aside. But he was determined to leave this room.
“Get out of the way.” Micheal demanded.
“No.” David answered.
“I’m getting out of this classroom, one way or another.”
“Not this way.”
“Please just sit back down.” Zuriya asked. “He can’t be more than another hour late.”
There was no way he was going to be forced to stay in this classroom for another hour. Soon the sun would fully set and the streetlights would start flickering. And he still had to walk back home. Trying to walk back at that point would be an even greater nightmare than this morning.
He glanced around the room, looking for another way to escape. His eyes settled on the window that had been left ajar. It would have to do. He walked over to it.
“What are you doing?” Zuriya asked.
“What does it look like? I’m going home.” Micheal said, pushing the window open further.
“Seriously?” David said.
“You can’t go out the window. We’re on the second floor.” Zuriya cried.
“So? There’s a ladder here. I’ll just use that to get down.”
Zuriya finally set down her book. She stood up from her desk and rushed to the window. Her eyes scanned the area below, trying to see what he was talking about.
“You mean the trellis? But it’s not strong enough to hold—”
“Whatever. See you all tomorrow.” Micheal interrupted. He lifted himself up to the window sill. But before he could get a foot out, David had wrapped his arms around his waist. He was being pulled back.
“Hey! Let go of me!” Micheal shouted.
David dragged Micheal further away from the window, while Zuriya tried to pull it closed. Seeing her struggling, David set Micheal down and ran to help her close it. He then reached up to lock the window. Since he was the only one tall enough to reach it, Micheal would not be able to use it as a means of escape now.
Micheal rubbed his waist where he’d been dragged. David managed to press on the sore spot from earlier, in the cafeteria. That was uncalled for. This wasn’t his first time leaving through a window. And if anyone asked where he was, they could easily just say that he left on his own. He could understand them not wanting to get into any more trouble today. But what he didn’t like was feeling trapped.
“It’s already four. Are you really so dense that you can’t leave without permission?” he asked.
Zuriya and David turned back towards him. Zuriya looked shocked by his statement. LaNiya still had her head buried in her arms, face down on her desk. David seemed to take notice of Zuriya’s hurt expression. He then averted his glare back at Micheal.
“I think that you need to apologize.” He said.
“Apologize? For what?”
“For what? How about everything?” David shouted. This was the first time he had raised his voice. “How about getting all of us into this mess in the first place?”
“That’s not my fault. I didn’t ask you to get involved.”
“Geez, what’s wrong with you? Can’t you just have some common decency for your peers?”
“Nope. I’m not the delusional one here. We’re not friends.”
“Uh, guys?” Zuriya attempted to interrupt them.
“Gosh, are you always this rude to everyone around you?” David asked.
“I’m just sick of you complaining that everything was my fault. You made your own choice to step in.” Micheal said.
“That’s what peers try to do. We were just trying to help.”
“I DON’T WANT YOUR HELP.”
“Hey, enough you two!” Zuriya shouted. “Quiet down.”
Micheal and David snap their heads in her direction. She had moved from the window, to now kneeling next to LaNiya’s desk. LaNiya, whom Micheal thought was just sleeping, could now be heard sniffling. David rushed to LaNiya’s other side. He too kneeled, trying to calm the poor girl. She finally lifted her head from her arms. She quickly wiped away any tears from her face.
“LaNiya, what’s wrong?” Zuriya asked, “Are you hurt? Do you need help?”
LaNiya just shook her head.
“Are you worried about Micheal and David fighting? They’re not really going to, right guys?”
“That’s right. We were just voicing our frustration. We didn’t mean to scare you.” David said.
Zuriya looked at Micheal with a pleading face. He looked back at LaNiya, noting the look in her face. She looked scared again. He wondered if she had a history of being around fights. But she always looked so calm and uncaring while at school. Lots of fights happened here. But he’s never seen her like that before.
“Right, Micheal?” Zuriya asked.
“Right. I’m sorry.” Micheal said.
Knock knock knock.
All four students turned their attention towards the door. Was the door locked? Had it been locked this entire time? David stood up to open it. A young boy with glasses stepped inside, carrying a stack of books. Micheal had never seen him before.
“Oh, thank goodness. I thought I heard someone in here.” He said, setting his stack down on the closest desk with a heavy thump. He took a long, extended breath. Seems like he had been carrying that stack for a while. Eventually, he looked up and noticed the other students in the classroom.
“What are you all doing here? Classes ended an hour ago.” He asked.
“We’re waiting for Dr. Reed,” David said. “He was supposed to talk to us more about the STEM Club.”
“STEM Club? So, we have new members? That’s awesome!” the boy said. “Just one moment.”
The boy scurried over to the teacher’s desk and started going through the drawers. Bold move, but what could be so interesting in there? Micheal didn’t know what to say. And judging by the look on the others’ faces, they didn’t know either.
“Um, what exactly are you doing back there?” Zuriya asked.
“Huh? Oh, just looking for my manual. Dr. Reed was supposed to glance through it and make notes on my design. I thought he may have left it somewhere in his desk.”
The boy kept looking, but put his hands on his hips in defeat.
“Nope. Not here either.” He said, tapping his chin in thought. “Oh, well. I’ll just have to ask him when he comes back. You guys can follow me to the lab. That’s where we usually hold the STEM Club meetings. Dr. Reed should be there soon.”
“But he never told us that. What if he comes here looking for us.” Zuriya asked.
“Oh, then I’ll send him a text to let him know you’ll be waiting in the lab.”
The boy took out his phone and started texting away.
“You have the teacher’s phone number?” Micheal asked.
“Not his phone number. I’m sending him a message through SmartChat.”
“Through a what chat?” Zuriya asked.
“SmartChat. It’s a new private platform we’ve been working on for the school faculty and students. When completed, everyone will be able to do things like communicate with administration and pay for lunch with their phones.”
“I thought they didn’t want us using our phones in school.” Zuriya said.
“Yeah, but can they really enforce that? Students are going to have them anyway, and parents aren’t going to let their kids go to a place where they can’t communicate in case of an emergency.”
The boy finished texting, and quickly walked over to the stack of books he had carried in.
“I can help you with those if you need it.” David offered.
“Thanks, but no thanks. This is my only exercise of the day. Although—” the boy said, turning to Micheal and handing him his phone. “Can you hold on to this for me, please?”
The boy shoved his phone into Micheal’s hands, and had already started lifting the books before he could even say no.
“Is everyone ready? Follow me to the lab. Make sure you have everything, these doors self-lock after hours. You can’t get back inside without a key or code.”
Micheal walked back over to his backpack by the window. The others followed suit. They all ushered out of the classroom. As they shut the door, they heard the sound of it locking itself behind them. Guess that explains why it was locked earlier.
“Hey, we never got your name.” Zuriya said.
“Oh, it’s Asante. What are your names?”
“I’m Zuriya. And this is LaNiya.” She said.
“I’m David, and are you sure you don’t need some help with those?”
Asante shuffled a bit from the weight of the books. He smiled in agreement with David, letting him take half the books and lightning his load.
“And you are?” Asante asked, looking at Micheal.
“Micheal.”
“Nice to meet you, Micheal. Now if you’d all follow me, I’ll lead you to the lab. If you’ve never seen it, you’re in for a real treat. We’ve got all sorts of new machinery for—”
Bzzzzz bzzzzz, bzzzzz bzzzzz.
Micheal tore his attention from the group when he felt the vibrations from Asante’s phone. He lifted the phone and noticed the new message from the SmartChat app on his lock screen. The message was from Dr. Reed. So, he was still at the school then. The screen blacked out, but Micheal tapped the screen again to read the message.
Remain in the classroom until I get there. DO NOT come to the tech lab. There’s dan…
Micheal shrugged and put the phone away. It wasn’t that hard to walk to a tech lab by themselves. Asante seemed to know the way pretty well. And the faster he finishes this meeting, the faster he can go home. He jogged forward to try to catch up to the group, ignoring their teacher’s message.
