Don't Just Speak Love

  Chapter 6

  Ms. Psychotic and the Security Guard

  It was Thursday—my fourth day at the hellhole called Black Gold International College. Expecting to be scorned, I put on the most composed expression I could muster and walked into homeroom. To my surprise, I found myself to not be in the centre of attention.

  “It’s true! They’re a couple! I saw Ms. Evaline and the security guard in the chemistry lab after school yesterday!” swore a small, slightly plump Indian classmate before the class. I didn’t know his name. “I didn’t have time to snap a good picture, but here’s a blurry one.” Holding up his iPad, he showed it to the class.

  “All I’m going to say is that Ms. Evaline has a really bizarre taste in guys,” said Acacia as she absentmindedly pulled her long shiny mane of natural brown hair into a braid. She wasn’t quite herself today and hardly seemed interested in talking to her friends.

  “Right? The security guard is a complete weirdo. The way he acts is just odd. Have you seen the way he looks at girls? It’s so disturbing,” sneered Lola Fay, a small-sized girl with medium-length curly red hair and lightly tanned skin. She was in Acacia’s clique.

  “The only thing about him that’s actually decent is his body,” added Deborah Garner, another girl in Acacia’s clique. She was an extremely thin African-American with very short kinky hair.

  While everyone was distracted by this top new piece of gossip, I quickly slipped into class and sat at my desk, making as little noise as possible. I whipped my iPad out of my backpack and opened one of the applications, pretending to be absorbed in it.

  A sudden tap on my right shoulder made me jump. Holding my breath, I looked around in anticipation of more trouble from Acacia and clique.

  “Morning.” The occupant of the desk behind greeted me genially, and I let out my held breath.

  “Gosh. You scared me,” I said to Sasuke then turned to where Acacia was sitting by herself, staring out the window broodingly. It seemed she really wasn’t joining her friends for chitchat this morning.

  Still standing beside me, Sasuke laid his backpack on his desk and asked, “Why?”

  When I shook my head, brushing his question off, a playful spark danced in his eyes. “If a gentle tap on the shoulder can make you turn chalk-white, are you feeding solely on tofu or what?”

  I made a face at him, and he chuckled.

  “So, have you done all your assignments to be submitted today?” he asked, obviously relating to the unfortunate incident with Mrs. Bernadette yesterday. “If you haven’t, I can lend you mine for reference.”

  “Yesterday was the first, and only, time I haven’t been able to hand in my assignment,” I replied defensively, “and that was only because of Aries’s possession. I slept through the evening all the way until the next morning.”

  “You’re so lucky,” he said, settling into his seat fluidly. “The Savants towed me to the airport at four o’clock in the morning, but at least I got to sleep on the plane. Being in first class definitely made my life easier.”

  “Wow. The Savants are generous. First class seats for three people…just how rich are they?”

  “Sir Albion is a successful entrepreneur and a genius in investments. Savant Enterprises includes an oil refinery, a chain of luxury hotels around the world, stock in technology companies, globally recognised educational institutes like Black Gold, and other major investments worldwide.”

  I was astounded. “How do you know so much?”

  “Google search,” he said, matter-of-factly, making me feel idiotic for asking such a brainless question. There was such a thing called the Internet. “As for Atward Savant, I’ve known about him since way back. He’s an internationally known artist. To think he’d show up at my humble residence...it was just unimaginable.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Acacia watching me—a dangerous glint in her eyes—and something struck me. Could she be romantically interested in Sasuke? If that was the case, should I have been keeping my distance to steer clear of trouble?

  The clacking sound of high-heels announced Ms. Psychotic’s arrival.

  “I’ve graded your last test,” she said idly as she moved slowly around the class, returning test papers and bringing smiles to my classmates’ faces.

  She never bothered with standard classroom procedures like greetings or roll calls, because she simply didn’t care whether students turned up for lessons or not—she’d actually told us that herself. Her attitude to teaching was downright horrid, so I really couldn’t understand why she’d chosen to take it up as a career. Or, more importantly, why Black Gold employed her. She definitely had the entire school board fooled, and I seemed to be the only person in Black Gold who disliked her. The other students liked her because she gave particularly lenient grades and, for some reason, the rest of the staff liked her as well.

  One by one, the tests were handed down to their owners, and a couple of minutes later, everyone else seemed to have a test. My heartbeat sped as I started to panic then stopped completely when Ms. Psychotic suddenly whipped around to glower at me. She came toward me.

  Don’t let this be happening, please.

  She didn’t speak another word until she got to me. “Disrespect will not be tolerated in my classroom,” she snarled right in my face as she smacked my test onto my desk.

  I couldn’t keep myself from recoiling, ever so slightly. Acacia and her clique’s gloating faces were conspicuous while everyone else looked on silently as my misfortune unfolded. Cold sweat broke out on my back as I leafed through my test as steadily as I could with wobbly hands.

  It was blank. Entirely blank.

  This definitely wasn’t my test. There was no way it could be mine—it didn’t even have my name on it.

  “This isn’t mine,” I protested, doing my best to sound calm.

  Looking annoyed, she crossed her arms and sneered at me, “Don’t test—”

  “This. Isn’t. Mine.”

  “If this isn’t the test you submitted, where in the world is yours?” she demanded irately. “You’re the only one in class without one.”

  I was prepared to make a stand on the matter and debate it out with Ms. Psychotic, but something unexpected happened before I could.

  “I don’t have a test either,” said Sasuke offhandedly.

  Ms. Psychotic hit the roof instantly. “Very funny, Sasuke,” she snapped as I whipped around to gape at Sasuke. Arms propped on his desk and chin on his hands, he stared up at Ms. Psychotic with nonchalant eyes, looking pretty relaxed. While he appeared calm and collected, my heart raced for his fate. Doesn’t he have any clue just how much trouble he is getting himself into right now? “Three hours of corrective work after school for both of you.”

  “I’m sorry, but we can’t make it,” Sasuke informed her, still as cool as ever. “You’ll have to discuss it with Sir Albion.”

  “I will not be challenged. End of discussion,” Ms. Psychotic barked at Sasuke.

  He just shrugged as he leaned back in his chair. “All right,” he said with the same coolness as before. “Whatever you like.”

  “Your cockiness will dry up in no time,” threatened Ms. Psychotic before getting back to teaching her lesson for the day.

  Once Ms. Psychotic wasn’t looking, I whispered a thank you to Sasuke.

  He merely smiled.

  Flabbergasted, I stared blankly at him for a long time before remembering to turn to face the front. We were friends, of a sort, but I had no idea why Sasuke was pitting himself against a teacher who would grade him academically just to help me out. I mean, he’d known me less than a week.

  I caught a glimpse of Acacia’s scowl and Chaste’s apologetic face. Ignoring Acacia, I kept my eyes on Chaste.

  When she saw me looking, she mouthed, Sorry.

  I shook my head slightly, smiling to reassure her that I wasn’t mad, that we were still friends.

  I couldn’t blame her. Chaste was the kind of girl who wouldn’t
fight with anyone. She was simply too nice and demure; I would’ve bet she’d never even told anyone off in her life. Up against someone as erratic as Ms. Psychotic, she would’ve been no match at all.

  For the rest of the period, Sasuke and I were ignored completely, making me feel really bad about getting my new friend onto Ms. Psychotic’s black list. I paid no attention to class for the first time in my life, desperately trying to figure out how my test had gone missing.

  Acacia switching my test was the first thing that came to mind, but there should’ve been no possible way she could do that. So, did Ms. Psychotic hate me so much that she’d “lost” my test just to get the opportunity to reprimand me?

  Okay, so that was ridiculous. Why would she do that? I hadn’t done anything to her…had I?

  No, that wasn’t possible. She’d detested me the moment she saw me. It couldn’t be that my face alone had the ability to make her hate me that much from first glance, could it?

  Or maybe it could.

  I didn’t know. All I knew was life was hard in her classroom.