Innocence Meet Jealousy...Isn't She Stunning?

I was tired. I was irritable. I was downright moody.

Three hours of sleep. Three hours of sleep was all I received thanks to Tristin yet again. However, it wasn’t just because of his stupid games that I was so late last night. It was also the fact that I knew something he didn’t know I did, something that he’d made a point not to tell me. And I had no idea what I planned on doing with such information.

Ady had told me earlier that morning that she was going to show me who Christofer was no matter how late to photography class it made us. It was something I was dreading yet was beyond anxious for. What kind of vile human being could he be? He had to be one of the numerous trash kids that swarmed my school daily, tainting us all with their drugs and blatant delinquency. It had to be one of them, right? What other kind of person would do something like that to a kid? I mean, I knew Tristin was beyond annoying and all, but I was his sister who lived with him day in and day out and even I didn’t attempt to kill him in the darkness outside a concert. Not to say it didn’t sound appealing at times…

The minutes were ticking by slowly as I anticipated the brutally loud sound of the bell. I swear, I spent my whole day either waiting for or dreading the sound of that bell.

I managed to occupy myself by staring out the window and thinking up every single thing that was currently bringing me joy. Although every time a good thing popped up, I remembered how much I wanted to be somewhere else.

The air in the class was thick with the smell of morning coffee, emanating strongly from my teachers cup on her desk. The scent was beyond alluring and made me feel a little but warmer inside. I would watch as she slowly sipped on it, puckering her lips each time the liquid seeped through her pursed lips. With each swallow she took, my desire to knock her right off the desk she sat upon worsened. Something was seriously wrong with me today.

I watched her wrinkled lips as she mouthed “Jennah?” startling me back into semi-consciousness.

My head shot forward to meet her expectant eyes, “Hmm?”

“Obsequious, definition.” She said her words sharp, thick with her unmistakable Brooklyn accent.

“Umm…” I mumbled, quickly looking at the papers strewn across the desk for any sign of an answer.

“Ya gotta pay attention!” she scolded not even five seconds later, quick in her movements, “Jane, obsequious.”

“Obedient.” She answered correctly, her nose high in the air with arrogance.

I rolled my eyes in response, sighing heavily just to prove how little I really cared.

I looked around the room at my fellow classmates for the first time in nearly ten minutes and noticed nearly everyone besides me had some form of paper out and was at least pretending to take notes. No wonder she called on me…

But I was in no kind of mindset to take notes. I was in no kind of mindset to even be functioning correctly right now. Over and over, I drew useless doodles across the blank page in attempt to calm my unnecessary nerves and let my mind drift.

I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous. Nothing was going to change by placing a face to Tristin’s abuser. Maybe in my mind it would but in reality, nothing would—

Beep!

And there it was.

“C’mon, c’mon, hurry!” Ady rushed me, quickly gathering up her things and throwing them into her bag before grabbing my arm and dragging me into the hall. “Where is he…” she murmured, her eyes scanning the hallway intently.

I followed suit obediently, my stomach churning slightly, immense curiosity thrashing behind my eyes. Each face was like a possibility.

I heard a slight gasp of air escape her mouth as I directed my eyes to where she was looking and stopped dead in my tracks right in the middle of the hallway, “Who’s that?” I questioned, hoping that she’d only gotten sidetracked and was watching him because of his looks or something equal in lack of importance.

She sent me a disbelieving look and looked back at the boy standing by his locker, a mess of hair shielding that innocent, sweet, distinctive face, “He is,” She paused, “Christofer Ingle.”

…Great.