Zero Lies

New class, new teacher, new environment and I sat in the middle of everything. “Hey, it’s four eyes.” I smiled and waved at the girl from my last class. She looked at me and sat two seats away from her original choosing. “Well, another chance lost at making new friends,” I said a loud.

“Well,” I turned around to face Nate. “Who would want to be friends with you and your unstoppable impulse?”

“You’re my friend right, Nate?” I asked. “Because you still owe me twelve dollars from freshman year and if you want that debt to disappear, you have to sworn your allegiance to be my friend forever.” He laughed. “Or until I dispatch you to the recycle bin.”

“Alright,” a new voice caught everyone’s attention and faced the front of the class. I guess you don’t see teachers who wear clothes like that and have white hair. What teacher wears a maroon long-sleeve with white pants?

“Woah, Santa Claus lost weight and his beard!” I said a little out loud and some turned heads.

“I see we have a clever-bot in this class,” he snickered and pointed at me. “What’s your name lassie?”

“Geneva Ashton and I’m not a lassie,” I stressed the last part. “Freak.” I smiled.

“I’m not the one with the condition of just saying whatever pops in my head, do I?” My jaw dropped. “Yeah, I know your little secret. I read,” he looked at everyone in the class with such a sinister smile. “all your student files.” Someone raised their hand, a girl with ginger hair who sat four seats away from me. He gestured her to put it down and she followed. “It’s not illegal. A teacher has rights to know whether or not his or her student is potentially dangerous.”

“I’m not dangerous, I’m fun,” I said. “180 days with me would be an awesome thrill ride.” The freaky teacher was about to say something when another student came in. He entered and gave a note to the teacher. The teacher asked who it is for and the boy pointed at me. “Are you mute or what? I have a name.”

“Saying your name is kind of like a spell that can kill someone. It’s like Lord V’s name in Harry Potter,” the male student said.

“What a geek,” I announced and some more heads turned to look at me to glare. “Yeah, whatever. I’m sorry I potentially have hurt your egos, nerds. Don’t worry, I’m a nerd at heart too.” I winked and they just turned around with disgust.

“Well, Miss Ashton,” he walked over to my desk. “You’re quite famous and here,” he handed me the green post-it. “We’ll see each other during lunch.” I took the paper and read what it said: Principal’s Office – Lunch

“Oh fuck. I already have a meeting with the Principal? What is wrong with the world today?” I exclaimed to be heard by the surrounding students.

“No,” Nate whispered behind me. “What’s wrong with you!” Some people laughed and I joined them as well. The freaky teacher coughed a little obnoxiously to catch our attention.

“Due to some distractions, we’ll have to speed things up.” The freaky teacher spoke. “I’m Mr. Riley and I’m your,” he went to the board and spelled out ‘Art Class. “101 Art teacher,” and he proceeded to underline what he wrote on the board after he spoke.

“Is that why you’re dressed like that?” I asked.

He looked at me and nodded his head. “Doesn’t it make you feel the creative juices pouring out of your heads to spill onto a canvas?”

“Yes,” some kid in front of me said.

“He agrees,” I pointed at the kid and he slightly turned his head to the side. I guess he used his peripheral vision. “Hey,” I whispered at him. “Do I look good at that angle?”

“Miss Ashton,” I looked up. “You’re very interesting.”

Maybe it’s the zombie posters that fascinated me or the wi-fi accessibility I had in this room or maybe it’s a way for me to skip classes without getting in trouble. I think it’s the latter.

“Second day of school and Principal’s meeting already?” Mr. Smith, a Health teacher, laughed at me.

“It’s not surprising, right? You out of all people shouldn’t be shocked that this isn’t bound to happen,” I said while leaning my chair against the wall. Mr. Smith gestured me to sit properly, but I showed him the tongue. “You and what army?”

“Well, Principal McKenzie knows you already. It’s probably the new teachers you have this year whose put this meeting up for you.” He contemplated.

“You know,” I said and he looked at me. I started rocking my chair and he gesture me to stop. “Can you quit trying to treat me like a child?” Still rocking the chair. “Anyway, like I was suppose to say… Principal McKenzie should definitely have a meeting with all the faculty and staff of this school to address my special condition.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Mr. Smith said. I kept rocking my chair and he gave me a stern look.

“I’m seriously not going to stop and you’re irritating me with that constant habit of trying to stop me from what I wish to do.”

“You’re stubborn,” he finally sighed. He gave me the post-it back. “What was your next class?” I stopped rocking my chair and smiled.

“Honors Anatomy,” I said. “Bullshit teacher that’s why. I heard from the other kids in my Art class that he’s such a prick.”

“What classroom?” I played with the pencils now, rearranging their placement on the desk.

“Room 605,” I stopped at looked at Mr. Smith. “Do you think I have ADD?” He gave me a weird look. “Because I keep moving and I can’t keep still. Plus I was researching online that my speech impulse can be associated with ADD or ADHD.”

“You can’t believe what’s on the internet,” he said. He was putting papers away and I started stacking blocks of post-its on top of each other. “Ask your pediatrician.”

“You’re useless for a health teacher, Rich.” I said and he looked at me. “But I have to admire your skills of tolerating my bullshit.”