Now It's My Time to Strike Back

“Are you serious?!” Mel exclaimed loudly, causing all attention to be on the four of us, but she didn’t care.

“Calm down, Mel,” Jake said in a nervous tone.

I could tell he was uncomfortable receiving all of this attention just as much as I was.

The schedules were as follows.

Nick and I’s read:

Semester/Quarter(s): Entire Room

Period 1 English IV/Senior English E111

Period 2 Pre-Calculus M107

Period 3 Music Appreciation MA101

Period 4 Team Sports II G103

Mel and Jake’s schedules read:

Semester/Quarter(s): Entire Room

Period 1 English IV/Senior English E111

Period 2 Pre-Calculus M107

Period 3 Study Hall C101

Period 4 Team Sports II G103

“Well, at least we have three classes together, Rose,” Jake said in a cheerful tone, but I knew it was forced.

Nick merely stood, staring at Jake more than likely wanting to respond to his words, but didn’t.

I pulled out my phone, checking the time.

“We have about ten minutes until its 7:40,” I said casually.

We headed out of the D.A.B., then to the Academic building to the second floor. Once we reached room E111, we entered. A woman around her mid-30s was in the room. She was dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt with flats.

We took a seat as a group, surprised once again that Nick sat with us. My eyes roamed the room, them landing on Vic’s figure in her group of cheerleading friends. I quickly realized her group as well as the one next to hers had nothing but cheerleaders.

“Ugh,” Mel groaned quietly in disgust at them.

“My name is Mrs. George and welcome to English IV, Seniors,” Mrs. George said in a cheerful tone. No one responded, so she continued.

“I know this is your 4th year you’ve had to suffer through an English class, but since you’ve made it thus far, you’ve reached your last and final English class for high school. With that said, however, this will not be an easy course to pass. You’ll be assigned to do a lot of reading and writing this final year so expect to write, write, write as well as read in order to pass the tests or quizzes that will be assigned in this class,” she explained, walking to her desk as she picked up a stack of neatly stacked and stapled papers.

“This is your syllabus. It contains information as to what you’re going to learn, what’s expected of you, and the materials you’ll need in this course. In addition to those, it also contains information pertaining to when your assignments will be due as well as a guide as to how the pacing of this course will be,” she began, reaching our group sooner than I expected.

“So, with that said, please take out a single sheet of notebook paper and a black pen,” she said in a firm tone.

We scrambled, doing as we were instructed.

“This is not a test, so don’t take it too seriously if you mess up at all. All you’re going to do on this sheet of paper is write down your groups names and contact information. If you know who your group members are, write down a short, yet brief description of them. If you don’t know who your group members are, you may get acquaintance with them and write something about them. Lastly, of course, write something about yourself that you’d like the class to know. It can be anything generic such as, ‘I like music’ as long as you’re honest about it,” she explained, catching me off guard.

I was surprised at her assignment which was more than likely something for us to do for the time being. The room erupted in silent chattering as everyone did as they were told. I, however, found the assignment extremely easy so I decided to chat with the others instead as I wrote.

“Wow. Talk about a great first assignment,” I said in awe.

“Tell me about it. This is going to be a piece of cake,” Mel agreed as she began writing as well.

Neither Jake nor Nick spoke for a moment, causing me to worry. I glanced up at Nick seeing his eyes staring directly at Vic. My eyes met her face, but her attention was on Nick. I felt the jealousy grow in me as she flashed him a bright smile before returning to her work as her zombies watched her every move.

An annoyed glare appeared on his face as he looked around, his eyes landing on me finally.

“This assignment is easy, but is it really necessary?” he asked, catching us off guard.

“I guess we’ll be working in groups a lot just like Schick’s class,” Mel said with a shrug.

“You guys had Schick?!” Jake asked in a shocked whisper.

“Uh, yeah. Who did you have?” I asked.

“I had-,” he began, but Ms. George cut across him.

“Jacob! So good to see you again! I see they stuck you with me again this year, huh?” she joked.

“Yes, Mrs. George. Unfortunately I am,” he joked back flashing his pearly whites.

“Well, don’t get too carried away this year. Oh! I see you have new friends this year. Who might these lovely people be?” she asked, her eyes landing on me.

“She must be your girlfriend, am I right?” she asked, causing me to be embarrassed.

Mel coughed loudly, this time not laughing, but because of how awkward the situation was. Nick’s eyes landed on me and I glanced at him before opening my mouth to speak.

“No, I’m not his girlfriend. We’re just friends,” I said, feeling my breath get caught in my throat at the end.

“Aww, I’m sorry. You two would make a cute couple,” she gushed before walking away from us altogether.

The rest of the period sucked due to the fact that we had to “present” what we wrote on the paper about our group mates and ourselves. It was boring, more boring than I thought it’d be.

…

When 2nd period rolled around, I was grateful to get out of there. We headed to the 4th floor to Mr. Ashman’s class once again.

Jake greeted him normally just as we did and we took our seats, the routine being the same as Mrs. George’s class minus the exchanging contact information, etc.

Unfortunately, my favorite class was cut short as we were dismissed first to get our student ID’s for the final year as well as our books for class.

I was thankful to only receive two books this year which were both average-size compared to any other textbook.

Nick and I headed back to our dorm to drop off our books before heading to the cafeteria for the first time since the official school year had started.

Silence enveloped us as we took the long route down the numerous steps to the first floor when Nick spoke, causing my heart to jump.

“I’m sorry,” he said, catching me off guard for the umpteenth time today.

“What for?” I asked, biting my lip afterwards.

“For saying how we shouldn’t be friends. I was jealous that Jake asked you out and it seemed like you just forgot about everything that happened,” he answered honestly.

We reached the first floor somehow minutes later before I responded.

“Jake and I aren’t dating and yes, it was wrong of you saying that, but the fact is, you meant it. I understand if you’re uncomfortable or if you don’t want to wait for me to make my decision. If-if you want to date other people, that’s fine-,” but he cut across me.

“I never said I wanted to date other people. I just honestly am afraid of losing you to him,” he admitted, his eyes squinting in the bright sunlight.

I didn’t know what to think or even say for that matter.

“If you want to date Jake, then you can. I’m not saying this to make you feel bad. I just want you to be happy,” he concluded before walking ahead of me leaving me in silence.

I recovered after a few seconds, catching up to him.

“Wait, wait, wait! You’re just going to say that a-and give up just like that? What about last week? What about everything?” I asked, feeling myself panic on the inside.

“I had you for 7 months and I didn’t realize how much you meant to me in the last three. I caused a lot of drama in the last month and I realize if you don’t want to be with me because of my past actions, I understand that. I can’t change your mind and I’m not going to continue torturing you by making you think of me,” he said, causing my eyes to fill with tears.

“W-what are you saying, Nick? Are you saying that that’s it? That you’re going to just move on?” I asked, feeling my breath get harder to come out of my throat.

“I’m sorry. I love you, I really, truly do, but I don’t want to keep doing this to you,” he said, avoiding my eyes.

Just like that, he broke me. I felt like we were breaking up again except he was just.. giving up. I sniffed, wiping my tears away as I swallowed my emotions.

“O-OK. I’ll see you around,” I got out, walking to the cafeteria alone.

Why did things like this always happened to me?