Just A Thief

I slumped over in my desk at school, scowling at the cloudy, overcast sky. The crowded room was noisy, and paper airplanes and spit balls were numerous. The ceiling was practically raining them down on the poor kid in the back corner, a social outcast even more than I myself was.

“You’d think,” I raised my voice, directing it at the closest of the spitballers, “that we’d have grown out of spitballs by fourth grade.”

He just rolled his eyes at me, and I frowned. His complete and utter disregard for me would be rewarded later, but for now I’d settle for glaring at the darkening sky again. The sound of car horns and screeching tires resounded from the street, three stories below me, and I did my best to ignore it. It was nigh impossible to do, and I soon gave up. It was as impossible to ignore the traffic as it was to ignore the noisy atmosphere inside the classroom.

The fact that class had started five minutes ago didn’t phase anyone. The substitute teacher was meek and mousy, and everyone was completely disrespecting her and ignoring her. Sighing, I stood from my seat and walked up to her desk.

“Miss Lewis?” I asked politely, “Could I maybe get the homework that Mr. Kerenski was going to assign us?”

“Oh! O-of course!” Miss Lewis stammered, shuffling papers until she pulled out the folder labeled ‘Advanced, 8th’ for Advanced Mathematics, eighth hour.

“Thank you,” I smiled kindly at her, “and I’m sorry about the rest of them.”

“It’s nothing,” she shook her head, “I-I’m just not much of an…a-authoritative figure…I get this a l-lot…but thank you…um…?”

“I’m Aria,” I supplied helpfully.

“Thank y-you, Aria. For being a g-good student today.”

The sub chuckled nervously as a spitball landed an inch from her right hand. A breath escaped my lips once more in a sigh, and I plucked the wad off the desk and dropped it in the trashcan, smiling apologetically at Miss Lewis.

I was so glad this was the last class of the day.

If only there wasn’t still forty minutes of it left.

~*~

By the time the class period from Hell ended, I had already finished my assignment, turned it in, and exacted my revenge upon Jonny Hart, the boy who’d disregarded me.

A bit later, I had asked to go to the restroom. Miss Lewis let me, of course, and I went in and sat on a toilet, taking Jonny’s wallet from my own back pocket. Counting the bills, I found a hundred dollars. After a bit of deliberation, I took fifty of it and tucked it safely into my own wallet. On the way back to class, I dropped the wallet that held the rest of his money and his credit card and license inconspicuously near his locker.

Jonny was paying for this week’s groceries for my Mom and I. It was only fair, after all. Never, in all of our years of being in the same classes, had he treated me like a person. I was like a homeless man begging for coin, although I’d never once asked for anything, except perhaps a pencil when I’d forgotten mine. He thought he was all that, just because Mommy and Daddy were loaded and bought him his silver BMW.

Smiling a little to myself as he walked past me when the bell rang, I gathered my things up leisurely, said a polite goodbye to the poor substitute, and left. Before leaving the building, I stopped by the office and reported my class as being disrespectful to our sub, and slipped out. I’d already missed my usual bus, but the rain, a quick shower, had already come and gone, and it felt nice, so I chose to walk.

Down the street from the apartment Mom and I shared, I picked up some groceries and paid for them with Jonny’s money before heading home. Mom wasn’t home yet, but I hadn’t expected her to be, so I put the groceries away and started supper. I turned on the radio as I did last night’s dinner dishes, and rolled my shoulders to get some of the ache to go away. I took a moment away from the dishes to turn the stove off before finishing the last few plates and drying one to use. I ate alone, as I often did, before washing the plate again, yawning, and heading toward my bedroom. I collapsed on my bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

My rude awakening came not long after, and for a moment I thought I’d fallen out of bed. It wasn’t much longer before I realized that this wasn’t the case.

*