Be Careful With My Heart

I walked into class about fifteen minutes late because I had to stop by the attendance office and my locker. Both of these things are on opposite sides of the building. I was lucky to even get there that early. Anyways, I handed my teacher, Mr. Rosenburg, my late slip and slid into my seat in the back.

I dropped my bags to the floor resulting in a heaping pile of messy doodles and papers for history. Mr. Rosenburg cleared his throat loud enough to let me know I was pissing him off.

Well, tough rocks, pal. Thank the bus driver, I thought to myself.

It was funny that I actually showed up to my first hour, and Johnny, who's in this same particular class, doesn't even bother to show up. He'd rather just not be here, which is perfectly fine for me. That was the only perk about being late to school. I was sick of his constant torture.

One time, while Johnny and I were both Freshmen, we were lab partners in Chemistry. We were supposed to conduct a lab experiment and report together about dissecting a rat. I was seriously the only one who thought that this was morbidly disgusting and just plain wrong. So, I made him do most of the work. He didn't mind either. I guess that creep just enjoyed playing with dead animals. Of course, he thought it would be funny to play with the Bunsen burner. When I turned my head after the first cut into the rat, he lit up the burner into this huge flame. After a few seconds, I could feel some heat and smelled some smoke. I turned my head frantically and saw that my hair was on fire. I screamed and weaved between people to the safety zone with water. After a few seconds of being drenched in the shower, there was complete and utter silence in the room. The silence was so loud in my ears that it made my head throb. I started to walk to the door without making any eye contact with my peers or the teacher. All of a sudden, Johnny's piercing voice screeched, "Oh wow, look her nipples are poking through her shirt!"

Next thing I knew, his jock friends howled, pointed, laughed, and fell over like a bunch of hyenas. Little did I know the rest of the class would start in with pointing out that one side of my head had less hair than the other side. I, red as a tomato, picked up my stuff and left.

However, that's just one experience. There were plenty of other points of my life that Johnny has ruined. For one, he likes to trip me. That's right. I am a little clumsy sometimes, and he knows it. Like I've tried to say many other times before, Johnny is evil. He's my nemesis. I don't even understand. When we were younger it was the same type of deal. He would steal my animal crackers and throw crayons at me. For me, that madness won't stop until I graduate and leave the state for college. I hated Johnny. Now he's trying to take over the last thing I have left: student government. But I'm not going to let that happen.

"Oh, what an unseemly surprise, class. Mr. Thunderbird has decided to join us. So, you decided to show your face in class today," Mr. Rosenburg said in an unamused tone.

"Oh, well, I missed your class, Mr. R. You're the best teacher in the world. How could I not?" Johnny sweetly said.

The blonde and red head in the front both sighed. Just when I thought I was having a good day, Johnny shows up. He is so fake, and what's worse is that every girl loves his fake side. If only they could see what is underneath that....No. Not even that would make girls stop chasing him. His "hotness" drives these clueless people.

"Well, find a seat. Now," Mr. Rosenburg voiced sternly.

Johnny flipped his hair, winked at the blonde, and strode to the seat in front of me. Spinning around in his chair, he asks, quite loudly, "Can I please borrow a pen, Charli? Or is it that time of the month where you bight my head off for asking a simple favor?"

A few chuckles jumped up from the right side of me where Trevor, Johnny's best friend, was.

"No, it's not one of my 'lady's days.' And as much as I find you amusing, Johnny, I wouldn't lend you a pen because of the fact that you have lost all of the pens I have lent you the past fifteen years. If anything, you owe me a pen," I quipped. I couldn't think of any other thing to say; hopefully he will just stop.

"Oh, well someone forgot her happy pills," Trevor joined.

It felt like a jab in my side, but I let it roll off of me. What does Trevor Matthews know about me? Nothing. So, I sat in silence as they mocked me and eventually went off about some other topic, which incidentally was the blonde in the front seat named Monica.

I just tuned out their nasty voices and pictured meeting Chad. He got me through the past few months. I reached into my jeans and pulled out my phone slickly so that Mr. Rosenburg, Johnny,and his minion didn't see.

There were zero texts, from Chad at least. I just shrug it off as I open the other messages.

Analyse sent me two texts. I wondered what was so urgent this early in the day, but then I saw that it was a really long message sent over continuous texts: "Ok, u will hate me for bringin u this message. The results from the voting are in. Mr. Perfect-Evil-Scary-Jock is now president of student council. Its official. The board has made it official and there will be an announcement during 1st hour. I thought u shud know bc they will most likely make it in a few minutes. Plz dont do anything crazy like kill him, or urself! Im so sorry hun, maybe we can go out 2 get coffee after skool?"

My face began feeling hot, and I felt it turn red from anger. I texted Chad as soon I finished reading Analyse's message. I needed to vent to someone. My hatred only grew and grew for Johnny, but this was the last straw. My fury was in my eyes as burned a hole in Johnny's neck, and when he turned around, I didn't flinch away. I kept my stance.

"What's with you, bun bun? You seem a little upset?" Johnny mused.

"Are you happy?! You take everything away from me!" I whispered so loudly it almost wasn't whispering anymore. A few heads turned, but I suppose it's good thing Mr. Rosenburg only hears the sound of his own monotonous voice.

"What are you talking about, freak?!" He was mad now.

As if, right in the perfect moment, the ding of the over head microphone went off. Mr. Rosenburg, clearly annoyed that his boring lecture got speared by Principal Jones, rolled his eyes and sat down on his desk.

"Please excuse this interruption. The results are in for student government. Students your new council leaders are as followed: Treasurer is James Petersen, Secretary is Lisa Granes, Vice President Trevor Matthews, and President is...Johnny Thunderbird! Thank you so much for your cooperation. Have a great rest of your day."

The cheers in the class made it difficult to focus. But I didn't need to hear from Analyse, the principal, or anyone else for that matter to know that Johnny would win. Trevor high-fived Johnny, and Monica jumped out of her seat to give Johnny a congratulatory, flirtatious hug. There was about ten minutes left of class, but I couldn't take it anymore. A tear let loose onto my face, and I didn't feel like getting insulted for it. So, I grabbed my belongings and stumbled out of the class with Mr. Rosenburg's protests following me. I trudged into the bathroom, reached the last stall, and latched the lock behind me. The tears were streaming down my face now. I felt sick to my stomach. I looked at my phone to see if Chad responded. I flipped my phone open and...no new messages.

What a wonderful class period.