The bus hissed as it stopped at Neovale High and Jaden jumped off before the doors even finished closing. The school gate already half closed, and standing right beside it —arms crossed, eyes sharp—was the school inspector, Ms. Connovan, the woman built like missing first period was a crime to her.
"Great." Jaden thought, adjusting his backpack. Late again. If Mom finds out she'll make me start waking up at 4.a.m just to be safe .
The inspector spotted him instantly.
"Jaden," she barked,"the bell rang fifteen minutes ago."
Jaden's flashed what he hoped was a charming smile, even though his lungs were still burning from running after the bus."Good morning, Ma'am. You look extra.....Punctual today, say talking about looks have i mentioned how beautiful you a-."
That earned him Nothing.
The gate kept sliding shut.
Jaden took a deep breath, then timed it perfectly—he darted forward just as a group of seniors walked in. He blended into their group like a confused duckilng, nodding like he was part of the group.
One step.
Two steps.
Past the inspector.
He didn't breathe until he got to the other side.
Ms.Connovan squinted at him, clearly sensing trickery, but the gate clanged shut before she could drag Jaden back out. Sighing, she let him go.
Safe. For now, Jaden thought as he hurried to class, Maybe Today won't be so bad.
The day continued normally, quizzes that he forgot to read for, Sports, History and then..... MATH (his most hated subject).
He was sleeping on his desk instead of listening to lectures and then the teacher, Mr. Briggs, called on him to answer a question .
"Mr. Rivers?."
Jaden jerked awake.
"Since your well-rested and clearly have better things to do in my class rather than listening seems you already know it all, why don't you come up here and solve the equation for us, hm?." Mr. Briggs asked.
The class snickered.
Jaden glanced at his best friend, Nova Hendrix, she just shrugged.
(At this moment he knew he was cooked....Ahem)
Jaden dragged himself up like someone carrying the weight of the whole universe, grabbed the marker and stared and the problem on the white board and thought to himself,"since when did we start adding Einstein's formula". A long complicated equation of course.
He blinked hard, trying to remember anything—literally anything— from last nights homework.
"Any day now." Mr. Briggs said, folding his arms.
Jaden scribbled something that hopefully resembled math. At this point, he'd accept divine intervention, a fire drill, or the ceiling collapsing. Suddenly he felt a chill down his spine.
He turned back closing his eyes expecting his teacher's scolding but heard nothing. Then he opened his eyes slowly and saw everything....frozen?
Then he saw it, a tiny crack floating in the air. Not just any crack, the same one you'd get when your phone's been hacked or something.
He went closer to check it and grabbed a ruler to touch it and he was suddenly a quick pain shot through his head and he collapsed waking up at the beginning of math class.