Anticipating, I searched the seeming infinite hallway anxiously awaiting the sight I dreaded most. He stood only twenty feet away. Storms filled his icy grey eyes; his forehead perspired profusely with particles of perspiration. In this moment, I knew we were in too deep, we had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, we were caught.
The room was dimly lit; the once bright fluorescent lights flickered lifelessly, dying. Water trickled from the damaged air conditioner. The sound was like music to my ears, like that annoying song they put on constant replay on the radio.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
A minute lasted an hour, and fifty-five minutes felt like an eternity.
“Here’s a worksheet to work on, finish it by the end of class.” Ms. Stevens announced loud enough to bring me back from my thoughts to reality. Fifty-five minutes to complete a simple worksheet, this is going to be fun.
“Miss? Why do we have to do this? We learned this last semester.” Saleh whined in hopes of getting out of doing the worksheet.
“We’re doing it because we have two new students this semester, so stop with the whining and just do the worksheet.”
Saleh sighed loudly; he looked completely done with this class, like the rest of us. The small depressing class was filled about one eight of the way, but it grew smaller as the minutes grew larger. Navy blue drapes filled half the classroom, covering the frosted gloomy windows. I looked down at the worksheet given to us, it was about telling time, we did that in the beginning of last semester. Time passed as slow as a snail.
“Psst Mary. Mary.” Saleh whispered from the table across from me.
“What?”
“Let’s go to Mr. Soumy’s class, this is boring.” I nodded in agreement. “Tell Eujin too.” She was hesitant at first, afraid to get caught, but finally agreed.
We waited until Ms. Stevens was at her computer, adamantly replying to her emails. Then we escaped. Walking, we excitedly entered Mr. Soumy’s AFL class. The room was silent and dark as we made our way to the back table to sit and watch the film. We survived through ten minutes of quiet movie watching, until we couldn’t take it anymore. We decided to roam the halls instead. As we roamed the deserted hallways I could hear every sound I never notice before, when the halls were full and loud. The sprinklers drizzled water over the cold earth. Our footsteps echoed around the walls. The volume of the echoes increased as we walked towards the high school area, we made a turn to find the one thing we dreaded most. Mr. Murphy. He came speeding towards us, pissed. We looked at each other unsure of what to do, but before we could say anything…
“My office now.” Mr. Murphy announced firmly, anger and tension building quickly in his voice. We quietly followed him through one hall, up the stairs, down one hall, and to his office. I could tell he was getting pissed. His hands clenched into tight fists, his breathing quickened, and his eyes narrowed in on me. He took a deep breath and exhaled, as if trying to calm himself down.
“So where were you walking towards when I found you?” he questioned motioning towards all three of us. “Your teacher told you to go to the office, yet I found you going towards the high school area. Why is that?”
“Why is what?” I questioned acting dumb.
“Why were you walking towards the high school area when my office is in the middle school office?”
My eyes met Saleh and Eujin’s seeing if they could explain, both stayed silent as a mouse. It was up to me to explain this in a way that wouldn’t get us in trouble. ‘Ok I can do this, this is easy, just lie.’ My subconscious told me. ‘Just lie, it gets you out of everything.’
“None of us knew where your office was,” I lied looking at Saleh and Eujin. They didn’t protest or jump in, so I continued. “So we were trying to find it.”
“Really? You didn’t know where my office is?” We shook our heads in unison. “I find it hard to believe that between the three of you nobody knows where my office is.”
“We never needed to know were your office was before. None of us has ever been sent to you, because we’re good well behaved children.” Lies poured from my mouth automatically. It’s like my body’s function was to lie. It was natural for me. Saleh and Eujin, on the other hand, wouldn’t lie even if you forced them to. It never made sense to me, why get in trouble when you can just lie your way out of it, and come out unharmed. The sound of a scribbling awakened me from my thoughts. Mr. Murphy messily scribbled a note and stuffed in the large pocket of his pants.
“You do know the punishment for ditching is suspension right?”
I could practically hear both my friends gulp in terror and fear. Eujin was sitting with her head down, grasping the couch as if her life depended on it. She was always scared. Scared to be late to class, scared to get dress coded, scared to have a teacher yell at her, and especially scared to get suspended. I could see the terror in Saleh’s eyes. His once chocolate brown eyes turned a dark grim black. Something I’ve never seen before was happening. He was actually scared. He tapped his foot, anxiously waiting. His once cool untouchable demeanor was gone; he was terrified he could actually get in trouble.
“Please don’t suspend us. It was a silly stupid mistake. It will never happen again I promise. We’re so sorry!” Eujin begged for mercy, like a child begging for candy.
The room was so silent, you could hear a pin drop. His chair creaked loudly under him as he rose to stand. Towering, he stood over us. I looked up and met his eyes; they had turned a calm light grey. His face was at rest, just staring at us. In this state, he looked no more than thirty-five. That didn’t last long. Storms rebuilt in his eyes, a deep line creased his forehead. He scowled at us in disgust. His face aged ten years. Now he looked at least forty-five.
“I won’t suspend you since this your first times acting rebellious, but mark my words. The next time you even think about being troublesome or rebellious, I swear I will suspend you all for a week.”
“Thank you so much Mister, you’re amazing!” Eujin thanked him graciously; Saleh and I nodded and smiled at him, grateful.
“It won’t happen again.” Saleh promised.
We walked the lonely halls back to class in silence. Until…
Ding! Ding! Ding!
My phone beeped loudly nonstop. Messages filled the screen, ‘where r u guys?’ ‘the office called my mom, what happened?’ ‘tell Saleh to check his phone’ ‘where r u guys?’ Ali, Saleh’s younger brother, texted me.
“Saleh, Ali said to check your phone.”
“Oh my god. The school called my mom, and now she’s pissed. Crap.”
Eujin gasped fearful of the same thing happening to her.  She focused on her feet as we walked the rest of the way to class, probably thinking what’d happen to her if her parents found out. She’d probably get in the most trouble out of us because to them she’s perfect. A straight A student ditching and getting suspended, that would be so disappointing to them.                
I thought about my parents, how the disappointment would fill their eyes and their livid frowns would fill the room as they looked upon their perfect son in comparison to their troublesome daughter. ‘They can never find out,’ I thought. I would be a disappointment in their eyes compared to their flawless genius son. I would be looked down upon; they would think I was stupid for getting myself into that situation. I would be made fun of everyday, not by them, by my brother for being worse than him at every single thing. I would be a disappointment. ‘They can never find out.’
As I sat in Mr. Hart’s room thinking about what to write my personal narrative about, the day I almost got suspended came to thought. ‘That could be interesting’ I thought. ‘But he’ll probably think I’m like a bad kid but eh whatever, I’m gonna write about it.’ I started writing. The words gushed out of me like water gushes from a geyser. As I finished my ending I thought about the how it could have gone much differently. They could have found out, I could’ve got in trouble, they could’ve taken my phone, my main source of freedom, but they didn’t. They never found out. They’ll never know how much of a disappointment I am; I’m still an angel in their eyes. ‘They can never find out.’ I thought.
“Class is over, pack up.” Mr. Hart announced to the working class interrupting my thoughts.
‘Oh no’ I thought, ‘I totally forgot about my Arabic test. Crap.’ I quickly packed my supplies, grabbed my Arabic notebook and ran to study. I bumped into Lucy as I anxiously tried to cram a whole week of studying into a ten minute passing period.
“S***! I have my Arabic test now. I’m not ready. Ugh.” Panicking, I reviewed all my notes, over and over.
“Oh that sucks. Just don’t do it.” Lucy suggested.
“How? Arabic teachers don’t take no as an answer. If I’m there, I have to take it.”
“Then don’t be there.” She answered simply.
“What do you mean? I have it right now I can’t just go home. I’m not sick or anything.”
“Then ditch. I’m gonna, just come with me.” She proposed the irresponsible idea.
“Oh um, no thanks.”
“You’re such a goody. You’re just gonna get a bad grade on your test?”
“Hopefully not, I’ll do my best, that’s all I can really do. And I don’t wanna ditch again and deal with that s***.”
“Again?” I could see the wheels in her mind slowly turning. “Oh yeah, you guys got caught last time, I remember. That was hilarious.”
“Eh not really but whatever I just don’t wanna get in trouble again, it’s not worth having a suspension on my record just for one stupid Arabic test.”
“It’s up to you, feel free to join me if you want to.”
“No thanks, I’m good I don’t wanna. You shouldn’t ditch either, like what if your parents find out or you get suspended?” I said convincingly.
“My parents don’t care. I could get expelled and they wouldn’t care.”
“That’s not true, they care about you.”
“Nah, they wouldn’t be disappointed, they don’t care enough to be disappointed. All I am is a disappointment. I do bad things, ditch, and get bad grades.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Its true.”
“No nobody’s perfect. Like there’s good in all bad, and bad in all good. Just because you ditch and do bad things doesn’t mean you don’t have any good in you. You have a lot of good, you’re parents should be proud of you.”
She looked at me unsure.
“Don’t ditch for yourself, not whether your parents care or not.”
She nodded in agreement.
“Okay?” I asked.
“Okay.” She answered.