Story 42/1001

• wheel
• dry
• prefer

Mrs. Thompson put the exam papers in a drawer in her desk and locked it. She fixed her glasses and stepped out of the classroom.

Clara exhaled. She has been holding her breath for the last minute, afraid Mrs. Thompson would either see her or notice that one of the windows was still open.

She looked around, and when she was sure no one is near her, she slowly climbed the window into the classroom.

“Good girl gone bad?” A voice behind her said. Startled, she fell into the classroom and hurt her knee.

“Michael.” She frowned. “What are you doing here? School’s already over for today, and you’re barely in it during school hours, not to mention now.”

“Mighty speech for someone who is sneaking into the classroom.” He said, climbing through the window.

Clara frowned, confused. “Why are you here?”

“I saw our future valedictorian sneaking and decided to follow you.” He leaned in, but Clara jerked back. He pulled a tissue out of his jacket and pointed to her bloody knee. “Do you want this, or do you prefer bleeding all over the classroom you’re trying to rob?”

“I’m not-” Clara started, but stopped, took the tissue, wiped the blood off, and went towards the teacher’s desk.

“Good girl has gone bad.” He smirked, sitting on the desk. “Why are you doing this? You’re good at math.”

“Jesus, take the wheel.” Clara muttered, annoyed. “Why are you still here? Will you report me? If not, could you just pretend you didn’t see me? Not like you ever talked with me before.” Clara meddled with the keyhole, and it finally clicked.

“And she picks locks.” Michael smiled. “Maybe I should have paid more attention to you before.” Michael looked at her, his brown eyes going over her features. Her heart skipped a beat. She shook those thoughts away and quickly took some photos of the exam papers.

“Does that line ever work? Felt a bit dry, I have to say.” She scoffed, carefully placing the papers back inside the drawer.

“Then why are you blushing?” He smiled.

Clara ignored him. When she went back to the window, Michael stopped her, appearing in front of her.

“Clara.” He said. Her heart skipped a beat at the mention of her name. “Who made you do this?”

Clara felt her heart thumping to the sound of his voice. She couldn’t let him know. She couldn’t let anyone know, but here she is, committing a crime, and all in the presence of the gorgeous flirt, Michael Garcia.

“Just leave me alone. “Clara walked past him, jumping out of the window.

Not like he could do anything about it, she thought. And not like he would, even if he could.

Because the people threatening her and her little brother, were the ones he called friends.

And she would do anything for them to stop bullying her little brother.