Being Watched

Chapter 7

“So we’re going on another date on Wednesday but of course I’ll be seeing him again before then. That is one of the advantages of dating your neighbor,” Emma finishes, grinning widely.

For the past fifteen minutes, Emma has been telling me what happened this weekend with her and her neighbor. He seems like a nice guy and she likes him a lot.

Of course, our Sociology teacher is oblivious to all the people talking in class.

“Emma’s in love,” I tease her and she blushes.

“I-I’m not,” she stammers, looking away.

“Whatever you say,” I reply with a grin.

She grumbles something under her breath and turns back to face the front. I laugh quietly and look down at the empty page of the copybook in front of me.

There’s still half an hour of this stupid period and I’m starving!

I try to busy myself with doodling on my copybook but when my stomach growls for the tenth time, I glance at my watch again and my eyes widen in disbelief. Only five minutes have passed!

I’ll die of hunger before that bell rings.

I glance up at the teacher and see him engrossed in the lesson. My stomach protests again. I lean down and take out a sandwich from my bag.

“Uh Stephy, the bell didn’t ring yet,” Jeremy says.

I look up at him after swallowing the first bite of my sandwich.

“I don’t care. I’m starving!” I reply.

He shakes his head, an amused smile on his lips.

The teacher doesn’t notice that I’m eating or simply ignores me. Either way, I don’t mind. I drink some water from my bottle when I finish my sandwich then I take out a chewing gum and eat it.

I hear the sound of a crumpling paper so I look to the left and find Jeremy eating candies.

“Uh Jeremy, the bell didn’t ring yet,” I mimic his words.

“I don’t care. I’m starving,” he says, smirking at me and I laugh.

“What color is my tongue?” He asks after a few minutes, sticking his tongue out like a little kid.

“Blue and green,” I reply with a chuckle as he moves his eyes downwards, trying to take a look at his tongue.

“You’re such a kid,” I say.

He shrugs then asks, “Is it a bad thing?”

“No,” I reply, smiling slightly.

He grins as he eats the remaining candies. The bell rings soon and we all leave the classroom. On our way down, I’m talking to Gavin. Emma, Janna, and Rena are chatting next to me and Jeremy, Amelia, Laura, and Henry are on my other side, chatting too.

For a minute, I think that we’re all going to sit together today and that thought makes me feel happy.

“You have to watch it!” Gavin concludes and I laugh.

“Okay, okay, I will,” I reply and he smiles.

It seems like we’re all heading to the same benches outside. When we arrive there, Emma, Janna, Gavin, Amelia, and Henry sit first. When I take a seat next to Henry, Jeremy speaks up.

“Uh let’s go sit over there,” He says, pointing to the large stairs around the court.

“No, it’s fine here,” Gavin says. “You can sit next to Steph and there’s space next to Emma for Laura.”

Laura smiles and sits next to Emma. “We haven’t hung out in a while,” Laura says and she starts talking with Emma about some people I don’t know.

Jeremy on the other hand, doesn’t seem too pleased. He glances at me then shifts uncomfortably before speaking to Gavin again.

“The benches are too small, we’ll be sitting uncomfortably close,” he says and Gavin frowns.

Okay, hurtful. He obviously doesn’t want to sit next to me. But why? I mean it was fine on Saturday when we were at Gavin’s house and it seemed fine in class earlier.

“Um no, you can sit, I have to talk to the supervisor about an English book, anyway,” I lie, biting the inside of my cheeks as I stand up, avoiding Jeremy’s eyes.

I did want to tell the supervisor that I didn’t need that story because I already have it but I wasn’t planning on telling her now. I thought I’d do it after break because she’ll be in the hallways outside our classroom.

I walk away and back inside, avoiding eye contact. I go upstairs to her office which is next to our classroom.

‘Ms. Jackie’ is printed on the paper that’s on the door of the office. I knock and when I hear a ‘come in’, I open the door.

“Hi, I just wanted to tell you that I don’t need the book ‘Pride and Prejudice’ because I already have it,” I tell her.

“Oh okay,” she says, shuffling the papers on her desk till she finds what she was looking for. She crosses something out and then starts looking around for something else.

Taking it as my cue to leave, I say, “Thank you.”

“Wait a minute,” she starts, making me stop. “Before you leave, can you please give this envelope to Emma?”

“Sure,” I say as I take the white envelope with Emma’s name on it from her.

“Thanks,” she says as I exit her office.

I think about staying in the classroom till the bell rings but it’s locked. They said that it’s better to lock it so that students don’t say that some people are taking their stuff or something like that. It’s stupid because who would steal something from a classroom? What will they steal anyway? A pen?

Sighing, I walk back downstairs, thinking about sitting on my own for the last ten minutes.

No such luck because as soon as I walk out of the building, Emma sees me and starts waving her hands like a crazy person.

I almost scream in frustration as I slowly walk back to the benches. I notice Jeremy now sitting in my spot and chatting with his friends.

I didn’t want to have to go through the same thing that happened at the beginning of the break but I have no choice but to walk back to them.

“That’s for you,” I tell Emma, handing her the envelope.

“Thanks,” she says, as she puts it in her lap.

“So Stephany,” Laura says. “Which school do you like better: your old school or this one?”

“Um they’re very different,” I start. “I think I like my old school better because I knew almost everyone there and I’ve been in it for years.”

“I can’t imagine having to change schools,” Amelia says. “I don’t know what I’ll do without my friends.”

I nod and say, “Yeah, it sucks.”

“Do you talk to your friends a lot or no? Do you think you’ll stop being friends someday?” Henry asks.

“I talk to them every day and we’ll always stay friends,” I say confidently. “I’m staying here for only a couple of years. I’m planning on going back there for University.”

“Really?” Gavin asks.

“Yeah, John and I have always wanted to go to University together,” I say.

“Cool,” he says, smiling.

“What are your friends like?” Janna asks. Why are we talking about my friends again? I wonder but shrug it off. At least they’re not talking about something I don’t know.

“My closest friends are four. There’s Martha, the adventurous one, Carla the girly and quiet, John is the best friend anyone could ask for, and Jack is just… Stupid,” I finish and they laugh.

“Why is he stupid?” They then ask.

“Hmm well let’s see,” I start. “I got a package on Sunday. It was gifts from all of them. Martha sent me some movies she said I should watch, Carla sent me a photo album with tons of embarrassing pictures of us, John sent me this bracelet,” I stick out my hand and show them the silver shiny bracelet. The girls gasp and say how beautiful it is. I smile and nod. John always gets me gifts. “And the idiot Jack sent me Skittles,” I say flatly and they burst out laughing.

“What? Why would he do that?” Rena asks, still laughing.

“He thought there are no Skittles here,” I reply, rolling my eyes. “It’s not like I’m living in a tent in the Sahara Desert.”

They laugh and Amelia says, “You’re funny.”

I smile and shrug.

Gavin suddenly grabs my wrist and tugs, making me stumble slightly. Before I can yell at him, he whistles.

“That must’ve cost the kid a lot,” he says, looking at the silver bracelet I got from John.

“I know!” I reply. “I’ve told him a billion times to stop buying me stuff but he won’t listen.”

“You’re lucky. I want someone to buy me gifts,” Amelia says, making us laugh.

“Don’t you buy him gifts too?” Jeremy speaks for the first time.

“I do but only on the occasions or if I saw something that reminds me of him,” I say. “But he gets me gifts at least twice a month.”

“So you give him a gift on Christmas and a gift on his birthday while he gives you at least twenty four gifts a year?” Henry teases me and I blush slightly.

“Not only Christmas and his birthday,” I say. “I get him a gift on New Year and Valentine’s Day, and other dates that mark something.”

“Valentine’s Day?” Jeremy echoes.

“Yeah,” I say, shifting uncomfortably. “He always gets me something on that day so I started buying him a gift too.”

“Okay so that makes it four gifts,” Henry teases again.

“And I always bring him food!” I say defensively.

“That lucky son of a b*tch,” Gavin says and I laugh. Gavin likes food. A lot.

“How about you get me food instead? Since John is not here now,” Gavin says and I chuckle.

“Nope, sorry,” I reply. “Only John gets food.”

Gavin pouts but before he can complain anymore, the bell rings, interrupting our conversation.

 “Free period now, right?” I ask excitedly. For the few weeks, we’ve been having that period a free period. On our schedule it says C.E but I don’t know what that stands for. I just assumed it was some term for free period.

“No, I think today we’ll be actually doing C.E,” Emma says.

“What’s that?” I ask, surprised that it’s actually a subject.

“Christian Education,” She replies and I give her a confused look.

“It’s a catholic school. We have to study about religion,” she explains and I nod. I’ve never been in a ‘C.E’ class and I’m not sure I want to. I mean I don’t have the strongest faith and if it’s boring like those things that my parents watch then I’ll probably fall asleep.

When we get to the classroom I see a priest standing on the door of our class with a friendly smile on his face. He’s fat and a bit short. He actually looks like a snowman with his small round face and the permanent smile.

“Yay! Father Mark! You’re our teacher this year?” Janna asks excitedly, bouncing up and down.

“Yeah,” Father Mark replies, smiling at her.

They all cheer happily and I just stand there awkwardly because they’re blocking the entrance to the classroom. Apparently, the school board had a bit of disagreement at the beginning of the year about who they wanted to be the C.E teacher and now they finally decided that Father Mark is the best for this class.

“I don’t know you,” he suddenly says, looking at me.

“I’m Stephany, I’m new here,” I answer shyly and he nods, offering a smile.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he replies. “Now come on everyone, get your notebooks and let’s go up to the C.E room.”

They actually have something called C.E room? I thought, snorting. Why would anyone do that in a school? I would understand if they had a music room or an art room but a ‘C.E room’?

I grab a small blue notebook and a pencil as I follow everyone upstairs. We reach a door and Father Mark walks in then everyone follows him. I look around the wide room for a minute. There are wooden tables in a U-shape and around thirty plastic chairs. On the floor there’s a grey carpet and in the front, center of the room there’s a T.V and behind it a white board. On the walls, pictures of Saints are everywhere and some quotes from the Bible are hanging under them or on the small bulletin board to the right. There are three shelves on the left wall of the room and on them there are several Bibles and religious books.

It looks like a cozy room, I think as I sit in one of the chairs, next to Rena.

“Alright class,” Father Mark starts. “Today you get to pick what we do. You have two options. We can either read and discuss a verse from the Bible, or we can watch a part of a movie of the New Testament.”

Everyone starts talking at the same time so Father Mark tells them to calm down.

“Who votes for reading?” He asks and a few students raise their hands.

“Movie?” He asks and more than half of the students raise their hands. I didn’t even bother because I don’t care what we do.

“Okay, so movie it is,” he says as he puts in a DVD and starts playing it.

Of course, I think, rolling my eyes. He plays the part of the movie when Jesus is having his last dinner with the apostles.

Most of the time, I’m barely watching the movie. I space out a lot or I just stare blankly at the screen.

Halfway through the period, I decide to join the few students who are sitting on the carpet because it looks more comfortable than that plastic chair.

 My eyes start closing and I force myself to stay awake. Thankfully, the bell rings soon. I yawn as I grab my notebook and pencil and go back to class. Why did we even bring notebooks?

“You’re not a very religious person, right?” Jeremy asks when we take our seats.

I shrug. “I just have a lot of questions that I don’t have answers to.”

“Why don’t you find the answers?” He asks.

I raise an eyebrow. “And how do I do that?” I ask.

He smiles at me. “Are you free Friday night?”

I blink, confused. “Um y-yeah, I guess.”

“Okay then you’ll come with me on Friday,” he says.

“Where to?” I ask.

“The place where you can start finding answers,” he replies and I immediately know what he’s talking about. He’s going to take me to the Friday meetings for teenagers at church. He attends those every Friday but of course I won’t tell him that I know.

“Um, okay…?” I say, acting confused.

“Just give me your address and I’ll pass by on Friday around seven,” he says and I write my address on a paper and give it to him.

I actually feel excited. Not because I’m going to a religious meeting, but because I’m going to spend time with Jeremy and maybe that meeting will be the start of our friendship.   

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