Chapter the Second

The Swap

Amber’s P.O.V

Surprisingly, detention wasn’t as bad as bad as I first anticipated. Mr. Jones wasn’t such a bad guy after all. He was only grouchy because he hadn’t slept last night and that someone woke him. Eva and I understood where he was coming from. He even told us to forget about the lines we were supposed to write.

     For an hour and a half, the three of us stayed there and chatted on a few things. I figured that he was a fan of rap music and had a fancy for Chuck Norris jokes. I was going to warn him about the penalty of joking about Chuck but I was too busy laughing.

     I laughed for mostly all the time that we spent together. This dude was the lost treasure chest of really funny jokes. It ranged from blonde jokes to simple puns. I bond with all my teachers but Mr. Jones just made a new spot in my heart to harbor at.

      “Hello… Amber… Are you even listening to me?”

     The sound of Eva's voice had me snapping my head towards her direction. She was standing there, facing me with her hands on her hips in a sassy manner. Her bag was dangling from her shoulder and she was now tapping her foot, trying to catch my attention.

     “Oh… um sorry Eva, I was just thinking about detention today,” I say, still managing to smile at our morning.

     A smile slowly crept on the face of my best friend as she stops all her sassy stuff. Replying to what I said, she says, “Ha-ha, I almost got my freaking face flattened! Other than that, Mr. Jones is pretty cool. He even looks too young to be a teacher, if I do say so myself.”

     “Yeah, I reckoned the same. The guy is maybe twenty or around that range,” I state, walking side by side with Eva as we made our way out of the hallway.

      “Hmm, does someone have a crush on the detention warden,” Eva coos and I rolled my eyes as a response. Not being satisfied with her attempt of getting a proper reaction from me, she continues by saying, “I could have sensed you getting horny in the classroom. The only thing that saved you was your laugher. No wonder you went to the washroom. You were dripping wet I-“

     The death glare I gave Eva at this moment caused her to cut off her own sentence. Staring at her for five more seconds, I make a ‘humph’ sound of victory. I could sense that Eva thought that I had gotten mad. Truth is, if you did continue what she was saying then I would have exploded but she managed to stop herself on time.

      This nerd named Amber Michelle has a few tricks up her sleeve, you know. I also have a death glare which could make you piss bricks.

     “Anyways, I have cheer practice today, mind waiting for me?” Eva asks and I gave her a confused facial expression.

      “Last time I checked you don’t have cheer practice on a Wednesday,” I comment because all this was new to me. From junior year Eva has been in cheerleading and the days for practice have never changed. Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays were the only days for practice.

     “We’ve got auditions for the squad today,” She says, letting out a long breath. I knew how much Eva cherished her Wednesday afternoons at my house eating all my chocolate; so, not having that normally gets her depressed.

     Hehehehe, more chocolate for me!

     “Oh well, if that’s the case, I wish you luck! I’ll be in the library waiting for you,” I state, giving Eva our departing hug. She waves me off and jogs to the field next to the senior parking lot. I shake my head at the way she jogged in heels. She resembles a duck with one leg walking on hot stones.

     The library was a five minute walk away from my school. Yes, my school doesn’t have a library of their own as yet. The word ‘yet’ was included in my statement because our principal Mr. Bandage said that one will be built before next semester. I was hoping for this to happen so desperately, you have no idea!

     Walking down the sidewalk, I fix my bag on my shoulders. It felt awkward all of a sudden but I shook that thought off. Even if it feels heavier than the usual, there was nothing much that I could do about it. When I got to my house I’ll choose which books to bring home next time.

     Only a few more steps and I would be inside the gates of this private library. The public library was too far from the school and I didn’t bother getting membership there. Even though you need to pay a fee every month once you own a library card, this library rocks.

     They have all the books you would want to read and more than one copy of each. They don’t have plastic chairs; they have sofas, sectionals and the rolling office chairs. Quick internet and lightening quick Wi-Fi was one of their many charms. Oh yes, they had AC. The librarian was extremely kind and cute; she was so down to earth that it freaks me out sometimes!

     On the other hand, the public library never had the book you wanted because someone was always boring it every time you came to check out. They even lacked books. Cold steel chairs and termite infested desks were the only ‘comfortable’ seating they could have offered. The internet was extremely slow and they had two windows plus the natural sauna. Everything about that place was terrible.

     Don’t even get me started on that raccoon faced librarian. Ewe!  

     “Hey Anna,” I greet the lovely librarian.

     Looking up from her desk, she smiles at me. Her long brown hair was dropped today and really brought out her pretty brown eyes. Still having a genuine smile on her face, she asks, “What brings you here two times for one day? Got another project to print?”

     I simply shook my head at her question and told her that I was only here to catch up on my reading this time. As usual, she and I catch up on old times and I then go to my table. It wasn’t actually my table but you get the point. That’s the only table I seat at whenever I came to this place. I don’t know but seating next to a window in a corner was extremely calming.

     Picking out a book from the shelves, I ended up with ‘Strange Bed persons’ by Jennifer Cruise. I’ve heard about this book before. Eva had once read it and spoke about it for days. Now was my turn to experience this work of art too.

     The moment I decided to take a seat, some nasty song started playing throughout the library. The content of the music was so nauseating that my face scrunched up. Who could be the disrespectful being for one, not putting their phone on silent when entering the library and two, having such a forbidding ringtone!

     This individual needed to be more like me! Put you damning phone on vibrate as you entered the school and keep it that way until you arrive home. Another thing that this vile individual needs to try is to put decent material on their mobile for the public’s ears!

     “Oh come on, answer your phone already!” I whisper shout so that the other persons near me could hear and do as instructed. I noticed that they were staring at my direction with a bewildered expression on their face. I raise an eye brow at these persons.

     “U-Um… Your mobile is the one ringing,” A girl who was kind enough, told me.

     “My phone…?” I ask in disbelief, turning to face my bag where the glowing light from the phone’s screen and the sound was coming from.

     So many questions were streaming through my broad mind. So many answers were also trying to match up to the questions at this point in time. That wasn’t my ring tone at all! How in ducking hell could someone had managed to prank me like this?

    Digging in the small front pocket of my bag, I took the phone out just as it decides to stop ringing. I stared at this gold iPhone 5s in complete astonishment! I did not own an iPhone 5s, I owned an iPhone 5c and it was white! What the heck is going on here?

     Staring around the room in confusion, I jumped up when I felt the phone vibrating in my hand just before it started ringing once again. Not wanting the ears of my fellow library partners to bleed, I quickly answer the mobile.

     “Now you listen here you f*cking punk, what kind of trick do you think you’re playing here? Huh?! Do you not know who I am you lump of sh*t! I’m Jaden f*cking Brat and I’m also the one who is going to beat your *ss to the pulp if you don’t return my bag and damning phone!”

     I don’t know what got over me but I hanged up on him. My legs, hands… Heck, my entire body was trembling at this moment! Who knew that the school’s bad boy could be so intimidating even on the phone! To tell the truth, I don’t think that I can even move my limbs right now; the guy frightened me that much.

     Now, why was he so upset? This was a simple accident of swapping bags. I figured that something was strange when I couldn’t find my Biology project so that I could have given it up at lunch. Luckily for me, Mr. Hendrix accepted my jump drive, understanding my situation. Other than that, nothing else seemed out of place so I figured that it was me who misplaced my project.

     Or so I thought!

     Finally receiving jolt of electricity, I shoved Jaden’s phone in the back pocket of my pants, took his bag and then ran out of the library. I don’t know what has gotten over me but I felt it necessary to get out of this place as soon as possible. Running to my house was the only option I had so that I could get away. There was no way that I was going to wait up on Eva now!

     There was still something that I couldn’t recollect. ‘How on earth did he guess my screen lock password?’ I question myself, still running down the sidewalk in the direction of my house. Well, other than the fact that your password is 1,2,3,4 I don’t know what could have made him figure it out.

     Wow, great going sub conscience, taking the side of society will you!

     My house was a twenty minute drive from this library so I knew that I had a long way to go. Knowing that I won’t be arriving at my house anytime soon, I jump inside a bush. My breathing wasn’t even leveling out at all, even though I started taking deep breaths!

     Anyone who happened to see me running a few minutes ago would have thought that I just escaped from a mental asylum. I mean, I resembled a female clown that tripped on the cracks in the pavements too many times than normal!

     Being satisfied with my breathing, I took out Jaden’s phone from my pocket and stared at his locked screen. What exactly could be this guy’s passcode? What do bad boys put for those types of stuff? You’re a nerd Amber; you need to figure this out to keep you reputation in tact! I think, cheering myself own.

     Giving up on the case of his phone, I decided to rummage the bag. I remove all my text books from the bag and then opened all the other pockets. Being the lazy red head that I proudly was, I turned the bag over so all the remaining materials could fall out of it. After a few shakes and having pens, lighters, joints and a ton of other stuff falling out of his bag, I hit the jackpot.

     I felt something still hitting the sides of the bag so I decided to just grab it with my hand. Putting my hand into the pocket and moving it around, my fingers graze over something cold. Circling my fingers around the metal frame, I pulled it out of the bag. My mouth literally dropped to the ground and my eyeballs factually popped. I was holding a freaking gun for crying out loud!

     The only words which now escaped my lips were, “Oh… my… God…”

A/N Picture of Eva to the sde --->