"Because I don't trust you all to do the homework. I will be giving you guys Thursdays to work on it. If you finish today, you can turn it in; if not, bring it tomorrow." Mr.Brooks says. One of the football players raises their hand. "Yes, Noah," he calls on him.

"What was the homework again?" He asks. The class groans; Zach leans forwards and smacks him on the back of his neck. "What?" he says, questioning why everyone is frustrated with him.

"We went over three poems this week. You can come up and pick one of the three poems we have gone over, write an essay about why you liked it, or use your phones to find a poem you like based on the topic for the week and share it with the class along with an essay tomorrow."

"How long do we have?" A student asks.

"You'll do this for the rest of class," he says.

I grabbed the three poems we went over from off Mr.Brooks desk,

Death is Nothing at all By Henry Adams Holland.

If I Should Die by Emily Dickinson

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye

I liked all of them. But the last one stands out the most to me. I don't just like it because it is one of the most famous poems ever written in the 1900s, but I like it because it's relatable, understandable. I grab my pen and begin to write.

...

"Psst." I look over at the student who made that noise. They were not trying to get my attention; they were getting Violets.

"Pass it down." The boy says. Violet takes the folded paper out of his hand and taps the student in front of her. They take the paper out of her hand and pass it forward. After two passes, it lands in the hands of the last student. It's obviously for her. There's no one else to pass it to. I noticed the curly head girl; it's Jessica. I didn't even know she was in this class.

I sit up a little straighter in my seat so I can see her better. All the jocks in the back are laughing, some of the cheerleaders are giggling too. Jessica slowly unfolds the paper. I can't see her face. I can't see her reaction, but I know there's something wrong. Her hand shoots up in the air.

"Yes," Mr.Brooks says.

"May I be excused?"

"Y-" before he can finish, she is already flying towards the door with the paper still in her hand. Everyone's laughter grows at the sight of her distress. I turn and look at all of them, laughing at whatever caused her to be so upset; big surprise Ryder is a part of the group who's laughing.

"Settle down, settle down," Mr.Brooks says. "What just happened?" he asks—the class goes silent. Everyone looks at each other as if we don't know that a paper was passed down to her. Mr.Brooks walks down my row. "So, nobody knows what happened?" His eyes go to me. "Jayda?"

I want to say something I do. God knows I want to say something. But I can't, not in front of everyone. My life at this school would be even worse than it already is. I shake my head, implying that I didn't see anything.

I feel so bad.

...

"What do you think that note said?" James asks from beside me.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, she was pretty mad." Violet answers.

"She was crying," James says.

"How do you know?" Violet says, now intrigued.

"I was sitting right across from her. A tear fell from her eye, and then she got up."

"A tear?" Violet questions.

"Yes, one tear, just how it is in the movies when they cry one tear dramatically."

Violet burst into laughter.

I look over to where she is sitting. She is sitting at the table by the trash cans, by herself. I never realized that. I'm used to her sitting with the cheerleaders. She used to be a cheerleader.

Before I had left, she was still a cheerleader. I wonder what happened. If I remember correctly, she was close with Ashely; she wasn't one of Ashely minions; she was her friend. Or at least it seemed like it.

I never talked to her before, but I've seen her around. When you don't have many friends, and you're not in a lot of stuff, you notice everything. Last year, she was Junior president; she had high honors; she was always getting different awards for something; she was also a part of the swim team. I remember her being always bubbly and loud. This doesn't look like the Jessica, I remember. She has on a long blue T-shirt and jeans. She looks bad, not just because her clothes look a little worn, and her makeup is messed up from her crying, but she seems not herself.

"Did you hear me?" Violet says. I break my attention away from Jessica and to Violet.

"Huh?" I say.

"I asked, have you talked to Caleb?"

"No, no, I haven't."

...

Schools over already; it went by so quickly. Of course, the evening I'm dreading came fast. Ugh, I don't want to go shopping. At least I get to go to stem first. Oh my God, Stem, I forgot to ask Liam about Thomas. I haven't seen him all day. I'm pretty sure he isn't here. I'm guessing Liam will be taking over the team until he gets back. I feel awful. Maybe I should have just let him walk away. I shouldn't have told him to stay. I shouldn't have tried to prove a point to Ryder. It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth Thomas getting hurt.

I close my locker and head down the hall.

Liam is already addressing everyone when I walk into the room. "Well, as you all know, certain events took place yesterday; Thomas is still in the hospital. He has a concussion and a broken arm." Liam says.

"When will they release him?" A student asks.

"He texted and said he's going home today," Liam responds. "He should be back in school Monday or Tuesday. So we want to make sure everything is ordered today, so we can start working on the robot when he comes back next week. I want to order the wheels first, so Jayda and your group, come on up."

Everyone in the room disperses into their groups. I walk to the front of the room, along with Olivia and Selena.

"So, what wheels did you guys choose?"

"Omni Wheels." Selena blurts out with excitement. Olivia has excitement also plastered on her face; Liam doesn't, though. I know Omni wheels are a terrible choice; I know it. He knows it.

"Omni wheels?" He questions.

"Yes! We even found this website where we can get them for 13.50 each." Olivia says proudly.

"Jayda, what do you think?" Liam asks me.

"I... uh...I" I look at Olivia and Selena. Without saying anything, I can see them pleading with her eyes for me to get on board with them. "I think it'll be fine,"

Liam stares at me for a minute, and then he looks at Olivia and Selena. "Would you give us a second?" He asks them. They both turn around and walk off.

"So, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Jayda. You and I both know that Omni wheels are risky." He says.

"Yeah, but we'll just have to make sure our codes are perfect,"

"You know it has nothing to do with the codes. It's the wheels themselves; they have poor efficiency. They're unpredictable. I don't think it's a risk we want to take." he says.

"Your right." I give in. "I knew it was a bad idea, they were just so excited about them, and I wanted them to like me, I guess."

"I think they'll like you better if we win." he smiles. I never really noticed it before, but he is handsome. Not as attractive as Caleb, but he's cute. "So, what wheels do you think would be best?" He asks.

"Maybe TriStar. Not many people use them, but the wheels' complexity will allow our robot to overcome obstacles, and we'll have more control."

He nods his head, agreeing with me. "I like it, it does make the robot slower, though, but I'll take control over speed any day. Okay, so I'll order them now. You can go ahead and break the news to them. I'm sure they'll understand." he says.

"Alright." I turn around and walk to the back of the room where they are sitting.

They stop talking when they see me. "So, what did he say?" Selena urges.

"He didn't like the idea."

"But did you try to convince him?" Oliva asks.

"Uhhh, no."

"Why not? I thought you liked the idea." Selena says.

"Yeah, but after I thought about it more, I changed my mind. I don't think Omni wheels will be a safe move. Yeah, they look cool, and they're faster, but we won't have any control over the robot."

"You have a point," Selena says, surprising me.

"So, what wheels did you pick?" Oliva asks.

"Tri-Star," I say. They nod their heads liking my idea. I don't know why I didn't speak up in the first place. I will admit I was scared, but now I don't even know why. It feels good to speak up.

...

My phone dings. It's my mom. She's outside. I stand up and grab my bag off the table. "I'll see you guys later," I say.

"Wait!" Selena says. I turn back around and face her. "Ashely is in your class, right?" Selena asks me.

"Yeah, why?"

"Was Ryder in there too?" Oliva asks.

"Uhhh yeah."

"Were they together? Like sitting beside each other." Oliva asks yet another question.

"I don't think so."

Oliva turns back to Selena. "Well, it must have happened after lunch." She says.

"What happened?" I asked, intrigued.

"You didn't hear?" Selena says. Both of their eyes go wide. I shake my head, implying that I didn't hear whatever it is they heard.

"They're back together!"

(Okay and?😂)