Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s we had school. On earth I had to go for five days, here it was only three. When the colony was formed it was decided that since the adults needed a lot of help around the colony to keep things running smoothly, that’d the school week would be lessened by two days. I was thankful for that. Even though I was a good student, I hated school.
The kids that went to school were divided into two age groups. Ages fourteen through eighteen were held in one room and ages six through twelve were held in another. There wasn’t enough room to split up each child according to grade, so splitting them according to age seemed like a much better idea.
Walking in to the tiny, condensed classroom, I stole a glance around the room. Eight wooden tables with detached benches faced a small dry erase board in the front of the room. The first four tables were already filled up so I meandered to the one in the back corner and took a seat.
Seconds later, after I had pulled out my supplies, Colin pulled out the chair next to me. “Is this seat taken?”
Before I could open my mouth to protest, he plopped in the chair. Grace walked in and eyed me. I shrugged, mouthing silently,
“Sorry.” She waved at me nonchalantly and sat down at the table in front of me.
My eyes shot daggers at Colin. “Shouldn’t you be sitting with your new fun bag?”
He looked up, puzzled. “Who, Molly?”
“It was Molly who was feeling up your thigh yesterday, wasn’t it?”
Colin let out a sharp laugh. “Do I detect a hint of jealousy.”
I opened my mouth, baffled. “Jealous, hardly.” I threw my shoulders back, staring straight ahead at the dry erase board. “Why should I care who you spend your time with?”
The truth of it all was that I was actually insanely jealous. Yes, I knew he was a bit of a womanizer. But I was under the impression that the kiss he had given me meant something. It meant something to me. Why not him? I mean, who goes around kissing people at random? Apparently, Colin Martin did.
Closing my eyes, I thought about the warmth of his lips as they gently caressed mine. The way a shiver ran down my spine when his fingers tugged on my waist. If Colin was a disease I would want to be infected.
“Good morning, students,” said Mrs. Edwards as she walked to the front of the room.
Bonnie Edwards used to be a high school teacher. She was a mousy, brunette with A knack for proper etiquette . She had a petite stature and when she moved her short, stubby legs, she looked like she was waddling. Her shrill, high pitched voice resembled the sound a cat makes when someone was trying to drown it. And the sound of her voice made my skin crawl. My eyes shot open as Mrs. Edwards walked over to the dry erase board. “Everyone focus on the dry erase board,” Mrs. Edwards screeched. I cringed, keeping focused as she wrote a math problem on the board. Yeah, today was going to suck. Big time.
Toward the end of class, Colin nudged me trying to get my attention. I ignored him, pretending like I was absorbed in doing my math. When I didn’t respond, he waited a minute and nudged me again. “What do you want, Colin?” I asked, not looking up from my notepad.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked.
I kept my eyes on the paper, not meeting his gaze.Every time I thought I had control of our complexity of a situation he threw a curveball at me. “Being mad would require me actually caring.”
He guffawed, “Jesus Georgie, why do you have to be so harsh all the time?”
I threw my pencil down and glared at him. “You really want to know?” My harsh attitude toward him was a way to cover up the way I really felt. Colin scared me. The way I felt about him scared me. Now, he was probing me. And the only thing I could do was put all of my worries and fears out there.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
I exhaled. “I can’t tolerate guys like you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Guys like me?”
“Yes, guys like you. I went to school with hundreds of you. You’re full of yourself, you have a different girl every week, and your main goal in life is getting in her pants.” I lowered my voice. “And what happened between us, you might as well forget about it. Because it will never happen again.” Even though I wanted it to happen again. At least a dozen times more.
He looked at me distastefully. “You don’t know anything about me or what kind of guy I am.”
“Please,” I harrumphed. “Number one, I’ve witnessed it for myself. Two, I’ve heard all the rumors.”
“That’s exactly why they’re called rumors. Because they aren’t true.”
“I saw you with Anna Shafer. What you were doing with her looked pretty real to me. And according to everyone else, you got caught alone with girls on several different occasions.”
“I got caught once with, Anna. And I actually liked the girl. That just goes to show you how far people are willing to go to fabricate something other than the truth.”
That surprised me. I couldn’t even answer him right away. I had fed into the rumors just like everybody else. Let’s face it, the colony was beyond tiny. It was miniscule. When stories got spread around, it didn’t take long for them to reach everyone. And after the story got passed down from person to person. Each person added their own personal touch to it. In result, a full born rumor.I slumped down in my seat. “I’m sorry Colin, I didn’t know.”