Steak, Chicken, and Turkey (...)

Class was over and Dylan was still sitting in his seat. Math and American history were done for the day and science and English were coming. In between he had seven minutes to walk around, maybe get a drink of water. He got up and walked outside. He saw Cynthia standing in line at the water fountain; he went and stood behind her. Right before she left and it was his turn to quench his thirst, he said something. “Why were you staring at me earlier?” She turned bright red. “I wasn’t staring at you,” Cynthia replied. Then she walked away. Dylan was mildly confused but took a sip from the water fountain immediately. Yes, you were, he thought. Time for science, time for snoozing. Dylan sat back in his seat and put his head down once again. He could hear Mr. Everett begin the lesson on the rainforest. Then he was gone. He woke up abruptly to very loud yelling and noises. They weren’t directed at him, though, at least not exclusively. He rubbed his eyes to wake himself up a little more. Mr. Everett was yelling and throwing things from his desk around the room.


Dylan was surprised to say the least. Steven, the kid that sat next to him, had eyes wide as plates and was generally terrified. “How could you not know where the rainforest is, Cynthia?!!!” “How is it possible that you have the highest grade in the class and yet you know absolutely nothing about the world?!!!” Mr. Everett was going ballistic. And clearly for no reason. Dylan felt awfully for Cynthia. Sure, she lied about staring at him but that is a mere nothing. She shouldn’t receive any negative consequences for that, especially not of the crazy teacher variety. Dylan spoke up, probably not the best idea. “Why are you yelling at Cynthia, she didn’t do anything wrong!” Mr. Everett took a deep breath, walked over to his desk, and sat down. He knew he could get in serious trouble, maybe even fired if he reacted the way his mind was telling him to. He was silent for the rest of Science and English. The whole class was silent as well. Not one person moved. Dylan was still processing what had occurred. He looked around and saw that pencils were all over the floor, erasers were scattered on desks, and small pieces of chalk were thrown so hard they left marks on the carpet. He did not feel safe so he got up and left the classroom. A few seconds later, Cynthia, of all people, came outside. Mr. Everett saw that two of his students had walked out but he decided to let it slide. If I let it bother me then who knows what will happen, he thought. Cynthia and Dylan stood next to each other staring outside, at the sky, the grass, the playground. She muttered a “thanks”. He muttered an “it’s ok; it wasn’t right”. After about five minutes they both walked back into the classroom.