Chapter 5: Have Mercy On My Soul

Mid-week. I couldn't believe it. I was only half-way through the first week of school and so many things happened already. In the past three days, I've already catapulted off my skateboard, met a dude, ended up in the clinic, flipped a nurse, spray-painted said nurse's car and landed myself in 3-days worth of detention, which actually starts today.

At the moment, it was lunch period and we were all sitting in our usual table.

"Okay, so Zack's new step-brother is….is…skater-dude?!" Kate spat out in between chews. I nodded glumly.

"This is too insane." Tim said.

"Yeah duh." Meg added.

"Okay, guys, could we like, not deal with this now? I already have detention with him later." I groaned and looked up. "WHY ME?" Laughter erupted from the table.

"Chillax, Kel." Josh took a big bite off his pizza. "It's not like he's spying for Zack or anything. I mean, you haven't done anything to him yet, right?"

"Who? Zack? Oh, yeah, I haven't done anything to him yet." Wow. That was a surprise.

"Well then you have nothing to worry about." He concluded and I sighed.

"I guess you're right."

"And Kel," Meg started, "it's not like anything's going on between you two, right? I mean, didn't you just meet, like, 2 days ago?"

"Well, yeah, but-" All their eyes landed on me. "Nothing, nothing."

"There you go then. Now, eat your lunch before Tim steals it." He looked at her, Spaghetti dripping from his mouth and more laughter was exchanged.

They were right, weren't they? I mean, I just met skater- Ethan. It wasn't like…Oh God I was over thinking this way too much. I've barely talked to him! What the hell was wrong with me? I mentally shook my head and proceeded through the rest of the day with a mind completely empty of this entire Zack-Ethan step-brothers thing.

And soon enough, last period Math came.

"So, I'd like you all to group yourselves: 5 groups, 6 members each." Insert happy dance here. Hey, group work meant less discussion and more goof-off time. Also, add the fact that you have group mates to "help you". (Translation: Do all of the work)

"Okay, I'll pass around these pieces of paper. It has a hidden message in them. A code, you could say. I want you guys to work together to crack it. Remember, this teaches you the value of skill, sharpness, cleverness and ability. These are the values you need in my class."

YES. Codes! Finally something interesting in Math. Thank God my sister used to teach me about all those before she left for England. I borrowed the paper from Tim, who happened to have the same class with me and stared at what was written.

AHOV WG FORWQOZ

Oh jeez. Really? This? I groaned and wondered why she didn't give us anything that actually needed heavy concentration.

"Okay, well, the WG could stand for common 2-letter words. Suggestions?" I looked all around. In our group, we had Me, Josh, Hayley, a girl I've known for a long time and 2 others whom I couldn't recognize. Probably new students, one was a guy and the other was a girl.

"In?" Hayley, spoke up.

"Of?" Josh asked.

"Be?" One of the guys I couldn't recognize suggested.

"How about 'is'?" Who was I kidding, I knew this pattern. I just wanted to make it seem like they helped. Josh, knowing my love for codes started talking.

"Yeah, I think it's 'is'. I mean, it's in the middle of the sentence. It only makes sense. Let's try it." I nodded

"Okay, so if W=I and G=S. Then, so far we have, AHOV IS FORWQOZ." I scribbled on a piece of paper."

"Don't you think AHOV means Math? I mean, it's a 4-letter word. And there's a huge possibility that the word "math" is included in this thing. We could try." The girl I couldn't recognize suggested. I nodded, thinking maybe she had the same idea as me.

"Let's see, MATH IS FARWQAZ." I smiled, looking at all of them. "Please tell me someone got the pattern." They all looked at me blankly. "Look, get pieces of paper." They all shuffled for paper. "List down the alphabet horizontally. Below it, write the alphabet again, the A being below M, B being below N, C being below O and so forth. Once it gets cut, continue to list it under A." Slowly, they all wrote down what I dictated and their faces started to light up. I grinned. "Got it?" Suddenly, the faces that lit up turned into looks of frustration.

"THIS is the best message she could come up with?" Josh asked irritably.

"Okay, ohmyGod Mrs. Burg is so lame." Hayley added.

"Oh save the complaining for later." I turned to Mrs. Burg. "Uhm, Miss! We're done!" Her face broke into a huge grin and headed towards us.

"And what is the message?" She asked, the grin not leaving her wrinkled face.

"Math is radical." We all stated in a monotone.

"Lovely!"

"Yaaaaay." I replied lethargically.

"Plus points to all of you for our first test."

"OH HELL YEAH!" Josh screamed, pumping his fists in the air. Mrs. Burg frowned.

"Not for you Mr…sorry, who are you?"

"Josh. Josh Henderson." He answered.

"Okay, well Mr. Henderson. I don't like you."

"Excuse me?"

"Go back to your seat."

"Well." He said softly enough for me to hear and I giggled. It was his fault anyway.

After a short while, what I've been dreading finally happened.

The bell rang.

Oh don't get me wrong, I love dismissal as much as the next Skater Chick, but I had detention…with him…a person I couldn't even look at anymore. I mean seriously, I felt sorry for the guy. He had a two-timing, ass-faced, jackass for a step-brother. Who knew how their nights went! I shuddered at the scenes I pictured in my head as I went up to the third floor and headed for room 254- Detention.

As I entered the room, a warm feeling ran through me.

Home.

I grinned and took my usual chair in the far back, left side. I shifted in my seat while waiting for our proctor. I wonder who it'd be this time.

A bit overwhelmed with the feeling of home, I took out my usual notebook and began doodling again. It was a natural habit I had that I couldn't really control.

I stared at the chair if front of mine and attempted to copy each detail on it. Oh and one more thing. Whenever I sketched, I usually chanted what I was doing.

"Curve and shade and sketch and erase and curve and line and shade and sketch and-"

"Thrust and thrust and thrust and-" Someone cut in.

"Thrust and thrust and thrust and wait, what the hell?" Someone near me burst out laughing.

Damn you, sketching and your ability to make me absent-minded.

"Cool your jets, Kel." I looked up.

"Zack?" I said with much detestment. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I have detention."

"Yes, I can see that. I meant, what are you doing here?" I waved my arms to the space in front of me and added, "Heeeereee."

"I dunno. I got bored." I rolled my eyes.

"Go away, Zack."

"Hey, look, I just wanted to talk to you." I closed my notebook and took a deep breath.

"Okay, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to apologize." I let out a sound of disbelief.

"Yeah. Sure. Okay. Screw you."

Score one for Kelly. Thank you, thank you.

"Aww, c'mon, Kel. I just got a little distracted. I thought I liked Ashley, but, I was wrong. She's just another air-headed girl." I stood up. I was sooo not listening to this right now. "You're not like other girls, Kel."

"Uhuh. You know, save it for someone who cares. I'm not desperate for a boyfriend, you know." Looking down, I headed for the door. No problem, I could just tell whoever our proctor was that I was in need of a bathroom break. It wasn't like I was-

OOF!

Okay. Oww. I rubbed my head and mentally thanked our Janitor for finally cleaning the floor in this room.

"I don't think we should keep meeting like this, Skater Chick." I looked up.

Oh great. Great.

DOES THE UNIVERSE FIND JOY IN MY MISERY?

"Uhm. Hi." I said, avoiding his eyes.

"Yeah, hi." He replied. "Oh and hey, man." He acknowledged Zack, who was apparently behind me.

"Yo. You know her?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, I…ran in to her a few days ago." He answered, suppressing a smile. "Do you?"

"Yeah." He replied and I stood up. This was a little bit too much for me to handle.

"Ahh. Well, does she know?" Ethan (hey, I said his name) looked at me and nodded.

"Sooo, what's with the rush?" He asked me.

"Uhm, nothing. I just…had to… go to the…washroom."

"Well okay then."

Zack gave him a look and they scurried off together. Okay, that sight was way too weird.

Still a bit shaken, I worked my way to the washroom just across the hallway. I looked at myself in the mirror. To be honest, I looked like a mess. I huffed as I took out my comb from my pocket and fixed my hair into a low and loose ponytail.

Those guys weren't getting to me that easily. I splashed my face with water and went back to room 254.

Time to face the music.

When I entered, the first thing I saw was this:

Zack behind the chair I was sitting on a few minutes back, his hand through the space in the backrest, Skate dude on the other side of that chair with his elbow resting on it and everyone inside, hooting and cheering.

"GUYS! STOP IT! FIGHTING ISN'T THE ANSWER!"

I ran to them, panicking. What in the world could they be fighting about?

Suddenly, the room went quiet, followed by a loud explosion of laughter.

"We're arm wrestling, Kel." Zack said, while laughing. "Ever heard of it?" I looked at Skater- Ethan, he wasn't laughing but a huge grin was undeniably etched on his face.

"Oh. Uhm. Very good." I felt all the blood in my body rush to my face. "Carry on."

Idiot. I am an idiot.


A/N: HEY LOOK! CHAPTER 5! Yes, Just Me is still very much alive. I guess I just lost my mojo for it for a while. Anyway, I'm back now and Christmas Break is just around the corner. So, yeah. Expect chapters :) Oh and thanks to all those who reviewed, favorite-ed and story alert-ed in my absence.

Which reminds me, I have a couple new fics out. Wouldn't hurt to check em out, right? Please and thank you. :D And one last thing: This account is now also ran by someone you can call Red. "The Staircase" is her's. Go check it out :)