Women Rising by Marjory Kaptanoglu

Author:Marjory Kaptanoglu
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-9994492-8-8
Publisher: Marjory Kaptanoglu

Chapter Four

It was lunch period after history. I went outside long enough to wolf down the sandwich Mom had made for me: cheese provided by our goat Brisa, lettuce and tomatoes from our garden, more multigrain bread. If nuclear war happened tomorrow, our place would be the most sought-after location in town.

After eating, I went to see if I could track down my calc teacher, Mrs. Suarez, who usually had lunch in her classroom. I followed my nose, tracking the coconut scent of the Thai curry she ate almost every day, despite that she was Venezuelan. On second thought, that wasn’t really so strange. I loved Greek food, despite being American and

Salvadoran.

I wasn’t sure why Mrs. Suarez never ate with the other teachers, but she was usually doing something on her computer. Maybe when you’re surrounded by a classroom of unruly students all day long, it feels good to have some solitary time.

She told me to come in when I knocked on the door.

“Sorry I missed class,” I said. “I had an excuse for being late.” I didn’t really want to get into the whole dead body thing with her.

She gave me a vacant look and said nothing.

“Can I get the assignment?” I knew I could ask one of my classmates, but I was hoping she would talk a little about today’s lesson so I wouldn’t miss anything.

She pointed at the whiteboard, where she’d written the assignment down. I sat and began copying it into my notebook. “Anything I should know from class today?” I said.

She stared blankly. “No, just do the homework.” She blinked her eyes hard in that funny way I’d seen Mr. Meena do earlier, before draining half her water glass.

I wondered if she was pissed at me for missing class, and I decided I needed to tell her my excuse. “I found a dead body in the river,” I said. “That’s why I was late this morning.”

“Oh,” she said, sounding as interested as if I’d told her I’d gotten my teeth cleaned at the dentist’s.

“Okay, well, I’ve got work to do,” I said idiotically, raising my notebook. I hurried out of her classroom and nearly collided with my friend Myles in the corridor.

He grabbed my shoulders, which made my stomach flutter because we’d been hanging out for the last month and I was hoping things were finally starting to heat up between us. I think I even raised my chin a little, like my instincts were preparing for a kiss to be on the way. But then he just peered into my eyes.

“What’re you doing?” I said.

“You look normal,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You haven’t noticed?”

I realized then he was talking about our classmates being the most boring version of themselves today.

“Everyone’s acting weird, even the teachers,” he said. “How could you not notice?” His eyes darted down the corridor at some kid I didn’t know coming out of a classroom. The kid twitched his head sideways just as Mrs. Flanders had done.

“See!” Myles said.

“Just because he has a tic—”

“Everyone’s got a tic today! Except you and me.

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