“Morty... Morty.” the teacher said to a child with his head buried in his arms. The kids around the boy snickered as Mrs. Abernacle's patience thinned.
“Mortemous Black! You had better sit up this instant or you'll be doing so in the principle's office after class!” Mrs. Abernacle barked.
After the word “principle”, as if by magic, Morty jolted up from his sleep, his matted brown hair falling over his glazed eyes.
Morty wiped the spittle from the corner of his mouth. “Is it lunch time?” he asked vaguely.
The classroom erupted into laughter, all except for Mrs. Abernacle, who didn't seem to get the joke. Adults were strange like that. They knew how to do so many things, like drive a car, cook, send an email, vote, pay taxes, some could even fly planes, but none of them seemed to know how to laugh.
'Maybe there just wasn't enough room in someone's brain to be able to do all that, and remember how to laugh.' Morty mused.
One thing adults could remember though, was how to scowl,and no one Morty knew could do it quite as well as Mrs. Abernacle. It was a talent of hers that she was demonstrating at this very moment. Her face was so red Morty was afraid she might explode. Could he get in trouble for that?
“No Mortemous, it is not, but since you want to be such a smart-Alec, why don't you read the next paragraph for the rest of the class?” Mrs. Abernacle said with a snooty smirk.
Morty rummaged through his backpack, searching frantically for his History book, but couldn't find it. Where had he put it? His face was already beginning to redden, he could feel the classrooms eyes on him.
Mrs. Abernacle put her hands on her wide hips. “Something wrong Mortemous?”
Finally Morty conceded, he put his backpack down and sighed. “I think I left it at home.” he admitted.
Mrs. Abernacle rolled her eyes. “This is precisely what's wrong with the world today, nobody is ever prepared. And they say children are the future... ha! A grim future is you ask me.” Mrs. Abernacle scanned the classroom with bulging eyes, her jowls quivering. The teacher's eyes rested on Sarah Miller, the prettiest girl in class, who also happened to get the best grades.
“Sarah, you're the only bright light in this dank, cranial cavern. Will you let Morty borrow your book so that he may participate? Despite his stupidity.” she emphasized with a stabbing glance at Morty.
Morty smiled weakly, until Mrs. Abernacle's laser-like glare finally left him. Morty then turned sharply to face his friend, Stephen.
Stephen had pointy ears and a smaller than usual head, and his thin lips were always curled into a half-cocked smirk, but there was nothing half-cocked about the grin he had now.
“Stop laughing.” Morty whispered through gritted teeth. “You're supposed to be helping.”
Stephen wiped a tear from his eyes. “I'm sorry man, this is just too hilarious. Look on the bright side though, you're about to be paired up with Sarah Miller, things could definitely be worse”
“But then what am I going to read?” Sarah asked.
Mrs. Abernacle considered this for a moment, her pursed lips making her resemble a blow fish, and not a particularly attractive one either...
“Excellent point Sarah, we don't want him dragging down our star pupil now do we? How about you Barney? You two seem like you'd make a fitting pair.”
Morty's stomach filled with dread. Barney was as big as he was mean, and twice as ugly. A month ago, Stephen swore he saw Barney eat Augustus Goberden, a foreign exchange student from Denmark. Morty had never believed Stephen, but he also hadn't seen Augustus since that day...
“Yeah, I don't mind Mrs. Abernacle. We can watch the book together.” Barney said, grinning vacantly.
Morty gulped, not only was he not going to get to eat lunch, he was going to become lunch.