Whoa, hold on.Does that mean she’s repeating a year?It’s the only explanation I can think of.I was kind of surprised to see her at the conversation with Mrs.Sinclair just now.At first I thought she was just being told to look out for me a bit, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
She doesn’t seem particularly happy that the only free desks are side by side in the second row from the back, which means we soon have to buddy up for a conversation exercise.
I lean back and don’t open my textbook.“Olive, huh?”I link my arms behind my head.“As in Olive Garden?”
She glares at me.“What’s your problem?”
“C’mon, you have to admit it’s kind of funny.”
“What the hell are you on about?”
“Olive Garden?”I repeat and pause as she still doesn’t get it.“Wait, don’t you have that here?”
“Is it a shop?”
“Man.”I laugh quietly.“I need to get kicked out of this place ASAP.Could you give me a hand with that?”
She looks at me as if I’m totally out of my mind.“I’m not helping you with anything,” she says.
“OK, then we can get kicked out together.”I shrug and reach for my phone.
Her eyes widen slightly at the sight of it.“You have to hand your phone in before class,” she whispers, pointing to the shelf full of cell phones by the door.
“Uh-huh,” I say, unimpressed.Obviously, I’m aware of the rule.But Olive Garden doesn’t need to know that.She stares at me in disbelief.Her eyes dart over to Mr.Acevedo, who’s walking around the room, and I’m really very interested to know if she’s enough of an asshole to rat on me.I’d like to see her try it because, like all the staff, he’s well aware that I have special permission to keep my cell phone on me at all times, seeing that it’s also measuring my blood sugar and controlling my insulin pump.But no way is it going to be me who tells her that.
She looks away, so I take the chance to glance at the app—I’ve got the feeling I’m a bit low.Maybe the insulin bolus I took at breakfast was a bit overoptimistic, because I could hardly swallow a mouthful.
“You’re not bloody serious, are you?”she hisses as she turns back to me, and I adjust my basal rate before opening my photos.
“Is there a problem, Olive?”Mr.Acevedo inquires, suddenly materializing beside her.
Aha, now things could get interesting.She freezes, looks at me.I bestow my most innocent expression upon her.She hesitates.
Go on, rat on me.But she doesn’t.Her eyes are daggers, but she shakes her head.“No, everything’s fine.”
OK, so that’s how you are, Olive Garden.I couldn’t have said for certain that I’d have stayed loyal if it had been me.She stiffens as I slip her my phone under the desk.
“What are you doing?”she whispers, trying to push it awaylike it’s burning her fingers, but I’m already flipping through my book.
“You’ll help me get expelled or you can get expelled in my place,” I mutter expressionlessly.
She leans down to take a closer look at the photo.Her breath catches for a moment.
“Yeah, that’s you,” I say.It might have been dark, but my phone camera got a great likeness of her.“I’m sure your head teacher would be delighted to find that on her desk.There’s no point trying to delete it.I backed it up long ago.”
She turns her face toward me.“What the fuck is your problem?”
“Olive, Colin, please.”Mr.Acevedo looks sternly at us.
I’m only too pleased to retrieve my phone from Olive and ignore her for the rest of class.With deliberate calm, I unwrap a muesli bar, and she freaks out as I start eating in class.
Normally I’d say something at this point.Get under her skin by letting her know I’ve got a chronic condition, so she’s the one being fucking insensitive.But for some reason, I don’t.I just glance sharply at her before I take a bite.She stares at me in disbelief and looks at the teacher.He doesn’t say a word.He’s up to speed, like they all are.The normal rules don’t apply to me.I get to eat in class, use my phone, and walk out any time I please.Amazing.
A while later, the bell goes for break, and fortunately, Olive Garden follows me outside with the others.“So you’re showing me the way to math, apparently?”I ask, but that seems to be the last thing on her mind.With surprising strength, she grabs me by the sleeve and drags me into an alcove along the hallway.“Or is the nerdy school captain going to do that?”
“Excuse me?”Anger glints in her green eyes.Fuck, he’s a friend of hers.I should have known.
“Nothing, forget it.”I straighten my shoulders, but it seems like she’s only just warming up.
