The bell goes off, and Ms. Tate stops at my desk again. “Your assignment?”
“Um, yeah, I can’t seem to find it,” I say, stuffing everything back in my bag. “I’ll go print it off at the library. It should only be a few minutes.”
“Ella, you know the rules. Assignments must be turned in during class. I don’t accept late assignments. If it’s late, it’s considered incomplete.”
“Ms. Tate, I promise you I had it.” I hurry to get up, flinging my backpack over my shoulder. “I just misplaced it somehow.”
She walks back to her desk. “I’m sorry, but the assignment was due during class. You’ll be getting an incomplete.”
Ms. Tate started working here last fall and doesn’t know me yet. She doesn’t know I’m not the type of person to forget an assignment. She’s acting like this is no big deal, while I’m in a state of panic right now, knowing I didn’t turn in a paper that’s worth ten percent of our grade!
“I’ll submit it online,” I tell her, racing up to her desk. “I’ll send it right now. The paper is done. I did it last weekend. I just need to—”
“I don’t accept papers online,” she says, putting her reading glasses on as she looks down at the stack of papers everyone turned in. Everyone except me. She picks up a pen and starts reading the first paper.
“Please. Just let me go print it out. I never do this. Ask anyone here. I always turn in my assignments. I’ve never not turned one in.”
She looks up from her desk. “I’m sorry, but rules are rules. I’m sure after this you’ll remember to bring your assignments to class.”
“I did bring it. I swear to you, I had it. I just—”
“Ella, please,” she says with a sigh. “I have work to do.”
I turn to leave the now-empty classroom and see Aubrey walking in, her pink, glossy lips turned up into a slight smile as she comes up to me. “I found this by the door when I was leaving. You must’ve dropped it.”
She hands me my paper, the one that was due.
“How did you get this?”
“I just told you.” She flings her long, blond hair over her shoulder. “I saw it on the floor when I was walking out. I was going to toss it but then I saw your name on it and thought you might need it.”
“It’s my assignment.” I turn back to Ms. Tate. “I must’ve dropped it on my way into class. I know it’s late, but would you at least consider taking it?”
She takes the paper from me and sets it on her desk. “I will do it this once, but there will be an automatic ten percent deduction from your grade, and if you do it again, it will be an incomplete. No exceptions.”
“Thank you,” I say, with a relieved sigh.
“You should be thanking Aubrey.” She glances at Aubrey. “Now please, move along so I can get to work.”
I follow behind Aubrey as we walk out. When we’re in the hall, I grab her arm and get in front of her. “How’d you get my paper?”
She yanks her arm from me. “Don’t touch me, you filthy bitch!”
“Tell me how you got it!”
Her light blue eyes narrow at me. “When you mess with my boyfriend, you mess with me. Got it, bitch?”
“You did this for Briggs?”
She leans down to me, lowering her voice. “This was just the beginning. Watch your back, Trailer Girl.”
She turns and walks off. I look down the hall and see Briggs coming toward her. They meet up and kiss, then continue down the hall. Briggs looks back at me and gives me a smug grin.
He did this. He took my paper, but how? The only time I wasn’t with my backpack today was when the teacher made me go up to the front of the room to read a scene from a book in AP Lit. But nobody from Briggs’ inner circle is in that class. Did he pay someone to do it? I bet he did. He has the money to do it, but nobody here needs money except me. But Briggs also has power. He can make people do stuff for him. They’ll do it in the hopes they’ll get to be his friend, which is really pathetic.
It’s the end of the day, and as I hurry out the door to leave, I bump into a guy standing just outside the building. It’s Calvin, this tech-obsessed guy who’s always in the computer lab writing code. I’ve had some classes with him, but never talked to him. He doesn’t like talking to people.
“Sorry,” I say, going past him.
