Page 79 of Unhinged Kallie

“Yeah, at least one thing excites me,” I said, remembering how she came on to Carter. It was beyond unprofessional.

“See, I knew there had to be one,” Talon said, and I rolled my eyes.

She was clueless, and I would’ve said she was a ditz if she weren’t highly intelligent. Talon was more common sense challenged. She refused to see her family for what we were and never questioned why the pigs stayed fat and happy when we never purchased pig food.

Mrs. Peterson scribbled her name on the whiteboard. “Good morning, Seniors. Please pull out your notebooks. We will be reading and discussing five books this semester.” She pulled papers from her briefcase and laid a page on everyone’s desk as she walked around.

I watched her closely for anything unusual, a lingering stare or flirtatious smile, even a twinkle in her eye, as she looked at one of the guys. Once she finished, we reviewed the syllabus broken down into books, essays, group projects, and what everything would be worth.

“Any questions before we get started?”

Talon’s hand shot up into the air so fast and straight it was like a fucking rocket. She rocked back and forth like she would piss herself from excitement.

“Yes, Ms…” Mrs P looked down at her attendance sheet, but Talon stood up, her hands at her sides and her feet perfectly side-by-side. Soldiers everywhere would’ve been impressed.

“Talon Buchanan,” she said.

“Okay, Talon. What’s your question?”

“Can I read five different books?”

Mrs. Peterson sat on the corner of her desk, staring at Talon as if she’d asked, ‘Can quantum mechanics and general relativity be realized as a fully consistent theory?’

“These are the books we need to read for the required work. Do you have an issue with the books on the list, Ms. Buchanan?”

Talon giggled, and my eyebrow shot up. Thank whoever that we never had a class together until now because there was a good chance I would’ve smacked her around trying to knock some sense into her.

“Oh no, no, it’s not that. I read these books already and could prepare an essay for each one to hand in by the end of the week. I prefer not to repeat the same information. I’m happy to read whatever you like.”

“What a fucking suck-up,” Lisa, the head cheerleader, mumbled behind Talon. I looked over at her. I didn’t have a problem with her until now, but no one picked on or thought about picking on my cousin but me.

Talon smoothed down the front of her t-shirt that was neatly tucked into her ironed jeans. She said ironing relieved stress and made sure her clothes never had a single wrinkle or she wouldn’t leave the house.

“Wow, such an achiever. I wish I had more students like you.” Kissing noises erupted around the class. “That’s enough of that,” Mrs. Peterson said as she opened her briefcase and looked inside. “I’ll find the complete list, and we can look it over to see what five interest you.”

“That’s fabulous. Thank you, Mrs. Peterson, and if you ever need any help setting up or cleaning the room, just let me know. I’m always happy to help.” I was pretty sure that Talon wasn’t Mrs. Peterson’s first choice when it came to helpers and smirked as I imagined the disappointed look on Talon’s face.

Lisa made a gagging noise, and although I agreed with her, I didn’t like how she eyed Talon. It was a look that promised pain and humiliation.

“Lisa Stanley, do you have something productive to add to the conversation? Or maybe you’d like to share how far along you are in the first read of the year?”

I still didn’t like Mrs. Peterson, but I appreciated that she didn’t allow bullying in her class.

“No, I’m good,” Lisa answered sweetly, but she was glaring at Talon’s back. I wanted to yell, ‘Yo bitch she didn’t force you to grow up an asshole,’ but I kept my mouth shut.

“You can sit down, Talon.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Talon said and sat back in her seat. Even sitting, she looked like she had a broom handle shoved up her ass. Her spine was as straight as a rod, and her hands were flat on the table like she needed to prove she wasn’t playing with her phone while her eyes were on the front board.

This was going to be agonizing.

* * *

OCTOBER

So far, the best thing about this year was last period. I had it free, meaning I could do what I wanted and leave early. Today, the hallway was eerily silent in this part of the school. The Seniors’ lockers were in the furthest corner of the upper floor. Either they were trying to make us late for class, or they just wanted to annoy the hell out of us for fun.

Shrugging on my backpack, I was about to slam my locker with the usual bang when I heard voices. Intrigued, I closed the door silently and snapped my lock together quietly. Tiptoeing toward the noise, I peeked around the corner, and my heart leaped excitedly. Mrs. Peterson had backed Hicks, the captain of the basketball team, up against the lockers and he looked terrified and trapped.