Jennifer jogged across the soggy school grounds and narrowly missed stepping
into an ankle-deep puddle. She splashed enough to feel the mud and grit hit
her pants.  The yard was deserted. She sighed, knowing that she'd be in for
it from her english teacher. She imagined making a list, writing at the top
"People to kill", and added whoever at school had decided to shorten the
year by ten days, and had made up for the time with school opening earlier.
Seven forty-five! Nevermind that getting there that early was already hard,
with the busses not running often enough until eight thirty.

She imagined carving her father's name into the list with bold letters, for
making her sign up for advanced placement classes that started even earlier.

She walked to the side door, hoping to avoid notice by the hawkish woman in
the main office, and pulled. It was locked. Probably to push the tardy kids
in past the offices. She sighed and walked around the building to the main
entrance. She stepped inside and took off her jacket. The woman at the main
desk scribbled her name down in a book and then tore a pass out and handed
it to her.

Jennifer took it and walked toward her english class, which after checking
her watch, she realized was more than half over. She wondered why she
bothered.

She opened the door, and got the sudden hush that she expected.

"Nice of you to show up, Jennifer" said the teacher.

"Missed the bus" she mumbled as she tried not to drip on the students she
had to walk past to get to the only available seat.

She opened her notebook and found her notes and an ornate page with
descriptions of the kinds of monsters she'd like to see eat her teachers.
She laughed a little and turned to a blank page and started copying down the
contents of the blackboard. Essay due the 28th. Read Shakespeare and be able
to give a plot summary. Read the book about the austistic kid. Try not to be
bored to tears at yet another poor autistic kid and struggling family story.
She tried to figure out how to get enough done to pass so she could work on
her sociology project. She paged through her textbook, looking for the
shakespeare exerpts to see if she could skip reading the play entirely.