Chapter 107: Arc 3, - 17: Fight or Flight
"Jotou, it’s your turn to present your report."
"Dammit," Jotou pursed his lips shut, watching every tick of his watch go by. ’So close to the bell...’ The last period of the day and of course there was just enough time for his turn...
Grouped up in tables of four, he barely talked to those around; only when the necessity arose he would speak. Forty classmates contending on which voice rang the loudest in Jotou’s ears.
Jotou stood up with three papers, paperclipped together. Never muttered a joke or asked for a good luck—not making the mistake to be made fun of again.
As he walked from the middle of the class, through the crowd of legs to the front, his shoulders closed in—eyes staring at the front wall of the class. ’Don’t make eye contact, don’t make eye contact.’
Jotou looked around, shuffling past the bags on the floor; his eyes met the gaze of another classmate who just happened to look. Jotou’s pupils could not dart elsewhere any faster. ’Especially not with Penny, she’s too cute, you’re too ugly, move on.’
A leg stuck out, "Guh," Jotou tripped forward, catching himself on a desk; a water bottle fell onto the file on it. Jotou picked it up, but the water already spread out onto the clear file, "Sorry!"
Little laughter muttered out behind him. The glaring girl groaned as the water spilled across the table; the clique around her did not ease the tension.
Jotou knitted his brows, turning back, "Very funny!"
"Jotou? Quickly please, time’s about to be up. If you’re trying to stall then I’m going to fail you," the teacher looked up from her laptop.
"Sorry," Jotou knew it was futile to report the incident. The last thing he needed to be was teacher’s pet; that’d be even worse... If they believed him in the first place.
’Yeah, I could fail your stupid teacher’s degree too for sitting on your ass putting artificial marks and you still haven’t given our exam papers back graded. Not good enough to become a doctor so you teach Biology?