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(The first Friday; Assignment 1 Due; Story Number 1: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson)

"You turned in your half, right?" I say to Jules as he stands by my desk once we get to Warren's class.

He jerks his head back and puts his hand over his heart jokingly, "Of course. I was taking notes through our whole conversation. If we fail it's because of you not me." he says pointing at me

Jules came over to my house when my parents weren't around, I did this on purpose, I wasn't in the mood to entertain questions about why I'm inviting a member of the opposite sex to our home and introducing him as anything but an acquaintance.

They also would have thrown a hissyfit If I had said that I needed him to be in my room as well. Well actually we could've hung out in the living room or something but I felt like I needed an escape route if my parents decide to come home early then I'd quietly send him on his merry way outside and through the window.

But when he left I soon realized that he'd probably plunge to his death considering how far my room is from the ground.

Needless to say, he was in and out with no problems.

Our conversation gets cut short when Mrs. Warren comes in and quiets the chatter coming from the class.

She smacks her hand against the chalkboard and drops her Louis Vuitton duffel bag onto the desk. Something she usually does to get our attention.

"Good morning, Disciples!" she smiles widely. Jules taps me on the shoulder to silently say goodbye as he crosses the room to walk to his seat.

"I'm excited to see that an overwhelming majority of my students actually did their work." She says as she picks up the papers that we left on her desk and runs her fingers through them, "Ah, Mr.Simpson I see Ms.Ramirez's work ethic has rubbed off on you." she subtly shaded him jokingly as Paola tries not to laugh when Ryan's jaw drops

"I'm missing a group though. Has anyone seen Mr.Duran and Ms.Mills anywhere today? Are they in school?"

And on perfect timing, Jesse strolls through the class with a small smile resting on his lips as his hands are placed in the pockets of his black joggers.

He sits in his seat behind me and I feel him rest his legs in the basket underneath my desk again. I decided it's just best to not fight him on that.

Ms.Warren goes to call him out until Naveah walks into class with a scowl on her face as she pauses at the door to see that everyone is staring at her. She rolled her eyes and stalked towards the front desk and slammed a piece of paper on the desk then proceeded to walk to her own desk on the other side of the room. The whole class watches as she drops her binder and then drops herself into her seat as she slides down and crosses her arms.

The class is silent for a second before Mrs.Warren says, "Sooo. Thank you, Ms.Mills. I assume that was the assignment that you and your partner worked on."

Naveah scoffs and says in a low voice, "What partner?" and then turns her head and looks at her lap shaking her head, bouncing her left knee up and down, and placing her tongue on the inside of her cheek.

Ms.Warren looks in my direction as she tilts her head to the side to get a better look at Jesse behind me as he's most likely scrolling through his phone.

"Ok! How about we get into the discussion of the story?" she asks quickly and then continues talking, "Who wants to start?" She walks around to the front of her desk as she sits on it and clasps her hands together and gives a close-mouthed grin.

You know how teachers ask a question in class and nobody's trying to answer so you look at the teacher and the teacher's looking at all of you, and then yall start looking at each other silently asking whos gonna take one for the team?

I decided to be the person that takes one for the team despite the fact that I hate talking in class.

Raising my hand, I wait for Ms.Warren to look at me and give me permission to speak. She acknowledges me by pointing at me and I answer, "I thought that the whole point of 'The Lottery" was kind of confusing. How does killing and torturing one person who has a family that they could potentially be leaving alone, provide anyone any kind of joy or comfort?" I ask

I hear a low chuckle as a voice says quietly behind me, "I bet I could answer that for you."

I sit up straighter as I, wholeheartedly, understand what he's trying to say. A chill runs down my spine and I think he notices the change in my posture when I hear him snickering under his breath

"Ah, Ms.Onuoha! You know, I never quite understood the point of the lottery myself. I've read this story many times and each time I fail to grasp why they thought throwing stones at a member of the village until they die was so effective."

"Yeah, and I think it's a bit ironic how it's called 'The Lottery.' That's what my partner and I discussed, a lottery has such a positive connotation in the real world but in the story, if you're picked, you're considered unlucky because you end up losing your life."

"I feel like this is the most I've heard you talk for some reason," he whispers low so only I can hear,

Ms.Warren smiles, "I hope to read some of that in your essay with your partner, Ms.Onouha. Anyone else want to piggyback off of that? I think Karma gave us a great foundation for a discussion."

She moves on from me as someone else in class speaks and starts to answer her question.

"If i'm such bad luck to you, why do you insist on talking to me?" I turn my head to the left and whisper towards the window so nobody sees my lips my move.

The person I'm talking to answers from behind me and sighs saying, "Yes. You're a pain. But I guess you're good company."

I blink a couple of times and say, "Did you just give me a backhanded compliment?" I ask more to myself.

"I'd focus on the compliment part if I were you." I feel a tug on my box braid and it causes me to jerk my head back as I squint my eyes in pain. I literally stayed up last night getting this done. I couldn't even put them in my bonnet before I slept without wincing.

Paola looks at me as if I grew two heads and asks me if I'm okay. I grab the back of my head and turn to look at Jesse and when I do, I just want to smack the grin off of his face when he looks at me with his head tilted to the side pretending to be confused. "Oops?" He holds up his left hand showcasing a ring on his middle finger. "Would you believe me if I said my hand got stuck?"

"No."

"Good because you'd be stupid if you did" he almost laughs, "I just wanted to see the reaction you'd give me." He looks at me, "You jumped back as if someone possessed you. I barely touched it"

"You can't blame me for being amazed. Your hair was shorter and fluffier than this yesterday." He continues,

"That's shrinkage. My hair stretches and goes to its actual length when I pull it."

"Your braid didn't stretch when I pulled on it?"

"It's not all my hair. And it's pretty much stretched out when you think about it."

"So when you put your hair in braids...it's being stretched? Like if you took it out it'd be longer than what I saw before?"

"I mean pretty much," I say shrugging looking back at Ms.Warren for a quick second to make sure she's still talking to other students

Jesse chuckles behind me again and says, "Where were you when I needed a project for my sixth-grade science fair?" He asks and I can't help but laugh quietly at that

"You know what your hair reminds me of?"

"What?" I ask curiously. Usually, people say some weird stuff like cotton candy.

"It reminds me of one of my socks that shrink after I do my laundry. I have to stretch it before it looks the same again" he giggles...like actually giggles as I look back at him and hold my hand over my mouth trying not to laugh.

He compared my hair to a sock...that's new.

We're brought out of our silent laughing fit when Ms.Warren calls her hands and says, "This was a great discussion class! Tonight, I'll send the next story that you'll read for next week to your school emails."

"Looking through your papers and hearing the discussions, a lot of you followed the directions and I'm very pleas—" the bell rings cutting her off for our lunch break

"Okay run off my disciples! Healthy nutrients and good vibes only. Don't forget to stay hydrated. I'll see you later!" She blows a kiss towards the class and walks around the desk to sit in her seat as she grabs her reading glasses and looks through the paper.

Most of the class rushes out and I'm packing my stuff as I'm still sitting in my chair. I brought my own lunch so I'm in no rush.

I hear a higher pitch voice say Ms.Warren in a whiny tone

Naveah rushes to Ms.W and she speaks to her in hushed low whispers as she flings her arms dramatically in distress with a scowl that has permanently been on her face since she walked in.

I can see Ms.Warren sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose as she falls back into her chair, pursing her lips in thought.

Not wanting to be nosey, I get up and attempt to walk out of the door when I hear Ms.Warren call my name.

"Ms.Onuoha? Could you come back here for a second please?"

I sigh inaudibly and turn around to walk back over to her desk. When I'm standing in front of her, she says, "Ms.Onuoha it has come to my attention that a student in this class is failing to get along with another. It's not you, I'm sure you and Mr.Montana are fine but Naveah has let me know that her and her partner...don't gel together so well."

She sighs loudly, "I don't know if I graded Naveah's test wrong but another match that you had, was Jesse Duran. Now I'm not sure how he matched with two of my most promising students but you and Naveah were his only matches and I can't make another test to accommodate one group. Would you mind switching partners with Naveah?"

Working with Jesse? Week after week? "Oh, I-I don't know--"

"Karma, I am begging you, please. I hear you guys are like friends or whatever, although I don't understand how since I am convinced that man is the dev--

"Ok. Ms.Mills." Ms.Warren stops her before she goes too far by placing her hand on Naveah's shoulder.

"Well we're not exactly friends I--" Naveah cuts me off

"Really? Because you guys seemed to be all buddy-buddy during class earlier?" she tilts her head to the left and I realized that she had me cornered.

You know for someone who prides herself on being angelic she's sounding really different right now.

I stand in silence as Ms.Warren looks back and forth between us, "Wait, you and Mr.Duran were talking during our discussion I-you guys missed a really good conversation--"

"Ms.Warren that's not the point! The point is that she's some sort of devil whisperer, I don't know how she gets Jesse to speak. I tried texting him all week and every time I did it kept saying, 'Message Error' or 'Message Not Delivered.' He blocked me! I did the whole thing myself."

Ms.Warren shocks us by giggling and then stopping herself quickly covering her mouth with her hand and pats Naveah's shoulder. "Oh, you poor thing," she says shaking her head, most likely not pitying her at all. This makes Naveah cross her arms.

Knowing that I'll never hear the end of this I say, "Ok. Fine. I'll switch with you." I say quietly dreading this situation.

"Thank you for being so selfless, Ms.Onuoha. I'll let Jesse know later on today, I'll even send him something to his school email." I nod in understanding, upset that I have to trade Jules.

Naveah claps her hands in excitement and says, 'Thank you, Thank you!" and goes around the front of the desk where I'm standing and hugs me tightly, crushing my internal organs in the process.

"No weapon formed against you shall prosper." She whispers in my ear and then pulls back holding me by the side of my shoulders and does the sign of the cross quickly, "Good Luck." then she walks out of the classroom, almost skipping in joy.

Ms.Warren gives me a sad look and smiles at me small.

Walking back to my seat, I grab my things ready to get the hell out of this room and I hear Justine, who I didn't even notice was still here sitting at the back of the room, say, "Now how is she gonna give you a bible verse but claims she's sending you off to the devil, bye" she shakes her head

I laugh lightly as she smiles widely, "You wanna go grab lunch somewhere?" she stands up packing her stuff too.

Knowing damn well Ryan and Paola are probably knee-deep in popeyes right now, I nod my head as she leads the way out.

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Quincy Brown- Jules Montana

Peyton List -Naveah Mills

Justine Skye- Justine Hill

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