Chapter Five: Normal Class Period in Dimension #2.

I blinked heavily, realizing belatedly that I'd been reading the same sentence for the last few minutes. Raising a hand to my eyes, I rubbed them in an effort to try and wake up, before hiding a yawn with the same hand. How much longer until class was over? I glanced around the history classroom with its four cinderblock walls and lack of windows several times before remembering that Mr. Athern (what a weird name...) had taken down the clock so people like me wouldn't constantly look at it.

Giving up on finding a clock, I examined the wrists of those sitting close to me, trying to find someone with a watch. Nope. Then again, there weren't that many people sitting near me--the rows of desks, a small amount to begin with, were mostly empty. I vaguely remembered that they had been full at the beginning of the year. Again, I resolved not to let myself drop out.

"Miss Bellerman?" I snapped my head back to the front of the room to see Mr Athern staring at me. Damn, he just asked a question, didn't he? Couldn't he choose who he wanted to answer first, and then ask?

"Um..." I was stalling. My eyes scanned the pages of the European history textbook in front of me, even though I knew I wouldn't find what he had said there. "I... do not know." At least Mr. Athern was moderately kind to students who had no idea what was going on, like me. Instead of pressing for an answer, asking that I stay awake, or even lingering and staring at me, he quickly moved on.

"Mr. Cook?" It was a ritual. A very well-disguised one albeit, but a ritual all the same. Call on a person who hasn't said anything yet in class. Wait to see if they answer correctly, or even at all. Move onto another person who needed to be called upon. Finally, choose someone that he knew would be able to answer.

That was how he taught us; he asked us questions, we answered. How was one supposed to even take notes over something like that? I 'tch'ed quietly. 'Sorry,' I said in my mind derisively, 'but I'm not going to write down what Snoozy McNosepicker said as something to study off of for a test.'

Crossing my arms over my chest again, I slid down in my seat, then bent my head over until my chin was almost sitting on my chest. Time to go back to sleep, even if this position did give me a bit of a crick in the neck.