Rebecca Hall<br/>September 24, 2012<br/>6th Period, World History<br/>Tagged: Helen, James, Isolde<br/><hr/><br/>Rebecca was adding detail to the foreground, her left hand moved in quick, precise strokes, and her head down when Helen moved past her desk.  A warm smile curled her lips into a smile as she glanced up from her work to see freckles on a cream complexion and startling ginger red hair and blue eyes.<br/><br/><strong>"Um... thanks, Helen."</strong><br/><br/>Rebecca looked back down at her art project to see which "part" Helen had pointed out.  It took her a moment to find the neatly folded note in her lap.  Her brows furrowed curiously and she glanced at Helen questioningly before her attention went back to the authority figure behind the large teacher's desk.  She didn't really want to get in trouble for passing notes.  On the other hand, she'd never received a note herself.  It took only a moment of tentative bottom lip chewing before her fingers slowly worked at the edges of the tiny piece of paper and began undoing the tightly folded square.  The tiny, tightly folded square was like an unexpected present.  One that could potentially earn Rebecca a trip to detention if she was caught opening it in the middle of lecture.  Though, despite already having her phone confiscated, Becca couldn't resist seeing the secret message which lie within.  A message that carried such a high risk, in Rebecca's opinion, of being passed on.<br/><br/>A mix of confusion and frustration settled upon her as her hazel eyes read over the note for a second time.  She couldn't decide whether to be upset with Helen or thankful.  Sure, she thought James was cute.  What girl with two eyes didn't.  Trying to talk to him about something called Parker in the park, however, just seemed like a setup.  Maybe if Rebecca had her phone she could've Googled "Parker" but she didn't and it was unlikely she could get to a computer between now and the end of school.  Besides, if it was something James did with his friends it was unlikely something she knew anything about.  It wasn't like she could go watch either.  She was supposed to meet her dad in front of the school exactly ten minutes after the final bell so that he could drive her the whole six blocks back to where they lived where she would spend the rest of the evening, alone, just so he didn't have to worry while he was at his second job.  The thought made her ground her teeth; something her dentist had explicitly told her not to do.<br/><br/>She dropped the note into her book bag and returned to her sketch.  There was possibly five seconds to talk to James between getting up out of her desk and entering the hall, at which time he would likely meet friends and she'd be elbowed out of the way.  Five seconds to say, "hey what's parker?" and possibly look like a fool.<br/><br/>Rebecca tried to hide her sideways glance at Helen.  The red head didn't seem like the mean spirited type.  She certainly caught as much flak, if not more, from Mr. Baker as Rebecca did.  Helen was right that Mr. Baker was a total ass, but just because one truth had been etched onto that note didn't mean the whole thing was true.  Still, that little nugget could get Helen into big trouble.  For that matter, it could get Rebecca into big trouble if someone found it on her person.  Come to think of it.  Helen hadn't signed it.  So really, the only person who could get into trouble for it was the person who possessed it.<br/><br/>As slyly as she could, Rebecca dipped her hand into her backpack and began quietly rifling through it.  The note needed to go into the waste bin which was so close that she could stretch out and drop the potent little paper in without ever leaving her seat.  If she could only find the paper.  Her fingers found the solid creased edges and she palmed the piece of paper just as their history teacher stood to walk across the front of the classroom.<br/><br/><strong>"Ms. Hall, what's in your hand?"</strong><br/><br/><em>God, she must have eyes in the back of her head,</em>Rebecca thought.<br/><br/><strong>"My pencil,"</strong>Rebecca offered as she raised her left hand which indeed held her pencil.<br/><br/><strong>"Don't get smart with me.  What's in your other hand?"</strong><br/><br/>Detention flashed before Rebecca's eyes.  Followed by her father's disappointment, a month's worth of being grounded, and all the laughter and ridicule that was sure to follow when the teacher inevitably read what the once promising note had to say.  The knuckles of her right hand turned white momentarily as she tightly clutched the forbidden message then she turned her hand over and slowly opened it.  Her heart was already in her chest and anger was spilling over as she thought how mean it had been of Helen to set her up like this.<br/><br/>Her eyes darted to the trash bin for the briefest of a moment as she wondered if she could somehow dump the note.  She had to swallow to find her voice as she looked into their teacher's eyes<strong>"uhh."</strong><br/><br/>Her hand lay empty.<br/><br/>A dismissive sniff was given by the teacher before she marched to the chalkboard and began scrawling their assignment upon the board.<strong>"Read these chapters and no talking."</strong><br/><br/>Rebecca missed the teacher's directions.  She felt as if she had stared at her hand for the longest of time, then tried to glance into her backpack to see if she had never actually dug the note out.  She couldn't see it and she didn't want the teacher to give her any more attention.  A quick glance at the floor around her desk didn't reveal the odd, disappearing note's location either.  She must not have ever found it in her backpack and the note was likely safer at the bottom of her bag than it was in the trash where someone could find it.  She'd just have to look for it at home, after school.<br/><br/>Pushing the note and James from her mind, Rebecca opened her history book and began reading the assigned pages.  Though, she wasn't through the first paragraph before she began thinking about the different routes to the park from her house.<br/>