knife pretty

reddit writing prompt pt. 1

He stares out of the window, head in hand, as he hears snickering behind him. Joey's probably made some hilarious comment about Mr. Davidson's bald head again. Or maybe this time it's about his front-creased khakis. Maybe even something about the mysterious stain perched right over where Cody imagined his left nipple to be. It was probably perky, maybe had little brown hairs curling from pink flesh around it...

"...end up like Cody over there, brain cells bonged away, staring out into God knows, oh thank you for joining us Mr. Jones! I thought I had lost you to the pot gods above." The balding man chastised over the chortles of Cody's classmates, looking pleased with himself.

"You don't haffta be a dick about it." He grumbled, dramatically opening the thick textbook on his desk so the cover hit with a whap.

"As well as I'm sure that terminology would go in Principal Livingston's office, if you had been paying attention you would realize we're taking a break from the book today to do an exercise in self-reflection."

"I think your mirror's broken, doc." Mindy Richards called from the back, smacking her gum as she twirled a dreadlock around a perfectly manicured nail.

"A doctorate? Me? I'm flattered, Ms. Richards. No, today I'm asking you to look inward. Look at that place within yourself, the one that asks if you really want to send that third unanswered text or if you even like that coffee shop you've been to a million times." He was starting to walk around the classroom, glancing over shoulders and snatching phones when students weren't quick enough.

"We all have a chance to better ourselves and it's only through constant awareness that we can do that." He paused for dramatic effect and turned suddenly, slamming his hands on poor Cole Anderson's desk to roar "Constant Vigilance!" accidentally spitting on the poor redhead's glasses.

There was a long pause through the room as everyone shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh, what, like you guys haven't seen Harry Potter?" Mr. Davidson's face blushed a faint red. " Yikes, tough crowd.." He turned to fiddle with papers on his desk as students began giggling behind him.

"Today, class, we're going to take some time to reflect," He passed four stacks of papers to the students in the front row. "Your assignment this week is to write a letter to yourself. Think about what you're going through this week. Think about things you want to remind yourself of, maybe even ask yourself some questions. This assignment is about finding out who you are." The bell rang just as Mr. Davidson was inhaling for the big "be yourself" speech.

"Please, please try to take this one seriously, guys." He's trying to holler over the scraping of chairs and zumping and zippers. " Yes I will know if you faked it, yes I absolutely read every little assignment you turn in and yes, I realize you met the word requirement, Mr. Ponder but inserting the word 'booty' every fourth word after the first page doesn't exactly explain The Things They Carried quite well enough. Get me that rewrite by Monday."

The students had mostly filtered out, through there were always stragglers who struggled to put books in their bookbags. Cody Jones looked confused, as if he had been snapped out of some trance and he suddenly had to relearn how to use his limbs.

"Are you alright Cody? I didn't mean to sound harsh today, I thought we were having fun."

The teenager shrugged, shoving his math textbook aside so he could shove the papers in. He made a show of stuffing them to the bottom of the bag. "I don't really give a shit, I don't even smoke." He zipped up his bag and threw it on his desk so he could glare defiantly over the straps.

Mr. Davidson's eyebrows shot up and he licked his lips nervously. "I'm so sorry, Cody, I really didn't mean-"

He was already on the way out the door, calling over his shoulder.

"Oh, and Moody only says 'constant vigilance' in the books, ya fucking nerd."

xxxxxx