A Life Less Ordinary Claire Tessum Fiction
The smell of a new school year resonated in the air. It has a certain scent. It smells like shaved pencils, and eager smiles hiding begrudging intentions. And I, for one, think it smells good.
As good as the smell of freshly cut grass, or the doctor’s office. As good as any. I’m known for being The Nerd. The nobody. The desperate, hopeless, friendless creep, wishing for some more math homework to fill my lonely life. A minion. I wish I wasn’t, but I’m the chattel of some not-so-nice-- “friends.” How I got to be with these not-so-nice people, isn’t much of a story. I used to have some real friends, who then got bored of me, and added some more friends to the group. Then they moved away, leaving me trying to claw my way back, to stay included. So the maliciously foul humans keep me around as the freak. The only reason I stay with them is that everyone else sees me the same way. I’m nobody. I’m-…Iris. A glasses-wearing cliche, wishing to be anyone but who I am. I dropped my head to my book, and studied it through my curtain of hair-- my dark brown bangs that created the perfect two-way mirror. Nobody can see in, but I can see out. The noise of Mr De’ath lecturing the class for the second time this week, filtered in, then out my ears. I couldn’t help but not pay attention. His class was all things I’d known about since the third grade. Besides, how can you take him seriously with a name like De’ath? Not that he didn’t live up to the somber tone of his name. The sound of one more shout from him was a sobering thought to the whole of sophomores throughout the school.
But despite the torture of cliche mean girls, and the horror of terrible teachers, there was only one thing that I looked forward to each day. His name is Jimmy. “Iris--” He harshly whispered, careful not to grab the attention of Mr De’ath. “Is it true that Ms. Francis’ name is actually Edna?” “Of course not, Jimmy--” I whispered back, just loud enough so only he could hear. “But Mac said--” 21
