Ricki groaned inwardly and banged on his desk loudly after glancing at the clock. It was only 2:06; he still had almost an entire hour to go until he could leave this prison they called "school." Jess, an annoying girl that sat in front of him, whipped her blond head around and gave him a nasty glare before looking forward again. Yes, he would have to say that his classmates absolutely adored him. 

He jumped a little when his phone buzzed in his pants pocket. No-one turned around. He discreetly slipped it out of his pocket and checked the screen, almost choking when he read the number of notifications he had. 

You have 9 new messages from 'Loser :('

Loser :(: dude omg my teacher literally just pulled a wedgie out of her pants in front of everyone

Loser :(: does she have no shame? no decency? oh, what happened to the days were flashing ankles were considered scandalous???

Loser :( : *where

Loser :( : answer me right now 

Loser :(: turn on ur read receipt why did u turn it off

Loser :(: my dad has stage four colon cancer

Loser :( : my gram died

Loser :( : i have a car

Loser :(: frick answer me whyyy 

Ricki: chill out I didn't check for three minutes 

Loser :( : oh!! I thought you abandoned me like a small cat in a cardboard box in an alley on a rainy day...

Ricki: that's strangely specific... I gtg Mr. Copingham's gonna flip his desk if he sees me texting. see u afterschool loser

Loser :(: my feelings are hurt, Ricki! how dare u call this gorgeous face 'loser' 

Loser :(: On a different note, Tanya just sneezed on me and that is nasty

Loser :( : bye

Ricki snorted at his best friend, Ezra. He was dramatic and hilarious, but he was loyal to Ricki. They had met in middle school. Even though his high school was a dump, Ezra made things better.  

Someone cleared their throat in front of Ricki. He looked up to meet a dirty look. Jess was frowning at him again, staring pointedly at his phone. He scowled back at her and made a show of stuffing his phone back into his pocket. She huffed and raised her nose like an aristocrat and went back to her notes. Ricki reached his hands out and pretended to strangle her neck.

"Mr. Borrolo? Is there a problem?" Ricki froze and met the eyes of his biology teacher, Mr. Copingham. His silver eyebrow was raised and his dry erase marker was poised in the air, inches away from the board. Ricki quickly dropped his hands and leaned back in his chair, ignoring his snickering classmates and his burning face. 

"N-no, sir," Ricki replied, looking at his blank notebook page. He hated Jess's laugh more than anyone else's. It was like a hyena caught laryngitis. 

"I thought so. Please continue to pay attention." Mr. Copingham went on with his lesson as if nothing occured, but everyone else snuck glances at Ricki. Maybe they wouldn't keep looking at him if it wasn't the second time he had been called out in class today. The first time had been when the bell first announced the beginning of the period and Ricki had sighed too loudly. In his defense, he was bored. He cursed his freshman self. If only he hadn't failed and put it off so long, he would have been done with science.

Ricki stared out the window and gazed at the familiar Los Angeles city. It looked so familiar. Nothing ever seemed to change. But shouldn't he feel thrilled to live in such a place? He lived in the city where crappy movies were made! Celebrities walked down the streets! Not. The area he lived in was unsafe and only had rats walking down the sidewalks. If only Ricki could leave. He had less than a year. But he was stuck with Jess, Mr. Copingham, biology, and anixety.

One day, Ricki promised himself. One day, I'll escape the city. 

"MR. BORROLO. THIS IS THE LAST TIME. Please, take notes or you're going to find yourself sitting in a chair in the principles office." Mr. Copingham and Jess both looked at him with equal looks of disappointment. Forget leaving the city. He had to ditch biology first.