Delena

Her last class of the day was US History. This was the class she was most looking forward to. She expected it to be an easy class, since she had been studying Earth pretty much full-time for the past couple of months.

The teacher was a tall, skinny lady, with copper colored hair that looked like it was on backwards. She reminded Delena of someone who had been mugged on her way to class, and didn’t get a chance to go freshen up yet.

“Alright, class, let’s get started,” The teacher said. “My name is Ms. Wilson, and this is US History.” She looked around the class, waiting impatiently for the students to take their seats and become quiet. Her silence let the kids know they had better get settled quickly.

“Now then. Who can tell me about American History? Huh? Anyone?” She looked around the room, as if waiting for someone to raise their hand. Given how ambiguous her question was, no one was willing to take the bait. Ms. Wilson decided to take a different tact, and pick volunteers herself. She started with the guy sitting closest to the door. “You. What can you tell me about American History?”

The guy had been taken completely by surprise. He wasn’t sure what to say. “Uh, why, uh…”

The teacher shook her head and walked away from him. “That’s about what I expected. How about someone else? Anyone?”

Again, no one answered. She stopped in front of a girl in the center of the front row. “What can you tell me about the Constitution?”

The girl froze. Her mouth opened, as if to answer, but nothing came out.

“Oh boy, this looks like it’s going to be an interesting year!” Ms. Wilson said sarcastically.

“You took the words right outa my mouth!” Someone said from the back of the class. Everyone snickered.

The teacher didn’t take the interruption very well. She spun around to see who had said it, and if looks could kill, the room would have been full of corpses. “Let’s get something straight right now – I will not tolerate snide comments in my classroom. Is that clear?”

The silence that followed was deafening. Ms. Wilson stood with her hands on her hips, staring intently at each and every student. It seemed like forever before she started speaking again. When she did speak, it was nearly in a whisper. “Now, if we have that clear, we can get back to work.” She walked back towards the front of the classroom, and began pacing back and forth across the front of the room. “Let’s start with something easier. Who was the sixteenth president?”

Someone in the back yelled out, “That’s easy; Abe Lincoln.”

Ms. Wilson nodded slowly, “You’re right. That was too easy. And please, don’t shout out answers. Raise your hands, and wait for me to call on you.” She continued strolling slowly across the front of the room until she reached the other side, then turned and came back towards the doorway. “Let’s try something harder. Here’s a president we’ll be talking about a lot this year …” She turned on her heel, and pointed at the girl in the front row. Delena. “Who was the forty-second president?”

Delena nearly choked. Everything she had studied about the Earth suddenly evaporated from her memory. She stared blankly at the teacher. She knew the answer. It was right on the tip of her tongue. She knew it, she knew it …

The teacher opened her mouth, preparing to move on to the next student. NO! Delena thought. She forced her mouth to open, and words to spill out. “Hilary Clinton!” She answered. There! She said it. She felt her whole body start to relax. The pressure was off. She had answered the question. She was off the hook.

The entire room exploded in laughter. Delena stared around her in confusion. She couldn’t figure out what they were laughing at. What had she said wrong?

Ms. Wilson’s face turned the color of her hair. She stared at Delena so hard it looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her head. Delena sunk down into her seat, for fear the teacher’s eyes would shoot out of her head and hit her.

“So, I suppose you think that was funny? Okay then, I can play too. You like games? I