(Author's Note: This is a rewrite of Switchchick's version. I wanted to try taking it in another direction, but start from this point. After the first piece, it will likely be rather different. I wanted to adjust some continuity that didn't work for me. That isn't to criticize the original version. And I wanted to change the perspective to float a bit more above Lauren's shoulder to start.)
Turning the corner she bumped into her least favorite teacher, Ms. Lonna Tran. Both were taken off guard, and Ms. Tran stumbled on her heels and narrowly avoided falling to the ground.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Tran. I didn't see you there," Lauren said.
Ms. Tran looked down at Lauren, who was 5’6, but that’s where their similarities stopped. Her teacher was probably somewhere in her thirties, Asian, and had long black hair, and was wearing black heels, a dark blue button down and a black pencil skirt. "Well, you should watch where you are going, Lauren." she said.
"I said I was sorry...I was on my way to class," Lauren said. She'd apologized, why did she have remind her?
Ms. Tran took notice of her expression. “I’m serious, young lady...someone could have been hurt. You are lucky I don’t give you detention for running in the hall.”
Lauren was a High School Senior, and had been dealing with Ms. Tran on and off for that entire time. She kept tangling with the woman, even when she wasn't, like now, actually in one of her classes. Lauren hated science and Ms Tran taught Chemistry, and she'd only narrowly passed. She also, like most students, found Ms. Tran to be a bit uptight and strict. Lauren felt as if the other woman had it out for her.
“You need to plan out your time between periods better, Lauren. When you were in my class, you would always get there just before the bell rang.” Ms Tran advised.
“Instead of getting there early and sitting there waiting to start? You wouldn’t understand, Ms. Tran, being a student is hard. The only breaks I get are in between classes.” Lauren argued.
“And being a teacher is easy?” Ms. Tran laughed. "You don't think I need a break sometimes?"
Normally, Lauren would just back off and walk away. After all, Ms. Tran could and had made her life miserable. However, she was having a bad week and it was only Monday. It wouldn't be the first time Ms. Tran had gotten under her skin, however, unknown to her, the stone in her pocket started glowing. “A break! A break from what...bossing kids around because you can? Criticizing everything we do?.” Lauren stated. "That doesn't sound so hard. I wish I could have things so easy.”
Ms. Tran couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Easy? Honestly...you know what is easy? Being a kid like you. You don't know what real problems are. I'm the one who wishes I had things so easy."
Lauren suddenly spotted a light coming from her pocket. She pulled out the source, seeing the strong stone was glowing an unnatural color.
"What is that?"
"I don't know, I found it...I've never seen it before today."
"Well, get rid of it, it could be dangerous. I've never seen..." Suddenly...
