Chapter 2

The next morning, Ariana woke up and did her daily routine. She could not stop thinking about her conversation with Vallyk. She walked downstairs only to see that her mother had already left for work. She walked to the pantry and took some biscuits and headed out. She began to call Ciara who seemed to have been late to take her to school. To her surprise, Ciara did not seem to pick up. Ariana sighed, closed her eyes and walked to her garage. She quickly removed her bicycle which had been neatly packed beside her old stuff she used to use when she was little. "This is going to be embarrassing." she said to herself as she rode her bicycle. She plugged in her airpods and began to go to school.

It didn't take time for her to get to school. "Cute ride." Brenda laughed . "Thanks, my mom got it for me." said Ariana. "You are dumb." said Brenda as she rolled her eyes and walked away. "Okay, that was tense." Ariana thought to herself. She got off her bicycle and put it near the school hall and walked to class. As she got into class, she saw Ciara's seat empty. She slowly walked to her seat and began texting Ciara. To her surprise, she responded. "Hey baby, I couldn't come to school today. I got sick lol." texted Ciara. Ariana sighed and looked to the board as she waited for the teacher to arrive. "Is this seat taken?" asked Vallyk. Ariana looked up and smiled.

"It was supposed to be but she aint coming today." she said. "So I guess it's mine today." smiled Vallyk as she sat down.

"Morning class." Mrs Vegas said as she walked into the class. "So today for science class, we are going to watch a video of how viruses are transmitted and we can start debating on the topic "Are viruses living or non-living organisms." Mrs Vegas switched on the projector and the class began to watch the video. "Pssss Ari, just imagine those things crawling in your bed at night." whispered Vallyk. "Why would they." laughed Ariana. "I dont know, I watched a movie about it happening." he whispered while laughing. "Mr Pena, it would be nice if you kept quiet." said Mrs Vegas. "Ummmmm, I'm sorry ma'am." apologied Vallyk. "Oh my gosh she didnt." laughed Ariana. "It could be you." whispered Vallyk. "You wish." she replied. " Mrs James, you are talking i think you should lead the debate."

"Oh no she didnt." silently laughed Vallyk. "I'm sorry ma'am." she apologized. "I know you are but that ain't changing the fact that you are starting the debate." said Mrs Vegas as she turned off the projector. "Oh, Okay." Ariana trembled. She breathed out to gain her confidence and started. "So I'm going to take the side which says that viruses are non-living organisms." she started. "Well, showing off the characteristics of living things ummm it seems like viruses have neither of those. Looking at the structure of the viruses it shows that it has no cells."

"Yes they do." Brenda said as she stood up. "So how can you it be infectious when it has no cells. From what we learn, we know that a virus is composed of something so that is called an organism, and what do we call those building blocks of all things....cells."

"You got it wrong on there Brenda, Viruses aren't made of cells but a strand of genetic information either DNA or RNA not cells." Vallyk said joining Ariana's side. Ariana smiled at Vallyk and began to gain a little bit of more confidence. "And ummm adding to what Vallyk said, Viruses arent made of cells which makes then non-living things since they don't undergo cellular processes like growth which is done by the rest of all living things."

"So if they don't grow, so how do they spread. Ariana your point is invalid cause we leant that viruses multiply if a host is present." Jordan said as he got up.

"It's not invalid Jordan, yours is." Ariana said. The whole class 'woooed' making Jordan feel disrespected. "Viruses multiply yes but don't grow nor reproduce, they duplicate themselves. "By that i bet she means that when a virus enters it's host it attacks the DNA of the host forces the host to stop creating cells but instead create other viruses similar to the one that would have attacked it." Vallyk added. The whole class began clapping and cheering which made Brenda mad. "Okay Mr Loverboy, you think you are so smart why don't you just become a biology teacher then." Brenda said as she rolled her eyes and sat down. The whole class began laughing and cheering. "Everybody seat down and keep quiet." Mrs Vegas ordered.

"This is just a debate no need to be rude Brenda." Ariana defended. "Who said I was talking to you." Brenda replied. Everybody began to cheer as Brenda and Ariana began to exchange words. Mrs Vegas even lost control of the whole class that she sat on her chair and began watching the drama. Things began getting more personal between Ariana and Brenda that Brenda suddenly said, "No wonder your father left you."

Ariana's heart dropped. A pool of tears quickly formed as Ariana sat down. "Hey you can't say such words Brenda." said Vallyk as he stood up. "Everybody seat down." yelled Mrs Vegas. "Brenda, see me after the lesson." The bell rang and everyone got out the classroom. Vallyk then hugged Ariana and began comforting her. They walked out of the classroom and walked to the cafeteria and sat on the closest table. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. Jut don't mind her okay." comforted Vallyk as he rubbed Ariana's back. "What happened?" said Vivian as she sat next to Ariana. "She got into a fight with Brenda, and Brenda ended up saying bad stuff." explained Vallyk. "What did she say?" asked Vivian. "Umm well she talked about her father." sighed Vallyk.

"Where is that girl oh my gosh, how could she." said Vivian as she got up. "No, no Vivian. Don't it's not about how much you can beat her up but the amount of maturity we both have and the amount of respect we have for each other." said Ariana as she wiped her tears. "As for me, I will just leave her alone." Ariana stood up, grabbed her bag and began walking towards the exit door. "Where are you going?" asked Vivian. "Home." replied Ariana as she got out of the school. She took her bicycle and rod it until she got home. She took her phone and took a their family portrait and walked to her room. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she began to think of her father. Ariana let her imagination kept her thinking until she finally fell asleep.