Everlance Academy

Chapter 7

"Can anyone tell me how we call the era he lived in? Yes June?"

"The Elisabethan era."

"Correct. Shakespeare lived from 1564 until 1616, during the reign of Queen Elisabeth the First. Can anyone tell me how exactly that affected his pieces? Nikolai, maybe?"

"Hm? What?"

I continue to stare straight ahead at the board in front of the English classroom, even when Nikolai is being picked. However, I can visualize the expression on his face all too well. Not startled, he'd never let anyone see that, but taken aback maybe, with a mixture of annoyance but mostly indifference.

Okay, that was a lot of thoughts spent on someone's face I don't even like. God, what's wrong with me today? It must be the weather. The sky is covered by dark clouds, and the wind is whipping. There's a weather warning for a storm tonight.

Well, maybe if you'd paid attention to the class instead of staring at your seat neighbor, you would've heard me."

He clears his throat. "Yeah. Sorry."

"I asked whether the time period Shakespeare lived in or Queen Elisabeth herself affected his work."

Nikolai sighs, obviously bored. "What do I know? Probably. The way you grow up will always mirror the way you see the world or the people in it. But the Queen herself did not have any part in his plays, since most of them took place about a decade before he lived."

Mr. Morrison makes an undetectable noise, obviously annoyed by the fact that Nikolai knew the answer. He recovers fast enough, though, drawing a mind map onto the board—God, I hate these—that I start to copy. Nikolai doesn't. Instead, he takes his pen and draws random lines into my notebook.

I step on his foot under the table. "Stop it!", I hiss.

"Stop it!", he mimics me mockingly, continuing his piece of art.

"What is up your ass today? You're even more insufferable than usually."

Nikolai and I barely talked within the last two weeks. Our meetings had been limited to glances we'd shared in the hallway or the mornings we ran at the same time. We usually keep our distance there, though.

"I'm bored," Nikolai whispers close to my ear. I don't know what game he's playing or why he is talking to me all of a sudden, but I'm not in the mood for it.

Yeah, I guessed as much. Now stop breathing into my face, you could use a mint."
I was lying. His breath smelled quite pleasant, actually.

"Let's play two truths and a lie."

"Let's not."

Okay, I'll go first. My eyes are green. I am number thirteen on the court. And if you weren't you, I'd tell you that you look ridiculously captivating right now."

I dropped dead right then and there.
The paper underneath my pen cracks under the sudden pressure I applied to it. Nikolai leans back and chuckles softly, obviously having gotten the reaction that he wanted.

"Alright guys!", Mr. Morrison claps into his hands, "let's call it a day. The presentation you do with your partner on one of Shakespeare's completed works will be ten percent of your mark. They're due on Friday next week and are supposed to be about ten minutes long."

I grab my books and shove them into my bag, clearing my throat.

"How about we meet today in the Library on the second floor and get it over with? After practice, maybe, around six?"

Nikolai shoulders his bag and pushes his stool to the table. "Can't wait, love," he says, his voice drenched in sarcasm.

***