Letters To Varen

His eyes, which I now realized were actually a really dark shade of blue, landed on me. Something whirled around in them, with a dangerous glint, but it was quickly gone. His lips tugged at a small smile. "Hi."

I swallowed again. "Um, I'm Amber." I don't always just go ahead and introduce myself but since he'll be sitting next to me for the next year or so he'd need to know my name.

"I know," he replied.

I felt myself blush and nodded, looking away and facing Mr. Theocard.

He was explaining what we would be doing for the rest of the term. "So, since you guys are intelligent, I decided that we'd do some work on Shakespeare." A few people groaned, but I knew nothing about the guy -well, I knew the basics- so I wasn't complaining.

"You look happy." Although, I knew there was no one else sitting next to me, apart from Varen, I jumped and turned my head. 

I was about to reply when Mr. Theocard's voice cut in. "Amber, Varen. Is anything wrong?"

I shook my head while Varen answered. "No, sir."

"Good. So, can you two please pay attention?"

I stared at Mr. Theocard but I could feel the eyes of my classmates on us. I knew my face was turning red. "Yes, sir."

He nodded and carried on. I let out a breath of relief as every ones head turned back round to face him. "So, we are doing Macbeth." Mr. Theocard circled his desk and picked up a stack of books that I'd only just noticed were there. He nodded to a boy with red hair at the front of the class. "Give this out, will you...?"

The boy stood up. "Jonas." Jonas grabbed half of the books out of Mr. Theocard's hand and began handing them out. Once everyone had received a copy of the play, Macbeth, he sat back down.  

"Now," Mr. Theocard started, "everyone turn to page thirty six. Act I, scene I."  

Ignoring a quiet snort like sound from Varen, I dug through the book until I found the page. Mr. Theocard gave out more instructions before we had three people reading out different lines. It was pretty basic stuff; even though the language was old and hardly anyone spoke like that anymore, I managed to understand what was going on. We skipped to Act I Scene 5 where Lady Macbeth was reading the letter. As we brushed through the pages, I noticed Varen was sitting very still. 

The lesson ended as fast as it had come and we'd already gotten homework.

Varen didn't say anything to me and neither did I. Once we were dismissed, I walked out to meet the girls, something inside my chest stirred. And, I knew it wasn't a good thing.

***

The rest of the day passed quickly and before I knew it, it was time to go home. As always, me and Sarah walked home together. Ria and Jane lived next door which was pretty awesome if you ask me. Sarah was reflecting on her day.

"Oh! And, there's this new guy. His eyes are like, to die for!" She exclamied. "He's called Varen. He sat behind me in Science. I just hope my hair wasn't wild from the behind."

I rolled my eyes but didn't tell her I'd already met him. "Relax. Your hair is fine."

"Forget about my hair," she grinned. "Any new people in any of your classes?"

I swallowed. For some reason, that I didn't know of, I didn't want her to know that Varen was in my class too. And he'd been the only one I'd met that was new. Something was urging me not to say anything - even though she'd already seen him.

"Nope," I replied. "No one." And we carried on walking home. 

***

I slipped into my house, shutting the door firmly behind me and walked into the kitchen. By previous experience, I knew that I'd be home alone. My mom worked for company which sold different types of things; from house furniture to cars. My dad, on the other hand, worked in a hospital which was an hour away, as a Doctor. Which made him hardly ever at home. Although I was only sixteen, my parents knew they could trust me alone in the house. It's not like I could get up to anything in our small house anyway. 

Even though both Mom and Dad had firm jobs, we lived in a rather ordinary place. It was an old farmhouse but it wasn't deserted. We had plenty of neighbours. The neighbourhood itself is actually really good. We had a big backyard which also contained the tree house Ria, Jane, Sarah and I had made with the help of my dad. Although, we never used it anymore, it still held plenty of memories.