Out of Step

one || original

"After silence,
that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible
is music."
~ Aldous Huxley ~

Alana Leah Bower was easily sidetracked. For example, for the past half an hour she had been sidetracked by the new kid who had walked into her Spanish class instead of paying attention to the lesson on hand. She was already bad at Spanish so why did it matter anyhow?

He was cute, with dark black hair and a strong looking body. She had not been paying attention when the teacher had introduced him, only looking up when she heard the girl next to her whispering about how cute he was. When she saw him, she could only nod her head in agreement and stare at him not paying any attention to the lesson at hand. Like it was said, she was already bad at Spanish so why did it matter anyhow?

"Maria," she jumped at the sound of her Spanish name. She tried to look up without looking guilty.

I was paying attention, she thought, attempting to make her face convey innocence. She waited for her teacher to go on. When she did not Alana was forced to speak.

"¿Qué querías profesora?" She said quietly, looking down at her desk as a few students giggled. The boy in the seat front of her turned around to give her a fake disappointed look, which she returned with a small sheepish grin.

Her teacher sighed before saying, "Lee el pasaje, por favor."

She could feel her cheeks getting warmer. She may be bad at Spanish at general but pairing it with speaking made things ten times worse.

Alana attempted to think of a good excuse as to why she couldn't read. Nothing came to mind, so she looked down at the book -opened to the wrong page as she found out when the boy in front purposely held his book up so she could see it- and attempted to read.

"Ah," she began, pushing her bangs from her face. They fell back down and she nearly growled at them. She cleared her throat, opened her mouth to begin again, and was saved by the bell.

Alana stood up quickly, not even bothering to put the few items from her desk into her book bag: she could just carry them. She made a beeline for the door, praying she would make it.

She didn't. Her teacher called her over and she was forced to stifle a groan. The boy from the seat in front of her bumped her shoulders as they passed, giving her a teasing grin and poking her side. She glowered at him as she went to stand in front of their teacher's desk. She shifted between her feet, waiting till everybody else had left and then still waiting and still waiting until she finally cleared her throat. Her teacher still didn't look up.

Finally, she set down her pen and looked up. "Maria, I'm sure you know why I called you over."

Alana nodded.

"Good. Then I don't need to tell you to pay attention again?"

Alana nodded. She knew nobody believed it though.

"Excellent. Have you thought about getting a tutor?"

"I've thought about it. Not much of course but, yeah I suppose I have thought about it. Why? Oh please don't tell me you want me to get a tutor."

She would do anything but get a tutor. A tutor would be embarrassing. That and the only tutor she would ever want, her twin, was taking German this year.