I Am Not My Skin [ UNDER EDITING ]

Chapter 3: You, Me and Evolution.

"I believe we have a new student in our class?" Mr. Fuiava says as he looks at me.

God, not this again. Are all teachers at Aberdyne this annoying? First Hammington and now Fuiava.

Tiana, who is my desk mate, grins brightly and says, "We do, Mr. Fuiava," she points at me and adds, "he's Kampton's very own D.C."

I exaggeratedly roll my eyes at that.

"Kampton's own D.C? So we've got a future All Black in our mist?" Mr. Fuiava says as if impressed by what Tiana told him.

I shake my head and say awkwardly, "We're not there yet, Mr. Fuiava. I'm taking it one game at a time."

"Oh, don't be so modest, Kaleo. You'll get there one day, and you'll make both Kampton and Aberdyne proud." Mr. Fuiava tells me, his eyes filled with——pride? Yup. That's definitely pride I see in his eyes.

My mouth forcefully splits into an awkward smile as I say, "One day, Mr. Fuiava."

"See, Mr. Fuiava? He even has that infamous Kampton pride they're known for." Tiana chimes in eagerly.

I ignore her. She's not worth my time, which I'm sure she knows, but that doesn't stop her as she says again, "Right, Kaleo?"

And again, I ignore her existence completely.

"I could say the same about some students here at Aberdyne, Tiana," you come to my defense, not that you should have, but thank you.

"You haven't met the rest of their students yet, have you?" Tiana challenges.

"And you have," my mouth stretches into a thin grin, "haven't you, Miss Mckove?"

You narrow your eyes at us, almost as if you are trying to figure out if there might be something between me and Tiana.

"All right. All right, class," Mr. Fuiava clears his throat and motions his hand to the board. "Please write down the notes on the board. I'll explain everything once you're done. We are a little behind today; time is not on our side."

Okay, I'm starting to see why my parents decided to enroll me at Aberdyne. No one seems to know what they are doing, and all the teachers seem a bit off.

Mr. Fuiava kept interrupting us by babbling about E.T., the X-Files and even more extraterrestrial films, or so I believed. I can feel your eyes on me as you study me. You're probably making sure I'm paying attention to Fuiava or trying to see if I'll make fun of this peculiar obsession of his.

But I'm not. I set my sights on Tiana. She doesn't even hide the fact that she's not interested in what Mr. Fuiava has to say.

"You'd be a fantastic liar if you told me you didn't hear him slip in an alien phrase now and then," she tells me.

"Sorry to disappoint you, kid, but all I hear is evolution, evolution, evolution..." I mock.

"Maybe you should get your ears checked out, eh?"

"And maybe you should mind your own business, eh?"

She raises both hands to the air and says, "Message received. I'll back off."

Great. That's the nicest thing she has said to me all morning.

I say nothing as I continue to write down what is on the board. "I hate Biology," I tell myself.

***

I was completely zoned out for the rest of the lesson. I tried. Believe me, but I tried as hard as I could to concentrate on what Mr. Fuiava said, but I couldn't. I think of the scenario that played out in my head a while back in Hammington's class (the one where you tell me you'll give me whatever my heart desires).