Ghost Bird Fanfiction: Sang's Lyric, The Story of Sang Sorenson's Mother

Kell

"It's nice to meet you as well," I said to him politely.

"Alright students," Mr. Johnson sneered. "Get out your books."

I dug quickly in my bag for my Physics book. On the surface, Mr. Johnson had little patience for students. He was outwardly rude and snippy, but he was actually a really good teacher. You just had to stay on his good side. Because I did my homework and didn't speak unless he called on me, he was generally pretty nice to me.

I pushed my book to the center of the table, assuming, correctly it turned out, that Kell hadn't been given a textbook yet and not wanting him to get lost when Mr. Johnson lectured. Details weren't Mr. Johnson's strong suit. He was probably a genius, but more than once I'd seen him with two different shoes. He would never notice that he'd forgotten to give a textbook to a new student. In fact, he probably wouldn't even notice a new student.

I saw Kell reach down into a worn leather messenger bag at his side to pull out paper and a pencil as Mr. Johnson began to lecture and I willed myself to pay attention. I looked down at the book when he referenced it, and copied the problems on the board. I began to work at them quietly, finishing before many of the other students had, except for Kell.

"Do you mind?" he asked politely, and gestured toward my paper.

I shook my head.

"You're a sophomore?" he asked without looking up as he seemed to, wait, was he correcting my work?

He made a dot next to one of my answers and passed it back to me.

"Yes," I answered, and then, to my chagrin, realized I had made a mistake. I began at the top of the problem and started checking my work, noting where I'd gone wrong.

I put the eraser of the pencil in my mouth as I mentally redid each step. I happened to look up, and saw Kell staring at my mouth. I hastily removed it, which made his eyes glance up at mine. I noticed a flush of color on his cheekbones, like he was embarrassed.

"It's okay," I answered quickly. "I appreciate you checking my work." I assumed he was embarrassed that he had taken the liberty of looking it over.

He looked at my face, maybe trying to decide if I was serious or not. Apparently he determined that I was, because his lips curled in a smile. "You're welcome, Lyric," he said.

I looked over at his sheet. "Would you like me to check your answers?" I asked.

His eyes widened in surprised and his smile stretched from cheek to cheek, the dimple deepening. "Um," he hesitated. "Yes. If you don't mind, that is."

I shook my head and slid his paper toward me, biting on my eraser again as I went over each answer, step by step. I used the same notation he did, and put a dot next to a mistake I found before sliding it back to him.

He looked down and chuckled soundlessly. "Thank you, Lyric," he said, looking up at me, his dark eyes warm and glowing. "I missed that."

I nodded, feeling my face flush. "My pleasure," I replied.

When the bell rang, I hastily gathered my notes. "You'll need to ask Mr. Johnson for a textbook," I said quietly. "He's won't even notice you've joined the class unless you do."

Kell nodded at me. "Wait here?" he asked, as he made his way to our teacher.

I crossed my arms as I waited, trying not to intrude on his conversation with Mr. Johnson, and watching the students file out. I felt a nudge on my shoulder and looked over.

One of the senior girls in the class watched me with narrowed eyes. "What are you waiting for?" she asked nastily, "Him?" She looked over at Kell who was deep in conversation with Mr. Johnson about something. Her eyes raked me from top to bottom, as if cataloguing every single flaw in my appearance. "You wish."