"Callista? Can I see you at my desk for a moment, please?" A few minutes before class was out, I was summoned to Ms. Brewster's desk. Many "Ooooh"'s came from the back. I turned around and glared at them. "Yes, ma'am?" I asked politely.
"Well, you know that Markus is new here and he won't know all the in's and out's of things yet, so would you mind being his guide for a couple of days? And maybe reviewing what we've gotten out of Speak with him?" Ms. Brewster looked so helpless and I couldn't deny her.
"Sure, Ms. Brewster. He'll be safe with me."
"Oh, thank you so much Callista!" Her eyes filled with relief.
"No problem," I replied. I turned on my heel and slid into my desk.
"Markus?" Ms. Brewster called. My new mentee went up to the desk to get filled in.
The bell rang to get out of class, and everyone hurridley packed up and crammed out the door. "Markus?" I asked trying to find him in the sea of kids. I felt someone tap my shoulder, and Markus turned red. "Hey," I told him. God, how was he making me this nervous. He nodded in my direction, but didn't say a word. I checked my schedule. "God, we've got Mr. Bernstein next, this should be fun," I said sarcastically. "Why?" Markus asked in a tiny voice.
"Oh, it's just Mr. Bernstein is really strict, so you really don't wanna mess it up with him."
"Oh," was all he said.
"So, we've gotta get to the second floor really fast, so try to avoid crashing into people. Friendly pointer," I told him.
"Thanks," he said meekly.
"No prob, I'll be your mentor for the next couple of days," I said cheerfully. There was a few moments of silence before it started to get awkward and I said, "So did you like Ms. Brewster?"
He shrugged. "I guess. She was nice." Huh, the kid didn't talk much. Interesting. I hope I'm not creeping him out. "Yeah, I agree. Pretty much the nicest here," I told him. "Or at least in my opinion."
Two minutes later, we arrived in the hallway of Mr. Bernstein's classroom. There was a long line of students outside the door, so I grabbed Markus' hand and pulled him to the end of the line. "Hopefully," I muttered to him, "We can sneak you past Mr. Bernstein and you won't have to go through the drill sargent routine." Markus raised one eyebrow in question but I waved him off. We all filed into the classroom, and I tried to make Markus very subtle. I winced when I heard Mr. Bernstein's deep voice behind us. "And who," he asked, "are you?"
YOU ARE READING
A Modern Belle
RomanceEveryone's heard retellings of the princess story of Cinderella. But not everyone's heard a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. So as cheesy as this is, this is a rare occurance of the retelling of Belle.
