Ride (h.s)

1

Jane

I placed my pencil on my new desk along with my notebook and water bottle. I yawned, tired from work. Education was important, but so was sleep. I looked around and noticed a few familiar faces in the class. It was my second semester at a community college and I had taken a class at least once with most of the people in here.

To get into a university, I needed to take this class: communication and public speaking, two things I'm not very good at, but I needed to be if I was going to be a teacher.

It was now ten till seven in the afternoon and class is about to begin. The door opened to the class so I tilted my head to see who had entered. Her legs were long and she wore a knit sweater, she always claimed the classrooms were too cold. Her arms, scrawny as they are, carried four heavy textbooks. She walks over beside me, dropping the books on to the desk right next to me.

The classroom wasn't silent, in fact, there is a loud conversation going on in the back of the room. Yet everyone stopped to look at the tall curly haired girl who is taking chemistry, English 103, calculus, and French.

"Some guy in a motorcycle took my favorite spot." She grumbled taking her seat, stretching her arms over her head.

"There is no assigned spaces 'liv." I reminded her, leaning back in my chair and raised an eyebrow. "Why all the books?" Olivia was a bit of a nerd, gorgeous and stereotypically bimbo looking, but absolutely brilliant.

"I have a study group for calculus, we already have a test, next class." She huffed telling me about it when the professor walked in.

"Good day class." Her hair was bright red, yet she looked twice the age of any person in this classroom. She reminded me a lot of my grandma except her six-inch heels and the fact that she has red hair.

The professor began writing her name on the board. "My name is Evelyn Rodriguez, I am your communication and public speaking professor." She explained today's two-hour class since we only met twice a week the class had to be a bit long. "Okay everyone stand and we are going to be moving seats," She announced.

Olivia and I looked at each other and frowned. I took all of my stuff and stood to the side of the class waiting to hear my name be called as she pointed to seats. There had seemed to be a pattern going, switching off on genders.

"What is this, elementary school?" A random woman asked quietly to a friend of hers.

One by one she had people sit, filling up the first three rows. I sighed sadly as Olivia was in the second row and I was probably going to be in the last.

When I realized I was quickly becoming the last person, the door opened and in walked a man. His leather jacket hung over his arm and helmet still on his head we're both quickly removed as he looked around.

"Sorry, I couldn't find the building." His voice was deep, slow, and could make any person melt, or in professor Rodriguez's case, blush. I swear I heard an accent, but I wasn't sure.

"Well that's okay, it is hard to find this building isn't it?" She smiled at him. "Just wait a second I'm assigning seats." He nodded setting his black helmet and jacket on a back table. His backpack sat on his shoulders as he patiently waited with the rest of the three students left.

"Oh goody, I did my math right." She cheered. "You here and you here." She said to me and the guy. I took the last seat of the row and he sat right beside me. I was suddenly very aware of my breathing. He shifted in his seat and I heard a zipper. I looked over at him and he frowned our eyes meeting briefly.

He pulled the long sleeves of his shirt up and I quietly gasped to myself. His arms were covered in tattoos. From the wrist to as far as I could tell he was full of them. He must have noticed me looking at him because we soon met eye to eye once again.

He smiled at me and stared for a few seconds before speaking. "Do you have a pencil?" He asked me. Without thinking I lifted my hand, giving him mine. He took it, smiled and said thank you.

He did have an accent.

The professor began to talk about herself and the class. I listened quietly taking small notes to myself every now and then, with my pen. "Okay, today we are going to introduce ourselves to our neighbors. Tell them your name, your major, favorite color, anything really. Then we will go around and you will introduce them to the class. This is a great exercise in listening and communication." She set the time for a few minutes and everyone began talking.

As shy as I am I turned my seat towards the man next to me. "Hi, I'm Jane." I smile. He looked up and gave me a crooked smile. He was really handsome.

"Hello, I'm Harry." He stuck his hand out to shake mine. His hands bigger than mine made me feel so small. "What's your major?"

"Oh, it's education, what about you?" I heard my own voice and I cringed at how high it became.

He began telling me his major and basic information. I took the time to look at his face. His hair was messy yet it worked for him. His favorite color was navy blue. "It's one of the darkest blues before black, I don't want to seem sad if I said black is my favorite color."

I began writing down what he had said, but one thing was on my mind. "Where are you from, you have an accent?" He smiled and shook his head.

"Usually I get asked that right away." He joked. "I'm from England, I moved here a few years ago. California is nice in photographs so I decided why not live here."

Something about him screamed mystery, yet he also seemed to have his heart on his sleeve.

"Okay time is up!" The professor yelled over the class. We began with the front of the room and slowly made it back. I soon realized it was our turn.

I stood like everyone else did and smiled awkwardly. Harry noticed my discomfort and stood beside me. "Hello, this is Harry." I began keeping eye contact with Olivia who was smiling at me. "His major is education, and his favorite color is navy blue. He's originally from England, but he moved here because he thinks California was nice in the pictures." He chuckled.

"Okay welcome Harry, and who is this?" Professor Rodriguez asked.

"This is Jane, her major is also education. She is very kind and let me borrow a pencil. And her favorite color is purple," He spoke so effortlessly.

The time got away from me and eventually, it was time to leave. I packed my things while the teacher yelled over us again. "Remember to communicate with those around you, ask for each other's cell phone numbers. That way you have no excuses to miss any assignments!"

I walked out with Olivia and she had a weird look. "What?" I wondered.

"That guy Henry-"

"Harry?" I corrected.

"Yeah, he's the jerk that took my spot." She accused him of making me giggle.

"Well he was nice to me, I'm sure he didn't mean to take your spot," I sarcastically remarked. She rolled her eyes waving goodbye as she walked to the other side of the parking lot. It was dark, but luckily my car was only a few feet away by the time we separate.

Behind me I heard footsteps. "Jane?" I turned and saw Harry standing there. "Sorry didn't mean to scare you." He backed up.

"You didn't." I lied. "What's up?"

He put his hand out and handed me something. I couldn't help but smile when I took it. "Thanks for letting me borrow your pencil." I nodded. "Sorry that was lame, I was wondering if I could get your phone number?" Well, that was quick.

"Um sure." He handed me his phone and I put in my cell.

"It's just that I work a lot, so I might not make it to class all the time. It would be really cool if I had a friend in this class." When I handed him back his phone he smiled waving goodbye.

I did the same walking back to my car.

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Thanks for reading

-k