The Zodiac System

Chapter Two

(Alex's POV)

School went on as normal as normal could get with an Aries about 6 feet behind you. Yasha didn't say much, he just zoned out and apologized profusely when the teacher pointed it out. Nobody talked or even attempted to talk to him and that made me sad. People just looked at him like he was a zoo animal.

I started to pack up my books right before English was about to end before Mr. Daniels approached me at my desk.

"Alex, would you mind stepping outside in the hallway with me?"

I glanced at Amy while I got up and gathered my books before heading out into the hall with him. Mr. Daniels clears his throat and starts.

"So, Alexander, you are an amazing student and I hope you don't get too upset with me for giving you this task."

Oh great this is going to be wonderful, I'm gonna have to all this work and-

"I need you to watch over and help Yasha with his work and have him in all your electives. You will sit next to him and help him," he gives me a sympathetic look.

"Yeah? I'll help him out no problem... why-" I start before he interrupts me.

"Yeah I'm sorry, I know he's a burden and you don't want to hang out with him, but we have to get him to know his position." He explains.

"Position?" I ask him.

"Below us," he says, "alright well make sure you get back to class, it ends in a minute." He claps me on a shoulder and smiles.

  "Alright thanks Alexander! He will be going to all of your electives with you, just make sure to keep and eye on him and make sure he doesn't hurt anybody!" Mr. Daniels laughed and nudged me into his classroom, "Make sure to get your stuff and let Yasha know he's going with you!"

I nodded numbly before sitting down at my desk. I felt Amy tap me on the shoulder and I just turned my head partially and shook my head. The bell rings and I think numbly that I have to tell Yasha about the new change, but my head was too caught up trying to process how cruel Mr. Daniels was being, and why... why he talked about Yasha like he was some, some-

CRASH

  I let out a girly squeal as my foot hit on the the desks and knocked the books over on it and my foot stumbled and the ground was suddenly extremely close to my face. Oh gosh... I'm falling...no no no...

    I scrunched up my face, expecting pain to blossom on my face, but firm arms were holding me up under my armpits. What?

     I looked up slowly and saw Yasha standing there, head tilted like a confused bird, but still holding me up.

    "Are you okay?" He asked me, and with his thick Russian accent it took a second longer than usual for me to process what he said. I nodded dumbly and Yasha pulled me up and started to leave the room with his dingy bag listen over his shoulder. Shaking my head I adjusted my backpack and craned my head to look up at Yasha, even though Yasha was subtly ducking to make it easier to look in the eyes, it was still hard make eye contact.

"Hey, so Mr. Daniels asked me to show you around. You're also participating in my electives, so I guess you can walk with me if you want...?" Gosh why am I so awkward? I cringed internally at how dumb I sounded, but was relieved when Yasha nodded shyly.

"Great! Let's get going then, I'm sure they won't mind if we were a minute or two late!" I grabbed Yasha's arm gently and started pulling him out of the classroom with me.

As we were walking down the hallway I zoned out a little... thinking about why people would hate Yasha, I mean, yeah he's an Opposite, basically our archenemies, but that was a long time ago and people should have gotten over it by now. The Scorpio and Aries war was a bloody one and unfortunately the Aries won. My grim thoughts were interrupted as Yasha coughed awkwardly.

I glanced up at Yasha walking briskly beside me and wondered distantly why his posture was always downward, he was a tall guy, defiantly the tallest in our small college and with a little meat on his bones he would definitely become one of the popular kids, but his shoulders were always hunched, and his eyes were always downcast and wary. I sighed yet again, this guy was an enigma wrapped inside of an enigma.

"Hey, so how were the schools in Russia?" I asked, trying to get conversation flowing.

He looked over to me very quickly, like he was surprised I even talked to him. Once I saw his widened eyes I backtracked, "You don't have to tell me or anything! I was just-"

"No, it's fine! I uh, just don't like talking much..." he cut me off quickly.

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask, and as soon as I did I was about to backtrack once again and apologize before he smiled a little.

He looked around at the lockers we had everywhere and in the halls, like he expected somebody to come out and hear him before whispering.

"I don't like my accent."

"What?! Dude, my best friend totally has a crush on you, and I'm pretty sure half of it is because of your accent!" I almost couldn't believe it. This guy's accent was so cool, at least I thought so. I wondered why he wouldn't like it.

"Crush?"

"Oh, yeah," I answered him, I forgot he didn't speak too much English to know some slang, "a crush is when somebody likes another person,"

He screwed up his face, "Was that the girl with you staring at me?"

I laughed, "Ha! Yeah she might do that a lot..."

He gave me a pained, but he continued down the hall. I forgot how far this elective was...

"Is it alright if I hang out with you more?" I asked him tentatively.

He smiled and nodded and it felt like the sun was coming out, "Da! Er... yes?"

We finally arrived at the gym on the other side of the school. Our 'college' was basically a high school, but with slightly older kids in it. It isn't even a choice if we want to go or not, I've heard other Zodiacs get to choose. Besides the wealth sometimes being a scorpio sucks.

I checked my watch and let out a sigh a relief, we weren't too late and I was able to show Yasha some things on the way, they'll take that as an excuse. I also hated gym a ton. My small stature basically lured bullies to me and I didn't feel like getting in a fight today. Secretly, I hoped being around Yasha would drive away most of the bullies.

"Arighty, Yasha! Wanna go to gym?"

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