Mrs. Archer Xavier (REWRITING)

Chapter Twelve

THE ONE WITH A DANCE

♔ ♛

I wasted my short weekend worrying about Heaven's nonsense and getting my homeworks done. Still, I couldn't finish it all.

T'was Wednesday again — ethics class day. Hooray. Exclamation mark.

Ms. Firestone tells us to make two lines, facing each other. She paces in the middle as she explains today's agenda. It feels like she was going on and on for hours but it's only been 5 minutes since class started.

Her heels click against the floor in a maintained beat like a metronome.

"I'm pretty sure all of you are aware of the annual 'Welcome Ball' coming up two weeks from now. If you haven't, well you should be more aware of what happens around you — and I don't mean irrelevant chattering about irrelevant matters."

I know she's not directly referring to me but it feels targeted at me, since I didn't know about it. Heaven and Joey haven't brought it up. You'd think it would be something Heaven would have gushed about with me.

"Now partner up with the person across. Please, let us not be picky. You don't always get to choose what you get," She commands dreadfully, clearly not enthusiastic about teaching the class. She should just quit but I bet they pay her good to stay here.

I don't like this class. Or this school. It's so ridiculous. They're so out of touch with the world, if I say so myself. It's like a whole other planet!

I can feel my heart beginning to race nervously. It didn't cross my mind to check who I could be partnered with.

Looking forward, a hand reaches out to me and belongs to a guy with a cheeky grin on his face. It almost insinuates that he checked who he was going to be partnered with — Or I'm being delusional.

It was the guy from last week.

My heart flutters, but it could still be just the nerves. "May I have this dance?" he asks politely. "I-I, um," I stutter, staring at his outreached palm. What am I doing?

It's not like I have a choice plus he's not a bad person as far as I could tell. "Absolutely," I mock a fancy tone, doing a little curtsy before reaching for his hand. He smiles wider, pulling me close. But not too close, of course.

His hand was on my waist and the other holding my hand. "Um, shit," I cuss under my breath, remembering that I actually can't dance. I stop and pull away but he holds me steady. "Don't worry, I'll guide you. You're okay," he beams as if he knew exactly what was going on inside me head. He gently sways us both in little slow motions.

He was a natural. "Please don't be afraid to engage in a conversation with your partners!" Ms. Firestone speaks over the music she just put on. I couldn't help but laugh. I wasn't even exactly sure what I was laughing at at the moment. I'm internally panicking, and he's just looking at me and being gorgeous while doing it.

"How have you liked New York so far?" he queries, his green eyes not leaving my brown ones. It would be a lie if I said that didn't made my heart leap in my chest every now and then.

"Honestly, I haven't really had the time to explore it for leisure matters" I answer nonchalantly but regretted it as soon as it came out my mouth. His eyebrows furrows. "What do you mean?" he frowned, confused and a little disappointed.

How much do I tell him without being sappy?

"Business meetings," I fill in unsurely but I hope he just takes it and drops the topic.

How do I tell him that this wealth is a curse? Money is evil. It's selfish. Cruel. Self-centered. It blinds people of reality and humanity.

"I see," he nods. "Well, if you're not too busy, I could show you around the city for leisurely matters?" he offers humorously, a sheepish grin tugging at his lips. I don't know how he manages to be shy and brave at the same time.

I couldn't help but giggle at the remark.

"Look," I pause, absolutely forgetting his name. The last we spoke was last week. I try my best to remember without making it obvious that I forgot his name. I figure I just finish my sentence with having to mention his name.

"Ouch?" he laughs, holding his hand to his chest to show a sign of pain. "I'm sorry" I mumble, feeling my cheeks heat up at his playful gaze. He pulls away the reaches his hand over at me again which made me raise a brow.

"Iñigo Nicholas Salvador. It's been lovely having this dance with you."

I thought he would leave after that but he doesn't. We dance again, a little more playful and unruly. Ms. Firestone snaps at us.

"Oh my gosh! This complicates 'Arianni' but 'Jiñigo' is kinda cute," Heaven squeals as I tell her what Iñigo and I talked about in Ethics class. She asked, okay?

I furrow my eyebrows, giving her a questioning stare. "Yes. I already made ship names," she clasps her hands, flashing her signature grin. "Okay. But Arianni?" I repeated questioningly. She's still pushing for the idea of me breaking Archer's heart.

"No," Joey firmly comments and Heaven just sticks her tongue out at us. "What did you say though?" Joey ask, diverting the conversation back to the earlier one. "What do you mean?"

"Are you going out with him?"

"What? No! I just met—"

"That's not what I meant," Joey laughs, waving my rambling off. Shit, I didn't get to answer him.

"Actually, I think I hurt his ego because that didn't come up again?" I reply unsurely and I get whacked by a pillow in my face. "Jianna!" They groan in disbelief.

"Ow?"

♔ ♛

a|n: i'm sick of school :'(