ZACK Black was a strange guy. He'd barely said a word except on one occasion during their informal tour when he asked a question.
Earlier, upon hearing that their art teacher, Mr. Will, was absent, and the class had become a free period, she had turned it into an impromptu tour for Zack.
She'd given him an explanation of how the school worked and a brief history of everything and anything while he'd kept his eyes on her throughout. His stare made her assume he had a question about something she said and would answer, but his face would remain the same, not giving away anything. When he finally asked a question, she wasn't prepared.
"Are you always this cheerful?"
The question had stuck with her, even now, as they headed to their lockers to prepare for the second class of the day. There was nothing wrong with the question. It was the way he asked, with some underlying insinuation that she wasn't who she portrayed herself to be.
They weren't having the same class until after lunch, so they agreed she would meet him and they would head to lunch together. But before the second class, they headed to their lockers, where she met Elowen and Kara.
Kara straightened up when they arrived, even though no one could see her leaning on a locker.
Elowen raised her hand to wave at Karyn but made a show of fixing her hair when she spotted Zack.
"He is hot," her sister whooped, not bothering to whisper. At the statement, Zack's eyes flickered to where Kara stood. The sisters noticed this.
"He didn't hear that right," Kara said, but Karyn couldn't respond. There were a bunch of stickers on the said locker. Anything could have caught his eye.
"Elowen, meet Zack, one of the new students. Zack, meet Elowen, my bestie."
"Welcome to Emerfield High, where teachers would discourage you and your peers would skin you alive at any chance. But don't worry, it's healthy competition they say."
"That's one heck of a description," Zack stated.
"That's all you need to know," Elowen said before she smirked and added, "What universe did you fall from because I have not seen such handsomeness in my seventeen years of living?"
"Weren't those the exact words you said about the doctor?" Karyn asked as she opened her locker.
"Those weren't the words," Elowen scoffed, and Karyn raised a brow in question. "I was sixteen then, so that would have been sixteen years of living," her best friend countered, but went on.
"If he..." Elowen gestured to Zack. "...is young and this good-looking now, how much more when he gets older? I can only imagine," she sighed before she fanned herself with the light notebook in her hands.
"Thank you for the flattery," Zack said.
"And a gentleman too. Phew. Oh, you're most welcome, Zack. It is flattery, but it is truth," she said in a faux British accent. In her normal voice, she asked, "Did you spend the whole first period touring?"
"Mr. Will didn't come, so yeah, we did."
Elowen wiggled her brows at Karyn before turning to Zack. "She gives her all in everything she does, even if it's as little as taping a torn page. She'll make a great guide."
It was only after they had directed Zack to his next class that the best friends headed to theirs.
♛ ♛ ♛
WHEN it was lunchtime, she headed to her locker, as they had planned, and found Zack in the position he was in earlier, leaning on a wall with a small scowl. Just as she neared him, Luke stepped into her line of sight.
"Karyn," he said, and she noticed Zack look away from his phone. For a second, their eyes met before she set hers on Luke.
"Hey," she replied as his charming smile, trimmed golden hair, and hazel eyes that had her swooning inside claimed her attention.
There were two reasons she didn't want to acknowledge or address her feelings for Luke. One, she didn't want SAC members to find out. Ever since he had contested for SAC President, his value in the eyes of SAC members plunged. Running for a post that you would not get. Ridiculous.
She tried not to let what people think of her be important, but in the end, she was only a high schooler. Such things were the bane of their high school experience. Holding other people's opinions in high esteem, even when they shouldn't.
The second was the bigger reason. She feared rejection.
She was bold enough to contest for SAC-VP and win. She could stand up against bullies and teachers when they were in the wrong, but couldn't summon the courage to express her more-than-platonic feelings to her friend.
"You dropped this," he said, and she blinked before she looked down at his hands that held a paper.
"Oh, thanks."
As she took it from Luke, he turned around and saw Zack, who had been watching them.
"New student?" he said as he twisted back to her.
"Oh, yeah."
For a moment she had forgotten about Zack. She waved Zack over and introduced them. "Luke, this is Zack. Zack, this is Luke, my longest friend, after Elowen."
"Just friend," he said with a teasing smile.
She let out a nervous chuckle, which she covered by clearing her throat before she said, "You know Elowen would skin me alive if I called anyone that wasn't her, my best friend."
"Yeah, she most likely would."
"We're having lunch. Would you like to come or do you have something to do at the library instead?"
"I'm having lunch with Maria," he said, and her brows came together in utter confusion.
"Since when did you start dining with the devil?" she asked with a teasing smirk.
"Since we started getting close," he mumbled, with one hand on the back of his neck. An act he did when he was shy or closed off about something. The former, she'd noticed over the years, would come with a faint blush on his cheeks. One she could see creeping up his cheeks now.
Her smirk dropped. "Close as in..."
"As in close," he said vaguely, and her eyebrows scrunched further before they raised in realization.
"Wait, are you guys dating?" she whispered.
Luke cast a wary glance at Zack, who shifted some steps away.
"No, not yet, I mean."
"Oh," was all she could say.
After Luke headed off, she walked with Zack beside her, and the chatter of students only grew as they neared the cafeteria. Her phone buzzed, and she checked to see a message from Elowen.
"Your ex?" Zack asked.
"Huhn?"
"Luke. Is he your ex?"
"What?" she shrieked before she cleared her throat. "No, we're good friends." Even after all the years, it still pinched her heart every time she uttered it. She ignored the all too familiar ache and asked, "Why do you say so?"
"The part where he asked if you were just friends, and the look of unrequited love on your face when he told you of Maria."
She looked at him to find his face just as empty of any tease as his voice was. Yet, she snickered, "Unrequited love."
When Zack didn't say a word, she sobered up, seeing no reason to lie or go around the truth.
"I don't know when I started liking him more than a friend. I just... realized it one day."
She readjusted the bag on her shoulder, which suddenly felt heavy.
"And you never told him. Why?"
"I didn't want SAC members to be on my neck about it."
"SAC members?" His brows drew together in question, the only expression he had managed to display since she met him.
"Maria is the SAC president. A post he also ran for, even though it was obvious she would win. If not by the love of the students, then by her father's influence." She let the chatter linger around them before she added, "Most SAC members thought that was a dumb thing to do."
"Was the election before you realized your feelings?"
"No."
"So why is that the reason you never told him?" he asked. There was silence between them, despite the incessant chatter around.
Her feet ground to a halt, which forced him to do the same.
She stretched her lips into a sad smile. "I didn't want to get rejected." She cleared her throat and shook her head to rid herself of the negative emotions that reared their ugly heads.
Sounds like he was closer to the truth with 'unrequited love.'
"And I didn't, which is a good thing, right? Now, Elowen's no gentle lady when it involves food."
♛ ♛ ♛
TO Karyn, music was more than a series of notes and rhythms. It was the melody of the heart, a sound that made life worth living. She believed the heart was not just a biological organ but a musical one as well. How else could it beat along with the warm, rich tones of the cello, the crisp, clear notes of the violin, and the deep, resonant sound of the bass?
For Karyn, music and art were more than just passions. They were a means for her to connect with the world around her.
When she started learning the piano in grade school, her teacher called her a natural and offered to be her tutor. Her uncle and aunt had agreed, and Karyn couldn't have asked for anything more. She even had a tune stuck in her head and dreamed of being a songwriter.
Though she had learned a lot, it didn't last as long as she would have preferred, as her aunt concluded Karyn couldn't do all the chores and still have piano lessons. She didn't let that deter her, as she made it a goal to sneak in practice at least once a week and cherish the minutes she got three times a week in music class.
A class she now headed for, along with Zack and the red-haired girl, Gema.
Karyn had gotten to know a bit of Gema during lunch when Elowen and Lisa had gushed over her ruby earrings. Gema had sat beside Karyn, giving her a close-up view of the earrings that glinted in an unnatural light.
It had a brightness unlike any she'd ever seen. An obviousness in its subtlety that made it stand out.
It reminded her of the silver necklace that rested beneath her shirt, and her hand subconsciously went to the spot where it lay. It was the only item they found her with after the fire. Since she became aware, she realized she had never taken it off or tried to. It felt like a part of her.
An extension of some sort.
At Lunch, Lisa had stated how Gema's name sounded like the word gem, to which Gema replied, "Like a ruby gem."
Zack had snapped up after this statement and when everyone had settled into individual conversation, he engaged Gema in light conversation. Karyn felt like a fish out of water, stuck in the middle with little to contribute. She would have offered her seat to Gema instead, but that might have given the wrong impression, so she stayed put.
Even now, as they trudged on, she found herself in their middle.
"Gema," Zack started. "You, Jamie, and Marcela came here together."
Gema's smile was like a warm blanket on a chilly day and cast a different light on her features. "We did. We grew up together."
"Are they like your siblings?" Karyn asked. She didn't want this to be another conversation she wouldn't be a part of.
"Jamie and Marce are like siblings to me, but I can't say the same for them," she said with a smirk.
"They're dating?" she asked.
"I wish!" Gema exclaimed, and let out a groan. "Those two have been tiptoeing between friends and lovers since I can remember. I know it's complicated, but I can't help but wish that they'll be in the same zone soon enough."
"Where did you guys come from?" Zack asked, and it came out harsher than he'd hoped, or so she thought. He must have realized this as he clarified, "I mean, Marcela has an accent, but you and Jamie don't. How's that possible if you grew up together?"
Gema flashed him a skeptical look, and Karyn pursed her lips in wonder. Was it mere curiosity, or was there something else?
Gema let the faint chatter from the nearby classrooms linger before she spoke. "That's because her parents always spoke to her in their native language, so she kept the accent. We didn't grow up in one place and weren't in a place for so long, for her accent to get lighter."
Both Zack and Karyn looked convinced by her explanation, but Zack's brows still held a small furrow. It wouldn't be a surprise to Karyn if his mind still brewed another question.
"I don't think I could leave Emerfield," Karyn said as they strolled into class with all the time to spare as the teacher hadn't arrived. "But I'm always tempted to travel the world and see new places."
Again, she sat between Gema and Zack, not that she noticed. The prospect of traveling around easily swept her mind away.
"Then why not go?" Gema said with a casual shrug. "I mean, it shouldn't be so hard, right?"
At this, Karyn raised both brows.
"Yeah, except the money. It may not be so hard, but it isn't cheap to travel the world."
"Oh," Gema said.
"Even if I had the money, I probably won't be able to."
"Why not?" Gema asked.
"My aunt may not allow me, or come to think of it, it could be my uncle," she said, recalling her uncle's words this morning.
"Aunt and uncle? What of your parents?"
"They're late," she said, and at this, Zack snapped up to look at her. She saw the immediate regret flash on Gema's face.
Gema sucked in a sharp breath. "I'm so sorry."
"Sorry about that," Zack said.
She looked at him, expecting to see the same pitiful look everyone gave her once she told them about her parents, but she didn't find it. Instead, he held another expression she couldn't decipher.
"It's fine. I mean, I never knew them anyway."
The intensity of his gaze deepened and at that moment, it felt like his piercing green eyes delved into her soul, searching for something. She got lost in his mesmerizing gaze, trying to understand the message they held as the world around dissolved into a blur.
The spell, or whatever it was, because Karyn didn't have a name to describe it, broke when the door shut and their teacher strode in. She cleared her throat and forced her gaze forward. And although she clenched her fist to still her beating heart, she soon found focus on the melodious voice of their teacher.
Mr. Brian was an impressionable man. All it took was for someone to show interest in what he did. Whether the interest was genuine or not, he didn't mind, or he simply couldn't tell.
This was why their class for the day, which should have been theoretical, became a practical one. Mr. Brian even allowed Gema and Zack to choose their partners after they introduced themselves to the class. A rare luxury.
Zack made a show to look around, but he only knew two people in this class. She had expected him to choose her since they'd spent the most time together. So when he chose Gema, she didn't know how to feel.
"I would have loved to be Ryn's partner, but sure," Gema said.
Mr. Brian clapped. "Great! The new students are teaming up. Well, that makes it easier for me. You all can stay with your regular partners then."
It wasn't the choice she expected him to make, but she quickly found reason in it. Gema had mentioned while introducing herself that she knew how to play the violin, and Zack made clear his interest in that instrument.
Before she went to her regular partner, she asked Gema, "Who's Ryn?"
"That's you! It's a cool nickname, right?"
She didn't like the name.
"Sure," she responded anyway.
♛
In the next chapter (ITNC): Two consecutive strange occurrences cause Karyn to be more aware of the new students and a conclusion from Zack plunges her into more thought.
♛
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The Sparkling Authoress,
Mis. A
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