Chapter 7
I walked to the end of the courtyard before I realised I had left my lunch with them and that for a moment I had hated Annabelle. I wasn't sure if I still did but I knew that I hated Kiara. She'd planned this whole thing, I knew it. I was the only one that got on her nerves, argued with her, tested her. And she hated that. Towards the end of last year I had started to feel distant towards them, even Annabelle at times. I just had no idea that they shared these same feelings. They didn't mind seeing me go and that was what really annoyed me.
I walked into the main building and headed up the corridor with no destination in mind.
I put my hands in my skirt pocket and walked around aimlessly, recess had just started so I had plenty of time to try and kill.
People passed me by, walking in groups and their smiling faces brought me more gloom. The day had just started and already I wanted it to end.
I stood in front of a row of lockers and leaned my head against them. Students continued to walk past me, slightly blurring my vision but in the distance I saw a figure. Sitting on one of the benches in front of the walls of the corridor was someone. He was bent down, writing in a book.
I bounced off of the lockers and smiled slightly.
It was him.
I began to walk over, I didn't realise just how fast I was moving until I arrived in front of him only seconds later.
"Hey," I said immediately.
He looked up and closed his book, smiling he said, "Hey."
Seeing him alone, sitting down, by himself, for some reason put me in a jovial mood.
I sat beside him, "Hey," I said again.
"Hey," he replied.
I laughed nervously, "Sorry," I said. I was anxious again. It had been almost twenty four hours and again I wasn't used to being in his company.
He put his book in his lap and turned towards me slightly.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
I looked at him
"Yeah," I replied, my voice wavering.
At that statement I felt my eyes prickle with unbidden tears but blinked them back. I pulled my hand to my cheek and breathed in.
He sensed my discomfort and shifted a little on the bench.
"So," he said, attempting to change the subject.
"So," I nodded.
I felt like crap. I had five more hours in this stupid school, surrounded by stupid people who cared about stupid things while I worried about a bunch of stupid girls while I should have been worrying about my stupid History assignment that my stupid teacher decided to assign on the first day of school.
I sighed and leaned back against the wall. I felt bad though, my depressing mood was probably bringing him down too.
"So how was your day yesterday?" I asked. I sat up straight; I wasn't going to do that to him. It wasn╒t his fault I was annoyed and it wasn't fair for me to mope about around him.
"Pretty good," he said, looking down at his book again.
"Meet any interesting people?" I asked, nudging him with my shoulder.
He shook his head, "Just you," he said turning to me.
I wasn't sure if he was just saying it to be nice or if he meant it genuinely but I was flattered either way.
"What's with the book?" I asked.
He picked up the blue book in his lap,
"Oh, its nothing," he said,
He flipped it around and opened it, flicking through the pages. Maybe it was a journal of some sort. I didn't ask whether or not it was or any questions regarding it. I'm sure he wouldn't want to reveal its contents.
"Well, apart from me" I said, steering the conversation back in its previous direction, "Have you met anyone else?"
I was hoping he would reply with a no so I was relieved when he started to shake his head.
"Why?" he began, "Are there people you think I should meet?"
"More like avoid," I said, not realising how cynical I sounded.
"Like who?" he asked. I didn't expect him to dwell on my statement but he seemed intrigued.
"Well," I said, "There's a lot of people."
I started to think of the different groups that made up the social hierarchy of Cyprus Hill. The typical students who occupied the top and the bottom and the others who dwelled somewhere in between.
"Let's take a walk," I said, deciding that it would be best for him to see these groups for himself.
He stood up immediately and I did the same.
"Where to?" he asked. His blue eyes curious and his lips turning upright into a dazzling grin.
"North," I said, turning to the entrance of the corridor.
We walked, side by side, down the hallway. Past feelings of abhorrence and hatred, slowly residing as curiosity and intrigue for the boy beside me clouded my thoughts. His countenance, his frame, his enigmatic nature. Where did he come from, why was he here? How was it that after knowing him for a little over twenty-four hours he already filled me with such euphoria. I took a step closer towards him, just being in his company made my mood brighten.
I led the way and turned left into the next corridor, moving along until I found a classroom. The door was ajar and faint music could be heard coming from inside, as well as the sound of low laughter.
I pointed to the room.
"Rosa, Luke, Jaz and Wyatt," I said.
He stared, waiting for me to continue.
"They sit here every lunch break, playing classical music and writing poetry," I explained,
"Poetry," He repeated.
I nodded. Yes it was true, poetry. I didn't know how or why they did it, but the four of them would spend all of their free time listening to and playing Beethoven and Mozart and reciting the works of John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. They believed that music nowadays was just generic rubbish and that the only true talent that came from this world came from those who walked the earth hundreds of years before us. Of course, everyone thought they were weird, unusual, they often kept to themselves and remained aloof.
"So I should avoid them," he said turning to me.
"No, not really. I mean they're okay, I guess. They just keep to themselves a lot," I said.
I backed away from the classroom, indicating that we should press on.
We continued to roam up and down the corridors, through the cafeteria and the gymnasium, taking a pit stop at the library before proceeding to the courtyard, all the while explaining and describing to Kai the who and who-nots that made up Cyprus Hill.
"They're just annoying, simple as that," or "They're great, especially when you need help with English," were some of the constant commentary associated with various individuals.
He opened the door that led out into the courtyard and I walked into the cool fall air, slightly brushing his shoulder as I exited the corridor.
"Whose next?" he asked, examining the new faces that were scattered around the area.
I looked around.
"See over there," I said, pointing slightly to the right.
"Where?"
"Where the brunette is standing, two other people are sitting a few feet away from her."
I was gesturing towards Hanisha Maine and Sophie McCaw. From here it looked like Hanisha was readjusting her contacts, or at least attempting to, which wouldn't be a far off accusation considering she spent most of her time doing just that or fiddling with her braces. She had once worn thick rimmed brown glasses that seemed to take up more than half her face but for the past few months had made the transition to contact lenses. Sophie, her best friend, was snacking on grape fruit. I was expecting Kai to recognize them, since they were in our chemistry class.
"They look familiar," he finally said.
"I thought they would. That's Hanisha and Sophie, they're all right, just a little weird,"
"How weird?" he asked.
"Clingy weird. I remember this one time in ninth grade, I had to do an assignment with Hanisha and she spent the whole time asking whether or not we could hang out on the weekend," I explained,
"Maybe she was just being polite," he considered,
"And the weekend after that, and the weekend after that and the weekend after that and the weekend "
"Okay, I get it," he laughed.
"She ended up getting me a pair of earrings for being a terrific assignment buddy," I added,
"Maybe you did a terrific good job," he said,
"It was a two period assignment, we finished it by the end of the class," I told him, "And I'm pretty sure she did most of the work,"
"Oh," he said. I nudged him in the rib; it was nice of him to at least attempt to see the not-so creepy side of Hanisha Maine.
"Well I think we've covered everyone," I said, before realising that I had left out one last but very important group. I looked around at the different clusters of students but the people I had in mind were nowhere to be seen. Their usual place, which was situated near the hedges and behind the main building, was deserted. Lucy, Florentina and Iris weren't there, and in their absence no one had proceeded to sit in their place. But then of course no one would. This was Lucy, Florentina and Iris we were talking about, the reigning queens of pretty, perfect and petrifying.
Everyone had at least one of them at their school, at least a form of them. Those people who thought just because they were rich, confident and genetically blessed, everyone for some reason had to respect them, defer to them. Lucy Heidenburg, Florintina Hunter and Iris Jiminez. They pushed in lines, laughed at infantile antics that stupid guys like Ethan Droc and Craig Chaston would decide to pull on unaware freshman or distracted juniors and would tell you if they had a problem with you and you'd have to accept it because really what else could you do? I'd had the pleasure of attending elementary, middle and now high school with Lucy and came to the conclusion that people like her just don't change, when they've had the fortune of being treated like their somebodies in a population of nobodies, it's hard for them not to.
"Well there are just a few more people," I said.
"Really," he said.
I looked up at him, "Lastly there's -"
"Hey," a voice from behind called.
I turned around and there was Lucy standing before us.
Speak of the devil.
"Hi," I said.
She gave me a weak, forced smile but all her attention was focused on Kai.
"I don't think we've met," she said, "I'm Lucy,"
What was she doing?
"Kai," he replied.
What was he doing?
"I saw you around before," Lucy said, pointing her finger in a far off direction, "I just wanted to say hi."
I don't know what it was about today but recess wasn't even over and I'd already heard so much bullshit I was beginning to actually feel sick.
"Really," I muttered.
She stared at me, her green eyes chilling.
"Yes," she said.
Unlike most girls who would have chosen to ignore my comment, Lucy would most definitely pay attention and address you if you made direct reference to her.
"Anyways," she carried on, flicking her jet-black hair behind her shoulders and revealing a perfect clavicle, similar to Kai's.
She was tall, thin, Junoesque. She had long black hair, olive skin and piercing green eyes and unlike those children whose freckles scattered all over their face, Lucy's very few were placed delicately around her cheeks and nose.
She smiled, a set of perfectly aligned pearly whites unveiled in its wake.
She gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder and I felt my insides tighten.
"Well, considering you're new and all," she said, "I think I should introduce you to a few people,"
I folded my arms, and looked gravely at the ground, knowing this invitation did not extend to me.
I kicked at a stone that stood beside my shoe, much to the annoyance of Lucy.
"Could you stop that," she said sternly.
looked up at her, what was her problem?
"No thanks," Kai said, suddenly.
"What?" Lucy replied, unsure of what he was referring to.
"Maybe another time," he clarified.
Realising that he was regarding her offer, she stood up a little straighter,
"No, seriously, I want to" she said, giving him another gentle punch on the shoulder.
"That's okay," he said, "Azalea was doing just that," and he placed his hand on my shoulder.
My name sounded foreign coming from his lips and his hand felt ethereal as it came in contact with my skin.
"Really," I whispered to him, away from Lucy's prying ears.
He nodded.
"Really," Lucy said out loud.
"Yes," Kai said.
Lucy scratched her head, probably shocked that someone, a new student for that matter had just rejected an offer to hang out with her. She brushed it off, however, producing another grin.
"Okay," she stated, "I'll see you around then."
She gave us one last look, well she gave Kai one last look, she gave me a sort of scowl before sauntering back to wherever it was she had appeared from. I stared her down as she walked off, hoping she'd turn around to see me returning her irate gesture. She didn't look back, however, so I focused my attention back to him.
"Thanks," I said.
"For what?" he asked. He looked genuinely unsure of what he had done to receive an expression of gratitude.
"For that," I said, "Just then,"
"Oh," he replied coming to terms with it, "It was nothing, really,"
But it wasn't nothing. Anyone else would have jumped at the chance to converse with Lucy, Florintina, Iris and whoever was subject to their attention for the day, why hadn't he?
I looked up at him and just smiled.
"What is it?" he asked,
I shook my head, "Nothing, it's nothing," I replied.
He was good, that's why. He was sincere and attentive and that's why he had chosen not to follow Lucy but instead to remain here with me.
"Hey," he said.
I turned to him, "Yeah?"
"You still haven't introduced me to another group," he said.
Now I was unsure, "Who?"
"What about your friends?" he asked.
I wasn't expecting that.
"Oh," I replied, "My friends,"
"Yeah, they must be wondering where you are,"
"Don╒t bet on it," I said sharply.
He didn't reply so I decided to clarify.
"My friends are jerks," I said, "renegades, traitors, backstabbing liars,"
He still didn't reply so I sighed.
"I just hate people." I told him,
"That's too bad," he said after a long pause, "I think they're okay."
Chapter 8
Recess sadly did not continue for much longer and inturn turned into third period, History. The Russian revolution was the topic of the day. Mr Foughlin provided the class with a PowerPoint presentation that depicted the dismantlement of the Tsarist autocracy and the creation of the Russian SFSR. The blinds were closed so the only light in the whole classroom was coming from the projector screen that flashed black and white pictures of 1917 Russia and bulks of paragraphed writing. Mr Foughlin's humdrum voice came from the back of the classroom, explaining the pictures and deciphering the text.
He wanted me to fall asleep. It was as simple as that. Why else would he want me here? To teach me about the crucial events that shaped modern day Russia? Of course not.
I folded my arms on my desk and placed my head on top of them. Because Mr Foughlin was so distracted with his presentation he probably wouldn't notice if I took a short siesta, but then again maybe that's exactly what he wanted.
...
"And don't forget to read the first twenty pages of the chapter by Thursday and answer all of the set questions. I'll be checking!" Mr Foughlin called as we exited the classroom on our way to fourth period. For someone who spoke to us as though we were in the seventh grade he sure supplied us with a hefty workload.
But as I walked down the corridor to Chemistry, I began to feel carefree and as through a weight had been lifted. Leaving history, which was turning out to be my least favourite subject and entering Chemistry, my newfound favourite was utterly relieving. In History I had to be in the company of dreary Mr Foughlin and annoying Melissa Morton but in Chemistry they were all gone and all my attention was reserved for Kai.
As I entered the classroom almost everyone had already arrived and Mr Rochester was writing on the board. Kai was sitting in the back row, the same place he had been sitting the day before. I held my books close to my chest and sat in the desk beside him.
"Hey," he smiled as I arrived next to him and placed my books down.
"Hi," I replied.
He looked towards the front as soon as Mr Rochester turned to face the class.
"Hello everyone," Mr Rochester greeted us.
Silent murmurs came from around me as few people returned his salutation.
"Well," Mr Rochester said, not impressed, "Take out your books and lets get started."
He clapped his hands together; he looked thrilled to be teaching another period of the atomic theory.
I sighed and opened up my books. It was a pity Chemistry did not consist of Kai alone but was also accompanied with a decent amount of drudgery.
I pulled my Chemistry books from underneath my pile of textbooks, but my History one slipped over and fell to the ground. Kai reached down to retrieve it.
"Is this a habit of yours?" he asked, "Dropping things,"
"No," I replied, "I'm just tired,"
"Sure," he teased.
He held the textbook in his hands, staring at the cover
"History," I said to him, "It's the worst,"
"Why is it," he said, flicking through the pages of the textbook, "That you persist in learning subjects you don't like?"
I remembered yesterday, telling him my lack of interest in Chemistry.
"Well this time it wasn't my fault," I said, "My teacher's a cross between a sloth and a drill sergeant,"
"How does that make sense?" he asked,
"He teaches like he's half asleep but distributes work like we╒re in our third year of college,"
He nodded and handed me back the textbook.
"Oh, before I forget," Mr Rochester said suddenly, turning back towards us, "I need to hand out some permission slips"
"For what?" Sophie McCaw asked from the front row.
"Didn't I tell you," Mr Rochester replied.
"Obviously not," Adam Jovsan muttered. A few of his friends beside him laughed at what I thought was a lame attempt at a smart ass comment.
"Well, Adam," Mr Rochester huffed, "I meant to tell you all yesterday about the fieldtrip for next week,"
Immediately, cheers and hollers broke out amongst the class at the mention of a fieldtrip, something that occurred very rarely on the second week of the semester.
"Okay, okay quieten down," Mr Rochester yelled amongst the noise, recovering a pile of permission slips from his desk.
"Where are we going?" Hannah Lee asked once she received hers.
"To the beach," Mr Rochester replied.
The beach I thought to myself.
"No way," I whispered.
"In order to study the effects of waves on our coastline and how this can cause beach erosion I thought it would be worthwhile to organise a simple experiment," Mr Rochester explained, "The venue is that little beach just twenty minutes from here and we'll only be there for an hour or two. The experiment╒s quite simple but extremely fascinating."
He handed me a permission slip and then turned to Kai.
"Isn't this great," I said, beaming.
"Yeah," he replied, his gaze faltered slightly, however, when he read the slip that was in his hand.
"I've been to this beach a few times," I told him, "It's not as great as Crescent Beach but it's still good."
He remained silent. For someone who seemed to adore the ocean as much as I, he sure didn't seem all that thrilled.
He just continued to stare, at the permission slip, and then at the board that had the words beach erosion written on it.
"Everything okay?" I asked, waving my hand in front of his clear blue eyes.
He shook his head and turned to me.
"Yeah," he replied, his endearing expression returning.
"Erosion," he continued, "isn't that when the land or beach get worn away because of the wave action or something?"
I gave him a funny look, was he seriously asking me whether or not his definition of erosion was correct. As if I even knew what erosion was exactly. I mean I did know the disappearance of our coastline was becoming an environmental crisis, I just didn't know what the crisis really was.
"Uh, yeah," I said, I'm pretty sure that's it,"
He just laughed, "I knew you would."
"You'll need to get into pairs in order to do the experiment, maybe a group of three, considering the numbers," Mr Rochester explained.
"Can we organise our partners now," Bianka Moselyn said putting her hand up, "You know, in order to save time."
I rolled my eyes. Saving time was not what she had in mind. She just wanted to ask a certain someone to accompany her on said fieldtrip.
Bianka smiled sweetly as Mr Rochester began to acknowledge her suggestion. "That wouldn╒t be a bad idea Bianka. All right everyone, get into partners," he instructed. Everyone stood up from their seats, in search of friends and acquaintances they could share the workload with.
Kai shifted in his seat and faced me, "Partner?" he asked, before Bianka could even make her way over to us.
I smiled from ear to ear. "Sure," I replied, "But I have to warn you, I'm not that great when it comes to hypothesises and methods and all that other science terminology."
"That's okay," he said to me, "I'll help you out,"
From the corner of my eye I could see Bianka retreating to the other side of the classroom, evidently witnessing our exchange and gathering that her partner was in fact taken.
"Come over here," he said, ushering me beside him. I got up from my chair and walked the few inches to his desk.
He had his Chemistry book open, pictures of beaches and coastline were sprawled along the left page. On the right, there were pictures of similar beaches, however these were affected by erosion. The rocks in the ocean floor had been worn down and turned into sand and this sand was being removed from the beach to deeper water offshore. This was causing permanent loss of land along the shoreline.
"So that's erosion," I said, feeling slightly ignorant considering I hadn't realised it sooner.
As everyone found partners, Bianka settling for Adam Jovsan, Mr Rochester returned to the front of the class.
"So remember everyone, next week Monday, fieldtrip to the beach,"
I turned to Kai beside me; he smiled, blue eyes shining.
Next week Monday, just the sand, the waves and him. I couldn't wait.