she sat next to him.
the desks were arranged in a circle, and there were several empty seats, but zoe sat next to him.
"okay, so, for starters, i think we should all go around and introduce ourselves!" the teachers was a young, overeager guy with a blue shirt and weirdly-shaped glasses that he kept pushing up the bridge of his nose. "say your name, something you like. whatever you want! i'll start!" he clasped his hands excitedly. "my name is mr. levi, and i love teaching!"
dan groaned. teachers like this always bothered him; they tried too hard to pretend that they were happy with their depressing, dead-end lives.
"you in the black! would you like to go next?" mr. levi had mistaken his groan for something happy and willing.
dan groaned again, sighing and straightening up in his seat. "i'm dan, and i love photography."
"how cool! maybe you could share your work sometime!"
i'd sooner die, dan thought to himself. he nodded politely.
"and you in the gray!" the teacher smiled at zoe.
she was the textbook definition of shy. dan watched her lick her lips and take a deep breath. he saw the way her hands trembled and tapped anxiously on her thigh.
"i'm zoe," she said, so softly that dan wasn't sure anyone but him heard her speak, "and i love words."
"words? would you care to elaborate?"
she looked as if she definitely would not care to elaborate.
"words," she said again. "i love words. reading, writing, song lyrics, quotes..." she trailed off, eyes on the floor.
"well, that's lovely!" mr. levine said, though his face said otherwise. "next?"
"i'm lydia," the skinny girl in the front said. "i like fashion magazines." her eyes sat too far back in her face; she looked almost sickly.
"i'm james," the large guy spoke up. "i play piano. i like to think i'm okay at it."
"fantastic!" mr. levine pointed at the last person, a dark-haired boy that sat in the back, sketching in a faded notebook. "how about you back there?"
the boy glanced up, sweeping his fringe out of his eyes. "i'm phil." he smudged a line on his paper, tongue poking out from between his lips in concentration. "i draw." he held up a piece of paper, a smile curling his pink lips.
it was beautiful. twisting trees glistened with snow and ice, reflected the pale moonlight that peeked through the clouds. hills of fluffy white wound throughout the background.
even zoe looked up to see it, eyes shining in amazement.
the art stunned even mr. levine into silence.
"that's beautiful," dan said, since no one else was speaking up. the boy deserved to hear it said.
phil beamed, and it was like the whole room lit up. "thank you."
-
zoe hated group work. she hated the anxious seed that was planted in her heart every time a teacher said that phrase. she always preferred to work on her own; but if there were any place where that was most unacceptable, it was in 'shy club'.
"it's very simple," mr. levine explained. "just mingle a bit! get to know each other!"
half of the kids rolled their eyes. the others were too busy having a casual mental breakdown to voice their distaste.
"hello!" phil had gathered his art supplies and was now sliding into the seat beside zoe.
dan leaned forward, smiling at him from her other side. "hi."
zoe stared actively at the desk in front of her. her head hurt; everything was too loud. she reached down into her bag and pulled out that year's word list.
recrudescence
quixotic
extant
beguile
pretense
anterior
she read down the list until the letters were all that she could see, until her breathing had steadied. she hadn't noticed the boy peering over her shoulder.
"what's that?" phil asked.
zoe moved to cover it with her arm. "nothing." she hated the look that people gave her when she explained the way she spent most of her time.
"2009 spell bowl list," dan read. he turned in his seat to look at her fully. "what's spell bowl?"
zoe desperately wished a hole would open in the floor, or that the fire alarms would begin to blare and give her an escape.
"it's a competition where you're on a team and you have to spell things. on a timer. the words are difficult, there are thousands of them, and if you miss only a single letter you don't get any points." she always tried to make it sound as dramatic as possible, but in all reality, it was boringly tame. but she was good at it - had been since she was young - and it felt nice to be good at something. so spell bowl had become her 'thing'.
"that sounds cool!" phil exclaimed. his eyes were bright, and it looked like he actually meant it.
"really?" zoe could hardly believe what she was hearing.
"yeah! i think i might like to study english when i go to uni."
zoe smiled at him. "me too."
dan watched their exchange, trying to ignore the strange squeezing in his chest.