CHAPTER 2
“As you’ve learned before this term, the electricity is divided into the electrodynamics and electrostatics. Since we have covered the topic of electrostatics, we’re going to begin our lesson in electrodynamics this year. I hope you are paying attention, because we’re not going to waste time for introductions and doodling on the table.”
The class was as silent as death, except for a furious sound of scribbling. Mr. Zimmerman stopped talking when he reached a desk.
“Mr. Sanders, I assume you heard what I said?”
Armand stopped scribbling and looked up. “Oh,” he said with an unmistakable dry tone, “you were talking about me, sir? I apologize.”
“What are you drawing there, boy? Looks like a Godzilla. Are you a fan of Japanese monsters, Mr. Sanders? Because I have a secret to share.” The Physics teacher bent a little and mock-whispered, “I’m a Kaiju, too.”
Everyone broke into laughter, even I, who had been practically squirming in anticipation for Armand to get into trouble. But like he always does, Armand got away with it, saved by some losers’ comments.
“Mr. Sanders,” one of the aforementioned losers called out with a hand raised and a finger pointed at my direction. “I think we have another Japanese monster there sitting by the window.”
“Oooohhh,” the class chorused.
I kept my face blank, no matter how much I wanted to roll my eyes.
“A Kaiju sitting by the window…”
I gripped my pencil hard. It snapped and broke, the sound seemingly so loud in the class.
“The hideous Asian monster, the destroyer of…a pencil.” I turned to glare at the boy who had just spoken, Trenton Wellington. I had once thought he was cute, albeit a bit of a bully. But then there was an incident, and he appeared out to be one of those racists in the town who kept picking up on me. He held his hands up. “Oh, she bites, too!”
The class broke into another fit of laughter.
I turned my glare to Mr. Zimmerman. He, too, had a small smile on his face that vanished just as soon as I glared at him.
“Alright, class. Alright. Now, let’s just continue our lesson. Open your books at the page 8, the section below Theories of Electrodynamics…”
Taking a deep breath, I opened my book and stared at the blurred words as my eyes clouded. It wasn’t like they even knew if I was Japanese or not. All Asians are the same in their eyes. And here I thought they might actually have matured over the summer.
When the bell rang, I hadn’t written a single note on my book. That was fine. I could lend the notes from Jamie later. She took Mr. Zimmerman’s Physics, too, but with different schedule.
My sole destination after Physics was the library. The snobs rarely ever went up there at the first break. Heck, even the geeks like me rarely ever went there unless there was an exam coming and we needed an extra high-concentration hang out place. Occasionally, some freshmen study groups would hang around the library, but they usually grew out of it once they hit sophomore year.
Yes, our school’s library was that unpopular.
Though I wouldn’t say so for some jocks. It was rare, but it happened. One of the jocks would use the secluded shelves on the back section as a rendezvous with his current fling.
It’d been a huge scandal last year when Mark O’ Neill, a quite popular senior quarterback, got caught making out with Callie Sheridan. The problem was that Callie’s best friend was Remy Lynde, and Remy was the girlfriend, not Callie.
Mark kinda fell out of grace after that. Remy was a vicious cheerleader. It was still sort of a legend kids tell around whenever they hung out at the library, even though they’d graduated.
I swung the library door open.
“Morning, Elena.”
My eyes landed skittishly at the librarian. “Uh, morning, Mrs. Reed.”
I walked away from the front desk as quick as lightning to the seats further at the back to avoid her hawk-like gaze. Mrs. Reed had always unsettled me. She had these beady eyes and long, stringy grayed hair that she always let loose. But moreover, it was how she always peered at me and the talks she tried to start with me.
Had I not known better, I’d say the woman was just lonely and needed someone to talk to. But I’d made the mistake of answering her prying questions once, and I found the next two days that the rumors about me showing up naked in the woods had reemerged. Mrs. Reed was an avid town gossip.
I sat there at the library for a while, resting my head on the desk. I just wanted to forget everything about the bullies. There were so many more things to think about. My future career. Ugh. My future uni. Future major. SATs.
All about the future.
It was almost as stressful as thinking about the bullies had been, so I just closed my eyes, tried to think about nothing, and waited for the bell to ring.
English class wasn’t so bad. The assignment was kind of free of or choosing, but it had to be Shakespeare. The only Shakespeare play that I actually read in details was Macbeth, and that was because he brought up something close to amnesia. I planned to read others for the assignment, though. Macbeth was too touchy. Maybe I’d pick Twelfth Night. I liked the characters’ name.
Which made me shallow—but hey, everyone had a start in everything, right?
Chem was hell. I got assigned with Armand Sanders as partner.
The teacher had said, “No rivalry in my class, kids. Explosives have happened.”
I didn’t even try to make sense of that. I only knew that it meant whatever Armand’s score was, it was going to be mine, too. One subject ended in a tie already, even though it was only our first day. I dared a peek at Armand.
He craned his head and acknowledged me with a nod.
I jerked my head in a quick nod and turned my attention to the teacher’s instructions.
When the second bell rang I pushed my way out from the class and saw Jamie in front of her boyfriend’s locker. She waved at me, grinning.
With that kind of infectious smile, I felt my lips curved, too, and I went over to her.
“Hey,” I greeted her, completely ignoring Nick, who was giving me the typical frown as I spoke to her.
“Elena! Do you know Nicky’s friend’s girlfriend’s cousin Lucy is having a party over this weekend? We’re all invited! We so have to go this time.”
That was long. “Er, okay?”
“What do you mean by okay? We are going to find you a date. Nicky’s friend’s brother’s friend Aaron is also dateless. You can go together. Nick says he’s pretty easy on the eyes.”
My head reeled. Talking about long. “Um, sure, yeah. Cool.” Like Nick would know a thing about a guy’s hotness.
“Cool? This is awesome! We can finally go on double dates, just like—”
“Hey, Jamie!”
Jamie turned her head.
Ingrid grinned.
“Ingrid, oh my god!” Jamie gushed. “I thought you’d moved to England—”
“I totally did!” Ingrid shoved her playfully. “You wanna hear my new accent?”
“Try it.”
Ingrid turned to me. “Bond. Ingrid Bond. And you?”
We burst out laughing. Well, we minus Nick. He had never been one to show a lot of emotions.
“Wow, Jamie, you really look great!” Ingrid observed. “Skinnier, though.”
I didn’t think she meant the last word as a compliment, but Jamie would eat up anything that convinced her that the diet she’d gone through hadn’t been all futile. “Thanks! Hey, anyway, we’re heading to lunch. Wanna join us?”
Ingrid grinned. “Yeah, thank you!”
When we got to the lunch hall, Jamie led us to our usual table, not so far away from the middle of the cafeteria. We weren’t exactly popular like the cheerleaders, but we got along well with them, and Nick’s friends were all basketball players.
We brought back our food from the lunch line and sat down. I was so happy that they hadn’t run out of the apple pie. It was the only amazing food in the canteen. Not wasting any time, I bit into it. Jamie just chewed on the apple.
Nick just ate his fries without any enthusiasm.
Ingrid studied us.
“So…aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Jamie slapped her own forehead and giggled. “Sorry, I forgot. Here,” Jamie said to me. “This is Ingrid. Ingrid Rawlins. She used to go to school here a few years ago.” She turned to the other girl. “This is Elena. My adoptive sister. And of course you remember Nick.”
“No kidding?”
“Yeah! My dad has the papers and all.”
I swallowed my pie and smiled at her shyly. “Hi.”
She looks at me with open curiosity. “What descent are you? Korean?”
“I’m…not sure.”
She waved it away. “Ah. I’ve got a friend back in London like you too. She’s so mixed, she doesn’t even know the origins of her parents anymore. No offense.”
I tried not to sigh in relief for how she didn’t pry for more. “None taken.”
“So, Ingrid,” Jamie prompted, “you must be, like, the hottest thing right now. I mean, I could barely recognize you. You must be like a new student all over again. You look fantastic!”
And she did. Ingrid looked very chic. She had this elegant way of carrying herself that made her look very classy. Like the kind of girl you knew would be cool, even before you talked to her.
Ingrid made a face. “Nah,” she said. “I’m not the only newbie today. There’s this new guy. Senior. Looks good enough to eat from head to toe.”
“Who?” Jamie asked, intrigued. I knew though, as Nick did, that the reason for her interest was not for her own, but for me. She matchmade me with every other guy she could find.
Ingrid shrugged. “Don’t know. Heard his name’s something Frenchy. Everyone in my class was gossiping about him. Look, over there—that’s him!”
We all looked at where Ingrid had pointed at.
The pie suddenly left a bad taste on my mouth.
It was the guy from the other night. The guy from my dreams.
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