(Not edited :( Sorry!)
Chapter 3
Mr. S was the epitome of the perfect teacher, at least by most students' definition. He was very friendly, understanding, and hilarious but at the same time he wasn't afraid to lay down the law if a student misbehaved. I spent the rest of his class avoiding a certain blue-eyed boy, which posed to be almost impossible since Dayton spoke up a lot. He answered all of Mr. S's questions, and led some really in depth discussions.
From the minute he stepped into the class room I could sense his popularity vibe. It was not just the way he held himself with so much confidence, but also the way the girls clung to his every word and the guys looked at him with eyes full of respect. Dayton was smart, that much was very evident. In fact he was able to answer questions that Lynn, Nate nor I could. However at the same time it was also clear that this class was a complete joke to him. He made remarks that while smart, could be interpreted as being offensive and mocking. At first I thought Mr. S would kick him out of the class, as any of my past teachers would, instead he just raised his brow and smirked at Dayton, as though he enjoyed his student's witty remarks.
Once in a while I would feel a burning on the side of my head, and I knew that a certain pair of blue eyes were penetrating at me. I didn't know what it was about me that seemed to amuse Dayton so much. Maybe it was the fact that I had literally bumped into him in the midst of a hot make-out session, which had obviously led to a lot more. Or maybe it was the fact that I was a scholarship student, which at a school like this was almost equivalent to a seeing an imperiled animal on display at the local zoo. Whatever his reason was, I knew that he was constantly fixing his piercing gaze on me for his own personal amusement, and that made me angry.
"I have to say, I have a feeling I am going to enjoy this class." Mr. S leaned against his desk and looked down at his wrist watch. "It's about time to head to your next class, but be sure to bring your short essays to class tomorrow." He proclaimed just as the bell chimed through the announcement system.
I shoved my notebook into my bag and pulled out the campus map we got during orientation yesterday. I dragged it open as I rose out of my seat and stared down at the little rectangular shapes and names. As my brother always told anyone that would listen, I was book smart, not street smart, and I believe reading a map definitely required street smarts. I bit my lip as I looked down at the map in front of me, hoping it would just start talking to me, kind of like in Dora.
"Your lip is going to start bleeding if you keep biting it like that." A husky voice came and I instantly bit my lip even harder, because I knew exactly who that voice belonged to. I reluctantly looked up at a sparkling pair of blue eyes. Those blue eyes looked down at the map in my hands and raised a dark brow. It was really amazing how someone with such dark hair, could have such blue eyes. "Can I help you find something?" His gaze was back on my face, and slowly released my lip. I was speechless, guys like him never talked to me before, and I didn't know how to respond.
I was searching my mind frantically trying to compose a string of words together when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and found myself looking at Nate. "I know how to get there." He told me and then nodded his head at Dayton, as if to acknowledge him before he returned his brown eyes to me. "Come on, let's go." He said and gently grasped my upper arm.
I turned to Dayton with a polite smile and mumbled. "Thank you." Before turning and walking out of the classroom with Lynn and Nate.
Once we were a few feet away Lynn let out a loud squeal. "I can't believe it; he is not only handsome as sin, but he also sweet!" She exclaimed.
Nate scoffed at Lynn and looked down at both of us. "I don't know what that was in there." He pointed to the classroom we had just walked out of. "But Dayton is definitely not sweet. He would chew you both up and spit you out before you can even say his name. Trust me; it would do you both well to stay as far away from him as possible."
I nodded at Nate, because I didn't doubt for a second that Dayton could be anything but bad news, especially for someone like me.
"But he is just so darn attractive!" Lynn announced as Nate let us down a wide hallway.
Nate let out a sarcastic laugh at that. "You are just one of the countless numbers of girls to think so, and believe me when I say that he knows exactly what kind of an affect he has on each one of them, and he doesn't hesitate to take advantage of it." Nate's voice dripped with something close to disgust.
"Oh he sounds like a bad boy." Lynn giggled. "I love bad boys." She said linking her arm with mine and I couldn't help but laugh at her.
Nate just shook his head and led us to a classroom that was almost hidden off in a corner.
"This is slightly eerie." I told him, observing the rustic looking pillars, the old bronze covered door handles, the dark lighting, and old leather bound books placed on an antique book shelf.
Nate nodded at that. "All the foreign language classes are in this hallway, there has been talk about remodeling for a while but obviously they haven't gotten around to it." We went into the class and took out seats. "Since we have to take a placement test to even be allowed to enroll in a foreign language course, there are only a few students who are able to take this class. There isn't really a lot of funding to fix up something that only a few students utilize, especially when most of those students are here on scholarship."
I nodded at that, and pulled out my notebook. I loved learning foreign languages so I was especially excited for this particular class.
"I don't know I kind of like the eerie feel of this class room. It makes me feel like I'm really at Hogwarts." Lynn added cheerfully as students filled the class room.
I was just about to laugh my eyes caught a familiar shirt walk through the doorway. I internally groaned and turned back to Lynn. I couldn't believe he was in this class too, with my luck he would probably be in all my class. 'Don't think like that Aria, you will jinx yourself!' I told myself as I open my notebook. I began to write the date in the far corner of the empty page when my nostrils filled with expensive cologne. Hesitantly I brought my head up, just in time to see a pair of blue eyes pass me as they accompanied the body they were on to the seat directly behind me.
As soon as Dayton sat down behind me multiple things happened, the first was that Lynn and Nate turned to look at me with completely puzzled expressions. The second was that in an instant the seats around us were quickly filled by students who seemed to be Dayton's friends, and third was that my skin burned as I sunk into my seat, feeling grateful that I had left my hair down today.
Much like in English class, I could feel the burn of Dayton's gaze on the back of my head. I knew it sounded ridiculous, I could I feel someone's gaze burn through me? But I did, and I couldn't explain it.
I could barely pay attention to what the Italian teacher was saying because I was distracted by Dayton. I could hear him shuffle in his seat; I knew he had leaned forward a few times because I could feel his light breath brush against my hair. I heard his throaty voice as he spoke a few sentences in flawless Italian as though it was his first language.
The teacher passed out a few packets to the front row and asked them to take one and pass it back. When the papers reached me I grabbed one and without turning I handed the papers back, but Dayton didn't grab the, sighing internally I wobbled the papers in my hand a little impatiently but he still didn't reach for them. Figuring that he was probably chatting up with his buddies to notice I turned around and paused with my eyes widened to see him leaning back in his seat staring straight at me, with that amused smirk of his.
I swallowed a gulp in my throat and pushed the papers a little closer to him and watched as he finally reached out and took them. I let go of the papers immediately and turned back around, but not before hearing Dayton say. "Thanks Aria."
I pouted once I was facing the front of the classroom again. The way he said 'Aria' made it sound like it wasn't even my name. He clearly thought I was put in this school for his own entertainment. I looked down at the packet in front of me and saw that we had to translate English paragraphs into Italian. The teacher had only given us thirty minutes to translate three paragraphs so I quickly got to work. My all my attention focused on the paper in front of me I had completely forgotten about Dayton till the end of class when I felt him tap gently on my shoulder.
I turned to him quizzically, and he pushed some papers towards me. "Please pass this to the front." He told me with a smile and leaned back in his seat again. I grabbed the papers out of his hand with and turned back around with a frown. I added my packet to the stack of papers and passed it down to Lynn just before the bell chimed.
"I will see you all tomorrow." Our accented teacher told us as I gathered up my things. I knew I had Science next but I didn't know where it was. Knowing very well that the map would be of no use to me I turned to Nate with a smile.
"Do you know where my Science class is?" I asked pushing my schedule towards him so he could see the classroom number.
Nate looked down at the schedule for a second and nodded his head. "It's in the north end." He said pointing diagonally. "I would walk you there, but my next class is in the south, I'm sorry." He added with a frown.
I smiled at him again and folded up my schedule. "I'm sure I'll find it, thank you."
"Where is my class?" Lynn asked showing her schedule to Nate, after I bid them about goodbye.
I went into the hallway and started in the direction that Nate had pointed. As I walked I noticed that there were couples making out against the walls of the hallway and I shook my head. I guess some things never changed regardless of the socioeconomic status. I felt like I had been walking forever when I finally saw a sign with an arrow indicating to the direction of my Science classroom. I quickly walked in that directing and double checked the room number and sighed with relief. I walked into the class and sat at an open lab bench, and began to admire the state of the art technology in front of me. At my previous school we had microscopes that were so old that we could see organisms better with our naked eye, than we could by using the microscopes.
I was resisting the urge to start playing with all the new toys in front of me when someone slid into the chair beside me. I turned and blushed as I saw the girl from the previous night looking right at me with a smile.
"Hi!" She greeted setting down purse by her feet. That purse probably cost more than a month of tuition at this place I thought. "I'm Olivia, but everyone calls me Liv."
I returned her smile. "Hi Liv, I'm Aria." I introduced myself and then I felt obligated to add. "I'm so sorry about yesterday!"
Liv threw her hand back and laughed. "Don't apologize; Dayton and I aren't exactly the most modest people." She shook her head, with laughter still playing on her lips. "Besides we really shouldn't have been in the hallway, he just couldn't wait." She told me and I saw a slight blush color her flawless skin. I smiled at her turned my gaze to my notebook in front of me, unsure of what to say.
"So you are new right? How do you like it here so far?" Liv asked, bringing my attention back to her.
I smiled at her once again. "I really like it so far. I've only had two classes but I can already see the difference in teaching styles." I told her honestly.
Liv raised a perfectly tweezed brow at me and tucked her heel covered feet under the chair. "You're here on scholarship." It wasn't a question, but rather a statement.
I nodded my head at her. "Yeah, I am." I told her with a smile and watched her observe me for a few seconds. I thought she would stick her nose up at me, and turn away but instead she smiled.
"Good for you!" She exclaimed warmly, and then added. "If you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask me."
"Thank you!" I exclaimed back at her, at the unexpected offer and we both turned as a middle aged teacher walked into the class with a large brown bag trailing behind her.
Mrs. Seaweed introduced herself to her class, and my mind couldn't help but wonder if I had heard her correctly.
"Seaweed? As in the stuff that's wrapped around sushi?" A student asked from the back of the classroom.
Mrs. Seaweed scowled at him. "Yes, just like that 'stuff' which just so happens to be marine algae. Something we will learn in great detail later in the course."
Liv turned to look at me and softly whispered. "I have heard rumors about her, none of them good."
I gulped at that, because Mrs. Seaweed indeed did seem to have a tough personality. "I hope she is a good teacher at least." I replied back softly, and cringed as Mrs. Seaweed directed her gaze at me. I held my breath, but thankfully she didn't say anything.
We spent the whole class just going through the life cycle of a cell, which to be honest was completely boring. I had learned about mitosis and meiosis in almost every single one of my Science classes since elementary school. Mrs. Seaweed gave us an assignment of filling in a various parts of a cell in class and told us to familiarize ourselves with the life cycle for tomorrow because there may or may not be a quiz. When the bell ran the whole class exited the classroom with loud groans and sighs.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Liv told me and walked off with a few friends of hers. I watched how graceful she looked, like a gazelle moving through the savannah. I couldn't understand how these girls could be so put together all the time. Even in their heels most of them walked faster than I did, and I wasn't short. Shaking my head, I turned and headed towards the cafeteria for lunch.
"Aria!" A voice called. "There you are."
I turned to find Lynn and Nate heading towards the food line and smiled. I was so glad that I had Lynn as a roommate, and I was equally glad to have met Nate. I could only imagine how scary this place would have been if I hadn't known anyone.
"How was Science?" Lynn asked passing me a tray.
I shrugged at her. "It was fine. We didn't really learn anything new." I told watched as a server placed a steaming hot plate of ravioli on my tray. If I hadn't had breakfast here I would have gasped at the fresh food being served for lunch. The ravioli didn't look caned, and it was topped with fresh tomatoes, and parsley. As I moved down the line, another server added a large piece of garlic bread to my tray along with a small bowl of salad and then another one added cute cup of tiramisu, and a bowl of fruits. "Everyone here must be so healthy, if they eat like it all the time." I commented as we walked to a table.
Nate nodded as he sat down. "The school has three nutritionists on staff to plan out each meal. They make sure we are getting all our required nutrients and minerals."
Lynn stabbed a piece of ravioli on her tray and looked up at us. "If I keep eating like this, I am sure to gain at least ten pounds by the end of the week." She popped the ravioli into her mouth and sighed at the taste. "This is so good!" She exclaimed through her full mouth. I laughed at her and bit into my own piece of ravioli.
We ate our lunch as we talked about our hobbies, and our list of top five places to visit before we die.
I was just spooning my tiramisu when Lynn nudged me in the shoulder. "Have you guys seen Dayton anywhere? I have been looking for him." Her eyes were searching the cafeteria as she asked and I frowned at her.
"Why are you looking for him?" I asked her. Wasn't it enough that he was in not one but two of our classes already?
Lynn looked at me like I had just asked her the stupidest question in the world. "Uh because he is freaking hot?" She announced, as if the answer was so obvious.
Nate shook his head at her. "Dayton and his friend's don't eat in the cafeteria. Dayton's family donated the school's library and there is a special room in there that only Dayton's family has access to, so he takes his friends in there for their meals." Nate narrowed his eyes. "People from his family have been going to this school for generations. I heard rumors that each generation of Stanforth's brings a bottle of the most expensive champagne they can find and leave it in the room for the next generation. The rumor is that each generation pops open the bottle of champagne from the previous generation during graduation. I wouldn't be surprised if some of Dayton's 'friends' only hang out with him for that champagne."
"I also heard that there is a huge TV, a pool table and a hot tub in the room." Sally added.
"A hot tub?" I asked incredulously. How big did the room have to be for there to be a hot tub?
Sally shrugged and jabbed at a piece of fruit. "That's just what I heard." She said rolled her eyes. "We all tried to check it out for ourselves last year, but obviously we weren't able to. We found the location of the room, which was a huge mystery in itself but the door not only had a pin code, but it also asked for a fingerprint, and voice recognition." Sally smirked. "It's like the Stanforth's don't trust us." She said enforcing a round of giggles around the table.
When we walked into the math class I was surprised to very few seats in the classroom and most of them were filled by scholarship students. As if reading my mind Nate placed a gentle hand on my back. "This is the second highest level of math offered at this school. I'm sure you remember having to take a placement test? Well only a few students out of the whole class get placed in here."
"Oh." I said with a shrug and sat in one of the few open seats. When the bell rang indicating that it was time for class a greying teacher got up from behind a large mahogany desk and grabbed a piece of chalk to write his name of the board. I grinned at that, because no one else had used chalk so far today.
Mr. Peterson turned back to the class and narrowed his eyes. "Two of your classmates are missing." He said nodding to the empty seats that were staggered in the classroom. He narrowed his eyes at the rest of the class. "I will not tolerate tardiness, this is not an easy class, and even missing just a few minutes can put you at a significant disadvantage." He told us and then without wasting another minute he started to write an equation on the board.
"If you can't solve this equation in five minutes, then you are in the wrong place." He told us and then pulled out a stop watch. "Okay you will-" His words were interrupted by two boys walking into the classroom and I felt a wave of déjà vu.
"Mr. Stanforth and Mr. O'Riley." Mr. Peterson nodded both the boys we were now walking towards the empty seats. "How unfortunate, that even the first day of classes can't trigger you to be punctual."
Dayton smiled at Mr. Peterson. "Sorry sir-" He started but Mr. Peterson held up his hand.
"I, not only don't have time for apologizes and excuses, but I am also not even remotely interested." Mr. Peterson told him and then turned back to the class. "Five minutes to solve this, you will complete it and hand them in, if you don't have the correct answer you will be removed from this class." He clicked a button on the stop watch. "Round to the nearest hundredth, you may begin." He said.
I frantically copied down the equation on my paper and began working on it. I remembered doing problems similar to this on the placement test, but this particular problem was a lot harder. I moved the x two times before realizing that I was doing it wrong. I didn't dare to look up at the time before crossing out all my work and starting again. I smiled as the numbers began to make more sense and finally punched in the figures into my calculator to get the final answer I just finished jotting down the answer when Mr. Peterson called time. I frowned at the paper in front of me, I knew I solved for x correctly the last time, but I wished I had some time to check my answer. Even if I was one hundredth of a decimal off, I would be kicked out of the class.
Grudgingly I handed my piece of paper to Mr. Peterson, as he came around the room to collect them. I watched as he walked to his desk and silently sat in his chair as he looked through the papers. I seemed like a whole hour had passes before he spoke, but by looking at the clock I knew it had only been two minutes.
"Miss. Patel, Mr. Cameron, and Miss. Hernandez." He called out. "I will be recommending you for a lower level math class. For today you may leave and go to the library." He told them.
"But Mr. Peterson, I-" One of the students started but Mr. Peterson shook his head.
"This is for your own good. If you can't do this equation, then I have no doubt that you will fail my class. I know all three of you are here on scholarship so I know how important it is to maintain a high GPA. I can guarantee you that failing this course with make a large dent to your grade point average."
I gulped as I watched three students I had met the night before pack up their bags, and walk out of the class room with somber faces. That could have been me! If I was just a second late in realizing my mistake that would have been me! The thought of having to walk out of the class was embarrassing enough, but the thought of having to walk out with Dayton watching me filled me with a sense of humiliation, and I couldn't figure out why that was!
Mr. Stanforth, and Mr. O'Riley, since you decided to come in late today I think it's only appropriate that you two come up here and solve the following equations." Mr. Peterson told him and wrote down two similar but slightly harder equations on the board. "I'll give you five minutes again." He said and I watched Dayton and the guy who I remembered at being Sander from my English class, walk to the front of the classroom.
Once they both had chalk pieces in their hand Mr. Peterson turned on his stop watch. "You may begin." He said and both the boys began working on their own problems.
I watched as they started the solving the equation piece by piece. They both worked fast, and I was impressed to see that they were able to add, subtract, multiply, divide and even recall the square roots of most of the numbers without using a calculator.
"Done!" Dayton announced with two minutes still on the clock.
"Show-off!" Sander called as he continued to work on finishing in own problem. I focused all my attention on Sander as Dayton stood in front of the class with his arms crossed across his chest staring at me, with that same god darn amused smirk.
In the next minute Sander finished his own equation and the class looked at them with utter respect. They not only solved the problem, but they did it with time to spare.
"Good job." Mr. Peterson said with a nod. "You're both right. Don't be late tomorrow." He warned them and dismissed them back to their seats.
"I am going to partner you up with a peer to work on some review problems. You will be paired with this person for the rest of the week." Mr. Peterson said and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Stay in your seats until I finish calling all your names." He told us, and tugged his glasses down a little. "Alright so it will be Peyton and Sally, Lynn and Blaire, Aria and Sander, and finally Nate and Dayton."
I silently thanked god that I wasn't paired with Dayton. I turned around to find Sander and smiled at him as he moved over to the empty seat beside me.
"I don't think we've officially met, I'm Sander." He introduced himself sticking his hand out.
I met his hand with mine and smiled at his green eyes. "Hi, I'm Aria."
"You're the Otter girl right?" He asked with a smirk and I felt a gasp escape me.
"Yeah. I'm the Otter girl." I admitted sheepishly and watched him throw his head back and laugh.
"I am kind of impressed, not many people can say they have swum with Otters." He said running his fingers through his blond locks.
I pouted at that. "Not many people are stupid enough to fall into an Otter's tank."
Sander shook his head at me. "Oh now, I know for a fact you aren't stupid Aria." He said and then smiled widely. "Maybe a bit of a klutz though?" He added as a tease.
"I don't think a bit is the right word, more like a gigantic klutz." I told him and watched him laugh once again and this time Mr. Peterson cleared his throat.
"We better get cracking on these Otter girl, or we might get kicked out." Sander said and we both began to work on the problems in front of us.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Hi guys! Thank you once again for taking the time to read this story! I am really excited to write it, so I hope you guys are enjoying it. This chapter is still letting you get to know the characters but I hope you found it to be fun.
If you enjoyed the chapter please VOTE and COMMENT below.
Do you like Aria's character? And what are your feelings towards Liv, Mrs. Seaweed and Sander?
Thank you again for giving this story a chance!
Love you all so much!
-Mandy