Текст книги "Reckless Magic"
Автор книги: Rachel Higginson
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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 24 страниц)
Chapter Four
I took my sweet time walking over to the dividers and cringed when I looked behind them and found a tiny sitting area. I stared, mouth agape, wondering how I was going to get through this hour.
Kiran bumped, purposely, into my shoulder as he walked by and took a seat on the floor directly in the middle of the small space. Talbott followed close behind, although he was careful not to touch me as he entered. I was amazed at how quickly my infatuation with Kiran turned into disgust. Had I known he was going to sell me out in front of everyone, I doubted I ever would have found his faultless features so alluring before.
Regretfully I took my seat next to Kiran on the floor. I pulled my knees in as close as I could and disdainfully, rested my forehead on them. I gave myself hope that there was a way to avoid these irritating boys in the hole we had been banished to.
“So what are you?” Kiran asked pointedly. I lifted my eyes and found him staring at me intently. Avoidance was clearly out of the question.
“What do you mean?” I asked dryly. I had lost all patience with him. For the first time I noticed Talbott staring at me, as well.
“What are you?” he asked again, pronouncing each word crisply and clearly. If this was some weird game, I was not in the mood. I laid my head back down on my knees.
“What he means to say is…. which are you?” Talbott interjected, apparently hoping to elicit some type of answer from me; I, however, had no idea what kind of answer they were even looking for. After responding with silence, he continued, “We were not aware of you before we came; are you Witch, or Psychic?”
My head snapped up in reaction to his ridiculous question. I saw then that they were just playing another joke on me. How irritating. I was speechless, and my temper was slowly rising. I may have made a fool of myself before, but that did not mean these teenage boys needed to continue humiliating me.
“She’s not one of you?” Kiran tilted his head towards Talbott and asked softly.
“No, not in the least. And I cannot get a read on her. Can you?” Talbott responded just as softly. They spoke to each other as if I was not there and my patience drew thin.
“No,” Kiran responded, almost as frustrated as I felt. The strangest thing was that they actually maintained a straight face as though they really were serious.
“I’m neither,” I almost laughed as I said it. “I am actually an elf, a Christmas elf. Santa gave me some time off so that I could go to school. He’s such a nice old man,” I rolled my eyes, not just at them, but at myself, I couldn’t believe I was playing their games.
They both laughed a little nervously and looked at each other. Kiran adjusted his sitting position and our legs bumped each other. I couldn’t tell if he did it on purpose or not, but as soon as there was contact between us, I began to feel the prickles and heat like before. It wasn’t intense and my pride promised me I could handle it. There was no reason to panic and flee from the room, at least not yet.
“Where are the papers we are supposed to grade?” I asked Talbott, seeing a large stack of loose-leaf notebook paper in his hand. “Can I have some, please?” I choked out manners, trying to be the better person, although they were making it extremely difficult.
“Talbott will do it,” Kiran answered quickly, without even looking at his friend.
“I would rather grade my share, thank you,” I suddenly felt sorry for Talbott, to have a friend like Kiran, but I shook my head trying to rid myself of the feeling. I needed to remember that he had been just as bad as Kiran. Ok, well maybe not just as bad, but the mere fact that he indulged Kiran put him in the same category.
“Really, Talbott will do them. He’s actually probably already finished,” Kiran insisted. I looked to Talbott but he just smiled. I realized that Talbott was going along with Kiran’s orders happily and was not going to hand over any papers.
“Ugh. Fine,” I resigned.
“Your last name is Matthews?” Talbott asked unexpectedly.
“Yes,” I was getting tired of this.
“Nothing?” Kiran asked cryptically to Talbott.
“Nothing,” Talbott responded just as cryptically.
“Do you have any questions for me?” I assumed Kiran was talking to Talbott, because I could not think of any nice question that I would have wanted to ask him. Any question I would have asked would surely get me into trouble. “Eden,” he nudged my foot with his; there was instant electricity shooting from my toes up through my leg. “Eden, do you want to ask me anything?” He gave me another one of his impish grins and looked at me with such intensity that I found myself squirming.
“What? No,” I said with surprise. “I don’t have any questions for you,” I let a little venom slip into my tone, and rolled my eyes again. “Except, why you felt it necessary to act like such an ass before?” I said it before I could stop myself…. I knew whatever I asked would not be kind.
Kiran let out a small laugh, but Talbott started to stand up next to him. His body had become tense and he was in a fighting position. I just stared at him completely confused. I cringed a little and pulled my knees in tighter. The last thing I wanted to do was fight Talbott…. No, sorry, the last thing I wanted to do was apologize to Kiran; maybe it would come to fighting after all, although I thought it was very strange that Kiran’s friend would be so defensive over such a small thing. Maybe they were gay.
“It’s all right Talbott, sit down,” Kiran was still amused, and I guessed it was at my expense.
“She can’t talk to you like that,” Talbott growled. I was amazed at his devotion to Kiran. I found their relationship strange, and felt more uncomfortable than ever. Was he really going to fight me for calling his friend an ass? Truthfully, I could have said a lot worse.
I sat there silently, sizing them up. If they were gay, then the girls in this class were going to have an unhappy surprise, not to mention poor Mrs. Woodsen. Other than Talbott’s overprotective aggressiveness and his obvious devotion to Kiran, they did not seem like lovers. Maybe Kiran was straight and Talbott was in love with him.
Kiran suddenly let out a roaring laugh, nearly rolling over in hysteria. I continued to stare at them, more confused than ever. Talbott sat back down, but his face was suddenly bright red. I realized he was having a hard time looking me in the eye.
“If she is who she says she is, of course she can. Now calm down, you’re not going to fight a human girl just for speaking her mind. I was rude, and for that I apologize,” his voice turned to liquid and he reached out to touch my hand, resting it on top of my knees.
I pulled it away quickly. Both boys turned to look at each other; when Kiran returned his face to mine, I could see that his smile was now carefully controlled. He was frustrated with me. A wave of regret washed over me, and a small tingling of fear ran down my spine. I quickly shook it off. It made no sense to be scared of these bullies; surely, they were just playing another game.
“Don’t be silly Eden, let’s put this all behind us and become great friends,” His voice retained a smooth fluidity, frustrated with me or not.
“You’re right. It is silly,” I thought of a hundred snotty things to say, but in the end, I lost my nerve. “I accept your apology. Thank you.”
I could see that he wanted to say more, but the bell rang, so I stood up quickly and started to gather my things to leave. Before I could, he reached out his hand to grab my arm gently. A sudden, pulsating electricity overwhelmed me; I willed myself to continue to stand, doing my best not to show any signs of distress.
“As long as you are who you say you are Eden, I know we can be the best of friends,” he tightened his grip on my arm as if to make a point. As he did, the electricity became stronger. My ears started to ring and my vision blurred, but somehow I managed to respond.
“Let’s just try regular friends first,” my voice was breathy and choked. He took his hand off me and I impulsively gasped for breath, steadying myself with a hand on the partition.
“Probably a good idea,” he smiled widely and walked passed me, away from the oriental dividers. Talbott followed behind him, carrying the large stack of papers Mrs. Woodsen had asked us to grade.
I panicked slightly, not wanting her first impression of me to be a disappointment. I prepared a small apology in my head and followed the boys, hoping she’d believe my explanation: “They wouldn’t let me grade the papers, but I tried. I promise!” It already sounded weak and I hadn’t even said it aloud yet. However, as I got closer I could see Talbott handing over the papers already.
“Thank you Mr. Kendrick, I hope that I didn’t ask too much of you,” Mrs. Woodsen sounded slightly nervous as she addressed Kiran, although Talbott was the one who handed her the papers.
“Oh, no. Talbott was able to handle them just fine. I have to expect this sort of thing now that I am Stateside, I suppose. I will grow used to it. This way of life is just very unfamiliar to me,” Kiran smiled generously at Mrs. Woodsen and then turned on his heel to leave.
I was shocked at his arrogance. His behavior made my stomach turn and I forgot all about his good looks. He was a completely despicable person. Who did he think he was talking to a teacher like that? Or talking about us….Americans? The Midwest might be different from jolly old England, but it was just fine for the rest of us, thank you very much. Clearly, he suffered from some sort of deranged class prejudice. My only hope in surviving the day was to manage to avoid him completely.
I searched out Lilly and saw her waiting for me by the door. I rushed over to her, thankful again to be in her calming presence. Her cheeks flushed as she scrunched her hair nervously with one hand.
“How was your One-Act practice?” I asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. I just wanted to forget all about my own hour of hell.
“Oh fine. I mean…. I am not very good at this kind of thing, so I always get nervous, even in practice. I know I’ll just die when we get to the real competition,” she tried to laugh it off, but I could tell that she was seriously unnerved.
“I’m sure you’re great.” I said, trying to encourage her. I actually had no idea what she was like, but any compliment felt good. I hoped that she was great; she deserved to be great.
“Thank you,” she smiled, slightly more confident. “What was your hour like?”
“Ugh…. terrible. I cannot stand those boys!” I vented, a little more frustrated and a little louder than I would have liked. Her eyes dropped to the floor, and her expression became instantly strained.
“Now, now Eden, you promised we would be friends,” Kiran chided me softly. He walked closer toward us, with Talbott following loyally behind. Maybe Talbott was a dog in his former life.
I immediately turned and walked out of the classroom. I had no idea where I was supposed to go next, but that didn’t stop me from a fast escape. Thankfully, Lilly followed speedily behind me, although I could tell she was embarrassed of my behavior.
“Do you know what your next class is?” Lilly asked, a little out of breath from the quickness of my step. I could hear the boys following closely, so I picked up the pace even faster.
“I think French. Is that in this building too?” I needed a direction; I needed to get away from the golden boy and his golden retriever.
“No, it’s not; it’s in the History and Language building across campus. But I can take you, since I have Latin this hour,” I was so grateful for Lilly Mason at that moment I could have just hugged her. I slowed down to a normal walking pace when we reached the marble staircase.
As we descended the steps, Kiran and Talbott took positions on either side of us. I could hear Talbott introduce himself to Lilly; she responded back in a terribly shy and shaky voice. I inwardly winced, imagining all of the horribly rude things Talbott would say to her. But to my surprise, he remained perfectly polite and sounded nearly as nervous as she did. Their voices dropped in volume and I tilted my head to listen in on their conversation.
“Did you say you had French next?” Kiran’s languid accent pulled me out of my eavesdropping; I found myself relaxing a little.
“Um, yes. Why? Don’t tell me you have that next as well?” Was this school playing some kind of sick joke on me?
“Yes, I do, actually. It looks as if we are destined to be together,” his grin was back and I hoped that he was only kidding. I replied with a forced smile of my own.
“Does everyone in our class have French?” I realized that he was new too, but for some reason everyone seemed to know him already.
“No, I don’t think so. I think that French is a last resort for us latecomers. The other language classes must have been filled,” his accent was alluring, and I had to remind myself forcibly what kind of person he really was.
We exited the building and found ourselves in the warm sunshine. I hadn’t realized how damp and chilly the building was, until I could feel the sun on my skin. I breathed in the fresh air. I pulled my thick hair off my neck and let the gentle, but humid wind blow through it.
I closed my eyes, hiding them from brilliant light of the morning sun. Lilly had led us out of the building through what appeared to be a back entrance. We were standing in a courtyard surrounded by identical brick buildings on every side. The beautiful campus felt more worthy of a university atmosphere than a horrible preparatory school.
“There you two are! I have been looking all over for you,” a girl’s smooth, but unfamiliar voice forced me to open my eyes and meet yet another student of Kingsley.
“Hello, Seraphina.” Kiran’s voice was all honey again as he addressed the girl approaching us. She was tall, even taller than I was; probably 5’10. Her long, thick, blonde hair bounced gently as she walked and her clear, unblemished skin almost glistened in the sun light. Her cherry-red lips were pursed and her cobalt blue eyes squinted, making a face that was less than happy. If it weren’t for the expression on her face, she could have been a model walking down the runway.
“Hello,” she said, careful to pronounce each syllable. “What is taking you so long?” she gave a disinterested look in my direction, and without waiting for an answer from Kiran, looked at me and declared, “You’re the girl who fainted.”
“Good memory,” I responded sarcastically. I started to walk away, dragging Lilly with me when Kiran interrupted our getaway.
“These lovely girls were just showing us to our next class,” we stopped moving and turned to look at him. I noticed Lilly’s bee-stung lips formed in the exact “Oh” formation mine were.
“How nice of them,” Seraphina slid her stick thin arm through Kiran’s, suggesting some kind of claim she had on him. For the first time I noticed how similar they looked; they could have almost been twins. Despite my disgust for Kiran, and now, Seraphina, I couldn’t ignore the tightening in my stomach that felt something like jealousy.
Chapter Five
Welcoming all students and guests, the Administration Building sat in the front of hexagonally-shaped Kingsley. But leading out from either side of the building was a stone pathway connecting all six buildings. A large grassed courtyard surrounded a tall, brick, bell tower. The same dark, red brick architectural style dominated the buildings at Kingsley.
The English and Theatrical building was placed on the far northeast side of campus, and the History, Language and Arts building was placed on the southeast side. The walk along the brick path was short; we just had to pass the Gymnasium to get to it.
Green grass, green trees, and flowers still in bloom, embellished the beautiful campus. I would have loved to walk this alone, and take it all in slowly.
Unfortunately, I was not alone. I was forced to walk to French not only with Lilly and Talbott, who couldn’t keep their eyes off each other, but with my new best friends Seraphina and Kiran as well. And to my ultimate disdain, Seraphina could not keep her hands off of Kiran, I realized this shouldn’t bother me, and I hated that it did.
The walk was short however, and soon we had all climbed yet another marble staircase to find ourselves on the second floor of the H and L building. I glanced at Lilly who pointed me in the direction of French.
I entered into another class that had already begun; I was apparently unable to get to class on time today. A young, sophisticated, teacher glanced back from the chalkboard to glare at me. Her short, cropped, black hair was the same color as her short, cropped, black skirt suit. She wore bright, red lipstick and dark-rimmed glasses. She reminded me of something out of a bad adult film.
“Vous etes en retard,” although she was speaking French, her irritated tone did not escape me.
“I’m sorry. I’m new,” I tried in English. I had never had a French class in my life. At my previous schools I took Spanish; but that was not even offered at this school and, so I was stuck with French because it was the only open class. Aunt Syl promised me it was very similar to Spanish, but after what Kiran said, I was sure it was the last available space.
“Excusez-nous s’il vous plaît. C’est toute ma faute,” Kiran and Talbott finally made their way through the door behind me and of course, Kiran took the initiative to introduce himself to the teacher; and it appeared he was speaking in perfect French, although I had no clue what he was saying. “Eden est nouvelle aussi et nous avons perdu notre chemin. Pardonnez-nous s’il vous plaît.”
“Il n’y a pas de problème. Je suis heureuse que vous nous ayez trouvé,” the adult film school dropout responded to Kiran in the most pleasant voice. She had completely transformed from the woman who spoke to me only seconds earlier, to another adoring fan of our one and only Kiran. “Accueillez, accueillir.”
“Eden, you look confused,” she turned her to me, and although she was not completely rude, she was not friendly either. Her English was marked by an unmistakably French accent. I wondered cynically if Kingsley had all of their language teachers directly flown in.
“I’m sorry, I just, um, I don’t speak French. I’ve only taken Spanish,” I tried to look as apologetic as possible, while wondering silently if you could be kicked out of this school just for irritating the bejeezus out of every teacher.
“Cela ne peut pas être?” she said again in French, shaking her head. “Why would they put you in this class if you cannot speak the language?” Without waiting for an answer, she continued. “Well, you are just going to have to learn. I refuse to dumb down my curriculum because one student is ignorant.”
She looked at me as if she expected me to fight her on this. I didn’t expect her to “dumb” down the class either. Although, I thought she could have said it in a nicer way; but that was what I had come to expect of this school, of its teachers, and of its students. I just kept looking at her in the same apologetic way as before.
“Well, I suppose the best way for you to catch up is by full immersion. I am Ms. Devereux. We speak only French in this class, and although I will give you some grace, I expect you to catch up quickly. You will need a tutor as soon as possible. You will sit at my desk, until I feel you are ready for a partner. Go quickly,” she waved her arm in the direction of the teacher’s desk and didn’t give me another look. “Kiran and Talbott, I am so glad you have chosen this class. Please sit down anywhere,” she spoke her instructions so quickly and with such a thick accent, I had trouble understanding, but I did as she told me.
I took my seat at her desk and pulled out my French books. I knew that I was the center of attention and again felt completely humiliated sitting in the front of the class, all eyes staring at me. Worst of all, Kiran was barely able to contain his laughter.
I opened my books and forced my eyes on to the page. Even the introduction was written in French. I rolled my eyes and groaned inwardly, while Ms. Devereux spoke rapidly in a language I was afraid would be the reason I would never graduate from high school. All of the students answered her questions without missing a beat; including Kiran whose flawless French rivaled even Ms. Devereux’s.
I tried to avoid staring at him the entire class, but found myself glancing in his direction more than I would have liked to admit. Every time I looked up from my book, I found him staring back, making me blush for reasons I couldn’t understand. I thought I found him completely horrible?
The class flew by; I spent most of the hour just trying to find words in the book that I heard spoken in class, although I was sure not one French word was spelled phonetically. It appeared that all of the students could already speak French fluently, and Ms. Devereux was out of her mind if she thought that I would ever be able to catch up.
When the bell finally rang, Ms. Devereux lectured me again on the importance of finding a tutor quickly. But as the entire class was gone by now, I didn’t see that happening today. Kiran and Talbott were the only two people I recognized in that class and I’d be damned before I asked either of them.
I found history on the third floor of the same building and realized that except for French, the same people were in all of my classes so far. This had to be the entire junior class. I had been hoping to meet new people, to be given a second chance at proving I was not the idiot everyone in my class thought I was. But it didn’t look like I would get that opportunity.
Thankfully, Lilly saved me a seat and I took it, grateful once again that she was willing to be my friend. Mr. Emerson, my “A History of Europe” teacher, was an elderly man, with an all-white beard and all white-hair. He did not even bother to acknowledge Kiran, Talbott, or me, which actually surprised me. He was so far my favorite teacher, although I couldn’t admit that he did much teaching.
We spent the entire hour listening to him drone on and on, not once looking up from his lecture notes. His voice was a gruff monotone that I found very hard to listen to. I struggled to take notes, but noticed that most of the students were either sleeping on their desk or passing notes back and forth.
Several of them ended up on Kiran’s desk, and I observed his smug smirk after he read each of them. I could only imagine the important messages the girls in this class found necessary to send him. Talbott had his fair share of notes as well, although he had abstained from reading a single one. All the while, Mr. Emerson was oblivious to it all.
The bell rang, and we were off to lunch. The cafeteria was located exactly one building over from the Administration Building. Only seniors were allowed to take lunch in the courtyard, and as Lilly and I walked back across campus, we couldn’t help but feel jealous. They sat basking in the sunlight, and again I noticed that all of them, without exception, were extremely beautiful. The same characteristics that defined my class, defined them as well, uniquely bright eyes and flowing hair. They all seemed to be ready for a photo shoot despite the drab Kingsley uniforms.
Lilly and I walked slowly behind the mob of juniors in front of us, watching the other students gather around Kiran aggressively. Talbott stood close to him as if to protect him from the overzealous girls. The seniors, who had thus far ignored the passing underclassmen, seemed just as enthralled with him as all of the others. Several of the girls and boys stood up and approached him, shaking his hand and taking pictures with their cell phones. These people were seriously delusional.
The cafeteria was more like a great hall, with long, thick, oak tables set up all over, than a typical lunchroom. I turned to Lilly for direction, but her blushing red face looked down at the ground. We hadn’t talked since we left the other building, and I couldn’t imagine what had upset her. I wondered if she was just as astounded over the scene in the courtyard as I was.
“Are you ok?” I asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
“Um, it’s just that, well, I don’t usually sit with anyone else at lunch,” her voice quivered slightly. She was embarrassed because she assumed I would think less of her. However, I couldn’t have been more thrilled at the news.
“Oh thank God!” I blurted out. We both immediately started laughing and got in line for lunch.
After picking our way through the large buffet-like selection of food, which resembled more of a Thanksgiving feast than cafeteria food, we found an isolated table and took our seats. I looked around at the lunchroom full of people, sitting together in their own respective cliques. I noticed that Kiran and Talbott found a table near the middle of the room surrounded by girls, including Seraphina and several seniors, all giving Kiran their undivided attention.
“So what’s the deal with that girl from earlier?” I tried to sound casual.
“Which girl?” Lilly looked up from her apple.
“The one that could be Kiran’s twin,” I mumbled, allowing the sarcasm to drip into my tone. I was embarrassed by the pang of jealousy punching me in the stomach.
“Oh, that girl,” Lilly rolled her eyes and took another bite of apple. “Well, her name is Seraphina Van Curen. Her family has been part of this school forever, like since it opened a thousand years ago,” Lilly was obviously not impressed with her either, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Huh,” I said a little distracted, wishing I were brave enough to ask Lilly to spill all of the dirt.
“Apparently Talbott is impressed with her,” Lilly looked over at the table and the blood immediately rushed to her cheeks.
“I don’t think it’s Talbott that she’s after,” I said sardonically, hoping to reassure Lilly that Talbott was still available, although I had no idea what she saw in him.
“Those girls are the rest of the girls in our class. The one with short black hair is Adelaide Meyer, and the one wearing all of the diamonds is Evangeline Harris. They and Seraphina, make up the holy trinity,” she rolled her eyes again and I laughed. I’d been in enough high schools to understand the social order of things. “The rest of the girls are just followers, with no minds of their own.”
“Wonderful,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Just steer clear and they won’t bother you…. most of the time,” she looked down at the table, in a way that hinted they probably bothered her more times than she would like to admit.
“Well, this is the side of the cafeteria I prefer to sit on,” I smiled at her reassuringly; it could not have been more truthful.
The bell rang before I finished but we got up to clear our things anyway. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to get back to all of the humiliation. We double-checked to make sure we had the next class together, Calculus, something I was destined to fail at, and made our way to the exit. Mrs. Truance was standing in the doorway eyeing me. Great, the school board had already decided I didn’t fit in and should be expelled promptly.
“Ms. Matthews, Principal Saint would like to see you in his office please; wait here and you can follow me there,” she directed, appearing less than happy to be running this type of errand. I stopped to wait beside her; I waved to Lilly, as she walked by, giving me an apologetic smile. “Mr. Kendrick, please come with me as well.”
Kiran and Talbott approached us with their group of lackeys; Kiran rolled his eyes when he left them. Kiran walked over to us slowly; I noticed his eyes were looking me over approvingly. Unexpectedly, a wave of nausea and a tingle of excitement ran up and down my spine; slowly, but surely, I began to feel the tiny prickles I knew would soon overwhelm me.
“Mr. Angelo, your services will not be needed, unless, of course, you are not able to continue on to class alone?” Mrs. Truance’s snide and demeaning voice addressed Talbott, and I couldn’t help but let out a small snicker that got me a very dirty look from everybody.
Mrs. Truance turned on her heel and stalked off toward the Administration Building. I allowed Kiran to pass, and followed in step behind them. What had I done now?
