Crossing Paths: Chapter One

"If you would please sit down, Miss McCrory."

Katie did as her teacher instructed and sat down in the middle desk of the front row. As it was lunchtime, the classroom was currently empty, other than herself and her homeroom teacher, Mr. Hummel. She had a makeup test to take, since she'd been absent last week, but felt fairly confident she'd do alright in it. She wasn't the best at history, but she'd read the reading – twice in fact – so she figured she had nothing to worry about.

While her teacher went to his desk to grab the test, she reached down into her backpack for her pencil case. She pulled out a pen, took a deep breath, and waited as her teacher made his way toward her. He put the test face-down on her desk, then cracked open a bottle of water, which he then handed to her. "You've got one hour."

Katie nodded, took a sip of the water, and flipped over her test, remembering to sign her name at the top. Mr. Hummel sat quietly at his desk, grading papers.

After quickly reading through the questions, Katie got to work. The first few questions were a breeze. The fourth question, however, was an essay question that was giving her a little more trouble. She tried to concentrate, but the answers just weren't there. Grabbing for the water, she took a few large gulps, followed by a few deep breaths, hoping it would help get her back on track and refocused. She looked up at the clock and made a mental note – 40 mins left.

Deciding to just skip the question for now, she moved on to the next question – an easy one. Her confidence rose as she continued through the test, answering any questions she immediately knew, but soon she found herself again staring at that dreaded essay question that was worth 40 percent of the test's overall grade. 20 mins left.

More water. More deep breaths.

"Just concentrate," she said to herself, tapping her pen against the paper.

Mr. Hummel looked up, "Did you say something, Miss McCrory?"

"Just talking to myself," Katie said, louder this time, looking at her teacher.

"Okay, 15 minutes." Her teacher tapped at his watch for emphasis.

Katie just nodded and looked back down to her test. Like she needed the reminder. She knew she was running out of time, but despite her best efforts, she struggled to focus long enough to get some kind of decent answer down on the paper. Even just reading the question in its entirety was becoming a struggle at this point. Maybe she wasn't really ready to return to school after all.

More water, more deep breaths, and this time, some stretching. She looked from the empty bottle to her hand. The pen was starting to feel foreign between her fingers.

She rolled the pen between her fingers briefly before looking up. "Mr. Hummel?"

"Yes?"

"I don't – "

Before she could even finish her sentence, Mr. Hummel was out of his seat, heading over to his pupil.

"Are you okay?" He bent down to her level, touching her forehead with the back of his hand. "Do you need to go home?"

She didn't speak, but just ever-so-barely shook her head no.

"Are you sure?" Mr. Hummel further inquired. "You don't look okay."

It was almost a whisper, but she managed a quiet, "No, I just need to lay down for a bit." She wasn't about to bother her mother with this. She'd be fine. She always was.

"Can you stand?"

"I think so," Katie replied, but it was clear even before she was fully standing, that she wasn't going to make it very far.

Mr. Hummel lifted her into his arms with ease – she was quite small – and he made his way out of the classroom and down the hall. Those he passed stared and whispered amongst themselves, but didn't think much of the scene. After all, Katie was known as "the sick girl", often spending long periods of time in hospital – a reason she hadn't become very close friends with any of the other students.

It wasn't until the teacher rounded the final corner to his office that he passed Jasper. Jasper, who knew only vaguely of the girl – she was a grade or two below him and was often sick? – didn't really think much of scene either, so he continued on his way down the hall in the opposite direction. As he walked, however, something in the back of his mind nagged at him.

As he passed his fellow students, he picked up feelings of worry or pity from most of them, but remembering back to the teacher, he felt neither of these feelings. Instead, he recalled a distinct feeling of excitement mixed with anticipation from the teacher. But why? Something wasn't right, that much was obvious, so Jasper turned around in search of the student-teacher pair.

He walked until he stood in front of an office labeled Arthur Hummel. He knew this was the place, not by the name – he hadn't known the teacher's name – but rather by the sound of the heartbeats on the other side of the door – one fast, the other far slower than it should be. He knocked and waited, but nothing. He tried for the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn. After a moment's hesitation, he pushed at the door, which easily gave under his vampire strength.

The sight before him, angered him immediately.

On the couch lay the girl, barely moving, in a state of partial undress. Above her hovered the so-called Mr. Hummel, running his hands over places he had no business touching.

In less than a second, Jasper had grabbed the man and thrown him into a filing cabinet in the corner of the small room. Jasper watched as the teacher cried out in pain, clutching his left wrist with his other hand. The teacher then looked ready to lunge at Jasper, who held his ground between the man and the barely conscious girl on the couch, a look of pure rage on his face. The teacher clearly thought better of his original plan and backed off almost immediately, instead, choosing to quickly leave the room.