Author's Note: Whoa. I was definitely not expecting the response I got.
Thank you, everyone who reviewed! I'm SO SORRY I didn't have this up sooner, but I had a killer case of writer's block. XD
Also, I hate to disappoint people, but I'm not one of those authors who update regularly. I update when I get the inspiration to write. Luckily, dry spells like last month don't happen frequently.
So then, ONWARD!
Welcome to My Side of the River,
Sonya
Heather's POV
Art with Dash went by quickly. I couldn't remember the last time I laughed so hard. It would be kind of irritating to deal with the fangirls later though, who, judging by the glares I was receiving the entire period, were NOT happy about that I was spending so much time with Dash.
As we drew, Dash asked to see my schedule. I handed it over. He examined it for a minute, then let out a low whistle.
"You're quite the smarty-pants, aren't you?" I stuck my tongue out at him childishly, and he laughed.
"You have Spanish with Violet. I'll walk you there. Vi can show you how to get to Gym, since it's on her way to Psychology. I don't know how you'll get to Trig, English, or lunch, but I think I can get you to Chem, and Songwriting's just down the hall from Chem." He mused.
"Tony said he could get me to Trig and English." I replied. "And lunch is just outside the Gym, isn't it?"
"Yup." Dash said. "So you should be good."
The teacher, Mr. Jennings, told us to clean up then. I looked at what I had drawn haphazardly, and internally cursed.
A giant black X divided my paper into four sections. In the top triangle, I'd drawn a dolphin jumping through waves. A wave insignia was in the vertex of the triangle directly above the X's intersection.
In the right section, I'd drawn a fox padding through flames. A flame insignia that was all-too-familiar to me lay in the intersection's corner.
On the bottom, I'd drawn an eagle flying, while a storm built up around it. A hurricane insignia was displayed in its respective intersection corner.
The left was filled with a stag striding through a forest. A rock was its insignia.
I'd unthinkingly drawn the elements me and my cousins represented. The top was Miranda Whittinger, my cousin currently residing in France. She controlled water. The insignia in the corner was the one displayed on Tsunami (her alter ego)'s uniform. The right was me. Fire was my element, and the flame was my symbol when I was Inferno. The left was Tony. He commanded earth, and the rock was Earthquake's signature. My cousin David Rodriguez, who lived in Mexico, was the bottom section. Wind was his element, and when he was Huracán (Spanish for Hurricane), the wind was his symbol.
I tried to slip it into my backpack without Dash noticing, but he took the paper out of my hands before I could blink. "Whoa, I didn't know you could draw too." He said, amazed.
I forced a smile. "Yup." I took the paper back from him, and my smile became much more natural, and less pained. "You saw mine, so let me see yours." I ordered.
"Er…."He stalled. I gave him my best Don't-even-think-about-refusing look, and he handed it over without further objection.
A tropical island had been sketched with incredible detail on the paper, surrounded by crystalline waters. A volcano interrupted the stretch of lush vegetation covering the island, and though I don't know how, I could tell it was about to erupt. He'd perfectly captured the eerie calm before the storm.
I handed it back. "This is amazing." I informed him, and he flushed slightly.
Dash opened his mouth to reply, but the bell rang then. He grabbed both our backpacks off the floor. I was about to object, but he shook his head silently. I swallowed my objection, and let him lead me through the crowded hallways.
We got a lot of stares as we walked to Spanish. I tried to pass it off as simple new-girl curiosity, and in a small town like this, there probably weren't many new students. However, I got the feeling that wasn't quite it, considering that a lot of the stares were directed at Dash. Was this normal for him?
He stopped in front of a door I assumed was my Spanish class. He grabbed the handle, and opened the door. I expected him to simply walk through, but he stepped aside, gesturing for me to go first.
So Dash Parr was a gentleman. I thanked him, and stepped through the doorway.
It was easy to tell who Violet was. Although she had long raven-black hair and nearly-black eyes, she had the same facial structure as Dash. On Dash, the effect was masculine, but not overly. On Violet, it was distinctly feminine. Paired with a taller, slim figure, and I immediately understood why Tony was attracted to her.
Currently, her expression was one of shock, with raised eyebrows and a slightly dropped jaw. The stares we had gotten in the hallway suddenly made sense: carrying a girl's books and holding doors open for her was NOT normal behavior for Dash. So why'd he do it?
"Mr. Parr, you're not in my class." The teacher, an imposing-looking man, interrupted my thinking.
"I was showing Heather where to go." He replied.
The teacher turned to me, and I disliked him instantly. I knew that look. It was the I-am-superior-to-you look. I knew he expected me to cower under his gaze as most students would. I had played this game enough to know that most of his students probably did shrink under his degrading scrutiny. I, however, reacted in the way he least expected: I stood taller, and leveled him with a glare of my own.
He was momentarily surprised, but only for a moment. "I don't teach sophomores." He told me arrogantly. I almost laughed at his pathetic attempt at regaining dominance over me.
I didn't acknowledge his snide comment with a response. Instead, I simply handed him my schedule. He cockily examined it, expecting to see an alternate course and teacher printed in my third period block. He paled as he realized that he really was teaching a sophomore. Evidently, sophomores weren't usually placed in Spanish VI AP.
"Since I have alphabetically organized seating, you will sit next to Miss Parr. Miss Parr, raise your hand." Violet raised her hand. I reclaimed my backpack from Dash, saying goodbye to him as I did so. He left for his next class, and I took my seat next to Violet.
"Miss O'Reilly, introduce yourself to the class." I was about to speak, he cut me off. "In Spanish."
Violet's POV
I don't know what I expected today. But seeing Dash walk into my Spanish class with a girl, carrying her backpack and holding the door open for her, certainly wasn't it.
I could feel my jaw beginning to drop in shock. Since when did my brother escort a girl to class? And why she look vaguely familiar, even though I was sure I'd never seen her before in my life.
She looked at me, and recognition flared in her eyes. Dash must have told her about me.
"Mr. Parr, you're not in my class." Mr. Cortes stated arrogantly.
"I was showing Heather where to go." Dash replied, gesturing to the girl next to him. I could see an obvious softening in Dash's expression when he looked at her. Looks like my younger brother has a crush.
Mr. Cortes turned towards Heather. He immediately fixed her with his infamous 'withering-violet' glare (pun unintended).
Her response shocked me. Instead of shrinking under his gaze as most students did, she stood taller, calmly leveling a glare of her own at him. Hers, however, sent a different message than his. Instead of 'I-am-superior-to-you', her gaze said 'no-you're-not-and-we-both-know-it'.
I gave Dash a 'did she just do that' look. He nodded. This girl was either the bravest person I'd ever known, or the craziest.
Eventually, the stare-off ended, surprisingly with Mr. Cortes' change of tactics. "I don't teach sophomores." He informed her. Heather simply handed him her schedule, and I saw his face drop as he realized he was teaching sophomores. At the very least, he was teaching this one.
"Since I have alphabetically organized seating, you will sit next to Miss Parr. Miss Parr, raise your hand." I did so, and Heather, taking her backpack from Dash, sat in the seat to my left. Dash exited the room to head to his next class.
"Miss O'Reilly, introduce yourself to the class. In Spanish." I mentally rolled my eyes at the pettiness of this move. Clearly, he expected the suddenness of this to trip her up.
She didn't even pause. "Me llamo Heather O'Reilly. Tengo quince años. Soy de Dublin, Irlanda. Mi primo es Tony Rydinger. Me gusta leer y dibujar."* I nearly choked when she said Tony's name. Dash's crush was the cousin of Tony, who I'd liked for years. The irony was killing me. At the very least, it explained why she looked so familiar.
Mr. Cortes, as well as the rest of the class, stared at her, shocked. She'd spoken in a flawless accent, though no one could quite place it. It sounded familiar though….
"Mexican?" I didn't realize I had spoken out loud until everyone turned to look at me. I did my best not to recoil under their gazes.
"Yes, actually." Heather answered, slightly surprised. "How did you know?"
I couldn't exactly say it was because I worked with Huracán, a Mexican superhero, before, and he'd spoken with the same accent as she did. So I revised it. "I listen to the news in Spanish, and heard Huracán give a news broadcast last week. He spoke with the same accent you did."
Technically, I wasn't lying. I did listen to the news in Spanish, and I did hear Huracán give the broadcast. I just neglected to mention that I'd been there as Invisigirl as he did it.
I heard one of the popular kids mutter "Nerd" under her breath. Evidently, Heather heard it too, because she turned towards the girl.
"And?" She challenged. The girl looked down, unable to form a response.
"Anyways." Heather continued. "You're right, Violet. I have a cousin living in Mexico. He taught me Spanish."
"Good." Mr. Cortes interrupted. "I also hope he taught you about Tenochtitlan, because that's what we're studying. Take yout your textbooks, and answer the questions on page 46. Work with the person sitting next to you."
Heather smiled at me. "You must be Violet. I'm Heather O'Reilly. Nice to meet you."
"You too." I said. "Did your cousin teach you about Tenochtitlan?"
She grinned evilly. "David taught me everything about Tenochtitlan. He's in college, studying archaeology. And since he lives in Mexico City…"
I immediately connected the dots. "Since he lives directly over the ruins of Tenochtitlan, that's what he's studying."
"Exactly." We proceeded to answer all of the questions, and finished with plenty of time to spare.
"We'd better keep talking." I informed her. "Otherwise Mr. Cortes will think we're slacking."
"Jerk." She mumbled, and I couldn't help but agree with her.
"How'd you meet my brother?" I asked her.
"He's in my Homeroom/History class." She replied.
"Yeah, but he usually doesn't talk to people until he establishes they're not a fangirl." We both rolled our eyes in sync.
"I don't really know why he started talking to me." She admitted. "Or why he stood up for me, for that matter."
"He what?"
"Some idiot decided it would be funny to mock my Irish heritage. Dash told him to stop." Heather elaborated.
One look at my face told her all she needed to know. "He doesn't usually do this, does he?"
"No." I said. "Definitely not. He must really like you." She blushed. "You like him, don't you?"
"No, no." She insisted. "I just met him."
"And yet you've got him walking you to class and holding doors open for you." I pointed out.
She quickly changed the subject. "Hey, Violet, do you think that you could tell me where the Gym is?"
"I'll walk you there." I promised. The bell rang, effectively cutting off any chance to interrogate her further.
It would certainly be interesting to see how this panned out.
(TRANSLATION FOR ALL WHO DON'T SPEAK SPANISH)
* My name is Heather O'Reilly. I am 15 years old. I'm from Dublin, Ireland. My cousin is Tony Rydinger. I like to read and draw.