EDIT: OHHH MMYYY GGOSSSHH TTHEEE IIMMMAAGGEEE MMMAAANNNAAGGGEEERRR WWWOOOORRKKKSSS.
A/N. You guys have no idea how giddy I'm feeling right now! 50 reviews! Yay! :D Ah, sorry, I'm really greedy when it comes to reviews. But really, they always make my day! During video class and computer class (different classes even though they might sound the same-ish) last week, my teachers let me use the computer (my video one let me take out my phone and gave me the school's wifi password, though -Mrs. Stewart, you are so awesome!) so I checked FF a lot. Thanks so much again! I say thanks too many times so...Danke! Maraming salamat! Arigato (ありがとう) ! Gracias! Grazie! Merci! شكرا! (Did I get that one right?)
Heehee, I loved all your responses to the QotW! I had two winners, though. Autumn and Longlivethecookiemonster won for the giving me the response that made me laugh: "(Sage has) Buck teeth. He still looks cute though. :)" and "Sage looks exactly like Shaggy from Scooby Doo, except with brown hair...Sometimes, Mr. Firay is Fred, and all perfect...Daphne is Daphne. And I have no clue who Velma is...If you don't know what Scooby Doo is, shame on you." I loved all of them, of course! I liked -forgot who said it, sorry :3- the review that imagined Sage with black hair. :D That was an interesting picture.
RotW: I'm not in a lagoon, but I'm in a stream. I'm not in a television set, but I'm in an electronic appliance. I'm not in a house, but I'm in an apartment. What am I?
And don't even try to copy and paste this into a search engine to cheat for the answer. I altered the words around and used synonyms so the answers won't pop up. You'll have to use your brain (unless you've heard one similar to this before)! I'll announce how the riddle really looks next chapter. :)
Now...sigh...I must announce a dedication. She forced me to write this so just know I'm not really praising her. ;D
This is a shout-out to the girl who I hate, but will miss because she's leaving me for this fancy, $17,360 school, but I love her in the non-creepy way, and she's the -supposedly- 'coolest person ever' and my favorite writer besides FanFiction writers, Rick Riordan, Michael Buckley, and JL, and she is so awesome because she has such an obsession with Selena Gomez that makes her beast, and she's such a cool singer and would've Mattstarred in our school play and likes eating pretzels. Her name is Casey. Who is not a boy. Nor is she British.
Dang. Long sentences! Hope you like it, Slytherin-loving, Athena-loving CLB-loving, Book-loving, Pretzel-eating girl. Sofie, Kate, Maggie, and I will miss you so much! (I know you're reading because I wrote on your binder that I'd post the dedication today. ;D)
Okay, now here's your chapter! I think you'll really like it. :D
Chapter 3: Gym Class
"Come on, Daphne!" Ariana cried, yanking on my arm.
Shaking my head, I planted my feet firmly on the ground so she couldn't pull me closer to the gym door. "No! I'm sick—"
"You were perfectly fine in Mr. Firay's class!"
"That's because… That's because…"
"What? His penetrating gaze heals you?"
I rolled my eyes as Ariana snickered at her own joke. "I really don't feel good, Ariana."
"Too bad."
With one vigorous pull, Ariana sent me stumbling forwards. She took the advantageous moment to quickly wrench open the gym door, roughly throw me through it, and swiftly close it behind us. Immediately I tried to leave, but Ariana stood immobile in front of the door.
"You're not going to make me face the new gym teacher by myself, are you?" she demanded, crossing her arms.
I returned her expression with a miffed one. Instead of telling Ariana Sage was the new gym teacher, I figured I'd let her find out for herself. My plan was to feign sickness so I wouldn't have to go. Ariana was now ruining that plan.
"Just change," Ariana ordered, pushing me further into the locker room. "I'm sure he or she won't be that bad."
Sighing deeply in resignation, I allowed Ariana to push me to our lockers. A bunch of girls were already changed and now heading up the stairs, while some were still throwing on t-shirts and gym shorts. Opening my locker, I pulled out my bag of gym clothing, regretting not packing sweatpants for backup. If Sage said one word to me, I'd punch him as soon as school was out…
"Hi Daphne! Hi Ariana!"
I quickly yanked my shirt the rest of the way off my head, turning to see Anna standing behind me, beaming. "Hey."
"Do either one of you have a pair of gym pants I can borrow? I didn't know we had to bring our own…"
As I shook my head, Ariana gave her an affirmative answer. Anna turned her attention to Ariana, her smile growing broader. I watched as Ariana produced a plain white t-shirt and our school's black sweatpants. My eyes widened when they landed on them. Ariana had sweatpants!
"Ariana—"
"Here you go!" Ariana chirped, handing off her extra gym clothes to Anna. "Sorry they're sweatpants."
My heart plummeted at once. Scowling, I turned back to my locket to pull out my gym shorts. I should have asked Ariana earlier. Anna could have worn my gym clothing. Reluctantly I stripped out of my jeans and into my gym shorts, now very aware of how short they actually were.
Anna and Ariana started up the stairs first. I followed along slowly, taking my time with each stair, taking extra care not to slip on the dust. Not that there was dust— it was just in case. When I finally pushed open the door to the gym, I braced myself for Sage's smirk and teasing gaze. However, Sage was nowhere in sight. The students were running around amuck in the gym. The boys were playing with the mats— doing flips off the bleachers onto them or belly-flopping. One student was even playing basketball with his shoe, trying to throw it through the hoop.
"Jackson! Jackson over here!" Anna cried, waving at her twin enthusiastically. "Whose gym clothes did you borrow?"
My eyes followed the young man with pecan colored hair as he slowly started coming towards Anna, Ariana, and myself. His gaze met mine and he smiled mysteriously. I blinked at him, not sure what his smile meant.
"Hey, Ariana," he greeted when he grew close enough. "Hi, Daphne."
"Hello," Ariana and I chorused, her tone chipper, my tone wary.
Anna squinted her eyes at her brother's gym shirt. "Isn't that your shirt?"
Once again, Jackson was wearing a shirt from a band I liked, except this one was a thermal. He nodded, looking down at it. "I'm not stupid like you and I figured we'd have to bring our own clothes."
"I'm not stupid," Anna protested, crossing her arms.
Ariana sent me an amused look and I pressed my lips together to stop myself from laughing.
"Hey Daphne," Jackson started, turning his attention to me. "Can I ask you something?"
For some reason, anxiety filled me. It took me a moment to wet my mouth enough in order to reply. "What?"
"It's about—"
"Jackson!" Anna hissed, sending a fist straight into her brother's chest.
Jackson's eyes shot open in surprise and he took a step back, wincing. His hand shot up to the spot where Anna had punched him and he rubbed it. "What the hell was that for?"
"Keep your mouth shut!"
"It's just a question!"
"A stupid question!"
Jackson gave her an impatient look. "It's not like asking her is going to get her killed."
"It's not worth it," Anna snapped. "Just drop it."
Ariana and I exchanged bewildered looks. What were they going on about? What did Jackson want to ask me? The nervous feeling returned again and I gave Jackson an uncomfortable look. He frowned at me, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"I… I'm going to get a drink," I muttered, moving around Ariana towards the edge of the gym.
My heart thudded in my chest as I jogged to the water fountain. Jackson's words echoed in my mind. It's not like asking her is going to get her killed. That hit too close to home— especially after the gang thing. Did he know about that or something? What did he want to ask? Part of me was tremendously curious, but the other half figured staying unaware of the question would be safer. Maybe he just wanted to know my favorite color. Or maybe he wanted to know how Bryant ended up in jail…
Shaking my head as if to clear my thoughts, I leaned down to take a drink of water. I was getting way too ahead of myself. Anna and Jackson didn't know anything. He was probably just curious about the biology homework or something. Mr. Firay wasn't exactly good at explaining things. The thought brought a smile to my face. At least it was one of his charm points. Even though it made the rest of the class extremely irritated.
Just as I started returning to where Ariana, Anna, and Jackson were, the door from the boys locker room opened. I froze, watching as a familiar young man with blonde hair appeared, dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and a tight-fitting white shirt. Sage. Luckily, he didn't notice I was right behind him. Keeping as quiet as I could, I followed a few steps behind him as he moved towards Ariana and the others. The people in the gym quickly began assembling there as well. Sage stopped dead in front of Ariana.
"Nice," he commented and Ariana's face flushed.
"You're hot," Anna blurted, her eyes widening in surprise.
Since Sage's back was turned to me, I couldn't see his reaction, but I figured he looked as surprised as the students in front of them. I stared at Anna in disbelief. She really did say that to everyone. Ariana shot Anna a frown, but quickly returned her attention to Sage and a silly grin came onto her face. I couldn't help but grin at her. No matter what Mr. Firay said, I thought Ariana and Sage would be cute together.
"Where's Daphne?" Sage asked, moving his hands to his hips. "I swear she was going to be in this class."
Jackson's eyes snapped to me, a small smirk growing on his face. "I do believe she's right behind you."
I sent Jackson a glare just as Sage twirled around. A huge grin spread across his face and his eyes swept over me quickly. Flushing, I glowered at him, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Wait until I tell Matt how cute you are—"
"Sage!" I hissed, cutting him off. "You can't say that! Shh!"
He looked offended, but lowered his voice. "I'm just complimenting you."
"You can't. You're a teacher now."
Sage made a face. "That's no fun."
"Sage, just take attendance, or something," I suggested, moving around him to join the crowd of students that were on his other side.
Anna nudged me in the shoulder. "You know him?"
"Kind of," I admitted.
"Hello class," Sage started, sounding put off. "My name's Sage, but it's Mr. Ross to all of you. Since I'm your teacher and I have to make you do that."
Rolling my eyes, I turned away from him. He was so immature.
"Why are all the teachers at this school so hot?" Anna whispered, her eyes never leaving Sage.
I grimaced at her. "Anna, don't say that…"
"Why not? It's just my opinion."
"Still."
She smirked at me. "Aw, does someone have a crush?"
My eyes widened. "What? No—"
"Mr. Firay, huh?" Anna commented, cutting me off. "I kind of figured. It seems like every girl has a crush on him. Not that I can blame them. He's cute."
I stared at her in disbelief. Was I that easy to see through? She caught my look and smiled at me.
"Don't worry, I won't say anything to anyone," she assured me. "Though I doubt anyone would care too much anyway. After all, he's a teacher and teachers can't date students."
"That's true," I responded with a nervous laugh. "It's just a silly infatuation… No big deal."
Anna nodded her head. "Right. But if we were talking about our gym teacher, it's a different story. He's hot and I highly doubt he's that much older than us."
Ariana turned towards us now, raising an eyebrow. "He's still a teacher."
"I heard he has a girlfriend," I blurted out.
Both AnnaJackson's and Ariana's eyes widened. I returned the look, just as surprised as my outburst as them. Hopefully Ariana would realize I was lying. After a moment, Ariana refocused her attention on Sage. Anna was still staring at me.
"Really?" she asked.
After a second, I nodded. "That's just what, um… Yeah…"
Anna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but said nothing more. I quickly turned away from her so she wouldn't be tempted to say anything more. Sage was still prattling on about the course outline and expectations, his eyes darting to either Ariana or myself every now and again. Frowning, I stared back at him, crossing my arms. Why did Sage have to be attractive? Was I being unfair by lying to Anna? My shoulders sagged and I sighed quietly.
"Alright! Then at Daphne's request, we'll start by doing three laps around the gym!"
A groan swept through the class and my head snapped to Sage. He grinned at me, jerking his head to the side as a gesture for me to start running. The rest of the class slowly started to jog while I stood in place, scowling at him.
"Nice going, Daphne," Daniel commented, elbowing me as he passed me.
Ignoring him, I waited until everyone had gone ahead to speak. "Sage—"
"If you don't start running I might have to give you double laps," he sang in a taunting tone. "Chop, chop!"
After giving him an irked look, I started jogging away from him. Sage snickered loudly, and I resisted the urge to turn around and punch him. Jogging wasn't really my forte, so by the time I was finished with my three laps, everyone else had already finished and caught their breath. Huffing, I leaned backwards, placing my hands on my hips.
"Okay," Sage started, clapping his hands together. "The course says we're supposed to start with baseball, but personally I think that's boring, so we aren't starting with that."
For the first time, I was happy Sage was the gym teacher. The only sport that I was worse at than baseball was volleyball. Shuddering at the memories, I tried to repress them. Definitely some of the most embarrassing times in my life.
"Today I don't have the equipment for I want to do, so we'll just play dodge ball," Sage continued, making me grow even fonder of him. Dodge ball was practically a free pass out of gym because you could just stand in the back or get yourself out if you didn't want to play.
"What are we starting tomorrow then?" Anna spoke up, beaming at him. "Something fun?"
Sage grinned. "Oh yes."
Now curiosity was getting the best of me. "What is it?"
"Something Matt told me that was entertaining," he told me.
Immediately my heart sank. Someone behind me whispered a question about who Matt was. If Mr. Firay was the one who gave Sage the suggestion it only meant one thing…
"Starting tomorrow, we'll be playing volleyball!" Sage announced, looking pleased with himself.
A burst of cheers erupted from behind me as I dropped my head. I should have seen it coming. Sage being my gym teacher could never be a good thing. This was going to be one long semester.
By the time I arrived in Mr. Firay's classroom fifteen minutes after school ended— a precaution we decided would be best to heed— I was nearly asleep on my feet. Mr. Firay was at his desk, focusing intently on the papers in front of him. There was a towering stack of them to his left, and a considerably smaller one to the right. A smile crossed my face as I quietly tiptoed towards his desk, holding my breath tightly. I managed to sneak all the way behind him without being caught. Slowly, I raised my hands up to grab his shoulders.
Without warning he turned in his chair, bringing his arms around my waist, and yanking me towards him. A startled gasp left my lips as I lost my balance and nearly fell over backwards. Mr. Firay chuckled, holding me tighter so I wouldn't fall over. Blushing furiously, I began to struggle out of his grasp.
"Daphne, next time you try to scare me, try opening the classroom door a little more quietly," he suggested, looking up at me with a smirk.
Embarrassed, I quickly looked away. "I—I'll try to remember that…"
He laughed again and let me go. "How did gym class go?"
"Well, thanks to you we're playing volleyball tomorrow," I told him, a frown appearing on my face.
He cocked his head to the side, looking at me with a confused expression. "How is that my fault?"
It took me a second to register his words. Mr. Firay definitely had the cutest confused expression I'd ever seen. "You told Sage stories about me?"
"Oh," he responded with realization. A smile of amusement passed across his face. "I'm sorry, Daphne. But I didn't have anyone else I could talk to about you."
"How much did you talk about me?"
Mr. Firay abruptly looked away, clearing his throat. "Not much."
"Well, I'm sure Sage would tell me if I asked…"
"Okay," Mr. Firay snapped, turning back to me, an uncomfortable expression on his face. "I talked about you a lot. But that was only because Sage would never stop asking me questions about you."
The smile on my face grew wider and I reached out and ruffled Mr. Firay's hair, much like he would do to me all the time. "Aw, you're so cute."
He batted my hand away, shooting me a glare. "Go make me some coffee."
"Now you're getting all defensive!"
"No I'm not!"
I raised an eyebrow. "Is that denial?"
"Daphne."
"I think it was," I commented teasingly, tapping my lips with my finger. "Interesting…"
Mr. Firay narrowed his eyes. "If you don't go make me coffee I'll give you a fifty on your test."
"You can't do that!"
"Watch me."
After a short glaring match, I huffed in defeat, trudging towards the supply closet. "You're a jerk."
"I love you, Daphne."
I paused, feeling my face heat up. For a few moments I tried to think of a clever response, but came up blank. "You too," I finally muttered before quickly slipping into the closet.
As I went about fixing Mr. Firay a cup of coffee, I grinned to myself. It was actually kind of cute how defensive he got when he was embarrassed. I didn't even mind that he ordered me around. When his coffee was done, I brought it to his desk, and set it beside him.
"Thank you," he responded, dragging it closer to him. "Pull up a chair."
Doing as he ordered, I dragged one of the chairs from the lab tables up to his desk and took a seat next to him. He rolled his eyes, reaching over to drag my seat closer to him. I flushed again, but didn't move away.
"I won't bite," he commented with a grin.
I gave him a disapproving look. "What if someone comes in?"
"They can't."
"What do you mean?"
"I locked the door."
A grimace passed my face. "Are you allowed to do that?"
He shrugged. "Probably not. But it's safer this way."
"But—"
"Shh, Daphne. I'm trying to focus on correcting these tests."
Pressing my lips together tightly, I narrowed my eyes at him as he returned to his attention back to the test he was in the middle of correcting, a smug look on his face. His expression soon turned into a serious one as he read the open response questions he assigned, making a face every now and then at something someone wrote. I watched with a small smile, resting my head on my arms on his desk.
Ten minutes later I was finding it hard to stay awake. A yawn escaped my lips and I shut my eyes briefly, letting out a deep sigh. Seconds later I heard the sound of something moving across the desk and then felt something warm against my face. My eyes shot open and I saw Mr. Firay raising an eyebrow at me.
"Tired?" he asked rhetorically.
Nodding in response, I looked down at the half-full mug he had pressed against my face. "You want more?"
He shook his head. "You drink it. You need it more."
I stared at him in surprise, my heart rate increasing the tiniest bit. "Really?"
"There's your catch phrase again," he teased, flicking me in my forehead. "Drink it."
Turning my attention to the mug in front of me, I picked it up with my hands. I stare at it for a moment, my mouth feeling dry. This was the first time Mr. Firay allowed me to drink after him. Maybe it didn't seem like such a huge thing to other people, but to me it was a huge step. Doing my best not to smile, I slowly brought the rim to my lips and took a sip.
"We just had an indirect kiss," Mr. Firay commented, smiling smugly.
Surprised by his comment, I spat out the drink. My face heated up as Mr. Firay burst out laughing, seemingly unaffected by the fact I spit out the coffee on not only him, but also on the test he was in the middle of correcting.
"S-sorry," I apologized, hanging my head bashfully.
"Don't worry about it," he responded. "Your reaction was worth it. And this is your test anyway."
My eyes snapped to the paper and I immediately recognized my clumsy handwriting. All across the front page were drops of coffee, staining the white page. I sighed lightly, staring at the mug in front of me.
"Daphne."
Automatically I turned my head up to Mr. Firay. My eyes widened when I noticed how close he was to me. Only about two inches away. If I just leaned forward in my seat, our lips would touch… A new blush rose to my cheeks as I tried to force away my indecent thoughts. We were still in school. In a locked room… With no one around…
Mr. Firay made the first move. He leaned forwards, just gently brushing his lips against mine. Instead of pulling away like I usually would, I brought my hands to his face so he couldn't move back. After a moment he grinned through the kiss and gripped my hands, removing them from his face.
"You're the one who said no PDA in school," he informed me when I pouted at him.
"You're the one who locked the door."
He chuckled, mussing with my hair. "I'm sorry, Daphne. I really need to finish these tests."
"Am I distracting you?"
"Kind of," he admitted.
"Should I leave?"
Mr. Firay immediately shook his head. "No. If I didn't want you to be here, I wouldn't have asked you to stay. I like having you around."
I smiled at him, a bubbly feeling erupting in my chest. "Aw, that's so cu—"
"Just don't talk."
My smile dropped and I gave him a wry look. He laughed through his nose at my expression before turning back to my test. Letting out another sigh, I left my head fall back on my arms. Mr. Firay was lucky I loved him.
A/N. I thought I should mention -school ended Friday! I'm officially done with 7th grade...Noooo! D: 7th and 5th grade have been the best school years ever! I said goodbye to and hugged everyone that day (even the boys -they didn't even find it awkward; hooray!) and teared up a lot. :'3 But...it was a great year, to say the least. :) I'm happy with the way it turned out. *,000reviewscough*
Um, I won't be replying to any reviews this chapter because FanFiction messed with something, so I didn't get the reviews in my email inbox (it's where I keep track of everything), so if you had a question or anything, just relay it in chapter 3's review. :D I fixed the problem (you'll see, if you glance at my review to myself for chapter 1, lol) so I'll be replying to reviews posted after this update next chapter. :)
By the way, who's excited for the Mark of Athena? :D It's months away, but my PJO love increased ten-fold when I saw the cover on FB (those of you who are my FB friends, you know already)! AAHHHAAAAHHH. Percy and Jason...3 And the horses 33! And the owl 3333333. AAAHHHAAAAHH. I'm so excited.
Oh, remember the RotW! :D And you can't search the answer up on Google, mwahaha.
One more thing: If you live in CA, I might see you! Won't that be cool? Though, there's a zero chance of me seeing you if I can't talk with you through FB, email, or PM Messages on FF. You can be my friend on FB, but you must tell me your FF username first. Because I won't friend someone I don't know in real life or don't recognize from FF. PM Messages are okay -but if you've talked to me through them in the past, you know my responses are slow. Email is great! The best! But if you're an anon, that could be troublesome because you'd be showing your email to the public -I can't hand out my email to the public, too. But I'm not encouraging you to get an email or FB, or FF if you don't. Really, you might see me by chance, haha. :D I'm just saying that you'll be better updated if I can talk to you through one of those three ways. ^^
And this won't be the only time I'll be going to CA. I go at least every year because a lot of my relatives live there, so if you don't see me this year, you'll probably see me next. :D But if you're going to try to see me this year, I'll be in CA (probably already am) by June 3, for two weeks. I'm going to San Fran, then San Diego, then San Fran again. And if you have a hard time finding me, remember that I'm Filipino. And I have a blue and yellow Vera Bradley messenger bag thing. I always bring it around with me.
But if it helps, my family and I are going to the Jelly Belly Factory tomorrow. :) Not sure what time exactly, but I'll be there before the day is over. ;D I'll probably have updates on my profile or on my FB, but I say probably because I tend to forget things like that. :3
Update...next week! ^^
~Lara
